So we forgive each other?" The crooked smile climbs up one more time. "Again?" And I look right into his eyes, right into him as far as I can see, because I want him to hear me, I want him to hear me with everything I mean and feel and say. "Always," I say to him. "Every time.

Never trust a politician, Todd. They have no fixed center, so you can never believe them.

Schooling ain't life." "Ain't it?" she says, her eyebrows raising in mock surprise.

You can't say everything, so you don't say nothing.

But,' he thinks, 'it's possible to die before you die.

Belief is half of all healing. Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits.

Me and Todd? Together against the Mayor?" She smiles. "He doesn't stand a chance.