“It's not a bit strange,' I tell her. 'Davey's thinking of taking up shooting as a hobby, so he wants to go check out the rifle range and he asked me if I'd like to go with him.'Kayla snorts. 'Are you kidding me? He should be checking you out - not the rifle range! No way is that a date.'I go to the one person I know I can depend on. 'It is a date, isn't it, Reggie?''S'pose it all depends on how it goes,' he says. 'If you have a good time, come home happy, then it's a date.''Okay.''But if he shoots yer, it wasn't a date - it was an ambush.''Reggie! That's mean!''You know I'm only kiddin', Tiffy. He puts his arms out and I gladly fall into them. 'Don't worry about what anyone says, luv. It's a date.”

“Reggie always wears the team jersey - and a pair of shorts - no matter how cold it gets.I'm betting he dreams about one day being called on to make a comeback.'We need five tries in the last three minutes. It's almost impossible, Reggie. That's why I'm asking you.''Piece of cake, Dusty. Here, mind me false teeth.' Dusty's been with the Gunners as long as I can remember. He's an institution - or he should be in one - it's one of the two.”

“I stroll into the kitchen. Bull's making lunch. He's actually no relation to me, though secretly I look on him as my big brother, sometimes even my dad. When I needed a father for parent-teacher nights, Bull was there; if I fell out of a tree he'd run to catch me. He usually dropped me, but at least he tried; he's my full time body guard and chauffer, and, when I was thirteen and feeling depressed after spending too long in front of a mirror, he was the one I asked - 'Do you think I'm pretty?''No, mate,' he said, 'I wouldn't call you pretty at all. No way. You're beautiful.'It's still near the top of one of my all-time favourite lies.”

“Tiff like in Breakfast at Tiffany's,' he says. 'Right?' I couldn't be more shocked. 'Um... yes, that's right - it's an old movie.''Is it? Don't watch that much TV. I've only heard of the book - got it at home. I bought it 'cause Truman Capote wrote it. I was stoked by In Cold Blood. He wrote that, too. You read it?''No.''Aw, you gotta. It rocks.'I look away as if I've been suddenly distracted by something out the window. It's my version of the pause button. There's a lot of information to process. Here's a boy my own age; he shakes my hand, he talks to me - not just to ask directions to the toilet - and he reads books.Heathcliff?”

“Kayla doesn't move. 'Where's Colin?'Inky peers all around her, as if expecting to find him.Then she shrugs.'Oh dear.' Her face is full of lines that seem to dance when she smiles. 'Looks like I lost another one.''Where is he? Did you two have a fight?'A loud scraping noise comes from outside. Kayla turns on the side light and we both look through the curtain. Colin's putting out the bins.'Well how about that?' says Inky. 'I finally got one that's house trained.”

“I turn to our father, searching for an ally. "So Dad, is it legal for Bronte to date out of her species?"Dad looks up from his various layers of pepperoni and breadless cheese. "Date?" he says. Apparently the idea of Bronte dating is like an electromagnet sucking away all other words in the sentence, so that's the only word he hears."You're not funny," Bronte says to me."No, I'm serious," I tell her. "Isn't he like... a Sasquatch or something?""Date?" says Dad.”

“Not bad, not bad. That's one down. Only a million to go.''Right. Thanks, Shark.'I should have known to expect something like that from him.'Now that you've proven yourself I reckon you've earned a go at a very important assignment.''Making tea?''No, I said important. You want to have a crack at it?''All right. That'd be good.''That's the way. Run down the post office and get the mail for us. Key's hanging up in the front office. When you come back, I want you to open it up and sort it into three piles: good stuff, bad stuff, and shit. Off you go.'You bastard, Shark. You bastard. I say that to myself as I trudge away.”