"Sometimes I feel like Alice in Wonderland whirling through the darkness until the other side of my world is illumined. And this is about Chauncey's other side, the white side, and that middle place where Lena and I met and came together." (Preface, page 1)

"'Come back, Lena' I screamed. But Lena just pursed her lips toward the sky, her body growing tinier and tinier. Then she was gone." (Chapter 1, page 11)

My father said that when he was a kid, he thought people were just people no matter what color they were. But once he grew he said, he started seeing things in black and white." (Chapter 4, page 16)

"Anyone who made eye contact with me would probably be able to see what a coward I was. Skittish, Daddy called it. 'Like a mouse a light's been shined on.'" (Chapter 5, page 21)

"I wanted to learn how to grieve and...