“That’s alright, I bite.”

“I am not a child, and I know plenty of love. Love is wanting to be with that person for the rest of your life no matter of the consequences. Love is being willing to sacrifice your life for somebody else.” He met his father’s eyes, “Love is seeing the good in somebody regardless of their title or station in life. Love is so painful and yet so wonderful that it is worth it!” Emane pushed himself back up again from the table speaking deliberately. “Love is understanding that someday you might lose the person that you love, but that every day you get to spend with them is worth the risk. Love is taking the good with the bad.” His voice rose with each sentiment. “Love is trust. Love is wanting to understand even when you don’t.” Staring at his father, Emane added, “I know of love, Father, and I did not learn it from Ciera.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he gasps so close to my ear I can feel his breath, a deep voice reverberating through my body. He has a soothing soft southern accent as if his family lived in the south for generations. He puts more pressure on my head effectively diminishing the soothing part. I also hope that’s a gun pressed against my thigh. For that, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of backing down easy.”

“It (the sun) didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.”

“I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected o the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.”

“She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people.”

“I found the gas," he said. "Now all's I need to do is find the brake.”