I believed in immaculate conception and spontaneous combustion. I believed in aliens from outer space and vampires, prophecy, and the resurrection of the dead. I had deja vu many times each day. I was thirteen.

He was thirteen that year, the age when children splinter off and abandon the old loves.

There were fourteen steps exactly fourteen. But the top one was smaller, out of proportion, as if it had been added to avoid the evil number.

I was always moved when mean people were suddenly nice to me. It was a weakness that would lead me into some bad relationships later in life.