Boys make terrible thieves.

The eyes are empty eyes..the same as the eyes behind the mask tattooed on my wrist (3).

It's like the photo of every other kid I met when I used to live on the streets. It's the face of a ghost trying to get back to wherever he was before he was born (13).

I'm wild in my heart like a wolf (18).

I was ready to be a ghost (20).

His voice is a low whisper, like the cough of a dog (24).

I wouldn't ever let him see if it wasn't there in his eyes..the spark of a shooting star deep under the surface like a ship still burning on the bottom of the sea (25).

The rest of the time we are as free as being on the streets..free to live in a daydream..wandering through the city like characters passing through the pages of a book (40).

"All you have to do is be alive," I tell him. "The life of a thief is the most beautiful way to live" (41).

"Good thieves never want for anything as long as they live" (41).

I put my fingers up to my face to inhale the salt smell they catch in the air..put them in my mouth to taste it. It's the same as tasting the rain or tasting dirt. It's so beautiful to have the world inside me (53).

I know that we are the ones who adopt each other. We are the only family we'll ever need (55).

We've shivered enough out here..shed enough of our past for today. it's time to leave it out on the deck..let it get carried off into the ocean where it can't hurt anyone (56).

I wish never to be left alone (168).

That's how it feels anyway..being this close to him..our hearts side by side as we quit trying to stay awake. It feels more like healing than running away (200).

I close my eyes and wait for the stars to carry us off like fireflies..whispering to Dune in the voice of a ghost..whispering that we finally made it to a place where forever comes to stay (237).

I've been born for the last time, maybe because I never need to be afraid to lose love, because love is forever.
And forever is inside me. Forever is always there (247).