It was a beautifully rendered charcoal portrait of an otherwise normal middle-aged man, wearing an unnerving look of total blankness.

Again, total blankness.

Confronted now by a look of total blankness, Fisher amplified, with a nod of his head toward the window: "The one out in the parking lot."

He was so astounded by her total blankness that he forgot to listen to what she was saying to him, and had to ask her to repeat.

For ateoment there was a blankness, a total blankness in her mind.

Wren gaped at the phone, her brain going into a complete and total blankness.

He winced, trying to blink away blindness, his mind having moved beyond confusion to utter, total blankness.

There was no malevolence in the brown face, no anger or hate, only an inscrutable expression of total blankness.

One little girl showed "total blankness when I was giving directions or asking her a question," Ms. Jones said.

That beam showed total blankness.