Later, she would remember these years, and realize with astonishment that she had, by fifteen, decided on most of the assumptions she would carry for the rest of her life: that people were essentially not evil, that perfection was death, that life was better than order and a little chaos good for the soul. Most important, this life was all. Unfortunately, she forgot these things, and had to remember them the hard way.

There was no justice, there was only life. And life she had.

Losing the future is the best thing that ever happened to me.

When a baby first looks at you...when it laughs that deep, unselfconscious gurgle; or when it cries and you pick it up and it clings sobbing to you...then you are-happy is not the precise word-filled.

Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you like parts of the role you're trying to escape?

She drowned in words that could not teach her how to swim.

Oh, God, why don't I remember that a little chaos is good for the soul?