“It doesn't seem real," said Linda. "None of this. It's like we're all dreaming or something. Or maybe we really are dead." "Nah," said Patsy, fluffing her bleach-blond curls. "If this was heaven there'd be more naked men.”

“Yes," said Hardacre, "but it's not real. We're not real. And when the story is all told, when He writes 'The End' at the bottom of the last page, then all this will wrap up. No more Hell, no more Heaven, no more angels, devils, saints or sinners. The story's done. It will be as if we never were”

“Linda Hertney: It's like a final goodbye from Todd. (Linda = nut. Once claimed crow on ledge was reincarnation of her dead husband. Said she could telly by way crow's head was cocked disapprovingly at large lunch she was eating.)”

“These emotions, this love, this fear, this gratitude, this relief, the grief – none of it reallyexists. None of it has mass or location, none of it can be weighed or photographed. None ofthese emotions last, none of them can be measured – except in that very moment when we'refeeling them. They're like music – once the notes are played, they disappear. They only existin that moment in time. Love isn't merely something we feel, it's something we create –something we have to keep creating in each and every moment. It's a song we have to keepplaying.Because we know it doesn't really exist. We can't hold it. We can't lock it away. We can'tinsure it. It's just a melody we play on and on. Our own Songline. We can only go on playingit, moment by moment, until we're all out of moments.It seems sort of pointless, striving so hard for perfection in something that doesn't reallyexist. But, my, what a symphony it is.And it's funny really, because for something that doesn't exist, it seems to be the onlything that human beings never run out of. As long as we have faith in its magic, love is theonly thing that lasts.”

“It's how we know we're alive," ginger said. "We grieve the dead.”

“Sometimes, online, I feel like we're not really people. We're more like characters." I felt him studying me while I said this. "It's like living inside a reality show all the time. We edit out the scenes so we can appear a certain way. It makes me wonder if I really know anybody.”