“He shakes his head with a slow smile. You'd better be right. If the phone rings, I'm unpluggining it, I swear to God-“You'd do that to your five-year-old sister?“ I gasp in mock outrage.For one whole night alone? Jesus, Maya, I'd sell her to the gypsies!”

“Fear you?" she said without thinking. "Good God, I would never do that."Easing her head back, Westcliff looked at her while a slow smile spread across his face. "No, you wouldn't," he agreed. "You'd spit in the devil's eye if it suited you.”

“Grandma, how old is she?""Oh I don't know." Grandma said. "You'd have to cut off her head and count the rings in her neck.”

“Computer business are like fruit market on a Saturday night. If you don't sell it at five o'clock, the price is down tomorrow because the fruit's no good the next day. You'd better sell it now.”

“Sara: "You are so brave," I tell her, and then I smile. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."To my surprise, Kate shakes her head hard. Her voice is a feather, a thread. "No Mommy," she says. "You'd be sick.”

“Fill your head with the right pictures of me. Fill your head with the ones you'd hang on the wall.”