I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment.

And have your mother put my head on a stake? Do you have any notion what that would do to my handsome good looks?

What is a staircase, but a corridor improved by elevation?

When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.

And that's where our conversation went from there, than God, both of us laughing our butts off at the thought of a hoops game between two teams on intravenous fluids. Which makes absolutely no sense at all; I know that. But that's why it cheered me up, because it was so absolutely stupid. It cheered me up more than I'd ever thought I'd be cheered up again.

I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe.

I’d promised myself that I’d really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did.