Do they choose to be so dense? Were they born that way? I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing.

Why not draw naked guys, just to be fair? Naked women is art, naked guys a no-no, I bet. Probably because most painters are men.

In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.

A breath of steam trickles out, filled with the sobs of a grown woman breaking into girl-sized pieces.

This is not our fight', the old man said. 'British or American, that is not the choice. You must choose your own side, find your road through the valley of darkness that will lead you to the river Jordan. . . Look hard for your river Jordan, my child. You'll find it.

Mr. Freeman sighs. "No imagination. What are you thirteen? Fourteen? You've already let them beat your creativity out of you!

I inscribe three lines, hush hush hush, into my skin. Ghosts trickle out.