“The table was her stage. The mobile phone was the microphone. And the new moon was the spotlight. That kind of magic only Nana could make it happen.”

“They were all dressed in their finest as though life really were some magical stage play in which every moment ought to be illuminated with its own bright spotlight.”

“Like a dead man, only friction could make him warm or violence make him mobile.”

“The mobile phone acts as a cursor to connect the digital and physical.”

“Ten years, she's dead, and I still find myself some mornings reaching for the phone to call her. She could no more be gone than gravity or the moon.”

“How do you kill an Akh ghost?"There was a pause on the phone line. "Uh, are you serious?""It's for a paper." Jack sounded so convincing, even I believed him for a second. "Theoretically, how would it happen?""Joyce, what kind of assignments are you handing out these days?"We both looked at Mrs. Stone. She leaned toward the phone as if it were a microphone. "It's an extra credit. Turst me, Jack needs it." She winked at Jack.”