You’re my mascot, Paper Moon.”I was too tired to object. We both knew I was more than a mascot. I’d worked for my brother since I was eleven, for six long years.“You should stop calling me that,” I said.“I love that name.”“P.M. and her dad were crooks. It gives it away.

After the introduction, Elki pointed at the palm trees. “Ever seen something so stunning?”“Please,” I said, “I hate those trees. They grow on and on. Keep going, with nothing sucking their strength like normal trees and their branches. Selfish bastards.”“Wow. Don’t trip. There.

Barbara La Marr was one of the first movie stars, she came toHollywood at fifteen,” she says, still scratching. “She was smart, bubbly, impatient, and it all got out of hand. When she died, they called her the girl who was too beautiful to live.”“So now I am doomed? Thanks for the pep talk. I needed that.

Love from afar. Ever experienced that misery?”“I always keep love at a distance.