" We'd itch the vermin feasting on our flesh and share the day's many rumors:

The King had declared peace.
No, the King was sending German and Russian mercenaries to destroy us.


A ball of fire as big as a man's head fell from heaven to Hatboro - a good omen. But there'd been an earthquake near York just as a cat gave birth to puppies, which meant the worst. "

― Laurie Halse Anderson , Forge (Seeds of America, #2)