“She's trying to sabotage all the magic holding this island together. But that would create a catastrophe for all of Hawaii.""Well, that does it," Koko huffed. "As of today, she's off my Christmas card list.”

“I’ll go through my Christmas card list,” Trent said,”

“One of the world's most tiresome questions is what object one would bring to a desert island,because people always answer "a deck of cards" or "Anna Karenina" when the obvious answer is "a well equipped boat and a crew to sail me off the island and back home where I can play all the card games and read all the Russian novels I want.”

“She was gauging him, trying to work out what cards he had up his sleeve. For now he might be able to keep her off balance by smiling meaningfully and dropping hints, delaying the moment in which she realized that she held all the cards, and that his well-brushed sleeves held nothing but his arms.”

“Since I was Shy’s old lady and my behaviour reflected on him, I backed down. But, since I was Tabby and he was Hound, I didn’t do it gracefully. “You’re off my Christmas card list,” I announced.”

“God, she was convinced, would look the other way. It was Christmas after all.”