Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome.

As Charles Darwin said,'The economy shown by Nature in her resources is striking,'' says the Spirit. 'All wealth comes from Nature. Without it, there wouldn't be any economics. The primary wealth is food, not money. Therefore anything that concerns the handling of the land also concerns me.

This has been her problem all her life: picturing other people's responses. She's too good at it. She can picture the response of anyone--other people's reactions, their emotions, their criticisms, their demands--but somehow they don't reciprocate. Maybe they can't. Maybe they lack the gift, if it is one.

Maybe sadness was a kind of hunger, she thought. Maybe the two went together.

You can't keep a cool head when you're drowning in love. You just trash around a lot and scream, and wear yourself out.

Storytelling is a very old human skill that gives us an evolutionary advantage. If you can tell young people how you kill an emu, acted out in song or dance, or that Uncle George was eaten by a croc over there, don't go there to swim, then those young people don't have to find out by trial and error.

All you have to do, I tell myself, is keep your mouth shut and look stupid. It shouldn't be that hard.