“Toph kicks over the microphone stand in a grand,asshole gesture,and the three of them jump off the stage.It's a little less dramatic when they have to come right back to take apart their stuff before the next band comes on. I try to catch Bridge's eye,but she won't look at me.Her gaze is locked on her cymbal stands. Toph takes a swig of bottled water,gives me a wave, then grabs his amp and heads for the parking lot.”

“Pearce leaned in over the table to lock eyes with Mark. “Look, Mr. Beecher, you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together for the next week, got it? And when you think about it, I’m the only thing standing between you and a bullet in your head, so you might want to start being a little nicer and a lot more cooperative, okay?”

“She laughs and looks out the window and I think for a minute that she's going to start to cry. I'm standing by the door and I look over at the Elvis Costello poster, at his eyes, watching her, watching us, and I try to get her away from it, so I tell her to come over here, sit down, and she thinks I want to hug her or something and she comes over to me and puts her arms around my back and says something like 'I think we've all lost some sort of feeling.”

“She asked if we were calm enough for her to take off the cuffs, and McMurphy nodded. He had slumped over with his head hung and his elbows between his knees and looked completely exhausted--it hadn't occurred to me that it was just as hard for him to stand straight as it was for me.”

“When she told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved her head and was very dramatic.”

“If you ask me to leave now, I will.” Slowly his mouthcurved into that heart-stopping smile. “And then you’ll miss what comes next.”She shut her eyes for a heartbeat, trying to regain some control over herthoughts and her spread, wanton body. “What comes next?”“You do.” He lowered his head again.”