Somewhere in all the snow, she could see her broken heart, in two pieces.

Very suddenly. Yes, quite suddenly, I didn't feel like I could handle my feeling of aloneness.

She could smell the pages. She could almost taste the words as they stacked up around her.

I guess that’s the beauty of books. When they finish they don’t really finish.

I carried Rudy softly through the broken street...with him I tried a little harder at comforting. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape. I saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It's his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.

There was also a rumor that later in the day, she walked fully clothed into the Amper River and said something very strange. Something about a kiss. Something about a Saumensch. How many times did she have to say goodbye?

...and the night is so deep and dark that I wonder if the sun will ever come up.