Tibby cried into her soup when it finally came. "I'm scared... ," she told it. The carrots and peas made no reply, but she felt better for having told them.

Wish for what you want, work for what you need. -Carmen's grandmother

You could feel things or you could find a way to shut down. But once you were feeling things, you couldn’t decide exactly what to feel. That was the trouble with letting them in at all. They made a mess of the place.

Carmen didn't like change, and she certainly didn't like endings.

He could lose himself in her forever, he thought.

Try, reach, want, and you may fall. But even if you do, you might be okay anyway. If you don't try, you save nothing, because you might as well be dead.

Bridget cried for the leavers and the left. For the people, like herself, grimly forsaking what precious gifts they would ever get.