Home > Work > Open Season (Joe Pickett #1)
1 " I don't know why it is that alcohol and tobacco are now bad, but jolts of caffeine are suddenly good. It is beyond me, and it makes me feel old. "
― C.J. Box , Open Season (Joe Pickett #1)
2 " ...sometimes we see things in animals that aren't really there. It's called transference, if that makes any sense. ...I think there are a lot of people who say they do things for animals when they're really doing it for themselves. They see things in animals that might not really be there. I think sometimes that hurts the animals in the end, and it hurts other people, too....There are people on both sides of the issue who think animals are more valuable than people are... "
3 " Joe had always considered individual words as finite units of currency, and he believed in savings. "
4 " Wyomingites, Joe had observed, didn’t know what to do when it rained except get out of it, watch it through the window, and wait for it to go away. "
5 " In Wyoming, the people owned the game animals, and they took their ownership to heart. "
6 " Pronghorn antelope were the second fastest mammals on earth—only an African cheetah could outrun them. "
7 " The relationship between a father and his daughters, Joe had discovered, was a remarkably powerful thing. They looked to him to accomplish greatness; they expected it as a matter of course because he was their dad and therefore a great man. "
8 " Joe rarely found a reason to draw his weapon, and even if he did, he doubted he could hit anything with it. Joe was a notoriously bad pistol shot at any range, the worst in his class. "
9 " lodgepole "
10 " four stoplights "
11 " Thomas Joseph Pickett, "
12 " What humans can do to change the planet is puny. "
13 " John B. Stetsons "
14 " rifle to shoot at you? "
15 " any more about it?” Joe asked. "
16 " Stops at the end of the road collected Clyde Lidgards like dams collected silt. "
17 " We make wonderful babies,” she said softly. “We’re bringing good little people into the world who have a mom and a dad who care about them and love them. They know right from wrong because their parents teach them which is which, and because their parents live by example. "
18 " Wacey had called Etbauer “the ultimate government employee,” a man who had never collected a paycheck in his life that wasn’t from either the state or the Federal government. He had attained his rank due to a particularly bureaucratic method known as ADV or “advanced due to vacancy.” That meant that Etbauer simply put in his time and moved up as others moved out or retired. As state employees either left to take other jobs or start businesses of their own, bureaucrats like Etbauer (who no private sector employer would ever want on the payroll) simply grew in power and seniority like a tumor within the agency, amassing security and building a fine pension. "
19 " He drank a quarter of the drink, then topped off the glass with more Jim Beam. Joe was not much of a drinker anymore, although he’d done more than his share in college and when he worked with Vern. But his intake of alcohol always increased proportionately when his mother-in-law was around. "
20 " We’re bringing good little people into the world who have a mom and a dad who care about them and love them. They know right from wrong because their parents teach them which is which, and because their parents live by example. Somewhere, there is a reward for us, Joe. We need to believe that. We won’t just be abandoned. "