Nah," I said. "But if it does, just tell him I said to get back on the bike." "What?" "He'll understand.

As he heard me approach, he quickly leaped up, grabbing a nearby loaf of bread and holding it in front of him as if struck by a sudden desire to make a sandwich.

Maybe I'd just figured out there were some things you were better off not knowing

But something, somehow, had made all these paths converge. You couldn't find it on a checklist, or work it into the equation. It just happened.

Sometimes really, really bad things happen to people, and there is no explanation and no reason whatsoever.

I knew this feeling, the 2 a.m. loneliness that I'd practically invented.

But there was something I liked about the idea of those seeds buried so deep having at least a chance to emerge