Shakespeare's Landlord Quotes
"I gathered myself, my bare feet gripping the wooden floor, my thigh muscles braced for the attack."
"My right foot touched down, and I pivoted lightly on the ball of that foot, my body oriented this time facing the bag."
"The workings of the mind look out through the face and alter it."
"Sometimes, some mornings—the ones after the really bad nights—I look in the mirror and do not recognize the woman I see there."
"I had finished my exercise. Automatically, I bowed, as I would have if I’d had a live sparring partner."
"The peace that I’d worked so hard to achieve was going to be ripped away, through no fault of my own."
"I reached into my windbreaker pocket and pulled out a narrow, lightweight, powerful little flashlight."
"I struggled silently with an almost-overwhelming urge to jump up and run."
"I was on my way home, and I was not trying to conceal myself anymore; in fact, I was being sloppy."
"I hadn’t seen a soul all night, but suddenly I was aware I was not alone."
"In the chilly Shakespeare night, I squatted in the middle of the trees, holding hands with a dead man."
"I pulled the sheets up, settled my head on my pillow, and instantly, finally, fell asleep."
"I hadn’t been able to watch the news in years."
"I felt the skin on the back of my neck prickle with anxiety."
"I’d wondered if Pardon had threatened Norvel with exposure, as I had done."
"It struck me as a sophisticated concept for the Shakespeare police force."
"I had a little laugh to myself, which was something I needed before I went to my next job."
"I realized it for sure wasn’t my day as I was leaving the building."
"I had a strong hint he wouldn’t find a man making a pass at me unbelievable."
"But with a mental exercise as familiar as my bicep curls, I blocked it out."
"The best way to get through it is to concentrate on something else, at least for me."
"After a few seconds, I began to relax. The pain required my attention and the anxiety of my encounter with the policeman began to fade."
"Ignoring the ache in my quadriceps, I visualized the various moves that made up geiki sei ni bon, I reminded myself of mistakes I habitually made, and I anticipated further refining the grace and power of the kata, a series of martial arts strikes, blocks, and kicks woven together in what becomes almost a dance."
"I emerged from my reverie for a moment to glance down the line in the mirror."
"I shut my eyes and tried to refocus on the kata, but I was too full of surprise and conjecture."
"I realized that returning to my former life was no longer possible. It had been stolen from me."
"I did not believe in the underlying goodwill of men or the unspoken sisterhood of women."
"I did not believe that people everywhere are really the same, or that if you treat people kindly you will get kindness in return."
"But I’m not scouring biker bars across America and I’m not standing in post offices looking at wanted posters to see if they’ve done anything else."
"It suited me better to kill the man they called Nap."
"I wondered how long I would survive, with the wounds I had."
"The farmer saw the body of Nap lying on the floor inside the open door and ran to call for help."
"The horror on the faces of the men who came to investigate the body told me that I had gone beyond some boundary."
"I had passed; I had become the thing that had happened to me."
"For a while, I thought about it. But they’d already taken enough away from me. I wanted to keep at least my name."
"My younger sister, Varena, was a rock at first, but gradually my slow physical and mental recovery wore Varena’s lighthearted nature down and then defeated it."
"I tried hard not to be a tragic figure, tried desperately to reclaim my past, but I finally acknowledged defeat."
"But I certainly wasn’t a trusting person anymore, and I definitely never expected much of people, and I would never be surprised to hear of any perfidy again."
"I’d kill the woman, too, I thought, feeling a wave of weariness sweep through my body. The woman I’d never seen."
"I yanked my lips into a grin and very gently patted the boy’s shoulder."
"Helen Drinkwater is a woman who likes things done exactly to her taste."
"I was trying to make sense of the floorboards."
"I crept closer to the stairs, flexing my hands to loosen the muscles."
"I flew down the stairs, ignoring something white as I pelted down."
"I stood in the door for a minute or more, panting."
"Getting away, the son of a bitch was getting away!"
"I suffered an immediate reaction to the adrenaline my body had pumped into my blood to prepare me for action; at every step, I felt my flesh sag on my bones."
"But I’m not standing in post offices looking at wanted posters to see if they’ve done anything else."
"I sat on the side of my bed when I got home."
"I felt them when I gripped your shoulders in class last week, but I didn’t know they were so..."
"I wondered if we looked like two of those wooden birds on the stand, bobbing at each other."
"I glanced at the mirror beyond Marshall’s shoulder. I saw someone I didn’t recognize."
"People never feel the same about me once they know."
"The life I had so carefully constructed was falling apart."
"I was on my way into the house to shower after my morning workout at Body Time."
"I had never seen him smile, and I understood the attraction he has for Deedra."
"The terrible vulnerability of children frightens me so much, I am leery of liking one."
"I wasn’t set on gaining some kind of vengeance on all men for what had happened to me."
"I was glad to be dragged back from the edge of the nightmare."
"I get the feeling there’s something about this I don’t know?"
"But this is bad, isn’t it? To think someone’s watching me? Sneaking around with things like this?"
"I’ll see you soon," I promised, then slid from his arms and got in the car."
"I wondered if it had been hard for Marshall to leave the Sedaka house in Thea’s possession."
"She likes to do … sick things, things that hurt."
"Listen, I’m the only one here right now, and when Lottie comes back with her McNuggets, I gotta go on patrol."
"The streets were deserted, the town deep in sleep."
"I couldn’t help glancing over at Pardon’s. The crime-scene tape was still across the door."
"I was sorry to see her face looked old, far older than it had the week before."
"I had no idea what that was. Good—a bad man dead? Bad—he hadn’t had time to get the full horror of being in prison?"
"How’d he do it? He was on the third tier. He jumped over the rail and landed on his head."
"I wondered what the Yorks’ future would be like."
"I was absorbed in my thoughts the whole time and hardly remembered doing it afterward."
"She told me I’d been beaten up by that drunk Norvel Whitbread."
"I was only surprised Mrs. Rossiter didn’t tell me I’d been raped in Memphis a few years ago."
"To my amazement, the other class members strolled up for their turn at congratulating me."
"It was scary and exciting and I could have hurt him real bad if the police hadn’t shown up so quick."
"I knew only one person was there, but it was a person possessed of a demon."
"I didn’t have a chance to defend myself. In ferocious silence, I was being beaten."
"I shook gentle scouring powder into the fiberglass tub."
"The doctor observed me closely from behind glasses that reflected the glaring overhead light."