The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away.

She was in pain and I loved her, sort of loved her, I guess, so I kind of had to love her pain, too.

“It’s not whether you win or lose,” I said. “It’s how you play the game.”

“It’s okay,” I said. But it wasn’t okay. It was about as far from okay as you can get. If okay was the earth, then I was standing on Jupiter. I don’t know why I said it was okay. For some reason, I was protecting the feelings of the man who had broken my heart yet again.

When anybody, no matter how old they are, loses a parent, I think it hurts the same as if you were only five years old, you know? I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents.