Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of.

The Germans in basements were pitiable, surely, but at least they had a chance. That basement was not a washroom. They were not sent there for a shower. For those people, life was still achievable.

There were people everywhere on the city street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it were empty.

I'd been in love with her for years. I never left this suburban town. I didn't go to university. I went to Audrey.

I just know that right now, we want to be proud. For once. We want to take the struggle and rise above it. We want to frame it, live it, survive it. We want to put it in our mouths and taste it and never forget it, because it makes us strong.

I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.

Yes, the sky was now a devastating, home-cooked red. The small German town had been flung apart one more time. Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth.