The Last House On The Street Quotes
"I’m not sure I’m the right architect for this project."
"You know how that feels, don’t you? Losing your husband?"
"No one should’ve put a house there to begin with. All those new houses. They don’t belong."
"How can you move into the house that took him from you?"
"This is the quartzite we argued over and Jackson let me win."
"We’ll have to make an effort to stay connected."
"If God had meant us all to live together, he wouldn’t have made us different colors."
It’s much easier to put our heads in the sand and let someone else do the hard work, isn’t it," he said. "But somebody has to do it. It’s the only way to bring about change.
"I want to do something more important than that, Daddy," I said. "I want to do something that makes a difference on a bigger scale. Not teach a girl how to hem a skirt."
"We love you more than anything in the world, you know that, don’t you?" she asked.
"You’re being naïve," my father said. "Buddy’s right. No one in Derby County is going to take kindly to that sort of interference and you have absolutely no need to be a part of it."
"I’m nearly twenty-one years old. I have straight As. I’m not stupid or foolish or... I’m going to do it."
"If you feel so strongly about wanting to do volunteer work this summer, you could work at the Girls’ Club in town. Teach little girls how to sew or whatever they do over there."
"The fact that the Voting Rights Act is not yet the law of the land will make your work harder," he said, "but I know you’re not here because the work is easy."
"Does this have something to do with little Mattie?" Mama asked me now.
"You’re just asking for trouble if you get stopped with you next to Winston," Dan said.
"We drove nearly straight through, Atlanta to Derby County, eleven long dark hazy hours with only a few stops for food and bathroom breaks."
"This is what it’s all about, I thought to myself. This will never change without Negroes being able to vote."
"Welcome to Derby County," Win said, almost under his breath.
"I’m Greg Filburn, your SCOPE field director here in Derby County."
"That’s why we’re doing it this way. White and Black together."
"Dr. King said he needs you, well, you do it."
"You’re an asset, Ellie, and as long as we can keep you safe, I’m glad you’re here."
"Integration is a threat to your jobs, folks, you know that."
"I know how to break the ice and I know the preacher at their church and everybody knows the rumor about their old preacher having a camel."
"It’s not your fault. They just won’t. Some of these folks have never met a white person who cared a lick about them. A lot of them have never met a white person, period."
"But I personally like the feel of it. The strength of it."
"We have Klaverns in every corner of the state, more than in all the other Southern states combined!"
"I’ve watched as you and Kayla plan your new home. I’m proud of how the two of you have made names for yourselves as architects."
"I never knew your mother," she says. "I left before Reed... before she and your father... got involved."
"I don’t know why anyone’d want to build a house in them woods anyhow."
"I thought I knew how to do this, after all the role-playing and everything we did during orientation."
"I’m not going to bother with my usual yoga music. Instead, we’ll let the construction sounds be part of our practice."
"Do you know, we’re now ten thousand members strong in North Carolina?"
"I’ve kept quiet as you two searched for the perfect site for the new house."
"I’ve never seen a developer leave so many trees."
"You’re letting your mother and me down if you stay."
"This was always the hot-button issue; every Southerner knew that."
"Her SCOPE pin was still on her collar, the black and white circle looking like a target against her pink blouse."
"Civil rights workers are the villains and must be stopped."
"Your woods are a source of evil that touches all our lives."
"I don’t care," I muttered to myself as I folded her letter and stuck it back in the envelope.
"She was dragging the man by the arm, pointing at me and my friends."
"I don’t think there was anything in that lake to catch. But it was just fun, being with her."
"I’d never told anyone before and I don’t know why I’m telling you."
"I was a virgin with no intention of ruining my life with a pregnancy."
"I didn’t feel militant in that moment. I felt frightened. For myself. For my friends. And especially for Win."
"You don’t put other people first. You put your family first."
"We sat up singing our freedom songs for most of the night."
"The imagery was horrible. I pictured the little girl being sucked under that murky black water."
"That girl," she says with disdain, as though those two words alone answer my question."
"I miss doing something that felt important."
"Nobody else has a truck like yours around here, Reed," I said.
"I hate him! I said. "Hate him! Buddy, we have to find Win. Please help me."
"Something ain’t right," Buddy said, putting the truck in gear and backing out of the driveway.
"You need to help your father today," she said. "He had a rough night."
"Grow up, Ellie," he said. "He wasn’t white. You knew you were asking for trouble when you started sneaking around with that boy."
"Mama took one look at me when I limped into the room, then dropped her gaze to my swollen ankle. "What on earth happened to you?""
"I have to go to her," I said. Brenda and I had had a falling-out, yes, but I would always be her friend.
"She’s still in the hospital," Mama said.
"Please don’t tell them exactly what happened," I begged through my tears.
"You’ll never convince me he had anything to do with it," I say. "Daddy’s no bigot."
"I was married to my work. I took up yoga, which gave me some balance in my life."
"I knew as soon as Ellie showed up back here in Round Hill everything would go to hell."
"Of course Byron knew the grave was there. He should have. He’s the one who dug it."
"You’re sixty-five years old, for heaven’s sake! When are you goin’ to grow up?"
"I thought I might cry when it happened. In spite of everything, it’s a sad thing to see the house you grew up in turn to dust."