Mouthful of Birds

Aunt Claris, who always looks for the most arcane side of the simplest things, says that the more depressed Walter is, the happier people around him feel.

He has the notion that the dogs of the world are the results of men who have failed in their attempted journeys. Men nourished and retained with nothing but steaming broth, men whose hair grows long and whose ears droop and whose tails lengthen, a feeling of terror and cold inciting them to stay silent, curled up under some train-station bench, contemplating the failures of the newcomer who is just like them only still has hope, staunchly awaiting the opportunity of a voyage.

[...] Maybe that's what adolescence was all about: the invention of a couple of unforgivable events that help you leave home.

There are a lot of things that make me nervous. Not understanding something is one of the worst, and then the other worst thing is waiting.