from Beloved

Toni Morrison

Paul D sits down in the rocking chair and examines the quilt patched in 
carnival colors.  His hands are limp between his knees.  There are too 
many things to feel about this woman.  His head hurts.  Suddenly he 
remembers Sixo trying to describe what he felt about the Thirty-Mile 
Woman.  "She is a friend of my mind.  She gather me, man.  The pieces I 
am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.  
It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind."