I wanted to drown inside a woman in the feeling and drooling of the love I could give her. I wanted her pulse to crush me with its intensity. That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted myself to be.

But then, is there cowardice in the acknowledgment of fear? Is there cowardice in being glad that you lived?

He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.

Why me?' I ask God. God says nothing. I laugh and the stars watch. It's good to be alive.

He's most likely robbing the bank as a paycheck on the world for winning the ugliness prize at his local fete three years running.

We're silent now, both waiting, till I remind myself that I'm the older one and should therefore initiate conversation. But I don't. I don't want to waste this girl with idle chitchat. She's beautiful.

The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it's stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole. . .