“For Silas, Lichport was only a name, like that of a distant cousin or a dead relative he’d never met. Familiar but abstract.”

“She thought he cared too much. Sometimes Dolores could see that her son felt what other people were feeling. He was sympathetic, she knew that. But Silas managed to make his feelings about others into another kind of absence. You’d laugh, Silas would laugh. You’d cry, he’d start crying. It was like he was tuning in to a radio station. It took a moment for the distant signal to lock in, but once it did, he’d be right in sync with you. Only when he got angry, or hurt, did the signal fail and he’d become very present indeed, and very annoyed to have his calm broken. Then it was nothing but static.”

“Broke is a relative term, like sister, cousin, or Uncle Sam.
”

“If only he didn't believe he was Shamu's distant cousin. It was such a shame for someone so sublime to be certifiable.”

“Ms. McMartin had no close family. Her nearest relative was a distant cousin who had recently died in Shanghai, after a severe allergic reaction to a bowl of turtle and arsenic soup.”

“We’re distant cousins. He’s my first cousin, but he’s 5,000 miles away. And he doesn’t talk much.”