"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster." Part One, A Woman on the Street, pg. 3

"All this running around and moving around was temporary, Dad explained. He had a plan. He was going to find gold." Part Two, The Desert, pg. 22

"In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation. There was what Mom called Dad's 'beer phase'. We could handle that. Dad drove fast and sang really loud, locks of his hair fell into his face and life was little bit scary but still a lot of fun. But when Dad pulled a bottle of what Mom called 'the hard stuff', she got kind of frantic, because after working on the bottle a while, Dad turned...