“I told him he was dreaming. He told me dreaming's the only way to get anywhere.”

“dreaming's the only way to get anywhere.”

“Hi," I call as he walks out. "Hi, Rosie. I told Charlie we were camping before New Year's." I think about that for a second. "You told her we were going, or you invited her to come?" "Shit,”

“What's up with you?" "I'm grounded," I say, just to say something real. "I told Mum to fuck off." He whistles. "Why'd you tell her that? Any other 'off' leaves room for parole. 'Sod off,' 'shove off'—even 'sock off' is still pretty satisfying." "You've told your dad to sock off?" "Once. He said, 'What the fuck is "sock off"? Be a man and tell me to fuck off.'" "So did you tell him?" "No. Because that was the trap. There's never time out for good behavior with 'fuck off.”

“I didn’t tell her what I’d done; I told her he wasn’t who I thought he’d be. Mum stroked my hair and said, "Sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes they make you vomit.”

“He looks so stupid that it cancels out mystupid so I give in and ride and he runsand gets on the bike after only two tries.”

“The ticking insideOn the inside of him there’s a wire fenceAnd past the wire fence is a dog And past the dog are thieves And past the thievesIs a gang of bad dreamsAnd past the dreamsIf you can get past the dreams Are the things that make him tick Tick, tick, tick(Page 54).”