Quotes from Elissa Schappell

You know what they say - sleep is the mother's drug of choice, but like heroin, only the very rich and the very poor can afford it.

Don't be a fool, there is no such thing as just a girl.

A single girl who needs nobody makes people uncomfortable, my mom is right in this, appearance is everything, and appearing to have no one is like swimming alone in the middle of the ocean with a flesh wound.

Nostalgia is a narcotic.

She reminded me of the girls I'd grown up with. Spoiled, undeniably pretty girls who tirelessly solicited compliments by claiming to be disgusted by their looks (too fat, too thin), who'd beg you to order nachos or fries to share! and then, claiming loss of appetite, sit and stare at you while you ate like they were watching porn. Who one day are your best friends and the next the agents of your destruction.

A single girl who needs nobody makes people uncomfortable, and my mom is right in this, appearance is everything, and appearing to have no one is like swimming alone in the middle of the ocean with a flesh wound.

These crabs, Paige explained, weren't ordinary civilian crabs, but rock 'n' roll royalty crabs, having been passed, via groupies, from the Rolling Stones to Aerosmith to Guns N' Roses, for decades. It made her feel connected to something larger, a part of history. 'Like those sourdough starts that were so popular in the seventies,' I said. 'Mine was supposedly a direct descendant of one that Alice Waters started in Berkeley.

The move for the pitcher of Bloody Marys on the porch railing is pure instinct, reflex. Tomatoes are packed with vitamins. Next, I'll duck into the loo. Deb always hides a box of Munchkins in the bathroom, because she hates to eat in front of boys.

You should see the other guy..." Teddy says, in this laconic tone that matches her black kimono. She takes a drag on a joint, barely glancing up from the crossword, which she always does in pen.

She didn't know if Evie had always been emotionally promiscuous or if it was the grief talking. It was like she was infected by sadness, and as a carrier she made everyone around her sad. Which seemed reckless and a little selfish to Paige. When you're contagious you quarantine yourself. Evie should stay inside until the grief ran its course. Stay away from other people, children, anyone whose psychological immune system might be compromised.

No matter what kind of clouds they are – nimbus, stratus, cumulus – my mother always sees Elvis, and my sister always sees angels.

We are driving along a road I have driven my whole life. I still watch for the bends in the creek, checking to see how high the water comes up on the bank, I still hold my breath as we go around the blind turn, I can close my eyes and tell you where we are just by the way my stomach feels. I wonder if after I grow up and move away, if I came back would my body still remember this road, or would I have forgotten it?

Write to exhaustion so that you can no longer manage to avoid writing the truth.