I liked, I admit, that we didn’t pretend there hadn’t been other girls. There was always a girl on you in the halls at school, like they came free with a backpack.

That night was a dark day. Of course, all nights are dark days, because night is simply a badly lit version of day.

It is always terrible to be told to go play with people one doesn't know.

Goodness! Golly! Good God! Blessed Allah! Zeus and Hera! Mary and Joseph! Nathaniel Hawthorne! Don't touch her! Grab her! Move closer! Run away! Don't move! Kill the snake! Leave it alone! Give it some food! Don't let it bite her! Lure the snake away! Here, snakey! Here, snakey snakey!

I have a dream of what would have happened if what happened instead hadn't.

We laughed the rest of the way, because the point of this story is, it is not the cookies. It is the love.

The only thing he cares about.