Mary E. Pearson

“I thought grandmothers had to like you. It’s a law or something.”

“It doesn’t matter how rich or important you are. Everyone’s in the same boat. And medical resources and costs are kept under control.”“What about brains?” Ethan asks. “What are they worth?”“Brains are pretty much illegal.”

“Multiple closets for different needs. Overkill.”

“When you are perfect, is there anywhere else to go?”

“How many hours can one person spend locked in a bathroom, looking at skin, hair, eyes. Feeling fingers, toes. And the absurdity of a belly button?”

“I know you have the patience of a rapidly decomposing turd.”

“I almost could.I could almost leave and never look back.Like Mr. Bender, I could leave everything I was behind, including my name.Leave because of Allysand all the things she says I am.Leave because of all the things I am afraid that I will never be again.Leave, because maybe I’m not enough.Leave because of Allys, Senator Harris, and half the world knows better than Father and Mother and maybe Ethan, too.Leave.Because the old Jenna was so absorbed in her own needs that she said yes when she knows she should have said no,and the shame of nightcould be hidden in a new place behind a new name.But friends are complicated.There is the staying.Staying because of Kara and Locke and all that they will never be except trapped.Staying because for them, time is running out and I am their their last chance.Staying for the old Jenna and all she owes Kara and Locke and maybe all the new Jenna owes them, too.Staying because of ten percent and all I hope I might be.Staying because of Mr. Bender’s erased life and regrets.Staying for connection.Staying because two meis enough to make one of meworth nothing at all.And staying because maybe Lily does love the new Jennaas much as the old one, after all.Because maybe, given time, people do change,maybe laws change.Maybe we all change.”

“I wonder at the weight of a Sparrow.”

“They looked shallow, self-absorbed. And a small, strangled part of me envied them.”

“I used to be someone.Someone named Jenna Fox.That's what they tell me. But I am more than a name. More than they tell me. More than the facts and statistics they fill me with. More than the video clips they make me watch.More. But I'm not sure what.”

“My timing is off. But I had to get it out. Some things you have to tell, no matter how stupid they may sound. Some things you can't save for later. There might not be a later. ”

“I don't want five hundred billion neural chips. I want guts.”

“There is something about her eyes. Eyes don't breathe. I know that much. But hers look breathless.”

“what's fate to you, opal? she asks. opal leans back, too. oh, lots of things. lots and lots of things all pushed up against each other that makes something else happen. so much pushing it just can't happen any other way - unless you push back to make it not. ”

“it is amazin, she thinks, how simple appearances can be created - a rush, a smile, a new coat of paint, a slow, calm voice, a hug, a new dress - a resolve to keep out questions and cling to secrets”

“...'cause only the Lord knows the heart of a man. ain't our job to be second-guessing. ”

“but she still burns. she is on fire with need. burning that goes deeper than her skin, etched deeply, maybe in her soul, and there seems to be nothing for it, no balm, save inching her arms up to hold herself and wishin the arms weren't her own. ”

“abuelita speaks no english. she doesn't need to, zoe thinks. her smile fills and communicates so much more than the empty, half-said words of zoe's life. ”

“...like it better, nothing like sunshine dried right into your clothes. ”

“except for the muffled strum of her fingers against metal, the house is still, quiet, but then she hears another sound, this one coming from deep within. a numbing furrow slides through her soul, sliding into her brain, a furrow that seperates one part of her heart from the other. and then it goes quiet agani. ”

“as a child she thought if she could just pull away the fence they would turn back into the beautiful horses they really were and escape to the old plains. she had hope in that power”

“she whispers it aloud, 'lorelei.' the sound makes her ache, makes the word even more beautiful, even more real. ”

“Tell me who I am. (29)”

“Faith and science, I have learned, are two sides of the same coin, separated by an expanse so small, but wide enough that one side can't see the other. They don't know they are connected.”

“There are many words and definitions I have never lost. But some I am only just beginning to truly understand.”

“I decide that sometimes definitions are wrong. Even if they're written in a dictionary. Identities aren't always separate and distinct. Sometimes they ARE wrapped up with others. Sometimes, for a few minutes, maybe they can even be shared. And if I am ever fortunate enough to return to Mr. Bender's garden, I wonder if the birds will see that piece of him that is wrapped up in me.”

“Do certain events in our lives leave a permanent mark, freezing a piece of us in time, and that becomes a touchstone that we measure the rest of our lives against?”

“Eyes don't breath. I know that much. But her eyes look breathless”

“A choir of pink-cheeked boys lift their voices as a priest seems to pull the music from their throats with the urging of his hands.”

“One small changed family doesn't calculate into a world that has been spinning for a billion years. But one small change makes the world spin differently in a billion ways for one family.”

“Chance. It weaves through our lives like a golden thread, sometimes knotting, tangling, and breaking along the way. Loose threads are left hanging, but the in and out, the back and forth continues, the weaving goes on. It doesn't stop.”

“Observing and understanding are two different things.”

“Whatever you choose for your stationery is your favorite color because it's where you pour your heart out.”

“The world before us is a postcard, and I imagine the story we are writing on it.”

“Some things aren't meant to be known. Only believed.”