Songs Of The Humpback Whale Quotes
"When I was three and a half, I survived a plane crash. Ever since, my mother has told me I am destined for something special."
"All I recall was trying so hard to hold tight onto those gloves, and the way people didn’t move, and not being sure if it was all right to breathe."
"She told me how insignificant the fight with my father was."
"In spite of it all, there’s just something about Oliver. He’s the one person I feel comfortable enough with to share a home, a life, a child."
"My role is to show them there’s someone who is ready to listen to what they have to say and the way they have to say it."
"I practiced with my teacher every day after school for three weeks. In time I discovered I could become a fire engine, a bird, a mouse, a bee, and many other things because of my lisp."
"I’m the only speech pathologist in this town, which means I get shuttled back and forth to different elementary schools in the San Diego suburbs."
"I am the only one who has really put it all together."
"It’s not such a big deal now that Rebecca is old enough to take care of herself, and since Oliver is away so much of the time, I have less to do at home."
"Oliver’s most important research has been on whale songs. It appears that whole groupings of whales sing the same ones—Oliver has recorded this—and pass the songs down over generations."
"You leave it up to nature, and the whole thing goes to shit."
"You can't keep yourself from falling in love, but you can steer yourself away from the wrong people."
"I think you’ll like this place. No undertow."
"You don’t want to make trouble at a place that’s off limits."
"You can’t turn off your emotions like a faucet."
"I’m not saying that you can’t get a perfect apple without chemical help, but I’ll tell you it’s not easy."
"I find myself humming along. To think like Jane. To think like Jane."
"The cry of a cormorant tells me I have reached the edge."
"When I look up at my mother and Sam, they seem quite pleased with themselves."
"I feel my heart beating faster and I think about leaving, but they will hear me then."
"I consciously try to think of my father, expecting him to jump to mind."
"His eyes-well, they look like they are growing deeper."
"All I know for sure is that I have never seen my mother like this."
"I turn around and run as fast as I can through the swamp."
"I open my eyes as wide as I can. I imagine water rushing into the back of my head."
"It’s seven in the morning and I’m driving on a humming highway with no other cars around me."
""Rebecca," I say, nudging her. "Get up. Look at this, will you? If you don’t see this you won’t believe me.""
""I am not, I’m driving." I say it loud enough to make her open her eyes again."
""Maybe we should slow down and let him pass.""
""No way!" Rebecca cries. "Go faster. See if he can match us with a wiener on the roof.""
""It’s nice to have a meal with people for a change," Ernie says."
""Leave them alone, Rebecca. They’ll work it all out. They need to.""
""What’s the matter with you!" I shout at Hadley."
""We’ll just stay for a little-while. Stay and figure out some things, and then we’ll come to a decision.""
""I don’t miss Daddy." My voice goes flat. "I don’t.""
""You’re just a kid, Joley. You don’t know what it’s like to be in love.""
""Joley," you said, "you’re going to have to get used to him.""
""I don’t have to get used to anything," I said."
""I don’t feel anything. I’m going through the motions, you know, but I couldn’t care less that he’s dead.""
""I was the only person in that household my father did not inflict violence upon, thanks largely to my sister’s interference.""
"I’ll give you three thousand, although it isn’t worth that much."
"It’s only four years old! It’s worth twice that!"
"Five hundred," Tall Neck says, "and that is my last offer."
"There’s over six hundred here," I tell Rebecca. "That’s what I call cash back financing."
"You should really keep your money in a bank," I tell him.
"This is some car," she screams, her words lost in the rush of the wind.
"I feel like an idiot. I thought I was dying."
"I am ready to push through the corn when I see Jane from the corner of my eye."
"What I am left with is how I feel, and what am I supposed to do about it?"
"I told her I would always bring her back a piece of the place that took me away from her."
"We found Rebecca in pediatrics, tangled in wires and tubes."
"I will not call to them when I do not know what to say."
"The father drives stakes through the heart of the evil woman and drugs the Dobermans with poisoned tea."
"I did everything I was supposed to: I made dinner for Daddy and Joley; I cleaned up the kitchen."
"The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children."
"I was studying tide pools at the time, but she reminded me of a gastropod."
"I realized then that I have left the greenhouse without noticing."
"I can’t tell you what I’m like, what Jane is like."
"I have never seen two people so different fit together so perfect."
"In the manure? Because I knew exactly who you were."
"For fifteen years I kissed her hello and goodbye and I didn’t make anything of it."
"I don’t believe this," I say, and I open the door to the bathroom.
"I’m going into the bedroom. Please let me know when you’re through."
"I start to wonder what exactly Sam saw. I wonder if he liked it."
"Wait!" I call down from the bedroom window. "Don’t leave without me!"
"Where are we going today?" I say, stepping onto the bright brick patio.
"You can tell me if you do," I say. "He is your father. It’s natural."
"Thank you for sharing that tidbit of advice with me."
"You can’t possibly break these feelings. They stretch, and they last."
"If you want to love a parent you have to understand the incredible investment he or she has in you."
"You were no more than eight, all bones, and you hurled yourself at his groin with the force of a tropical storm."
"What it all boils down to is me. What it all boils down to is Rebecca."
"I understand you have undertaken many changes yourself during-this trip and although I cannot pretend this does not hurt, I will not blame you."
"It would be too much to ask you to believe in me. But I know you believe in second chances."
"That’s the way it had to be. You will see. No matter what. You will take him with you."
"I could have watched this whole orchard get wiped out by blight. I could have witnessed massacres, a war, Armageddon. It wouldn’t have made a difference."