"'Hey.' Sandy pointed. 'We didn't see this.' There was a small note taped to the door: EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS. PLEASE KEEP OUT" (Chapter 1, p. 9).

"'And I wish our parents did ordinary things,' Sandy complained. 'If Dad were a plumber or an electrician, and if Mother were somebody's secretary, it would be a lot easier for us'" (Chapter 1, p. 16).

"Change is, I suppose, inevitable, and sometimes it brings good things" (Chapter 3, p. 69).

"You are the beginning of change. We are living in end times. It can be very lonely" (Chapter 4, p. 97).

Sandy and I are the squares of the family. Our older sister and our little brother are the special ones. We're just the ordinary—" Alarid interrupted him. 'Because that is how you are, or because that is how you choose to be'" (Chapter 7, p. 113).

"But for the future to touch the past can be...