Ruth hadn't talked to my sister since before my death, and then it was only to excuse herself in the hallway at school. But she'd seen Lindsey walking home with Samuel and seen her smile with him. She watched as my sister said yes to pancakes and no to everything else. She had tried to imagine herself being my sister as she had spent time imagining being me.

I wanted to be the moron of the family, because morons seemed to have more fun, more freedom and more personality.

Those who say they would rather fight to the death than be raped are fools. I would rather be raped a thousand times. You do what you have to.

If I had but an hour of love,if that be all that is given me,an hour of love upon this earth,I would give my love to thee.

Out loud I said I had two children. Silently I said three. I always felt like apologizing to her for that.

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

The dead are never exactly seen by the living, but many people seem acutely aware of something changed around them. They speak of a chill in the air. The mates of the deceased wake from dreams and see a figure standing at the end of thier bed, or in a doorway, or boarding, phantomlike, a city bus.