You needn't tell a bird it's a bird. Or remind a fish of its purpose. It's only us who lose our way. We have names because we must. - from Golden Tongue: The Poems of Steven Slaughter

Mum liked to say that some things happen for a reason, that sometimes obstacles were there to stop you from doing something stupid.

I always wanted an eccentric daughter . I just never realized how well my evil plans were working.

Mum once told Dad that vices are only vices when looked at through the frame of society.

Sam?" Rachel asked. "Do you know you have the saddest sad face ever?

And there is the girl. When I first see her and her dun mare from my vantage point on the cliff road, I am struck first not by the fact that she is a girl, but by the fact that she's in the ocean. it's the dreaded second day, the day people start to die, and no one will get close to the surf. But there she is, trotting up to the knee in the water. Fearless.

whoopdie-friggin-doo, fooled you!