She picked up the ballpoint pen lying on the table, and played with it for a few seconds, but then she looked at the clock again. It had done its job: in the five minutes since her last look, it had advanced five minutes' worth.

“I've wanted to find out as much about China as I could. But that China is only …”

“The best thing would be to break your neck, but you'd probably just break your …”

“I'm in no position to hand down any advice," he said, "but there's a rule I fol…”

“But hell, you've gotta work with what you've got.”