“Curiouser and curiouser."Startled,I glanced at him. "I say that sometimes."Even with his face tight with worry, Dad managed to look a little amused. "It's from Alice in Wonderland. Appropriate, don't you think?"Yeah,except that our rabbit hole was a heck of a lot darker,I thought.I pretended to study the bookcase in the far corner. I'd expected boring books about Prodigium history or shifter economy, and there were a few of those, but I also noticed some recent fiction, as well as several Roald Dahl books. Dad went up in my estimation another notch.”

“I hadn’t thought about that.”He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Curiouser and curiouser.”Startled, I glanced at him. “I say that sometimes.”Even with his face tight with worry, Dad managed to look a little amused. “It’s from Alice in Wonderland. Appropriate, don’t you think?”

“I was surprised to find authors like Kaizan Nakazato and Sanjugo Naoki in a corner of the bookcase where I've never noticed them before. I dip into a book, and if it's dull I go straight onto the next. I never used to do that--even if I was bored I'd plod on to the end. But, look, if I'm to die at any moment, there's no sense being in the middle of a boring book, is there?”

“My dad was always snoozing on the couch, like Dagwood Bumstead. He was a lazy motherfucker. God bless him. He was always working on some kind of get-rich-quick scheme. This is what my dad was like: I'd say, Hey, Dad, we studied penguins today in school. He'd say, Yeah? I'm a penguin fucker from way back. Dad, I saw a giraffe at the zoo today. Yeah? I'm a giraffe fucker from way back. That's my dad. My dad was a giraffe fucker.”

“I never got along with my dad. Kids used to come up to me and say, "My dad can beat up your dad." I'd say Yeah? When?”

“I hate you""No, you don't." My dad can be very calm sometimes."He's my hole world""Don't ever say that about anyone again. Not even me." That was my mom. [pp.28]”