But nobody ever tells you in advance when you should concentrate on the good times-that's why you're supposed to do it every day.

I tucked him in with his stuffed-animal pet dog—cleverly named Dog-Dog, by the way.

I seriously think I could have sat in the middle of the kitchen floor rubbing two sticks together over a pile of dynamite blocks and gasoline cans, and my parents would be oblivious, as long as I was keeping myself occupied.

It was a cheesy cheeseball, covered with Cheez Whiz and served on a bed of Cheez-Its. With a side of queso.

I dove on those papers like Sherlock Holmes on a cappuccino binge.

If you promise you will get better instead of dying, I promise I will, too.

I’ll probably just stand in a corner, trying not to be noticed, until the decoration committee accidentally packs me into a box at the end of the night. There I will lie, crammed in between rolls of crepe paper, until the New Year’s dance two months from now. Jeffrey thought about this for a moment and said, Won’t they notice the box is too heavy when they go to put it away?