46
" ...When something catches your attention just keep your attention on it, stick with it 'til the end, and somewhere along the line there'll be weirdness. I've never tried to explain it to anyone before, but what I mean to say is that a whole lot of technically impossible things are always trying to happen to us, appear to us, talk to us, show us pictures, or just say hi, and you can't pay attention to all of it, so I just pick the nearest technically impossible thing and I let it happen. Let me know how it goes if you try it. "
― Helen Oyeyemi , Boy, Snow, Bird
56
" Nobody ever warned me about mirrors, so for many years I was fond of them, and believed them to be trustworthy. I'd hide myself away in them, setting two mirrors to face each other so that when I stood between them I was infinitely reflected in either direction. Many, many me's. When I stood on tiptoe, we all stood on tiptoe, trying to see the first of us, and the last. The effect was dizzying, a vast pulse, not quite alive, more like the working of an automaton. "
― Helen Oyeyemi , Boy, Snow, Bird
57
" Later in the evening we went to see what there was to eat and I was awestruck. There wasn't an inch of space left on the tabletop or any of the counters; it had all been taken over by multi-colored crockery. The air smelled roasted. 'Uh... I've never seen anything like this before,' I said, grabbing at a pile of note cards before they slipped onto the floor. But when I looked at Snow, I caught her finishing a yawn.
'Me either,' she said. 'Isn't it kind of everyone?' I didn't answer her. She started reading some of the notecards with a really touched expression, but I'd caught her. She was used to being treated like this. It was nothing to her. I had a moment of hating her, or at least realizing why Mom did. Thankfully it came and went really quickly, like a dizzy spell, or a three-second blizzard. Does she know she does this to people? Dumb question. We do this to her. "
― Helen Oyeyemi , Boy, Snow, Bird
58
" Dear Snow,
Yes, I can read now. I don't recall ever having met you, but I'm sure that even as a baby I must have been very proud to be associated with a girl like you who I've only ever heard good things about. I'm your usual kind of thirteen year old with the usual kind of personality-- usual kind of usual kind of, good grief, oh well-- except that I don't always show up in mirrors. I'm hoping this might help me in my future career someday, though I'm not sure exactly how. I don't know what's deceived you into thinking I'm cool, but if it's the way I turn up the cuffs of my pants, I only do that because Hannah Philby came back from her French vacation wearing her pants that way and everyone said 'oh la la' and copied her. So you see I do what I can to be just like everybody else. "
― Helen Oyeyemi , Boy, Snow, Bird