It did not occur to any of them — it did not occur to Leon — that the dependable one might also be the one you should be afraid of.

I had made my peace with the arrangement a long time ago, or thought I had.

There is a particular quiet that settles over the second child in a family like ours, the one who is loved but not watched, whose report cards are noted and whose crises are not.

You learn to stop competing for the spotlight, because you understand early that it is not a fair contest and never will be, and in the space that opens up when you stop competing, you become useful in a way the golden child never has to.

I learned to fix things.

I learned to be the one who noticed the leak, called the plumber, sat with the frightened, did the taxes.