“So I heard the boom of my father's rifle when he shot my best friend. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.”

“(I think Rowdy might be the most important person in my life. maybe more important than my family.) Can your best friend be more importamt than your family?”

“Father Arnold finished the ceremony and asked if anybody had any final words for the dearly departed."Final words?" Chess asked, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop talking about this.”

“She told me that every other step was just for me.'But that's only half of the dance,' I said.Yeah,' my father said. 'She was keeping the rest for herself. Nobody can give everything away. It ain't healthy.”

“But none of them laughed as hard about my beautiful brain as I knew my father would have. I miss him, the drunk bastard. I would always feel closest to the man who had most disappointed me.”

“I used to sleep with my books in piles all over my bed and sometimes they were the only thing keeping me warm and always the only thing keeping me alive. Books are the best and worst defense.”

“The morning of the game, I'd woken up in my rez house so my dad could drive me the twenty-two miles to Reardan, so I could get on the team bus for the ride back to the reservation. Crazy. ”