Before our vacation, the idea of keeping a diary and scribbling my thoughts on paper seemed silly and stuck-up. And besides it was usually something I thought only unhappy girls did.

“His was cancer of the left lung; she had lost two breasts. Her grey eyes narrow…”

“Bruised, she spent the night with him; bruised, too, he held her as close as he…”

“She felt her most recent lovers lay like dumb victims along her thighs.”

“Death was surely not an ephemeral interloper; its lasting effect was grating an…”