Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right.

You are truly Satan's sequined spawn.

Dammit!" "What?" Gonzo sounds panicked. "We're out of gas." "You're Shithenging me." "I Shithenge you not.

Eve didn't choose to eat the apple. She was tempted by the serpent." "Yes," I argue, thoughts coming out half-formed. "But...she didn't have to take a bite. She chose to.

We sit and listen and are enthralled anew, for good stories, it seems, never lose their magic.

I stare at the pile of discarded remnants and think of my mother. Did she touch that pillar there? Does her scent still linger in a fragment of glass or a splinter of wood? A terrible emptiness settles into my chest. No matter how much I go about living, there are always small reminders that make the loss fresh again.

Maybe that's what real friendship is -- getting so used to people that you need to be annoyed by them.