“As I run, I wonder how many of these people helped buy my leg.I wonder about the deep, wide abyss between good intentions and concrete action, and how many of them leapt across it.”

“Sometimes I get so caught up in my own problems that I forget how amazing the world is.”

“I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.”

“I am a runner. That's what I do. That's who I am. Running is all I know, or want, or care about.”

“Summers there are awful! Winters there are awful! Why do you stay? You ought to run away! Hop a train! Stow away on a bus!What am I saying? You could just buy yourself a ticket.It would be interesting to talk to you if you did it the other way, though.We could compare scars and bruises.It might be fun.”

“I've decided this is all your fault, Ms. Leone. I've run away before, you know, but stowed away or jumped trains or broke into buildings, I just ran away and got caught. But I think all that stuff you told us about the Underground Railroad got lodged in my subconscious, and somewhere inside it gave me the strength or courage or insanity to really get away. So see? This is all your fault.”

“It's disturbing how fast weeds take root in my garden of worthiness.They're so hard to pull.And grow back so easily.”