“my grandma has fake teeth but her smile is real”

“I was glad my father was an eye-smiler. It meant he never gave me a fake smile because it's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself. A mouth-smile is different. You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I've also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it. So watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you but his eyes stay the same. It's sure to be a phony.”

“Grandma has a .45 long barrel that she keeps hidden from my mother. She got it from her friend Elsie, who picked it up at a yard sale. Probably it was in Grandma's purse. Grandma says it gives the bag some heft, in case she has to beat off a mugger. This might be true, but I think mostly Grandma likes pretending she is Clint Eastwood.”

“Real people are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no less fake. Every comparison becomes impractical. This is why the impractical has become totally acceptable; impracticality almost seems cool.”

“He swallowed, then looked down at her stomach again. After what seemed like an eternity, he looked back up at her. "Can we name her after my grandma?" Anna started to sob, then nodded and threw her arms around his neck. Griffin smiled, inhaling in a deep breath as he held her back. The rest of the band members glanced at eachother, smiling. Through my own tears and sobs, I heard Matt lean down by Rachel at his side. "One of us should probably tell her that Grandma's name was Myrtle.”

“Juniper laughed for real, but one of those fake smiles he considered a plague of the Caucasian race followed. If you’re sad, be sad, he wanted to say.”