NOS4A2

by Joe Hill

What’s good stays good no matter how much of a beating it takes.” His

She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history, and forgotten verse, and she observed for the first time that a room full of books smelled like dessert: a sweet snack made of figs, vanilla, glue, and cleverness.

Emotions are as real as gravity. Dreams are as powerful as history.

She thought of mothering, which was really another word for being present and caring what happened to someone.

Wayne understood now that getting to go to Christmasland was better than going to Hogwarts Academy, or Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, or the Cloud City in Star Wars, or Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.

getting smashed was the closest a person could ever get to feeling the way you felt when you were in Christmasland—even though a bottle of gin was as different from Christmasland as a dog biscuit was from filet mignon.

As his fingers crossed into the front seat, they dwindled. His fingertips became fleshy nubs that ended at the first knuckle.