“It was a Friday night at Borders, almost closing time, and the weird girl was stalking. She prowled the sale bin, snatching up a DVD and holding it near the flap of her messenger bag, as if titillating herself with the idea of shoplifting.”

“I am also in a poorly fitting suit. We, the new adults, have been put on display at the front table. I have met a few of the others before, but I only know Caroline. This is her party.”

“The doves are not doves. King pigeons have two fates: raised for food or raised for release.”

“Through a crown of pigeon feathers & an obsidian grill, he tells me I won the motherfucking lottery. To hurry up & let him in already.”

“According to Oklahoma State Law (1.3.XXIV) any such moisture becomes the property of CareCorp at the moment of condensation, when such condensation occurs in corporately-owned airspace. “

“ … you say, and don’t answer when they pause, they ask you how long it was and you demur, long, you say, really the truth is it was four years, the length of an education and you don’t know what your world is like now beyond coke and sharing fries with men who don’t know anything about you, …”

“ There are an unimaginable number of crows before you, cawing and making clicking sounds. Some of them are already tapping on the windows. Some of them are already in the house. One of them is in front of your dog, who is trying to make himself as small as he possibly can be.”

“You said it was the only ​thing you had left of your father. We fell silent shortly after and watched the waves do their sloshing dance along the streets.”

“You are accepting the reality of a family reunion.”

“We’re sitting by the fireplace on a new moon night. He says to me, aren’t you ever sad we can’t travel the world? Wouldn’t you like to see the Duomo in Italy or the beaches in Morocco? Don’t you feel trapped…with me? I imagine folding clothes into a suitcase, boarding a plane with ticket in hand, looking out the window—the scenery getting closer, everything taking shape. It would be a lie to say I was always happy with the life I lived, but how could I say that to him. How could I say to him, yes, I dream of running away from you? “

“Santa sips herbal tea as he waits for winter, peppermint steam mingling with crisp autumn air. He wanders into the bedroom and crawls under the blanket with me. We spend afternoons hidden from the world, only the soft crooning of the record faintly drifting in from the living room.”

“A circle is the same shape as our children’s eyes when they ask me what’s for dinner and all I can say is bread because Spiros is busy attaching square wheels to our cart since he says the angles will create both the “necessary drag” while going downhill and also deter robbers. “

“That night she goes out in joggers and a puffer. She walks miles through busy city neighborhoods and industrial wastelands, along a commercial thoroughfare, unnoticed.”

“Of course, Anne Boleyn wasn’t really Anne Boleyn, either.  I like to think she was Mary Magdalene, though I can’t know for sure.  And Mary Magdalene wasn’t really Mary Magdalene, either.”

“Abe wanted it to look like a dinosaur, with big teeth and hard scaly armor all over its body. I thought it should look more like a caterpillar, or a cocoon that some ultra-mega savior would spring forth from.”

“Her hands were trembling a lot and her lips were chattering. She reached for me and I ducked under one of the cables and hunched over the bed. It was the first time I’d ever been that close to her. Her hand was so dry and thin that it felt like I was holding a silk glove, the kind Anne Elliot, in the book, would have worn.”

“ But it is hard work, telekinesis. My sister grows thin and her shoulders roll forward and soon the smallest things make her tired. Just sitting on the couch in our living room, she sucks down bottle after bottle of water, and I imagine her as a wilting plant.”

“The younger sibling and a boy, Jonathan suffered the after-shock. The beatings in the tub with the belt buckle after his father stormed out. He’s told me how his sister comforted him when, finally, the house was dark and quiet and he lay whimpering.”

“You visit a Catholic church and get blessed by Saint Anthony. You confess everything in the stuffy booth and the priest is so horrified that he laughs. You visit a tarot reader and pull the card of Death. Gemini horoscope predicts: Life-Changing Shift of Energy, and you burn the magazine in the sink.”

“She belongs to a Wine-of-the-Month Club. Her nail polish never chips, not even while washing dishes, which her husband always does anyway. If she knew, she would probably deem me unfit to babysit—as if I’d actually squeeze him until his ribs cracked like delicious little breadsticks.”