How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I had not said anything about what had happened the day before – about being scared down to my very bones when I thought they had left me. I don't know what came over me. Ever since my mother left us that April day, I suspected everyone was going to leave, one by one. (11.3)
When Sal talks about people leaving her here, we get the feeling that she's not simply referring to people taking off for the grocery store or to go on a long trip. We get the sense that Sal is talking about a more permanent kind of leaving – death.
Quote #5
I used to think about that raft a lot, and I actually believed that one day we might build a raft and float away down a river together. But when she went to Lewiston, Idaho, she went alone. (11.53)
Chanhassen Hiddle leaves Sal twice. The first time she leaves her, she promises to come back and tells her she's just going on a road trip. But the second time Chanhassen Hiddle leaves Sal, she leaves forever.
Quote #6
Gramps always ends this story by saying, "That bed has been around my whole life, and I'm going to die in that bed, and then that bed will know everything there is to know about me." (12.42)
That bed certainly has been around a very long time. It has basically witnessed Gram and Gramps' entire marriage. There's something very special about it, almost as though it has come to represent Gram and Gramps' life together. Will it continue to hold this meaning after Grams has passed away?