“Help me,' Allison says, but she is soft-spoken, and everyone she loves is so far away.”

“A girl meets a boy, Ed, and everything changes, or so she says.”

“So she loved him. She just did immediately and again often and clearly naturally and soundly and obviously and many others.”

“-Most people would say that she's beautiful.-That's because she's been with most people.”

“You'd think that sweet would be a land far, far away from irritating, but as it turns out they're right next door, and always having border disputes.”

“To stutter through it with you or even stop stuttering and say nothing, was so lucky and soft, better talk than mile-a-minute with anyone. After a few minutes we’d stop rattling, we’d adjust, we’d settle in, and the conversation would speed into the night.”

“She gave me a hug and for a second I was embraced by a body that makes me want to go home and never eat again.”