He chuckled, shaking his head. "Man, you hunters. I break a pencil and there's hell to pay."

"I can see how that's deeply unfair, Chip. Especially if that pencil should try to kill you with it teeth and claws, or launch its brood of a thousand deadly paper clips against you.

From this point, the security was handled by US marshals, and we were told that no pens or paper would be allowed in the courtroom. One US official told me that the CIA had once developed a pen pistol and nobody was taking any chances. The marshal in charge also told us that it would be easier to get into the White House today than it would be to get into Saddam's courtroom.

Any kind of non-perishable items, diapers, pens, paper.

The difference between being a part-time writer and a full-time writer is like the difference between dating someone and living with them. Some of the romance is gone, but you learn things you'd never know just by dating.

With everything so perfect, reality seemed somehow fragile, as if the slightest interruption could imperil her pretty future... all of it felt as tenuous as a soap bubble, shivering and empty.

The man was allergic to sleep.