“Madame Morrible,” Elphaba said. “Some Kumbric Witch or other.”

“No, it was no madame. It was an elderly man in a tunic and leggings, with a cloak badly in need of attention by a seamstress. He said he was a sorcerer, but perhaps he was just mad. He asked for a meal and a bath, which he got, and then he said he wanted to pay by giving me this book. I told him with a castle to run I didn’t have much time for frivolity, reading and suck. He said never mind.”
Sarima drew her robes about her, and traced a pattern in the cold dust no a nearby stack of codexes. “He told me a fabulous tale and persuaded me to take this thing from him. He said that it was a book of knowledge, and that it belonged in another world, but it wasn’t safe there. So he has brought it here – where it could be hidden and out of harm’s way.”

“What a load of tripe,” said Elphie. “If it came from another world, I shouldn’t be able to read any of it. And I can make out a little.”

“Even if it’s magic as he says?” said Sarima. “But you know, I believed him. He said there was more congress between worlds than anyone would credit, that our world has attributes of his, and his of ours, a kind of leakge effect, or an infection maybe. He had a long fringy white-and-gray beard, and a very kind and abstracted manner, and he smelled of garlic and sour cream.”

“Indisputable proof of other-worldliness–– ”

“Don’t mock me,” said Sarima
blandly, “you’ve asked me, so I’m telling you. He said it was too powerful to be destroyed, but too threatening – to that other place – to be preserved. So he made a magic trip or something and came here.”

“Kiamo Ko called to him and he couldn’t resist her attractions–– ”

“He said we were isolated, and a stronghold,” said Sarima, “and I couldn’t disagree! And what did it mean to me to take another book? We just lugged it up here, and put it with the rest. I don’t even know if I told anyone about it. Then he blessed me and left. He walked with an oakthorn staff over the Locklimb Trail.”

“Can you really say you thought the man who brought this here was a sorcerer?” said Elphie. “And that this book comes from – another world? Do you even believe in other worlds?””I find it a great effort to believe in this one,” said Sarima, “yet it seems to be here, so why should I trust my skepticism about other worlds? Don’t you believe?”
___________________________________________________________________

"Alvin, why're you holding your chopsticks so close? You know if you do that, you'll end up marrying your neighbour."

"Hahah, really? Okay."

"I don't see you shifting your position of your chopsticks."

"Yeah. I want to marry my neighbour."

- WTF -

"Well, you're dumb. You should go hold your chopsticks right at the top, so you can go marry a hot white caucasian."

"I want to marry my neighbour."

"The girls living here aren't even pretty, for god's sake."

"I think my neighbour's very pretty."

"I don't care. Marry someone in Austrailia, which is another continent."

"I like my neighbour."

- WTF -

"Well, how much do you know about your neighbour to know that she's marrying material?"

"She's fun."

"Okay. Well, that's very general. So just because someone's fun you should go marry them?"

"She's funny."

"Well, it seems to me that you should marry an estacy pill."

"I don't get it."

"Don't bother."

"I want to marry my neighbour."

"Well, then first you gotta find a neighbour who wants to marry you."

- Pause -

"I want to marry my neighbour."

Bitch.
___________________________________________________________________

Clarence - your junior.