All the while, something loomed larger, closer, until Simon was forced to see it in all its terrible majesty: his future. Daniel had always planned to be a doctor, which left one son--Simon, impatient and uncomfortable in his skin, let alone in a double-breasted suit.
-- Simon (chapter 1)

Importance: The novel is filled with references to the characters' future destinies and the question of whether these destinies can be altered by their actions. In one of the earliest of these references, Simon notes that he is meant to take over his father's tailor shop, but that he has no interest in doing so. The shop is something of a metaphor in this quote, standing in for what Simon is truly concerned about, the possibility of the fortune teller's prediction being true.

In June, the Castro blooms. Prop 6 pamphlets drift through the street like leaves; flowers keel over the sides of boxes with such bounty...
-- Simon (chapter 4)