"Without releasing the woman's throat, the man slowly turns his head, rotating into the light a face almost as shocking as the one hatched from the mayonnaise bottle. It is completely smooth and white. No brows or lashes. Lips and eyes the color of salmon egg. A bright porcelain brow framed by an even brighter mane of hair, like chrome, for all the world like flowing mother chrome." Chapter 1

"Freed of his chain Marley soon got over his limp and turned out to be a great watchdog - though his act was really more a welcome than a warning. He would hide beneath a big salal out at the edge of the road and made a sudden silent rush at any vehicle coming into the yard. He had once been able to leap all the way over the hood of the old LeBaron Ike used to drive, grinning...