No, Miss Wright didn't want to meet her kid. To her, that relationship was just as important, just as ideal and impossible as it would be to the child. She'd expect that young man to be perfect, smart, and talented, everything to compensate for all the mistakes that she'd made. The whole wasted, unhappy mess of her life.

Don't do this. I love you. Don't shut me out.

In good old Colonial Dunsboro, masochism is a valuable job skill. It is in most jobs.

You cannot be the person they know and the great, glorious person you want to become. Not at the same time.

This is less teaching than damage control. You may as well paint a house that’s on fire.

This is passive-aggression in action.

Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can hurt like hell.