“Shoulders slumped in defeat, I turned to walk away. The drugstore had caved under the force of my criminal will, but the Coke machine was virtuous. Inviolate.”

“I wanted the syrupy taste of this small rebellion. And this stupid machine was denying that bit of freedom to me . . . just like everyone else.”

“There was a difference, I had decided, between knowing and believing. And I wanted both.”

“I ran my fingers over the black ink. "They're holy to you."Alex flexed his fingers. "They are now.”

“You have done well, Katie,” Frau Gerlach said. “You would make a fine midwife someday, if you ever wished to learn.”I cast my eyes down, exhausted and shy and afraid and proud all at once. “All I have managed so far is to be a midwife to the puppies.”She reached out to pat my cheek with a bloody hand. “God smiles on those who quietly do his dirty work, my girl.”

“God smiles on those who quietly do his dirty work, my girl.”

“Maybe now that Elijah was feeling well enough to be interfering in my business, he'd also be well enough to look after his own chores.”