He stepped off the pavement like a man jumping off a bridge, as calm as a swimmer with an ocean out below. Lucy had known what he was going to do the instant their eyes met. She'd know what he intended because she would have done the very same thing if she'd had his courage. Nothing was going to break his fall.

Trouble is just like love, after all; it comes in unannounced and takes over before you've had a chance to reconsider, or even to think.

Some stories stayed with you even when you wanted to forget them.

Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.

In "Faithful," Ray Bradbury is discussed a lot. The characters read "The Illustrated Man."

The evening had turned sweet and blue.

I always felt and still feel that fairy tales have an emotional truth that is so deep that there are few things that really rival them