“I appricated that Nell was talking to me like a grown-up, but I had no idea what she meant. Still, I could see that the words flowed together like water over a riverbed.”

“If I wrote the word flower,would it still grow like a flower?If I wrote a poem concerning a river,would the water still flow in the eyes of the reader?”

“Middle-class prosperity is lapidary; the flow of cash rounds and smooths a person like water does riverbed stones.”

“See, I can talk to the pretty man like a real grown up if I try hard enough.”

“I couldn't tell what colour her eyes were. They were wet and dark and shining, like pools of deep, still water. For a second I thought I could see pictures in them, like I was looking right inside her to where her memories were. She smiled, and I wondered if she knew what I'd seen or if she could see the pictures I kept hidden inside myself.”

“Sorry,” she said, “I got out as fast as I could, but I had to stay and socialize. Protocol, you know.”“Explain protocol,” Nell said. This was how she always talked to the Primer.“At the place we’re going, you need to watch your manners. Don’t say ‘explain this’ or ‘explain that.’”“Would it impose on your time unduly to provide me with a concise explanation of the term protocol?” Nell said.Again Rita made that nervous laugh and looked at Nell with an expression that looked like poorly concealed alarm.”