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304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2010
I’m drowning. Everything feels so relentless and impossible. It’s like trying to run with no traction. There’s no one to depend on, no one solving problems, no one picking up the tab, no one to pass the buck to.
There’s this girl I know. I know her by heart. I know her in every way but one: actuality.Like Dan himself, it’s a bit of an odd sock, a unique take on not uncommon events, related in Dan’s equally witty and touching voice.
"I saw Estelle for the first time that day.
She stopped outside our place and stared into the bare branches of the footpath plane tree. First checking there was no one nearby she turned slowly around and around, framing her view of the twig-snaggled sky with a hand held to her eye.
Then she walked into the house next door, half dizzy, smiling, and carrying my heart.
There’s this sky she likes."
He sits down groaning. We’re both panting and drenched in sweat.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
A sound escapes his blood covered lips. It couldn’t be, could it? A snort of laughter?
“You wimp, you don’t ask the guy you’re bashing if he’s ‘okay’,” he says.
“Not really, no.” I say.
I take off my shirt and hand it to him. He balls it up and sticks it under his nose.
“I’d keep going, only I’m a bleeder,” he says.
“That’s fine,” I say. I’m alive, and it feels like a miracle.
“That was a lucky punch for a loser like you,” he says. “You can’t fight for shit.”
“I know.”