“you're a terrible liar. sarah never mentioned me, because there's nothing to say. when did that happen. when did the old rock-climbing, mutiple-master's-degree kate lose her edge ? i'm no more exciting than an advertsing demographic. middle aged suburban white woman.”

“The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing. ”

“I'm my mother's first child, born when she was almost fourteen years old."Think of it," I said to Laura when I turned twelve. "I'm almost Mother Sarah's age when she was married."Laura looked at me, her squinty eyes even more narrowed. "You could have your own old man as a husband," she said."Shut up," I had said.And she had laughed.”

“At what age did men mature? If ever? And at what age did a woman cease having to deal with men acting as if they owned the right to lustfully indulge in a woman, be it with his eyes or hands?There was more to a woman than a womb and breasts.”

“Whatever age you are when you’re first burned is old enough to lose hope that you’ll ever get excited about anybody else.”

“When did she lose her wonder? When did she start existing and quit living?”