Summer Island Quotes
"There is only the right to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again: and now under conditions That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss. For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." - T. S. ELLIOT, FROM "EAST COKER"
"Every mother is afraid of that, Marge. The only way to really hold on to our children is to let them go. Let Suki take your love with her, let it be like a light that’s always on in the house where she grew up."
"She was an ordinary woman who’d made extraordinary mistakes. She under-stood every nuance of need and loss."
"I'm sorry, Ruby. Really." Irma turned and walked away.
"I'm going home," he said quietly. "Hospice will help out ..."
"You have excellent taste. Would you like to try it on?"
"I pay you a wagonload of money to answer readers' letters, and now that they finally got something interesting to ask about, you sure as hell aren't going to play possum."
"If her father were alive, he'd be laughing. Not so big a star now, are you, missy?"
"I see you found enough air in your lungs to scream at me."
"I wouldn't call it a technique. It's just common sense to-"
"According to Caro, those are your favorite words."
"This isn't funny. You saw the reporters out front. They're ready to tear Mom apart, and she's always been fragile."
"You haven't seen or spoken to your mother in years, and you're obviously very angry at her."
"I lived with her for sixteen years, Doc. You've talked to her once a week for ... what, a year or two?"
"Fifteen years? But everything was fine back then."
"It's good to hear you laugh. It's been a long time."
"Thanks. Bless Lottie, but she thinks I need peace and quiet."
"You know I'm going to the summer house, right?"
"Reporters are camped outside my condo. I can't face them."
"You'll need to rent me a wheelchair-just until my wrist is strong enough for crutches."
"I'll talk to my doctor and get checked out of here. We'll have to leave quietly, through the back way, maybe. We don't want to be followed."
"I'll rent a car and pick you up in--what-three hours?"
"Okay. My purse is in the closet. Get my credit cards. Use the platinum Visa for anything you need. I'll draw you a map to my apartment and call Ken--he's the doorman. He'll let you in. And Ruby ... get a nice car; okay?"
"You look like John Hurt, just before the alien popped out of his chest. Close your mouth."
"We both know Caroline better than that. In these cupboards, I guarantee you, are the makings for several emergency dinners. Probably labeled as such. All we have to do is look around."
"You don't need my help, then. I'll just run upstairs-"
"Not so fast. I can't reach everything. We'll need to work together."
"I got interested in it when I was seventeen. Not that you would know this."
"Come here, honey. Get on your knees in front of me. Keep your hand up."
"It's just a cut, for God's sake. We don't have to go looking for my finger on the floor or anything."
"Put the artichoke hearts and two tablespoons of capers into the sauce."
"There is no we. Dinnertime prayers are one of those family traditions that went the way of our family. God and I have an understanding. When He stopped listening, I stopped talking."
"Ruby," Caroline said in her we're-a-team-and-you're-not-playing-fair voice. "A stranger could sell her out to the tabloids. She needs someone she can trust."
"Then you'd better do it. She can't trust me."
"A life. The implication was clear; and the truth of it stung. "Doesn't she have any friends?"
"It should be you, Ruby." Caroline looked disgusted. "Jesus. You're going to be thirty in a few years. Mom's fifty. When are you going to get to know her?"
"Tell me you didn't think about it last night."
"The words hit dangerously near their mark. Ruby stared down at the speckled linoleum floor. There was no doubt in her mind what she should do-go out those front doors and fly home. But it wasn't quite so easy this time, especially with the Cache' article out there to write. A little time with Nora Bridge would certainly make the piece better. A lot better."
"She took a deep breath, then turned to face her sister. One week," she said evenly. "I'll stay with her for one week."
"Caroline pulled Ruby into a fierce hug. "I knew you'd do the right thing."
"Ruby felt like a fraud. She couldn't meet her sister's gaze. Weakly, she said, "A week with Nora. You'd better start a defense fund."
"Caroline laughed. "Go tell her. She's in six twelve west. I'll wait for you here."
"Coward." Ruby flashed her a nervous smile, then headed for the elevators. On the sixth floor, she began a room-to-room search until she found 612.
"She took another deep breath and stepped inside."
"Ruby exhaled in relief. The tension in her shoulders eased a little, she unclenched her fists."
"She stared down at her mother's pale, beautiful face and felt an unexpected tug of longing. She had to forcibly remind herself that this lovely, red-haired woman who looked like Susan Sarandon wasn't really her mother. Ruby's mother--the woman who'd played Scrabble and made chocolate-chip pancakes every Sunday morning--had died eleven years ago. This was the woman who'd killed her."
"Ruby felt an almost overwhelming urge to run away."
"Nora gasped and scooted up to a sit, self-consciously smoothing the tangled hair from her face. "You came, she said softly, a note of wonder in her voice.
"Ruby forced her hands to stay bolted to her sides. It was an old stand-up rule. No fidgeting. The audience could smell a set of nerves. "How are you?"
"Stupid question, but Ruby was off-balance, afraid of pitching headfirst."
"I'm fine." Nora smiled, but it was an odd, uncertain smile."
"Ruby crossed her arms-another anti-fidget technique. "So, I guess you've lost your good-driver discount."
"Nora's smile faded. "I'm sure you wouldn't." She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, exhaling softly. "I see you still think you know everything ... and you still don't take any prisoners."
"Ruby could feel the shale of old habits sliding beneath her feet. A few more well-chosen words and there would be a full-scale war going on between them."
"I don't know everything," Ruby said evenly. "I don't think I ever knew my mother."
"Nora laughed, a fluttery, tired sound. "That makes two of us."
"They stared at each other. Ruby felt a mounting urge to escape; she knew it was a survival instinct. Already she knew she couldn't spend a week with this woman and feel nothing ... the anger was so sharp right now it overwhelmed her."
"I thought ... I'd stay with you for a while. Help you get settled."
"Ruby shrugged. There were so many answers to that question. "You could have died. Maybe I thought of what it would be like to lose you." She smiled woodenly. "Or maybe this is your darkest hour; the loss of everything you left your family for; and I don't want to miss a minute of your misery. Or maybe I got a contract to write a magazine article about you and I need to be close to get the inside scoop. Or maybe I-"
"I get it. Who cares why. I need help and you obviously have nothing better to do."
"How do you do it-slam me in the middle of a thank-you? Jesus, it's a gift."
"No, you just thought you'd point out that I have no life. It wouldn't occur to you that I've rearranged my life to spend some time with you, would it?"
"Reporters are camped outside my condo. I can't face them." Nora's gaze lowered, and Ruby saw how hard it was for her mother to face her, too. The past was between them again, a sticky web that caught old hurts and held them. "Your sister offered me use of the summer house. If you want to change your mind, I'll understand."
"Ruby went to the window and stared out at the gray, rainy streets of Capitol Hill."
"It had seemed doable a few moments ago; go to this woman's house--Nora's house, not really her mother at all-sit with her for a few days, make a few meals. look through a few old photo albums, ask a few questions. Get enough information to write the "where Nora Bridge came from" section of the article."
"It was where so many of the memories were buried, both good and bad. She would rather see Nora in some glass-walled high-rise that success had purchased. Not in the clapboard farmhouse where Ruby would remember gardening and painting and the sound of laughter that had long since faded."
"That's what she had to think about. She could handle a week at the summer house."
"You mean it?" There was a disturbing wistfulness in her mother's voice.
"Finally, Ruby turned. She meant to close the distance between them, but her feet wouldn't move."
"Nora was looking at her thoughtfully. She said, "You'll need to rent me a wheelchair-just until my wrist is strong enough for crutches. And I'll need a few things from my apartment."
"There was no silence more cruel and empty than the one that followed that simple declaration: 'I love you.'"
"It took me so long to figure that out. And now it's too late."
"The truth always hurts, Ruby. It's a law of nature, like gravity."
"I've spent a lifetime running away from who I am and where I came from."
"As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is in the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true."
"A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones."
"I went in search of my mother's life, and found my own."
"Thinking about them, dreaming about them, wishing things were different... all of these are the beginning. But someone has to make the first move."