“All day long you wring yourself out / work virtually / go nowhere.”

“With or without me / it is happening.”

 “As if anyone could own you.”

“There is a grass still / grows that I once mowed.”

“What does it tell us about who we are that we are tenderly intrigued by an imaginary person walking through an old photograph?”

“I will not pretend to bring G.F. to life. Nor pretend to bring life to him. G.F. gone for good.”

“She wanted to feel sorry for the neighbor and say how horrible it was and how she must have really been suffering, but all that came out was anger.”

“She had a particular shelf, the complaining woman said, where she was keeping all the books he’d given her.”

“It’s time to turn up the heat a little bit more. My boys are getting bored, and that’s not good for their appetite or their temper.”

“He got out of the car, closing his door quietly, and crept through the woods toward the brick house.”

“Why was Bree the bad apple? The one needing to be banished? How could a girl of fourteen be the one held responsible?”

“I told her about how there were these special trees in secret places, and no one knew how they could survive. And I tried not to make a thing out of saying—but did say—‘I’ve seen one, but I can’t tell you where it is.’ ”