“What would you like to be?" Nina asks.Nathaniel tosses his magical tablecloth. "A superhero," he says. "A new one."Caleb is sure they could muster up Superman on short notice. "What's wrong with the old ones?"Everything it turns out. Nathaniel doesn't like Superman because he can be felled by Kryptonite. Green Lantern's ring doesn't work on anything yellow. The Incredible Hulk is too stupid. Even Captain Marvel runs the risk of being tricked into saying the word Shazam! and turning himself back into young Billy Batson."How about Ironman?" Caleb suggests.Nathaniel shakes his head. "He could rust.""Aquaman?""Needs water.""Nathaniel," Nina says gently, "nobody's perfect.""But they are supposed to be." Nathaniel explains, an d Caleb understands. Tonight, Nathaniel needs to be invincible.”

“Nathaniel closes his eyes and jumps, his arms glued to his sides like that fly's. He doesn't try to break his fall, just hits hard, because it hurts less than everything else.”

“You saved me," I said. Nathaniel put his hands on either side of my face. "I had to," he said. "So you could save me back.”

“A level of a house, his father has told him, is called a story. Nathaniel likes that. It makes him feel like maybe he is living between the covers of a book himself. Like maybe everyone in every home is sure to get a happy ending.”

“I know every line of his face. The one that was carved the first year of our marriage, by laughing so often. The one that was born of worries the year he left the contracting companies to go into business for himself. The one developed from focusing hard on Nathaniel as he took his first steps, said his first words.”

“Best place to be?" Adrienne asks after a moment. On the other side of this wall. In my bed, at home. Anywhere with Nathaniel. "Before," I answer, because I know she'll understand.”

“But rules only work when everyone plays by them. What happens when someone doesn't, and the fallout bleeds right into his life? Whats stronger- the need to uphold the law, or the motive to turn one's back on it?”