She crossed her bediamonded wrists across her breast so that her fingertips touched both sides of her throat.

While reforming the language I crave leave to introduce an improvement of punctuation—the snigger point, or note of cachinnation. It is written thus ‿ and represents, as early as may be, a smiling mouth.

For so long as I can remember, my old man, he was a drunky and a bully. So many times I have seen him beat my ma without mercy, with a buckle belt or his fists.

“Ew!” she hissed. “I think what you do is ewwy!”