Fine...a word that you said when someone asked how you were but didn't really care to know the truth.

Wake up, Caitlin, Mr. Lensing had said. But what he didn't under­stand was that this dreamland was preferable, walking through this life half-sleeping, everything at arm's length or farther away.

Life has a way of disregarding even your best intentions.

It takes so little to change everything. If you really thought about it, it would scare you to death.

Failing sucks. But it's better than the alternative." "Which is?" "Not even trying." Now he did look at me, straight on. "Life's short, you know?

He's very nice. He's something I replied. She considered this zipping her purse shut. Then she said Well everyone is. Everyone is Something. For some reason that stuck with me simple and yet not every since she'd said it. It was like a puzzle as well two vague words with one clear one between them.

Now I felt like I was drifting, sucked down by an undertow, and too far out to swim back to the shore.