Home > Work > The Levee (Blackwater, #2)
1 " That her niece should find such profound pleasure in the company of a thirteen-year-old black girl--and, more to the point, always within the precincts of Elinor's house--was a slap in Mary-Love's face. She decided, without saying anything more to James, to wreck Grace's perfection of happiness. Grace would learn that she, Mary-Love, was the source of all felicity within the Caskey family. "
― Michael McDowell , The Levee (Blackwater, #2)
2 " Mary-Love liked to see herself as the family cornucopia, dispensing all manner of good things, unstintingly, unceasingly. She considered herself amply rewarded by her children's gratitude, and if she perceived that her children were not sufficiently grateful, she could make something of that, too. "
3 " To the little girl the house seemed a gigantic head, and she only a morsel of meat conveniently positioned in its gaping mouth. The front porch was that grinning mouth, the white porch railing its lower teeth, the ornamental wooden frieze above its upper teeth, the painted wicker chair on which she perched its green wagging tongue. Frances sat and rocked and wondered when the jaws would clamp shut. "
4 " Grace began to understand. "I have friends," she protested. "I have Zaddie.""Zaddie is just a little colored girl," Mary-Love pointed out. "It's all right to play with Zaddie, but she's not your real friend. John Robert can be your real little friend. "
5 " - Je suppose que j'aurai quand même du mal à te convaincre d'assister à l'inauguration... - Seigneur, jamais de la vie ! s'exclama Elinor avec un rire enjoué. En plus, je l'ai déjà fêtée à ma façon. "
