« You are with me, Lucy, in all my thoughts, all my projects, my pleasures, my wanderings, my successes and my sorrows. What I see, I see with your eyes too, and with you I am more determined and better than I could ever be without you. I know that this letter does not contain any real information, and I apologize for that. You can always hit me for it later. But I realize that I have written you a kind of prayer. I pray that without having received it (the letter I wrote to you last night or the letter I will write to you tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow and after tomorrow) you will know what it contains: that I am well and above all that I am with you wherever I am, that there is no strength on this earth or length of time capable of separating us. I'll be back. My love for you is more sincere than anything I have known in my very, very long life. Love is very demanding, it seems, but mine asks for only one thing: whatever events and time it takes, you will keep your trust in me, you will remember who we are and you will never lose hope. To you, forever, Daniel. »

« Lena would have liked to have had a switch to control other people's feelings. So she could have turned it on when she felt open and generous enough and disposed to give them love in return. And turn it off on other days, when she wanted to hide in a corner, all alone, and she had nothing to offer to others. »

« "- There is no place for me in your new life. You have a new family, new children... m-but and me? That's it, she was launched at full speed, carried away by emotions that she had never wanted to admit. - What do you do with me and Mom? His voice broke. Tears began to roll over his cheeks. She didn't care if he was still listening, she couldn't stop now. - Your old family wasn't good enough for you, was it? Why did you leave? yet you promised me that... that we would always be so close... She paused to try to catch her breath -P-why you said it was always the way it was then... when it wasn't true? She was hiccuping. His words languished on streams of tears. She didn't even know if he still understood what she was saying. - You see, even Paul visits his drunken father all me while you, you come to see me only two or three times a year. I didn't do anything wrong, though, did I? She was silent and stood on the phone crying, losing the notion of time. After a while, she finally calms down. Was he always on the other end of the line? Pressing the handset against her ear, she heard a muffled noise. Breathing breathing. Interspersed with sobs. - Carmen, I ask for your forgiveness. Excuse me. »