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1 " How much maltreatment and exploitation could someone handle before losing self-control? "
― Mary Kubica , Pretty Baby
2 " I love the quietness of the library, the gateway to knowledge, to the French language and medieval history and hydraulic engineering and fairy tales, learning in a very primitive form: books, something that's quickly giving way to modern technology. "
3 " Momma used to say, “We don’t have much, but at least we have each other.” And then one day, we didn’t even have that much. "
4 " But there was something telling about that photograph, I thought; our protective glass frame shattered and now here we were, punctured with microscopic holes that might one day tear. Those holes all had names: mortgage, adolescent child, lack of communication, retirement savings, cancer. "
5 " I came to understand it wasn’t about the information itself but the exchange: a pact, a bond. "
6 " Having a best friend is a wonderful thing. There needs be no proofreading, no refinement, of the comments that come from my head. "
7 " As it was, it was the baby or me, and I chose me, a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life. "
8 " catch her sometimes, "
9 " It’s not what the world holds for you. It’s what you bring to it,” she nearly whispers, and I find myself staring, dumbly, until she says, “Anne of Green Gables. "
10 " Having a best friend is a wonderful thing. There needs be no proofreading, no refinement, of the comments that come from my head. “What "
11 " he’d say. Sacrilege. But Joseph never did "
12 " I know how women are. A little camaraderie can fix anything. "
13 " He moved to our junior high from San Diego, California, which was respect worthy in and of itself, but on top of it, the kid could dance, the Carlton and the jiggy, the tootsee roll. He was the envy of the other boys, the one the girls idolized. "
14 " I stroke a finger down Ruby's cheek, feeling the soft, cherubic skin, staring into the innocent, ethereal eyes. The baby latches to my finger with her chubby little fist, the bones and veins tucked under layers and layers of baby fat, the only time in one's life when fat is adorable and heavenly. "