“six times eleven isn’t sixty-eight. it isn’t ever. it’s sixty-six, i know for a fact.”
“she said so. she admitted it. what else did she lie about?”
“i don’t know,” he said. “stuff.”
“what stuff?”
“well.” he swung his legs back and forth. “you ever see an animal that was half lion and half bird?” he crossed his arms. “it sounded real fakey to me.”

- from gryphon by charles baxter

hey so i was talking to this guy right. he was a real nice guy, looked real good, and he had no rings on his fingers, no watch on his wrist, he wasn’t wearing anything on his hands at all. i only met him by chance, a helped chance – a friend said to me, i think you’ll really like this guy. we were talking, and everything he said made me think “yes! yes! yes!”