“Anyone could see it all coming and no one could possibly stop it and that was the beautiful thing. Friday night was open wide and writ in stone”

“I'd underestimated him. I assumed anyone who started out gut-punching you in an elevator couldn't have all that much else in his arsenal. For instance, I had no idea he could smile, let alone at such an inappropriate time.”

“You could grow up in the city where history was made and still miss it all.”

“It was a rebus of heartbreak, misfortune a dog could parse.”

“It wasn't for children, seventh grade. You could read the stress of even entering the building in the postures of the teachers, the security guards. Nobody could relax in such a racial and hormonal disaster area.”

“I suppose there was never a reason for tearing down a cabin or scrapping a stopped automobile, if you had all those acres.”

“Go buy milk,' Robert said at last.Dylan moved for Buggy's door.But if ou come around here with that old lady's money next time I might have to take it off you.'Dylan recognized this as a sort of philosophical using. He was grateful for the implied sense of pooled information. He and Robert could move forward together from this point into whatever was required.”