“What wondrous life in this I leadRipe apples drop about my head”

“Life's like a roller coaster till it drops, but what should I scream for? This is my theme park.”

“Jesus," he muttered, dropping his head."What?"He looked back at me. "Duchess, you can argue about anything.""No I can't.""So, now you're arguin' about not arguing?"I decided to be quiet.”

“One time, when I was very little, I climbed a tree and ate these green, sour apples. My stomach swelled and became hard like a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I'd just waited for the apples to ripen, I wouldn't have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I try to remember what she said about the apples.”

“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

“You understand nothing," I told him with a weary shake of the head, but I would not try to make him understand. That there was no justification for it: the murder of another, no matter how vile. We had all been wrong and, blackest of ironies, I had known this to hold that precious and wondrous thing, life, in my hands. To hold it in my hands before I destroyed it.”