“Imagine ten pictures of me at Carson Models. In nine of them, I’m a real stupid girl, but in the tenth, I’m somebody who could be a model. John was looking at the tenth one, and because he was, I did, too.” ImaginationBeautyPossibilitiesModel Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“I don’t have anything to talk about except my new disgusting aches and pains. It’s just depressing.” “I don’t care if it’s depressing. I want to know what’s going on with you.” “It may not be too depressing for you, hon. But it’s too depressing for me.” DyingDepressionAids Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“But also the whole event was trying to create this experience, this feeling that these guys were great because they were really dealing with something. Compared to you, they weren’t dealing with shit. I don’t mean just because what you’re dealing with is bad, but because it’s real.” Veronica’s face went from bewildered to hard. “This isn’t a rock song, hon,” she said.” PainBraveryRock Song Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“Because I had to work that night, I drank orange juice straight and wandered through the party, bored by but still accepting the expression that rose on every face as I went past. “Beautiful.” “Beautiful!” “Bee-oot-ee-fool.” The expression might be formed with wonder or contempt or warmth or disinterest, but it was still the same coin I mechanically took and tossed on the pile.” PartyBeautyCompliment Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“I turned into a puppet with a giant hand inside me. Not a particular hand. Just a hand.” AgencyManipulationPuppetry Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“I had not gone to New York to be a model, and I hadn’t. I’d gone there for life and sex and cruelty. Not something you learn in community college.” SexCrueltyNew York City Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“The queens danced and Veronica danced, and their dancing said, World, kiss my fat middle-aged butt.” HappinessDanceBody PositivityMiddle Age Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“Her hurt was soft and dark and it had arms to hold me as if I were an infant. I sank into her soft dark arms, into a story of a wicked little girl who stepped on a loaf and fell into a world of demons and deformed creatures.” HurtComfortTale Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“I had heard a man who had AIDS interviewed on TV. He said that on top of dying he constantly had to comfort his well friends, who were terrified that he was dying, and that it was exhausting to have to do that.” FriendshipDyingComfortingrting Book:Veronica Source: Veronica
“We crash into one another; everything rattles and shakes like the airplane, only more, and we can’t hear one another even though we’re shouting.” IndifferenceCrashing Book:Veronica Source: Veronica