Gilda Olvidado

"Only frustrated people smoke too much and only lonely people are frustrated."

"I can never get a zipper to close."

"The intimacy of her mother’s hands and the warmth of the water lulled the Girl into a trance of sensuality she never forgot. Now the blood washing slowly down her breastbone and soaking into the floor below was like that bath—a cleansing."

"They ain’t been here long ’nough. They just barely human. Maybe not even. They suck up the world, don’t taste it."