“How much easier it would have been if he and Sandy could have fought: a skirmish in the night, some harsh words, some measure of the truth actually spoken aloud.”

“Maybe the idea was that he could write so many letters, deliver so many envelopes back to Sandy, eventually he'd have sent all of himself, and could exist more there than he did here.”

“His thoughts skirted Sandy and especially Grace as if they were fatal chasms into which he might tumble.”

“They would not get closer to the truth that night. They watched a period of hockey in silence. Winkler insisted on doing the dishes. Herman insisted on driving him to the bus stop. ”

“but it was also something in Sandy herself, an unwillingness to allow anything more to upset the realm of her understanding.”

“This, perhaps, is how lives are measured, a series of abandonments that we hope beyond reason will eventually be reconciled.”

“the air would get so heavy with moisture he imagined he could feel each bloated molecule as it toppled into his lungs.”