Ellyn Bache

“Odd, how in the afterglow of someone else’s life, your own looks so much brighter.”

“If you believe in forever, then life is just a one-night stand.”

“Courtney leans into Andrea, buries her face in Andrea’s shoulder. Andrea pats her daughter’s back. Courtney blubbers. Courtney sobs. Courtney wails. It is the best thing that has happened in months.”

“There is a certain point—she has known this since her father-in-law’s long battle with heart disease—when a person begins to die in earnest. There is a hollowness about them. They begin to retreat. She has seen this, and she knows.”

“Thanks for . . . what you remember. And what you don’t. It’s not nothing. It’s a lot.”

“You’re not really afraid you’ll hurt him. You’re afraid because you believe it was wrong even to think it. But having a thought, even an awful one, is different from acting on it. All the difference in the world.”

“Max can’t help it,” Eddie says. “The teenaged brain isn’t wired for empathy. It’s designed to look forward.” “If you heard him, why didn’t you say something?” “Nothing to be gained. There are articles about it.” Eddie pours himself a cup of coffee. “Think of Max as a butterfly emerging from his cocoon. At this point in its development, the butterfly is too busy to think of anything but emerging. It’s an all-consuming task. It can’t develop other skills until later. Max will learn sympathy later on.” “I see. He’ll become a caring human being once he’s stopped emerging?” “Exactly.” “Or else he’ll turn into a serial killer by the age of twenty.”

“What kind of religion would celebrate its High Holidays by reading about a biblical figure as heartless as Abraham—a classic case of paranoid schizophrenia, in Iona’s opinion—who nearly killed his son because he heard voices in his head and was rescued from the dirty deed only by other voices?”

“Everybody’s brave when they don’t have any choice”

“Talk about anything long enough, and you cut it down to size.”

“But some climbs you have to make alone.”

“You move forward. You face up to your challenges. You don't retreat. You're young, and sometimes you'll wish you could. But don't.”

“It's normal to shy away from illness and death. It's natural to gravitate toward laughter and life.”

“When you're down, remember your triumphs. [...] Sometimes you get in trouble and crash. Other times: just a bumpy landing.”

“Why was I standing on the street when the window feel out of the building? Why did the bus run over me? Because it was my turn in the barrel, that's why.”