I Found Out Early That You Can

I Came From A House Full Of Books, So I Took Reading For Granted. I Was An Outdoorsy Little Kid, Too, So I Got The Best Of Both Worlds By Taking Books Up Trees And Reading There.

What I Am Telling You, Before You Begin My Story, Is This -- Two Things: I Crave Truth. And I Lie.

You Forget What It Was Like. You'd Swear On Your Life You Never Will, But Year By Year It Falls Away. How Your Temperature Ran Off The Mercury, Your Heart Galloped Flat-out And Never Needed To Rest, Everything Was Pitched On The Edge Of Shattering Glass. How Wanting Something Was Like Dying Of Thirst. How Your Skin Was Too Fine To Keep Out Any Of The Million Things Flooding By; Every Color Boiled Bright Enough To Scald You, Any Second Of Any Day Could Send You Soaring Or Rip You To Bloody Shreds.

When We Can't See A Pattern, We Fit Pieces Together Until One Takes Shape, Because We Have To.

Being Easily Freaked Out Comes With Its Own Special Skill Set: You Develop Subtle Tricks To Work Around It, Make Sure People Don't Notice. Pretty Soon, If You're A Fast Learner, You Can Get Through The Day Looking Almost Exactly Like A Normal Human Being.