or a moment to clear his mind and focus on the art he had studied for years.
With his intentions firmly aligned within (and without), Sigger opened his eyes
and found himself no longer in his office but in a basement alcove. Across the
room sat a pimply faced teenager who was scratching his scalp under long strawberry-blond
hair.
5. Julia & Cecil the Cat, as mentioned in the title (above)
"I've just one step further
from falling behind."
- Brandy Daniels, "You"
"Did you ever have one of those days," inquired Julia of her cat,
Cecil, who lay in the crook of her arm and was pushing his head into the fingers
of Julia's right hand, "when you think you've noticed something everyone
else has missed?"
Cecil didn't respond directly, but instead rubbed the side of his cheeks against
the spine of Gravity's Rainbow which Julia held lopsidedly in her left hand.
"Pynchon keeps bleating about the preterit, right?" Cecil, who began
licking his paw and washing his face, did not respond. "-and the elect
