Their hair was like the dry grass on the hillside, their bare feet toughened by summer. They moved as effortlessly into the boat and across the water--pulling one oar hard, spinning the boat around the dock--as across land. Amphibious children. "We're creating little hedonists," Frank used to say. "Nothing will be as pleasurable as this for the rest of their lives. They'll search everywhere for something that can measure up, and nothing will."

--Maile Meloy, The Children


Damn these stories are good.