Characters in Lunch at the Gotham Café

… of separation, and while living with Ernie and Dee Dee Coslaw in Pound Ridge - that I could never know. ‘How are you, Steve?’ she asked. ‘Fine,’ I said. Then, ‘Not so fine, actually. I’ve missed you.’ Only watchful silence from the lady greeted this. Those big blue-green eyes looking …

… putting on his courtroom voice like an overcoat, ‘Diane Davis was not your wife, not your live-in companion, and not by any stretch of the imagination your helpmate. She was just Diane Coslaw from Pound Ridge, and she did not go before you tossing flower petals or blowing a cornet.’

As if she had learned things - yes, even after only two weeks of separation, and while living with Ernie and Dee Dee Coslaw in Pound Ridge - that I could never know. ‘How are you, Steve?’ she asked. ‘Fine,’ I said. Then, ‘Not so fine, actually. I’ve missed you.’

'Ay!' the chef cried. 'Ay, Guy what's dis?' he said the maitre d's name as the French do, so it rhymes with free, and then he didn't say anything at all.

The divorce lawyer was John Ring, and he listened patiently to my tale of woe. I suspect he’d heard most of it before. ‘If I was entirely sure she wanted a divorce, I think I’d be easier in my mind,’ I finished. ‘Be entirely sure,’ Ring said at once.

… After ascertaining that he was indeed speaking to Steven Davis, he promptly began calling me Steve. You may find that a trifle hard to believe, but it is nevertheless exactly what happened. Humboldt’s voice was soft, small, and intimate. It made me think of a car purring on a silk …

'Troy, don't go without me!' his date screamed, but Troy never looked hack. He'd forgotten all about a library book he was supposed to return, it seemed, or maybe about how he'd promised to wax the car.

You will hear from William Humboldt my therapist. ‘Heat from this, sweetiepie,’ I told the empty room, and squeezed my crotch. It didn’t sound rough and funny, as I’d hoped, and the face I saw in the mirror across the room was as pale as paper.