“As I apologized to her a flicker of panic raced through me and then faded away. There wasn't enough life left in me to panic. I'd made a mistake and I was dying. Apparently not even a Speck afterlife was available to me. I'd simply stop being. Apparently I hadn't died correctly. Oops.”

“I love the life you've always made so sweet for me and I'd regret it if I had to die.''Do you mean to say that if I left you---''I'd die, yes.''Then you love me?”

“I knew I was having a panic attack. I hadn't had one in a while, though, and I'd forgotton how they made everything like it- and I- was going to fall apart. How they reminded me of how trapped I was.”

“Jimmy put in a word and told them that if I made it, I wouldn't be able to live with myself without paying them back. That I'd sooner die than owe anyone money for helping me. Apparently Jimmy knew more about me at that point than I knew about myself.”

“People being nice for no apparent reason always made me suspicious. People being nice to me with no apparent reason made me even more suspicious.”

“There wasn't an in-between for me. I lived at extremes. And maybe I'd die at them too.”