I had never realized how much I needed the attention of others to confirm my own presence.

And smiles to go before I weep, And Smiles to go before I weep.

Usually it takes me about nine to 12 months to write a book.

He's so cute, I can't help myself.

It was different with you, Leo. In the eyes and ears of my heart, you and the magic are one and the same.

Her smile put the sunflower to shame.

It was the day of the worms. That first almost-warm, after-the-rainy-night day in April, when you bolt from your house to find yourself in a world of worms. They were as numerous here in the East End as they had been in the West. The sidewalks, the streets. The very places where they didn't belong. Forlorn, marooned on concrete and asphalt, no place to burrow, April's orphans.