"Aurora once told me that she knew I was different within the first few months after I was born, because as a baby, I never cried. She had no way of knowning if I was hungry or if my stomach hurt until I was old enough to point and talk. Even when I fell and it was obvious that I had heard myself, I did not cry. When I didn't get my way, I would go off by myself and sulk or have a tantrum. But I never cried. Later, when I was eleven and Abba died, I didn't cry. When Joseph, my best friend at St. Elizabeth's, died, I didn't cry. Maybe I don't feel what others feel. I have no way of knowing. But I do feel. It's just that what I feel does not elicit tears. What I feel when others cry is more like a dry, empty aloneness, like I'm the only person left in the world.

So it is very strange to feel my eyes well with tears as I read Jasmine's list. "
— Francisco X. Stork (Marcelo In The Real World)

"My brain is like a water faucet that I can turn on or off. Only now there is no off and the water of thoughts just flows."
— Francisco X. Stork (Marcelo In The Real World)

"'Be in the world but not of the world.' The words are from Jesus. But I have not the slightest idea how to accomplish that or even if it's possible. The world will always poke you in the chest with its index finger."
— Francisco X. Stork (Marcelo In The Real World)