“She crushed it, telling herself she was going to add Big in front of her Idiot tattoo.”

“They were snobs or idiots or both...yet she was inexplicably crushed by their coldness.”

“One of the advantages a sister has when arguing with a brother is that she is under no obligation to be tactful. If she wishes to tell him that he is an idiot and ought to have his head examined, she can do so and, going further, can add that it is a thousand pities that no-one ever thought of smothering him with a pillow in his formative years.”

“Run, she told herself. Run, you idiot, run.But she didn't. She couldn't. She just... couldn't.”

“She introduced herself to my parents with one of her mighty, bunny-crushing handshakes. (I'd never seen Claudia crush a bunny, to be fair, but that's the approximate level of pressure.)”

“But as she continued and finished her tale, I could tell that her heart was elsewhere, and when she excused herself to go to bed, she left without saying good night. After that, the princesses in her stories were always beautiful. Always.”