“Shane was born perfectly fine, despite the same genetic pairing. One in four.That's what their odds were. God gave Shelby SMA. Shane just got "gay".”

“I take four or five heavy steps beyond the front door and Mom comes rushing down the hallway. "Shane! What in the hell-" Now she sees me, in all my dignified glory. I tell her I'm fine. Swear I stuck up for my sister, not an alien but an angel. By the time I get to, "I think I might need stitches," Mom is my mommy. She may have forgotten my birthday. But today she remembers me.”

“I don’t think God has a gender. I don’t think God hates gays or Democrats, and I don’t think you have to be Born Again to find your way to Heaven. I believe God expects us to care for one another, even those who are different. God wants us to be good stewards of this planet, and that means not wasting or violating its resources. Most of all, it means not blowing it up. Especially not in God’s name.”

“Despite whoever created it, it's my world, & the only one I've got. Might as well make the best of it, right? Might as well have a little fun while I'm here. Or a lot of fun. Might be dead tomorrow.”

“Ask me, it's a sin to pervert faith with religion. Despite every church, mosque, & synagogue in it, this is not the world any God worth his salt would have created.”

“And almost instantly, Daddy made everything seem just fine. Even when it wasn't.”

“RaeanneMirror, MirrorWhen I look into amirror,it is her face I see.Her right is my left, doublemoles, dimple and all.My right is her left,unblemished.We are exactopposites,Kaeleigh and me.Mirror image identicaltwins. One egg, one spermone zygote, divided,sharing one completeset of genetic markers. On the outside we are the same. But not inside. I thinkshe is the egg, somuch like our motherit makes me want to scream.Cold.Controlled. That makes me the spermI guess. I take completelyafter our father.All Daddy, that's me.Codependent. Cowardly. Good, bad. Left, right. Kaeleigh and Raeanne. One egg, one sperm. One being, split in two. And how manysouls?”