“...a closeness that felt sorry and cheap the minute she walked out of the room.”

“Her room felt wonderful to her, as usual. She looked around with satisfaction… She imagined to herself that she would always live this way, even after she had grown up and moved away from her family. She planned to have exactly the same room wherever she was, because this room was her. No matter what happened out there in the rest of the world, she felt totally comfortable once she got into this room and closed the door.”

“She was aware that reason had left the room. She was not sorry to see it go.”

“I felt sorry that he had suffered so long in the hospital, sorry that even in his last minutes our mindless technology had so rudely interrupted his transition”

“Jenna swallowed the lump in her throat. "Good evening, gentlemen.""You'll be hard pressed to find a gentleman in this bunch," a forty-something guy with close-cropped white hair said, laughing. She walked closer to the group and held out her hands in apology. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend.”

“Go take out the trash, Potty Mouth.'She laughed and headed into the kitchen. 'Pissed!' she shouted as she walked through the dining room. 'Shit! Damn!”