So that’s what I do. The same instinct as that little monkey. Find the soft couch, stroke the soft couch, nuzzle it, let it absorb my whispers, absorb my tears, dilute my squishy rhythmic sadness.
-- Narrator (Abby) (chapter 2)

Importance: This quote finds Abby explaining the bond she made with the couch in her childhood home. As she was growing up, Abby's mother was completely incapable of providing her emotional support or love at all, going so far as to become brutally violent with the boyfriends in her life in front of her daughter. All of this contributes to a deeply unsafe environment for Abby. In lieu of her actual mother, Abby projects motherly characteristics onto the couch in her house. The softness and reliability of the couch offers her stability that her own mother does not.

I hope that when I get home tonight, he’s been so thoroughly touched that he eats...
-- Narrator (Abby) (chapter 7)