Acquaintance in Trouble

His face was expressionless.  His eyes nearly drooped, his mouth straightened, his face strained to abort any light in his face that could ignite a smile or any kindness whatsoever

Old people knew that wrecking even the arm of the couch would weaken and destroy the whole couch.  Don't sit on that arm.  Lesson 1.

You think this will be the one thing that will change you but it turns out to be an addition to the pile.

Testing the waters makes sense.  It makes perfect sense to see what you're getting into before you immerse yourself in it, perhaps risking your life.  Most of the time, though, you're risking your comfort, not your life.  You're holding your timidity up against something constant, somehting that will not change itself for you.  You will change for it,  if you want to be there.  So testing the waters is bullshit.  You are testing yourself.  

She chose the least offensive sticker pinned to the wall.  Why else wold she have a bumper sticker that read "I love my cat."  The other ones were gaudy.  So just to represent, she picked a simple one.

I sometimes imagine myself talking to a judge, explaining all the things I have done wrong.  But I know this will never happen.

She approached her like a wounded animal, one she wasn't sure would bite back.