“Alicia, enough!’ We all froze. My dad had only invoked his Code Red Warning: You’ve Done It Now voice twice in my lifetime. The first was when Val was trying to feed me ‘magical pills’ from the medicine cabinet when I was four, and other was when my mom thought he was being too flirty with my aunt. ‘He’s twenty-fucking-two years old! If he doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t want to go, okay?”

“He lunged for me, but stopped short of hitting me, instead taking hold of my arm and pulling me toward him. ‘If I ever see you again,’ he whispered, ‘I’ll finish what I started in there.’ He squeezed my arm harder, digging into me. ‘Maybe, for fun, I’ll just snap your neck in half.’ His pressed his lips to my ear. ‘And I’d better not find out you tried to contact Helena again, got it?”

“It was Lao Jian’s voice. He moved on too quick for our eyes to meet. For now, it was enough that I’d felt his breath, heard his voice, and saw his retreating form running toward the Trout Creek line.”

“He's a drunken bum is what I'm talking about. And he might be a jailed one, too, if I report his hittin' me. Unless you want to add a little extra to the telephone money.”

“My Greek Chorus takes a break when I meet with Mrs. Castor. I’ve never told her about them, or the fact that I converse with my sister’s cat whenever I’m over there visiting. Probably a lot of things will remain a secret to Mrs. Castor. Some people might argue that going to see a counselor is a waste if I’m going to remain so guarded. But the appointments are only a ten dollar co-pay thanks to the university’s generous nature and, unlike my chorus and the cat, she answers back independent of my brain cells and challenges my ‘long held beliefs about the way people interact’. Or somethin”

“I know we haven’t been formally introduced, Nathan,’ she said, ‘but I feel like I know practically everything about you.’ She picked up my spoon and scooped up a dab of fudge. ‘At least, all that a sickly old aunt is willing to share.’ She slid the spoon into her mouth, tipped her head back, and closed her eyes.”

“I stood for a few moments, looking for the Little Dipper. ‘Howdy, Breandan,’ I whispered. ‘Look at me now. Can you believe my predicament?”