“Then Jix locked eyes with him and said very calmly, "If you hit her, I will open my mouth wide enough to swallow you whole, force you through my bowels, then out my other end."Avalon scowled at him. "You can't do that.""Try me," Jix said. Avalon backed off, then angrily stormed away, and Jix winked at Jill. "One in five.”

“Ryann… I love you. Do you not love me back' I swallow at that and try to fight back the emotions that I had just been thinking. I know that I do love him but I also know that this, me leaving, was the best thing for him. I am awful for him and I would never be good enough for this wonderful man whom stands in front of me. I can’t force the words out of my mouth so I simply just shake my head 'no'. I can see in his eyes that the lack of words that I used hurt him just as much as any words I could have said.”

“Are you free to be anything more than a friend to me? If," and she stressed the if heavily, "I ever decided to live in Avalon and wanted to be with you, would you be free enough to do that?" He looked away, and Laurel could tell he'd been avoiding a conversation like this. "Well?" she insisted. "If you wanted it," he finally said. "If I wanted it?" He nodded. "I'm not allowed to ask. You would have to ask me." Her breath caught in her chest, and Tamani looked at her. "Why do you think David bothers me so much?" Laurel looked down at her lap. "I can't just storm in and proclaim my intentions. I can't 'steal' you away. I just have to wait and hope that, someday, you'll ask." "And if I don't?" Laurel said, her voice barley above a whisper. "Then I guess I'll wait forever.”

“My Teacher Sees Right Through MeI didn’t do my homework.My teacher asked me, “Why?”I answered him, “It’s much too hard.”He said, “You didn’t try.” I told him, “My dog ate it.”He said, “You have no dog.”I said, “I went out running.”He said, “You never jog.” I told him, “I had chores to do.”He said, “You watched TV.”I said, “I saw the doctor.”He said, “You were with me.” My teacher sees right through my fibs,which makes me very sad.It’s hard to fool the teacherwhen the teacher is your dad.”

“What's the hurry?" he said"This door is locked," Tully told him."So?""Can you pick a lock?""I'll give it a try.""Be my guest" Tully said, stepping to one side.Pap blew the lock away with the shotgun. He pushed the door open with the barrel.”

“Will you please stop peeking at me like that? This is degrading enough as it is.""Did it ever occur to you," I said, with a sly smile and a wink, "that you're irresistibly handsome, I can't keep my eyes off of you?"He threw his head back in a laugh. "Of course. I should have realized.”