"Me, I was strictly a booze guy. It was easier to get, cheaper, and less trouble if you got caught." (Ch. 2, p. 12)

"I guess I should have been pissed off, but I was kind of relieved in a way. Nobody should be an alcoholic before the age of seventeen." (Ch. 3, p. 31)

"I didn't see anything but a skinny, short-haired kid who'd gone bad somehow, a package she didn't want, being returned to sender." (Ch. 5, p. 48)

"There was Uncle Sam, an old guy in a flannel shirt, and me, a kid in a skinny necktie, and both of us were doing the same thing - trying to pretend we weren't lonely as hell." (Ch. 6, p. 59)

"I felt loose and free, like when you're a little kid and you spin yourself dizzy until you can't stand up anymore." (Ch. 9, p. 80)

"I felt like I'd been somewhere, like I'd been gone...