146
" Oh, a French braid,” Greta said. “That’s it. And then when she undid them, her hair would still be in ripples, little leftover squiggles, for hours and hours afterward.” “Yes…” “Well,” David said, “that’s how families work, too. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever. "
― Anne Tyler , French Braid
153
" I too am relieved. I did not know if Kate would like me.”
“Well, sure she would! You’re her own kind, right?”
“I am her kind?”
Richard suddenly looked less sure of himself, but he said, “I mean you’re in that same milieu or whatever. That science milieu she was raised in. Right, Uncle Louis?” he asked. “No normal person could understand you people.”
“What exactly do you find difficult to understand?” Dr. Battista asked him.
“Oh, you know, all that science jargon; I can’t offhand—”
“I am researching autoimmune disorders,” Dr. Battista said. “It’s true that ‘autoimmune’ has four syllables, but perhaps if I broke the word down for you… "
― Anne Tyler , Vinegar Girl
155
" The little girls in Room 4 were playing breakup. The ballerina doll was breaking up with the sailor doll. “I’m sorry, John,” she said in a brisk, businesslike voice—Jilly’s voice, actually—“but I’m in love with somebody else.”
“Who?” the sailor doll asked. It was Emma G. who was speaking for him, holding him up by the waist of his little blue middy blouse.
“I can’t tell you who, on account of he’s your best friend and so it would hurt your feelings.”
“Well, that’s just stupid,” Emma B. pointed out from the sidelines. “Now he knows anyhow, since you said it was his best friend.”
“He could have a whole bunch of best friends, though.”
“No, he couldn’t. Not if they were ‘best.’ ”
“Yes, he could. Me, I have four best friends.”
“You’re a weirdo, then.”
“Kate! Did you hear what she called me?”
“What do you care?” Kate asked. She was helping Jameesha take her painting smock off. “Tell her she’s weird herself.”
“You’re weird yourself,” Jilly told Emma B.
“Am not.”
“Are so.”
“Am not.”
“Kate said you were, so there!”
“I didn’t say that,” Kate said.
“Did so.”
Kate was about to say, “Did not,” but she changed it to, “Well, anyhow, I wasn’t the one who started it. "
― Anne Tyler , Vinegar Girl