“I need to figure out the secret. I need to work out how to keep things flying back to me instead of always flying away.”

“For a long time, all the way through to the end of elementary school, Beans was my only friend. Because that’s how I’ve always been. I only need one good friend to see me through. Most people aren’t like that. Most people are always looking out for more people to know. In the end, Beans was like most people. After a while she had dozens of friends, and by fifth grade it was pretty obvious that even though she was my best friend, I wasn’t hers.”

“I thought of trying to catch her eye, so she’d know I understood what she’d done, but I decided not to. Everyone needs to think they have secrets.”

“Because maybe I don't want to leave the planet invisible. Maybe I need at least one person to remember something about me.”

“The sun kept on with its slipping away, and I thought how many small good things in the world might be resting on the shoulders of something terrible.”

“I didn’t say anything. Greta always knew how to make me lose my words.”

“I don’t like to overhear things, because, in my experience, things your parents are keeping quiet about are things you don’t want to know.”