“Hearing him say it now, that is was my birthday present, touched me in the last place I wanted him to touch me. My heart.”

“You can't touch me," I whisper. I'm lying, is what I don't tell him. He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him. Please touch me, is what I want to tell him.”

“A man touched me: his hand... my thigh.I touched him too: my fist... his jaw.”

“Just Michael, how grateful I was that he was alive, how much I wanted to touch him. How much I wanted him to touch me.He kept his eyes on the activity outside. "Emerson, you can't look at me like that. Not right now.""How do you know I'm looking at you?""I can feel it." He smiled. I couldn't see it, but I could hear it in his voice. He hooked one arm around my neck and gently pulled me to his side.”

“I hold no evil in my heart...This evil does not touch me. More may come, but not this. Not here. Not now.”

“You are the end, and the beginning....When I die, my only regret will be that you couldnever reside in my heart to hear how it singswhen you touch me.”