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21 " Big Shug Bain had seemed so shiny in comparison to the Catholic. He had been vain in the way only Protestants were allowed to be, conspicuous with his shallow wealth, flushed pink with gluttony and waste. "
― Douglas Stuart , Shuggie Bain
22 " wondered why he tolerated these other children but had left him. "
23 " No, hen, we’re drinking piss-cold tea,” scolded Bridie. “It’s only ye who’s neckin’ vodka like it was tap water. "
24 " She was sobering up. She stared silently out the window, trying not to think of the trail of fatherless children and the childrenless father they were leaving in their wake. In her mind it looked like a trail of viscous, salty tears being dragged along behind the black hack. The excitement had left her by then. "
25 " I’ve never liked those AA places. They attract the lowest kind of people. God gave you a will. You should use it to save yourself. "
26 " At the front door she pushed a jam piece and a peeled carrot into his hand and told him to go and play and not to come back till it was dark. She pointed out into the distance and waved her hand wide across the scheme, meaning he could go anywhere he pleased for all she cared. "
27 " How come ye don’t have a daddy?” His voice was already deep like a man’s. “I d-do,” Shuggie stuttered. Gerbil smiled. “Where is he then?” This Shuggie didn’t know. He had heard he was a whoremaster "
28 " George said. “I am on fire. I do not burn. It’s Saint Agnes’s lament. "
29 " If he got this and she got that, then what would they themselves do without? It was a mother's math. "
30 " To Shuggie, the aunties who came to visit were often worse. It was like Agnes’s worse qualities went out and found a friend. "
31 " The damp wind kissed her flushed neck and pushed down inside her dress. "
32 " punched "
― Douglas Stuart , Young Mungo
33 " It looked like the lager beauties sometimes did, a careless printer and a misaligned screen, and suddenly the woman was no longer whole, just a mess of different layers. "
34 " to hold his arms tight. It "
35 " Howse aboots some light entertainment? "
36 " the city’s ills were supposed to disappear. "
37 " It was a relief in the same way old people enjoyed having a child in the room, because it gave them something to fuss over when they had nothing left to say to each other. "
38 " Once upon a time the wind whipping off the sea had turned the front of her thighs blue with the cold, but Agnes couldn’t feel it because she had been happy. "
39 " Shuggie always chose the same bright pink sponge pyramid, covered in red and white desiccated coconut and trimmed with a sugary sweetie on top. He would walk home very slowly in Wullie’s shadow, enjoying his spoils. "
40 " Soon the greenish, brownish air filled with a dark tangy smell, metallic and sharp, like licking the end of a spent battery. "