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“We’re leaving now.” Laurence’s mother touched his arm.

“Great,” Laurence said. “I’m ready.”

But they meant a noninclusive “we.” Not for the first time, Laurence thought this was one of the annoyingly incommunicative features in the English language. Much like the inability to distinguish bet…

"Your mother and I don’t make trouble,” said Laurence’s father. “We make other things. Because we’re adults.”

“What?” Laurence shoved his casserole away and took a heavy swig of cola instead. “What do you make, exactly? Either of you guys.”

“Don’t talk back,” said Laurence’s father.

“This …

Virgin Runway: A travel destination chosen in the hopes that no one else has chosen it.

Native Aping: Pretending to be a native when visiting a foreign destination.

Expatriate Solipsism: When arriving in a foreign travel destination one had hoped was undiscovered, only to find man…

"Just don't leave me behind. That's all. I know — it looks as if I enjoy what's going on with my life and everything, but listen, my heart's only half in it. You give my friends and me a bum rap, but I'd give all of this up in a flash if someone had an even remotely plausible alternative."

…

It is a feeling that our emotions, while wonderful, are transpiring in a vacuum, and I think it boils down to the fact that we're middle class.

You see, when you're middle class, you have to live with the fact that history will ignore you. You have to live with the fact that history can never ch…