From the earliest age on, even as we toy with it, we instinctively know there is something mighty about the truth, that it is an immobile, looming star. We grow to crave it.

If you want to grow up to be a big, strong pea, you have to eat your candy," Papa Pea would say.

I wish I had eaten more rice cakes.

It would be difficult to convince me that leaning has no effect whatsoever on the outcome of my bowling.

I am a slow reader, and fast eater; I wish it were the other way around.

From the earliest age on, even as we toy with it, we instinctively know there is something mighty about the truth, that it is an immobile, looming star. We grow to crave it.

I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.