I don't know what she is now. A stranger, mostly. It's as if she has become a part of a different world, one that doesn't include me anymore.

For a contributing citizen to be released from the community was a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure.

People do things that turn out badly, often for the most benevolent of reasons.

So actually, there could be parents-of-the-parents-of-the-parents-of-the parents?

Today is declared an unscheduled holiday.

She fell asleep, and it was a sleep as thin as the night clouds, dotted with dreams that came and went like the stars.

He was free to enjoy the breathless glee that overwhelmed him: the speed, the clear cold air, the total silence, the feeling of balance and excitement and peace.