“Why do we stay? Why do we members of this oddball tribe known as native New Yorkers stick around, decade upon decade, as so much of the city we love, the city that shaped us in all of our wiseacre, top-of-the-heap eccentricity, is razed and made unrecognizable around us?”
“She doesn’t have any skills. While she was growing up, I always encouraged her to learn how to do something. I told her she should become an X-ray technician. Then she would always have work and she could pursue her hobbies on the weekend.”
““What’s with you? Tired?” “Pissed.” “About what?” “The boss! Dirty bloodsucker—a florin and a half to load and unload two carts.”