“I drew because words were too unpredictable.”

“Were you listening to a word I said?' 'I kind of switched off when you drew breath.”

“Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings . . . but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern.”

“I was aware too how strange adults were, how theirs lives were vaster than they wanted anyone to realize, that they actually stretched on and on like deserts, dry and desolate, with an unpredictable, shifting sea of dunes.”

“I collected pictures and I drew pictures and I looked at the pictures by myself. And because no one else ever saw them, the pictures were perfect and true. They were alive.”

“I realized that there were times when we talked not because we needed to communicate anything important, but simply because we each drew comfort from the other's voice”