“Howdy, pardner," he said. "Howdy… mad scientist. I don't know any geek-speak, so that's all you're getting.”

“[on Halloween]Shaya could hear the clump-clump-clump of their mother's feet on the stairs. When she appeared in the living room doorway, neither Shaya nor Dev could speak. "Oh, gosh," Shaya finally said. "Well? What do you think?" Shaya's lips moved, but she couldn't find the words. Finally Dev uttered, "Mom, you're a… cow." "Right! So that Shaya and I could do a theme." At their blank expressions, she said. "Get it? Cowgirl… cow." Shaya finally found her voice. "Mom, you're… huge. You're huge and black and white and you have an udder.”

“A note sat on the kitchen table. Shaya snatched it up and read:Shay,I'm taking Dev to the clinic, he's still sick. Didn't want to wake you, you were sleeping so soundly. Hope to be back early afternoon. Love, Mom PS – don't forget you're grounded”

“So, does anyone know if this person really did drown in that pond? I mean, really really?" Kim shrugged. "I dunno." "Haven't you ever asked your parents?" Brianne and Kim gave her blank looks. Obviously not.”

“When things don't turn out the way we want, about the only thing we can do is know God is still there piecing together all the scraps of the events in our lives the way He has planned. He sees the big picture even when we don't.”

“Are you mad?" I ask."I was." He glances at the ceiling then back at me. "Or confused, anyway. The whole thing threw me through for a loop. I thought I'd finally met a guy at Underwood I could relate to, and it turns out he wasn't a guy at all."I swallow. "I can see how that would be weird." "In a way though, I was relieved.""Relieved?" I echo. "Why?"He looks around embarrased. "Let's just say you had me questioning my sexual orientation.”

“I think that everyone should have at least a part of them that's self-invented; in fact, the world would be much more interesting if we all created our own identities afresh whenever we felt like it. Otherwise you're just walking around regurgitating what's expected, which is like, why bother?”