"People are curious," the narrator of one story observes.

People who do that, the narrator observes, "are at heart storytellers."

Van Vlooten, the narrator observes, has changed; he no longer looks blind.

"People all have jobs now, at the steel mill and the auto plant," the narrator observes.

At the chess board, the narrator observes, it is man who works in mysterious ways.

At one point the narrator observes, "Imagination and fantasy - poor substitutes for the lived experience."

The narrator observes most of the action while floating around the ceiling.

In the chorus, the narrator observes that "love is a beautiful thing".

In two stories, the narrator meets or observes Romanians abroad.

As the narrator acidly observes, "The tragedy of our time is to have lost the ability to feel loss."