When I was a little kid I thought like a little kid, but now I'm five I know everything. — Emma Donoghue

"Are stories true?"

"Which ones?"

"The mermaid mother and Hansel and Gretel and all them."

"Well," says Ma, "not literally."

"What's—"

"They're magic, they're not about real people walking around today."

"So they're fake?"

"No, no. Stories are a different kind of true."

It's called mind over matter. If we don't mind, it doesn't matter.

I think buddy is man talk for sweetie.