- Rona: In grandiose moments, high on fresh air and freedom on the hill, I study my personal geology. My body is a continent. I grind my teeth in my sleep like tectonic plates. And when I blink, the Sun flickers. My breath pushes the clouds across the sky and the waves roll into the shore in time with my beating heart. The islands' headlands rise above the sea like my limbs in the bathtub. My freckles are famous landmarks and my tears, rivers. Lightning strikes every time I sneeze. And when I orgasm, there's an earthquake.
- Rona: For those of us susceptible to addiction, alcohol becomes the default way of alleviating anxiety and dealing with stressful situations. Through repeated use of the drug, our neural pathways are scored so deeply, they'll never be repaired.
- Rona: United Kingdom is an island off Europe. Orkney Islands is an island off United Kingdom. Westray is an island off Orkney and Papa Westray is an island off Westray.
- Rona: The urge to drink can come out of nowhere. You think you're doing well. But suddenly you want nothing more than a drink. When people drink, alcohol or more specifically ethanal is absorbed into the stomach lining and enters the bloodstream. In the brain, alcohol confuses messages between neurotransmitters and acts as both an intoxicant and a depressant, or a relaxant.