“I told you this one’s not right in the head. I just show her my killer weapons and all she wants to do is jump my bones.”

“You looked like you wanted to jump his bones right there!""Jump his bones?" Sadie frowns. "What do you mean?"..."It's like a pajama party. Except you take off your pajamas.""Oh that." Her face clicks with recognition. You call it 'jumping his bones'?""Sometimes." I shrug."What an odd phrase. We used to call it sex.""Oh." I say, discomfited. "Well we do too-""Or barney-mugging," she adds.”

“I told her yeah, but there was no skin on my voice and she heard the bones in my words like I did. And I knew.”

“Sometimes my feelings get so big that I just want to swim out into the darkness. Just jump off the end of the world. Sometimes I want to dig, right down to the bones of everything. Sometimes when you dig, you dig up stuff you might not want to find. But that’s where the good stuff lies.”

“I looked at Mommy but quickly shook my head. "I don't want to miss her."Becky put her soft, warm hand on my shoulder, just like Mommy used to when I was upset. "Your mom wants to be here with you. She wants that very much. But Jesus wants her with him right now."I frowned. "I need her more than Jesus does.”

“And I told you: I think of a photograph you took of me, up in Montreal. You told me to jump in the air, so in the picture, my feet are off the ground. Later, I asked you why you wanted me to do that, and you told me it was the only way to get me to forget about the expression on my face. You were right. I am completely unposed, completely genuine. In my mind’s eye, I picture myself like that, reacting to you.”