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1 " Because the pure girls get rescued." Mary Lou felt something she didn't let herself feel often. She was well and truly pissed off. " Why do girls have to be all pure and innocent and good? Why don't guys have to be? "
2 " Mary Lou suddenly realizes that Mack calls the temperature number because he is afraid to talk on the telephone, and by listening to a recording, he doesn’t have to reply. It’s his way of pretending that he’s involved. He wants it to snow so he won’t have to go outside. He is afraid of what might happen. But it occurs to her that what he must really be afraid of is women. Then Mary Lou feels so sick and heavy with her power over him that she wants to cry. She sees the way her husband is standing there in a frozen pose. Mack looks as though he could stand there all night with the telephone receiver against his ear. "
― Bobbie Ann Mason , Shiloh and Other Stories
3 " On the way home Mary Lou said, " Some things are so sad you can't say them." But I pretended not to hear. "
4 " Weren't you wearing a purity ring when we got here? Aren't you supposed to be saving yourself?" Shanti asked. " Yeah," Mary Lou answered. " And then I thought, for what? You save leftovers. My sex is not a leftover, and it is not a Christmas present. "
