“She thought how strange it would be if she ever said 'Hello' to him. One did not greet oneself each morning.”

“Buenos dias," she said in response to Hernandez's soft greeting. They had a pact to speak only Spanish to each other, with the result that their conversation never got beyond hello and good-bye.”

“Dare said that Brian had a baby this morning,” she said. “Yeah, I never thought Brian would ever be able to push it out through such a little hole. It was fuckin’ brutal.”

“She thought about how it was so simple with animals. They gave their hearts without question or fear. They had no expectations. They were so easy to love. If people could only be like that, no one would ever be hurt, she thought. No one would ever need to learn how to forgive.”

“She had loved him for such a long time, she thought. How was it that she did now know him at all?”

“She considered [her] life, which had not been a life but only a sort of greeting, a Hello There.”