The short version: baby carrots are adult carrots cut into smaller pieces The night before was cold and she had dreamed she was making a quilt out of Vic, Don, George, and the Lieutenant, sewing their legs and chests together while telling them to remain very still One look at Paula and nobody, Maxim was certain, could have any questions about freedom Today’s the second day of our first marriage, he wrote His manner is untilled, vaguely Ottoman He has asked her what the black polish means and she looked at him as if he asked what dancing, what the leaf of a tree means People, she’s come to realize since Andrew died, ask too many questions, and they’re never the right questions “Ned won’t leave,” Tara says “I mean, look at him She had lately become a careful reader of signs and this seemed a very good sign Dump me in the ocean, let the sharks have my organs, let eels nest in my ribcage After awhile they’d argue about the way they were arguing, Lori’s nostrils flaring like hog nostrils, and Maxim would feel like jabbing his thumb into her eye or biting her tricep, something resolute and silencing, something unforgivable “Handjob,” he announced