“Phil didn't know he was dead until he read it in the paper. All things considered, he took it rather well.”

“He was dead. He just didn't know it yet.”

“Odd Thing to Read After an Autopsy: “He was in much better health than we expected.” Well, yeah … except for the DEAD part.”

“He did not know how long it took, but later he looked back on this time of crying in the corner of the dark cave and thought of it as when he learned the most important rule of survival, which was that feeling sorry for yourself didn't work. It wasn't just that it was wrong to do, or that it was considered incorrect. It was more than that--it didn't work.”

“That was pretty much all you needed to know about Cole, right there. He saw something he didn't quite understand, liked it, and took it to be his.”

“He blew himself up.”“Get out! You mean like guts all over the place?”“Not all over the place,” I said. “He was pretty well contained, all things considered.”