“Marcie fancied herself an amateur therapist at times. I was her favorite patient.”

“Later on, I see how often therapists keep patients coming to them, not so much for the benefit of the patients but to satisfy the therapists' need to help - and because of their own inability to recognize the clients' actual independence. (148)”

“The therapist could not budge the patient from her syllogism. She replayed it throughout the hour, 'stuck in a single organization of events.' Seeing it from the other side (from behind the wall, as an observer), I understood the obsessive quality of such an attachment, something comforting in holding on to a smug, all-seeing knowledge, even a sad or hurtful one; something that let the patient control the precise amount of pain she administered to herself.”

“Are you defending Marcie?”He shook his head. “I don’t need to. She handled herself. You, on the other hand…”I pointed at the door. “Out.”

“Just be patient, she told herself, and with the mounting pages, the strength of her writing fist grew.”

“Miri forced herself to remain very still. Never run from immortals, she remembered; her favorite line from a favorite movie. Never run.”