I would like to go for a ride with you, have you take me to stand befo — Amy Hempel

"There is no friction here. Its a kind and buoyant place. What you forget, living here, is that just because you have stopped sinking doesnt mean youre not still underwater."

"Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the porch, absently picking ticks engorged like grapes off the sleeping dogs. And when the men kissed the women good night, and their weekend whiskers scratched the womens cheeks, the women did not think shave, they thought stay."

"I think of the chimp, the one with the talking hands. In the course of the experiment, that chimp had a baby. Imagine how her trainers must have thrilled when the mother, without prompting, began to sign her newborn. Baby, drink milk. Baby, play ball. And when the baby died, the mother stood over the body, her wrinkled hands moving with animal grace, forming again and again the words: Baby, come hug, Baby come hug, fluent now in the language of grief."

"Her ex stops by when hes in town and we pretend hes welcome. The two of them, Holly and this ex of hers, sit around and depress each other. They know all of each others weak points and failings, so they can bring each down in two-tenths of a second. When she see him, Holly says, its like the sunsets at the beach--once the sun drops the sand chills quickly. Then its like a lot of times that were good ten minutes ago and dont count now."