That tastes like hope feels.

Witness also that when we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind.

If he is anything other than a total gentleman, I’m going to gouge his eyes out.” “So you’re into it.” “Withholding judgment! When can I see you?” “Certainly not until you finish An Imperial Affliction.” I enjoyed being coy. “Then I’d better hang up and start reading.” “You’d better,” I said, and the line clicked dead without another word. Flirting was new to me, but I liked it.

How do you just stop being terrified of getting left behind and ending up by yourself forever and not meaning anything to the world?

I am concussed," I announced, entirely sure of my self-diagnosis.

But it was only hot outside, and generally I only walked outside between one air-conditioned place to another.

As lives go, I'll take the quietly desperate over the radically bipolar.