The Cockatoos: Shorter Novels and Stories

'Clark would like to worship,' Imelda Shacklock continued, 'but he can't accept the flaws. whether in a work of art. Or mess. Particularly in women.' (In different circumstances Charles Simpson might have felt lulled by the goddess's marble attitudes, most of all by the palimpsest of her confidences.) 'It makes him restless: he's always off on another voyage of discovery.' She looked at Charles with a gravity the more intense for being detached. 'Whether it's actual travel, and God knows, we never stop. But I also mean in his personal relationships. And the paintings he collects. After he gave up all idea of ever becoming a writer, he thought there might be a painter in him. But he always ends up where he started: obsessed and inhibited by flaws, and the greatest flaw of all - himself.'

There were definitely those who could make use of silence, just as there were those who knew how to use tools. Harold had never made anything with his hands, and silence ony used him up.