“How old are you?” “Physiologically, I’m twenty-five. Chronologically, I’m…not.”

“Carved above the lintel were the words SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST. Science points east, I wondered? Science is portentous, yes? Science protests too much. Scientific potatoes rule. Had I stumbled on the lair of dangerous plant geneticists?”

“How were you supposed to change- in ways both big and small- when your family was always there to remind you of exactly the person you apparently signed an ironclad contract to be?”

“My mom said the moon landing was faked,” said Eddie. “But she also said she saw Jackie Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa, Elvis and Bigfoot at the IHOP out by the interstate. Elvis picked up the check.”

“Through love, all is possible.”

“Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”

“It’s a particular kind of pleasure, of intimacy, loving a book with someone.”

“Before that she hadn’t realized how fragile happiness was, how if you were careless, you could knock it over and shatter it.”