"If she brings Toph something, for instance a pack of new Ping Pong balls, the need for which she somehow gleamed, then she is a good person, not a bad one, and she is loved unconditionally. If she comes over for dinner and actually eats our version of tacos, without all the ludicrous shit people usually put them in, she is a saint and welcome anytime. If she recognizes that the way we cut oranges -width-wise, not length-wise...then she is perfect and will be talked about glowingly..." (Page 110).
"I try not to think of the antiques...I want to save everything and preserve all this but also want it all gone-can't decide what's more romantic, preservation or decay? Wouldn't it be something to just burn it all? Throw it all in the street? I resent having to be the one-why not Bill? Beth?" (Page 122).
"The baby-sitter was acting peculiar, was too quiet, to unassuming. His eyes had plans. Of course. So Obvious from the beginning. I ignored the signals. Toph had told me Stephen was weird, repeatedly had mentioned his scary laugh, the veggie food he brought and cooked, and I just shrugged it all off. If something happens it'll be my fault. He will try bad things on Toph. He will try to molest Toph. While Toph is sleeping he will do something with wax and rope. The possibilities snap through my head like pedophilia flashcards-handcuffs, floorboards, clown suits, leather, video tape, duct tape, knives, bathtubs, refrigerators-" (Page 125).
"I'm alone and will never go out again. When will I get out again? It will be weeks from now. It will be never. I am lost. I am in the bridge's dark corridor, the lower tier, riding under cars going the other way, to San Francisco. I am heading back to Berkeley, to the flatlands, to our house, where there is no one, where it is just my bed, quiet. And Toph. Blood on the porch. The baby-sitter has taken him away. Or the baby-sitter has left him bleeding, as a warning...All my fault. I will run away. They will be looking somewhere tropical but will not guess I went to Russia. I will go to Russia and wander around Russia until I die" (Page 161).
"Where's Stephen? That's it. Stephen is gone because he poisoned Toph. Toph is dying. Toph has an hour to live. There will be no point to taking him to the hospital. The woman's voice from the poison hot line will crack-'There's nothing...nothing you can do-' and, broken, hysterical, I will gather my faculties so I can wake him, so we can talk for our last hour together. Should I tell him? No, no. We will have fun. I will pull it off. Hey, little man. What time is it. One. He is not dead. He will live. Everything is normal. Normal, normal, normal. Good. Good. Normal. Fine" (Page164).
