Think of two people, living together day after day, year after year, in this small space, standing elbow to elbow cooking at the same small stove, squeezing past each other on the narrow stairs, shaving in front of the same small bathroom mirror, constantly jogging, jostling, bumping against each other’s bodies by mistake or on purpose, sensually, aggressively, awkwardly, impatiently, in rage or in love – think what deep though invisible tracks they must leave, everywhere, behind them!”
-- Narrator ("Waking up begins with saying am and now": Pages 9 - 32. )

Importance: In this quotation, George meditates about the way in which his cramped, tight home — itself an analogy for his cramped, tight mind — is haunted by lingering reminiscences of Jim's presence. Whether cooking at the small stove, walking up the narrow stairs, or shaving in front of the small bathroom mirror, he remarks that he cannot help but be reminded of how, for ten years, this stove, and those stairs, and that mirror...