“She wishes she had time to run around the block once or twice; maybe then she wouldn't feel as if she were about to burn up or shatter.”

“She wishes nightmares were all that kept her awake. She cannot tell which disturbs here more, the future or the past.”

“... hoping that if she just walked down the same street fate would whirl her backward in time until she was once more (fill in your age), when the future was something she had not yet stepped into, when it was just an idea, a moment, something that had not disappointed her yet.”

“...she wonders if she has something other people don't. Intuition or hope -- she wouldn't know what to call it.”

“And then I understood that she had no idea what she'd done to my family. She thought love and hatred were equal.”

“There he is, in the fading light, certain of what he wants, certain of her. If Gillian were speaking to her sister, or more correctly, if Sally were speaking to her, Gillian would draw her over to the window to get a look. Isn't he beautiful? That's what she would have said if she and Sally had been talking. I wish I deserved him, she would have whispered into her sister's ear.”

“She knows where she's going, and what she has to do. She could, after all, find her way to Route 95 South blindfolded. She could do it in the dark, in fair weather or foul; she can do it even when it seems she will run out of gas. It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.”