“Why'd you give him all that stuff after he tried to rob me?""Because he was less fortunate than us, Natty. And Daddy always said that we have to be mindful of those who are less fortunate.""But Daddy killed people, didn't he?""Yes," I admitted. "Daddy was complex.”

“Daddy always said that an option that you know to have a bad outcome is only a fool's option, i.e., not an option at all. And I liked to think that Daddy hadn't raised a fool.”

“Did you have a good time with Win?" Natty asked."I'll tell you about it tomorrow." I lowered my voice. "He's still here.""Annie!" Her eyes grew wide and delighted.'It's a long story and probably a lot less exciting than the one I suspect you're concocting, Natty. He's only using our couch.”

“Daddy used to say that calling a person a romantic was just another way of saying he or she acted without regard for conseqences.”

“Daddy once said, "If you don't know what you believe, Annie, you'll be a lost soul.”

“No, I've been doing this myself forever. I could have gone in here myself, but my daddy doesn't want me to get raped. That happens all the time in bathrooms.”

“For the longest time after that, neither of us said anything. I was unaccustomed to his silence, but I didn't mind it. I knew near everything about him, and he knew near everything about me, and all that made our quiet a kind of song. The kind you hum without even knowing what it is or why you're humming it. The kind that you've always known.”