When he lost his eye, half of Eric Jessop's field of vision became a black sadness that seeped into everything from football to faces. Only skating was strong enough to resist the stain.

Five years and Nolan had always been there. Five years and Dane always appeared nervous, as if it were a first date.

Kevin's dad is convinced that there's one weed spawning all the others in his garden and he just needs to find it.

For Arabella, Christmas gifts were not judged on how expensive they were. They were an insight into how well I really knew and understood her.

As if there weren’t enough problems on his plate, Mondriel had to go and stumble upon the biggest secret ever, didn’t he? The kind of secret that would turn the natural order of things on its head if it was leaked to a wider public.

As I turned the page the edge cut my finger

We kept white feathers before exams or doctors’ appointments. Black feathers, of course, were warnings. We knew these to be facts, as empirical as science.

I wondered if there was a used-teeth store I could recommend to get these guys geared up and ready for caramel apple season?

These things do not happen to the dead, she told herself.

It was eerie sometimes, how a room filled with talking people would quiet up when he spoke. I felt like I was that room full of people then.

Ten words, one tale. Ten tales, a hundred words.

“It’s always the same to begin with,” I said. “I’m on the beach. The sand is hot, the sun is bearing down. It makes the sand look white, like snow.”

There was always news, Antonio thought, as the announcer’s name started to boom out, and he was glad for that.

His mother once told him a story about how his granddaddy nearly gave her away.

On the morning of the Naming Day, I am up early.