...some people coddle their own afflictions the way others spoil small pedigreed dogs with cans of pate.

Funny how you dig yourself into a hole by the teaspoon.

I was mortified by the prospect of becoming hopelessly trapped in someone else's story.

Notoriety is cheap. It's just easier to get noticed by doing something bad.

Whoa, that's the kind of little sister I can dig!" said Edison. "Yes, we're all alike," I said. "We cover for you, we lie for you, we take the heat for you. We clean up your messes and mollify our parents for you. We never fail to come across with undying adoration, whether or not you deserve it, and we can't take our lives as seriously as yours. We snuffle up the crumbs from your table on the rare occasions you notice we're alive.

Life is never easy so that is why I never lie about my age. I want credit for every damned year.

Now, bitterly, with one sweep of the front door, the compassion was spent. To the degree that Lawrence's face was familiar, it was killingly so - as if she had been gradually getting to know him for over nine years and then, bang, he was known. She'd been handed her diploma. There were no more surprises - or only this last surprise, that there were no more surprises. To torture herself, Irina kept looking, and looking, at Lawrence's face, like turning the key in an ignition several times before resigning herself that the battery was dead.