The Smokey reached the driveway. Then he thought of what would happen to him — what could happen to him — if he only hurt her, and put the ashtray where it had been with his shaking thumbless hand.
"He nodded toward the hall. Paul put his pencil aside — he had to use the fingers of his left hand to unbend the fingers of his right — and slipped his hand into the ice. He reversed away from the door, turned the chair, and backed up so he could work on the other mark. ("Virginia") Sandpipers letter said, were all genuine, not reproductions and while Paul could not tell for sure, he guessed that it was the truth.
When she came out again she closed the doors almost completely, leaving a gap just wide enough for her to slip in and out. "I saw you were almost healthy again.
Ramage, whose own kindly heart was broken, began to sing it a cradle song in a voice cracked and full of tears. He leaned back in the chair, shaking all over, trying not to shake because it hurt, not able to help it.