Brithany A

“I take the sealed envelope from him—​the one that holds the information about my biological father. I ask him for his cigarette lighter. He hands it to me. I look at Sam and Fito and say, “Word for the day.” Sam understands and says, “Nurture.” I take the unopened envelope. I am watching myself as I take the lighter and place it over the edge of the paper. I am watching the envelope burn. I am watching the ashes floating up to the heavens. I am hearing myself as I tell my father, “I know who my father is. I have always known.” And now I am laughing. And my dad is laughing. And Fito is smiling that incredible smile of his. We are watching Sam dance around the yard as Maggie follows her and jumps up and barks. Sam is shouting out to me and the morning sky, “Your name is Salvador! Your name is Salvador! Your name is Salvador!”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

“It wasn’t always going to be morning, and darkness would come around again. The sun would rise, and then the sun would set. And there you were in the darkness again. If you didn’t whistle, the quiet and the dark would swallow you up. The thing is, I didn’t know how to whistle. I guessed I was going to have to learn.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

“That’s the way it was when you loved someone. You took them everywhere you went—​whether they were alive or not.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

“We'd been so sure of ourselves, but now we were lost.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life