“. . . Alive is a place. Alive is the new word for home.”

“That was the day that my brother was in our house again. In a strange and inexplicable way, my brother had come home.”

“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”

“Okay is just a word I use so I won't have to talk about what's inside. Okay is a word that means I am going to keep my secrets.”

“Words were different when they lived inside of you.”

“See that tree?" It was a stubby cypress tree, all bent and twisted."Yeah, I see it.""It's my favorite tree.""It's not that great a tree," I said."That's it. That's exactly it. It's like me. The wind beat the holy crap out of it when it was just a sapling. Never could straighten itself out again." He sort of smiled at me. "But, Zach, it didn't die." He looked like maybe he wanted to cry. But he didn't. "It's alive.""Maybe it should have just given up.""That tree didn't know how to do that. It only knew how to live. Crooked. Bent. Taller trees dwarfing it even more. It just wanted to live. I named it, you know?"He was waiting for me to ask what he'd named it--but I decided I didn't want to ask."Zach," he whispered. "The tree's name is Zach."[p. 135]”

“Words could be like food - they felt like something in your mouth. They tasted like something.”