Wendy Wunder

“Beauty didn't seem to be a priority for people anymore. If you had to judge by I-95, America had become a cancerous clusters of cheap houses, replicating out of control...People just needed places to collect their stuff.”

“A'ohe I pau ka 'ike I ka halau ho'okahi, she said. It was a popular hula adage that meant:All knowledge is not contained in only one school.”

“Sometimes, Cam thought, men really are the fairer sex. The more gallant and pure and innocent and understanding. Perhaps because they didn't have to fight so hard.”

“You cannot conceive of the depths of my sorrow, Campbell Maria Cooper." Alicia brought her fist to her mouth and her other hand to the rail of the bed and took a deep breath before she continued. "I will never be the same when you are gone. Things for me will be dim and gray and flat. But there is one thing that will keep me going, Campbell, and that is the belief in my connection to you. This thing. This crazy enmeshed love feeling that I have is real. Like this cup is real. Or this phone is real. And it will not just go away when you do. Okay? Wherever you are going, you will be connected to me by this thing, and you will never, ever be alone, okay? I want you to know that.”

“Love'--romantic love, anyway--was a fantasy people indulged in because otherwise, life was just too boring to tolerate.”

“Old people always exaggerate the danger and lawlessness of their youth, thought Cam, because their adult lives have become so boring.”

“Some people say you should pay attention to coincidence. It can show you your path. Besides, these coincidences are enough to keep people believing. To give them some hope.”

“Infinity fascinated her. How systems and universes could keep getting infinitely smaller in one direction and infinitely larger in another. How the shape of an atom so precisely mimicked the shape of the solar system. How there wasn't an end to anything.”

“This is what it felt like to have a broken heart. It felt less like a cracking down the middle and more like she had swallowed it whole and it sat bruised and bleeding in the pit of her stomach.”

“If you put a frog in some warm water and slowly turn up the heat, he'll stay there until he boils. Kind of like people. We're too lazy to change so we'll just keep doing what we're doing until it's too late.”

“You can't force your will with the universe. You just have to trust how things unfold.”

“If you believed that thoughts were energy and energy is matter (E=mc2) and matter never disappears, then a person can never truly leave you unless you stop thinking about them. Everything you shared with a person is still there swirling around in the universe. Love, Cam had to admit, might be real. And love endures. Relationships endure. Because thoughts are energy, energy is matter, and matter never disappears.”

“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back.”

“I think some girls get so caught up in the wedding part that they forget about the marriage part, and they end up bonded for life to the wrong person. It's not the wedding part that matters.”

“Only the present moment matters.”

“The present moment can be chopped into infinitely smaller present moments. This moment is forever. And it is all that matters.”

“We weren't put on this earth to go it alone.”

“Being kind is one of the hardest thing to be in high school because you're so terrified of being cut down yourself that you're always on your guard. But don't be like that. Be kind and you will be truly different. A standout. Unique and happy.”

“People keep talking about this unfolding. I can't trust the unfolding, okay? If there is some higher power making origami out of the universe, it hates my guts. I was a fat kid whose parents got divorced, whose father died, and then who got cancer herself. So no. I don't trust how things are going to unfold.”

“She’d trained herself for so long not to want or to hope or to wish, that she had a hard time pinning down something to ask for.”

“Cam stepped inside the music and let it close around her like a bubble.”

“No se puede ser libre si se dedica uno a esperar a que el Universo se pronuncie. Si estás a merced del Universo, no eres realmente libre.”

“If Cam finally learned one lesson before she died, it would be that being kind was sometimes more important than being right.”

“Kind of like people. We're too lazy to change, so we'll just keep doing what we're doing until it's too late.”

“Or just don't wear it. Then you can check off the skinny-dipping and kill two birds.''I'm not surfing naked, Asher.''Rats,' he said.”

“Perry was in charge of music; Asher, lighting, seating, and structures; and presiding the service was Elaine, who was, not suprisingly, a certified minister and wedding planner.”

“And you stole my underwear,' Nana added. 'What did you want with my underwear?”

“Is he drunk?' the attendant asked as they boarded the early morning flight.'Not yet,' said Grey.”

“Just go with it. You are a princess.''What does that *mean*, though?' Cam asked. 'How-''Oh, my God, Campbell. Be quiet!' He laughed.”

“Cam lifted the back of the U-Haul door to find Perry holding up a pair of Nana's enormous, silky white underpants.'Whoops,' said Cam. 'You'll have to make do.' And she shut the door, ignoring Perry's continued pounding on the side of the trailer.'I packed some cute stuff for her, too,' Asher said regretfully.”

“How 'bout just Clam? Or Clampbell?''Absolutely not.”

“You steal my donkey and then to apologize you bring me a flamingo?''He's irresistible, though,' Asher said, lifting Buddy onto his lap and pretending to squeeze his cheeks. 'Look at that face.''He is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.''I know,' Asher said, 'but he's one of God's creatures.”

“Get used to that, Nana. He has a way of appearing out of thin air.''Oh my. Asher. Hm. Hm. Hm. Turn around. He's beautiful, Campbell. Are you schtupping my granddaughter?' she asked him.'No, ma'am.''Well, I give you my permission.'And just liked that, Cam's love life was ruined forever. If and when she ever 'schtupped' Asher, she'd have to do everything she could not to think of her grandmotehr.”

“Ah. Alicia, see? Didn't I tell you that's what she needed to begin with? Maybe a little schtupping and it would make the cancer go away. It works with pimples.''Nana!”

“I called your bluff,' he said.'I see that,' she answered. 'I'll be down in five minutes.''Right on.”

“*Go cow-tipping.* Close enough to donkey-napping.”

“Thank God no one was bouncing.''You can say that again, Ass Whisperer.''Thank God no one was bouncing,' Cam said, and she started to drift off to sleep.”

“Asher, help!' she cried as she climbed down the steep, twisting path to the beach.'Help. Don't help. You give me mixed messages.' Asher sighed as he stuck his keys into his pocket and followed Cam to the edge of the lawn.”

“We just wanted to see how you were doing,' Asher said.'Well, that *is* a miracle,' said Perry. She took out her notebook and said out loud as she wrote, "Number forty: Campbell...has...friends.”

“This is the part of the horror film where you yell at the girl on the screen,'Don't *go*. You idiot! Don't go! Why are they always so stupid?' Cam *told* her mom he could be a serial killer.”

“Cam!' screamed Asher. 'Campbell look down.''Aren't you supposed to tell me not to look down?”

“When's the party?' Cam asked toying with her. 'Tonight.''Nope, sorry. I have an appointment tonight with Katie Holmes and her Disturbing Behavior.”

“. . . Mind if I take the flamingo?""It's $2.89.""Whoa, Darren, you drive a hard bargain. How about I'm just going to take it?”