“I'm an orphan now, thought Charlotte. No matter how old you are, when your parents are gone, you are alone - an orphan.”

“It was what she imagined doing heroin would be like: terrible for you but impossible to resist.”

“Her mother's theory about germs was that one had to ingest and touch as many as possible in order to build up a healthy immunity.”

“You just want to see me naked,” Alec peeled off his shirt, thenpopped the buttons on his jeans and slid them low on his hips.“I’ve seen you naked. Or have you forgotten?”Alec winced when Grier probed the wound. “Oh yeah. What’dyou think, by the way?”“The room was cold, so I won’t hold it against you.”

“Deep within every modern American female, whether she will admit it or not, lingers the image of an ideal man. It isn't necessarily photo quality, it rarely involves specific physical characteristics. No, this image is more like the promise of a feeling, a swept-off-your-feet, powerless-to-control-it, how-awesome-is-this-guy sentiment that she hopes someone special will someday inspire. Left to its own devices, the brain will keep this feeling dormant until truly warranted by a real-life flesh-and-blood person.”

“You're not my real parents, every child has thought. I'm not your real child. But with orphans, it's true. What freedom, to thumb your nose authentically!”

“Well, finally, once you become an orphan, you're an orphan till the day you die. I keep having the same dream. I'm seven years old and an orphan again. All alone, with no adults around to take care of me. It's evening, and the light is fading, and night is pressing in. It's always the same. In the dream I always go back to being seven years old. Software like that you can't exchange once it's contaminated.”