A verbal promise behind closed doors, even a statement written on paper-these could easily evaporate . . . .

That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.

The numbness of his loss had passed, and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking my body with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind. Where have you gone? Of course, there was never any answer.

I noticed just about every girl, but none of them made a lasting impression but you.

Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes, and when again they open, the sun will rise.

but it's not safe and I can feel him slipping away, so I just get out one more sentence. "Stay with me." As the tendrils of sleep syrup pull me down, I hear him whisper a word back but I don't catch it.

It's ideal really. They will come up with a plan. No one will like it. Everyone will feel they have been treated unfairly, but will be happy that their neighbors feel the same. And that is the nature of compromise. Now let's go eat an awful lot.