“I can be whatever.You can be whatever.We can be whatever.Whatever, together.”

“Around us the night creatures have their say. We are surrounded by a symphony of crickets and frogs. Neither of us feels the need to speak, and I suppose that is one of the qualities I find comforting in Kartik. We can be alone together.”

“Come awake, Tom. Fathers can willfully hurt their children. They can be addicts too weak to give up their vices, no matter the pain it causes. Mothers can turn you invisible with neglect. They can erase you with a denial, a refusal to see. Friends can deceive you. People lie. It is a cold, hard world. I do not blame Nell Hawkins for retreating from it into a madness of her own choosing.”

“I run after her, not really giving chase. I’m running because I can, because I must.Because I want to see how far I can go before I have to stop.”

“People can live with only so much honesty. And sometimes, people can surprise you.”

“I know the English are terribly sentimental about the sea, but I can live without it.”

“I don't trust her father than I can run full-steam in a corset.”