“I watch the beautiful performance with an ache in my chest.Then, just when I can’t stand the sadness anymore, a dancer floats out from the side of the stage. A dancer in ragged clothes, filthy and half starved. He’s not even in ballet shoes. He’s just barefoot as he glides out to take his place in the dance.The other dancers turn to him, and it’s clear that he is one of them. One of the lost ones. By the look on their faces, they weren’t expecting him. This is not part of the practiced show. He must have seen them onstage and joined in.Amazingly, the dance continues without a missed beat. The newcomer simply glides into place, and the final dancer who should have danced solo with her missing partner dances with the newcomer.It is full of joy, and the ballerina actually laughs. Her voice is clear and high, and it lifts us all.”

“Who will guard us against the guardians?”

“Sometimes, as we're stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good.”

“The right thing is a luxury for rich and sheltered people. For the rest of us, the only right thing is staying out of trouble and surviving as best we can.”

“Big words from a guy who's trussed up like a turkey. What are you going to do, wobble over here like an upside- down turtle to snap me in half?""The logistics of breaking you are easy. The only question is when.”

“I have better things to do.’‘Like what?’He opens one eye and looks at me. ‘Like convince a stubborn girl to admit she’s madly in love with me.’I can’t help but smile.‘So if it’s not a pig farm that you want, what is it?’ he asks.I swallow. ‘How about a safe place to live where we don’t have to scrounge for food or fight for it?’‘It’s yours.’‘That’s it? All I have to do is ask?’‘No. There’s a price for everything.’‘I knew it. What is it?’‘Me.”

“I'll be sure not to let anyone but you carry me in her arms." He turns and leaves the kitchen before I can figure out what to make of his comment. A sense of humor is one more thing I don't think angels should have. The fact that his sense of humor is corny makes it even more wrong.”

“Of course she’s right. How bad are things when your clinically insane mother is more rational than you are?”

“He doesn't even like me.I let the thought roll around in my head. Anything I feel during that time gets shoved into the vault with the ten-foot-think door slamming as soon as it goes in, just in case something in there has any intention of crawling out.”

“Nothing short of the end of the world would get our eco-conscious techies to toss their latest gadgets onto the street.”

“The only thing that matters in the end is your own survival. It's what humans and cockroaches are best at.”