There Wasn't A Lot Of Bullshit In

I Was The Girl He Had Chosen To Kiss. He Wanted, Somehow To Set Me Free. He Didn't Want To Burn My Photo Or Toss It Away, But He Didn't Want To Look At Me Anymore, Either.

But She Was Waiting Patiently. She No Longer Believed In Talk. It Never Rescued Anything. At Seventy She Had Come To Believe In Time Alone. ~pg 254

Hold Still," My Father Would Say, While I Held The Ship In The Bottle And He Burned Away The Strings He'd Raised The Mast With And Set The Clipper Ship Free On Its Blue Putty Sea. And I Would Wait For Him, Recognizing The Tension Of That Moment When The World In The Bottle Depended, Solely, On Me.

Sometimes Holly Seemed Like She Wasn't Paying Attention, And Other Times She Was Gone When I Went Looking For Her. That Was When She Went To A Part Of Heaven We Didn't Share. I Missed Her Then, But It Was And Odd Sort Of Missing Because By Then I Knew The Meaning Of Forever. I Could Not Have What I Wanted Most: Mr. Harvey Dead And Me Living. Heaven Wasn't Perfect. But I Came To Believe That If I Watched Closely, And Desired, I Might Change The Lives Of Those I Loved On Earth.

Each Time I Told My Story, I Lost A Bit, The Smallest Drop Of Pain.