Gods In Alabama Quotes
"There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus."
"I made a deal with God... I kept my three promises faithfully, no matter what the cost."
"I shouldn’t have had to explain it at all. I had not gone back to Possett since I graduated from high school in '87."
"Mama, however, could wipe a conversation out of her mind an infinite number of times and come back to the topic fresh as a daisy the next time we spoke."
"I am referencing a Bible verse. Do they have the Bible at that American Baptist church?"
"I’ve personally committed only one murder, but the truth is, it’s not that simple. You can’t tell whether you’re the good guy or the bad guy based on whether you laugh or throw up."
"God gave us crying so other folks could see when we needed help, and help us."
"I’m not saying personal revenge was not a part of it. I’m not saying I didn’t hate him on my own account... I am only saying that I believe firmly and with a true heart that in the middle of the moment, in that second when time slowed and I saw every pore on the back of his neck, when I heard his last breath hissing out of his throat, I could have stopped."
"Aunt Florence saved us. She came roaring up to Kansas in my uncle Bruster’s second-best pickup truck to claim us after being unable to get my mother on the phone."
"Do you not see this child is dying on the vine? Look at this child! Your child is dying, do you not see this?"
"Even the paint smells. You can kiss your deposit goodbye."
"I rode in between them, my feet dangling down on either side of the gearshift."
"Her mouth seemed permanently clamped into a lipless line."
"It occurred to me that the word 'department' had hogged up so much room."
"The child is reading books I don’t understand, and you’re worried about her ‘social adjustment’?"
"What made me feel better was walking up to the top of Lipsmack Hill and smashing his head in as he sang, and making him quiet forever."
"If I say it enough, it would buy me forgiveness, and I knew better than anyone that forgiveness is instantly addictive."
"He was a bad, bad man. Of course, you had to kill him."
"I don’t know what your agenda is, Lena. I know you have one. You always do. I don’t mind that when you let me be on your team. But don’t work me. Don’t tell me half the story and expect me to fall in line. At some point you have to decide to trust me."
"I’m going to choose to misunderstand that," said Burr. "That’s the most polite response, under the circumstances."
"A phone tree," I said. "It’s where you tell everyone you call to call two more people, and they tell their people to call two more—"
"I’m not mad," I managed to say. My throat was caked with glue. His hot hand was on my waist, steadying me, and the heat of his leg was soaking up through my pants. I felt something in my belly, down low.
"I’m not one for crying over spilled milk," she said, and I stood up abruptly, cutting off their view of each other.
"She smelled of waxy, sharp lemons and ammonia, as if she had scrubbed her dry body down with Pledge and Mr. Clean right before we arrived."
"But after my conversation with Clarice, the fantasy started to change. I got less interested in the car crash and more interested in being Jim Beverly’s Rose-Pop."
"Good," I said aloud. "And I am glad, so there, so shut up."
"Greetings, Emerald State of Tarts! Lo! I am here to fuck your white women!"
"I am so dumb. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"Why are you so angry? This is what you warned me about from the moment I said I wanted to meet your family."
"If there was to be no inquisition, then she did not truly love me at all, and I was shocked by how much that hurt me."
"I was still praying to God to hide Jim Beverly’s body when I eventually fell asleep."
"You came up the walk as ticky as a cat. Something else decided you."
"I think Daddy feels so special that you would come home for this, especially since you don’t come home for, well, anything else."
"Everyone thinks he ran away because he was ashamed of failing out and losing his scholarship. But you and I know better."
"God sent a bear? God sent a bear to lower Alabama."
"I prayed for two things, first for time and rain and animals and bugs to erase all traces of my presence."
"We can’t let it have happened. We’ll just get as clean as we can out here."
"We’ll do everything like normal. We’ll get in our pajamas. And in the morning, it will be just like you said."
"No wonder you didn’t want me talking to your cousin."
"Fuck it. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what he was when I picked him."
"All right, baby," said Burr. He put one arm over my shoulder and bundled me into the Blazer as if I were an overwrought toddler.
"Anything," I said. "Like you should say if you still want to marry me. Or if you love me. I told you I killed someone. You have to say something."
"Of course I still love you. That’s not even an issue. But you didn’t kill anyone, Lena. I think you know that."
"Drunken teenage girls don’t get away with murder. Period. But you weren’t caught. You know why. He must have been alive when you left him."
"But you’re going to have to let it go. You didn’t kill Jim Beverly."
"I’d been to my aunt Niner’s funeral," I said. Burr gave me a patient look, raising his eyebrows, waiting. I looked away and grudgingly added, "When I was ten."
"What have I got in my pocketses," I said softly, and Aunt Florence looked at me, questioning.
"I never judged you," I said. "You misunderstood. You thought I knew stuff I didn’t."
"You didn’t leave me anymore. You bring your little butt home when you have vacation time without me having to fight you near to death over it."
"Jim Beverly is alive," I said, lying through my teeth, and it felt utterly beautiful.