“O Jesus, I could be a mule or plow the furrows with my hands if need be or hold those rickety walls up with my back if need be if I knew that somewhere in this world in the pocket of some night I could open my legs to some cowboy lean hips but you are trying to tell me no and O my sweet Jesus what kind of cross is that?”

“I open my mouth. I want o say: I'm breaking, and i need someone to hold me together.But no sound comes out.”

“How badly i needed to see what was in my head o the page. even if i could barely read it.”

“I need you to go talk to a girl who may have some information about Emma.""Where is she?""Someplace you're not going to want to go."(...)"I give up. Where?""Institution 37."I felt a hitch in my breathing. I leaned back against the wall."Could I pick hell instead?”

“I decided.. that I could go on being scared forever, that I could keep walking, that I could carry my rage around, hot and heavy in my chest forever. But maybe there was another way. You have everything you need, my mother had told me. And maybe all I needed was the courage to admit that what I needed was someone to lean on.”

“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.”