If the dragonets were only larger, Kitti," Bay broke in, her manner unusually brusque, "intelligent enough to obey commands, they'd be an immense help to us.

She'd had an argument with her husband leaving for work this morning, and her manner with detectives she knew as well as those from Eight-Seven was unusually brusque.

At first, he seemed unusually brusque as he plunged directly to the purpose of his visit and asked: "Mr. Reed, do you really want to know everything I've found out about your condition?

That ruling swept aside the arguments of the Gore legal team with unusually brusque language, declaring that they had produced "no credible evidence" to shore up their case.

He was unusually brusque with us.

Mr. Gorbachev's position on the press law is unclear, but in an unusually brusque meeting with top editors on Friday, the Soviet leader sharply rebuked several liberal publications for fomenting division and discontent.

After an unusually brusque greeting Penny said, "I've asked you three friends to give me some hard advice.