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101 " All those children sent on trains to the Midwest—collected off the streets of New York like refuse, garbage on a barge, to be sent as far away as possible, out of sight. "
― Christina Baker Kline , Orphan Train
102 " I am ninety-one years old, and almost everyone who was once in my life is now a ghost. Sometimes these "
103 " But it kind of feels nice to nurture her resentment, to foster it. It’s something she can savor and control, this feeling of having been wronged by the world. "
104 " When I shut my eyes in the warm bath, I feel as if I’m floating inside a cloud. "
105 " The bitterness and alcohol and depression are stripped away from these phantom incarnations, and they console and protect me in death as they never did in life. I’ve come to think that’s what heaven is—a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on. "
106 " Actually, I did it because when we lived on Indian Island we had this turtle named Shelly. "
107 " Do you believe in fate?” I ask. “What’s that again?” “That everything is decided. You’re just—you know—living it out. "
108 " I feel a joy so strong it’s almost painful—a knife’s edge of joy. "
109 " I know too much; I have seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside. "
110 " The things that matter stay with you, seep into your skin. "
111 " Jeez Louise, this is why "
112 " If you going to steal a book thought, you should at least take the nicest one, otherwise what's the point? "
113 " ...tough and weird is preferable to pathetic and vulnerable... "
114 " If I am honest...I will say that I simply need a warm, dry place to live. I want enough food to eat, clothes, and shoes that will protect me from the cold. I want calmness and order. More than anything, I want to feel safe in my bed. "
115 " I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. "
116 " The child you select is yours for free,” he adds, “on a ninety-day trial. At which point, if you so choose, you may send him back. "
117 " Sometime in the second week it becomes clear to Molly that “cleaning out the attic” means taking things out, fretting over them for a few minutes, and putting them back where they were, in a slightly neater stack. Out of the two dozen boxes she and Vivian have been through so far, only a short pile of musty books and some yellowed linen have been deemed too ruined to keep. “I don’t think I’m helping you much,” Molly says. “Well, that’s true,” Vivian says. “But I’m helping you, aren’t I? "
118 " I've come to think that's what heaven is - a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on." , "
119 " I think she'd prefer pancakes. Do you think she'd like blueberry pancakes? Who doesn't like blueberry pancakes? "
120 " When Vivian describes how it felt to be at the mercy of strangers, Molly nods. She knows full well what it’s like to tamp down your natural inclinations, to force a smile when you feel numb. After a while you don’t know what your own needs are anymore. "