She no longer believed in talk. It never rescued anything.

He was beginning to understand: You were treated special and, later, something horrible would be told to you.

You could not be filled with hate and be beautiful. Like any other girl, I wanted to be beautiful. But I was filled with hate.

but, he also said it because part of him wanted more of her, this cold woman who was not exactly cold, this rock who was not stone.

The damage can fester under layers of time and change, and an ignorant, thoughtless remark can easily reopen the wound.

The sun came through the branches of the tree above her, and Ruth looked up past them. "I think she listens," she said, too softly to be heard.

He tunneled into stories where weak men changed into strong half-animals or used eye beams or magic hammers to power through steel or climb up the sides of skyscrapers. He was the Hulk when angry and Spidey the rest of the time. When he felt his heart hurt he turned into something stronger than a little boy, and he grew up this way. A heart that flashed from heart to stone, heart to stone. As I watched I thought of what Grandma Lynn liked to say when Lindsey and I rolled our eyes or grimaced behind her back. "Watch out what faces you make. You'll freeze that way.