looking for a Vonnegut quote

For the past few days I have been trying to find a Vonnegut quote from one
of his books, but I am at a loss about which book it is from (it is, in
other words, driving me as crazy as a song stuck in my head). The quote
talks about *something* having the effect of a large pie dropped from a tall
ladder. can anyone point me in the right direction (book title is good, page
number earns you especially favorable points!)? Thanks in advance for the
help.

By the way, I remember discussion last year about an unfinished book Mr.
Vonnegut had been working on until Sept. 11, which he had recently decided
to continue writing. Have there been any updates on this (I'm sure someone
has mentioned it since last summer, but I have been bad about checking the
newsgroup for a while now)?