If you want to be treated like a mother, act like one.

Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting. Isn't that a sin?" I asked Mom. Not exactly," Mom said. "God doesn't mind you bending the rules a little if you have a good reason. It's sort of like justifiable homicide. This is justifiable pilfering.

I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.

God deals us all different hands. How we play 'em is up to us.

I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.

If you had weak eyes, they needed exercise to get strong. Glasses were like crutches. They prevented people with feeble eyes from seeing the world on their own.

...even though I was getting better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah, I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma. Because in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you go it.