The Banty House Quotes
"The past is gone. The future is iffy. That means the present is all we've got, so we'll dwell on that."
"The secret is in being patient. Some things you just can't hurry along."
"Don't you watch them crime shows on the television? Someone could kidnap you so they could steal that baby when it's born, and you'd never see it or daylight again."
"I wouldn't be caught dead in the grocery store lookin' like I do now."
"We've gotten used to one-word answers from him and very little conversation."
"Honey, we all make mistakes, but our mama set down the rules, and we've abided by them all these years. The rules ain't never failed us, not one time."
"It was like raisin' triplets, so once a year, she dressed us like that."
"No ocean or anything you could look at could provide memories like this."
"God and I have got some things to straighten out before I don’t feel like a hypocrite sitting in His house."
"The real prize isn’t the end; it’s the journey itself."
"I had never known that any of his relatives were alive, but his parents had claimed the body and taken it home with them for burial."
"I can’t wrap my mind around that kind of prejudice."
"Words can’t even describe how much fun we’d all have."
"I was just glad that I hadn’t been using any of that kind of shit, though, when I found out I was pregnant."
"They’re good enough to make you slap your granny."
"Something is so good that you’d slap your granny for a piece of it even though you knew you’d get your fanny whipped with a switch for being disrespectful to your grandmother."
"I’ve never had this much business on a Sunday morning in my life."
"Pregnant women don’t feel this kind of thing."
"I’ll eat what I want, smoke as many cigarettes as I want, and die when I’m supposed to."
"I’m hoping to get a job where I can take the baby with me, maybe working at a day care center."
"My child is never going in the system—not ever."
"The best thing she could ever do for her baby was give it a sibling—something she had never had."
"It sounds worse than it really is since y’all got a metal roof a couple of years ago," Sloan reassured her.
"Normally, a story would have taken her to another world."
"We hate commercials, so we buy whatever shows we like and watch them over and over."
"That’s my daughter right there, and she’s beautiful, and I love her so much."
"Mama didn’t believe in modern things," Betsy explained. "She thought we were all better off without."
"I intend to make those kinds of memories you’re talkin’ about with my daughter," she said.
"I kind of lost my faith for a while, and I’m still not real sure what God’s plan is for me."
"I went to church with the cook sometimes, or to just whichever one was open when I left work."
"Mama didn’t believe in blackmail, but she did believe in protection."
"This is the mo-most emotional moment of my life," Ginger sobbed.
"We’re going to figure out our lives together and do the best we can to be happy in whatever lot we get thrown at us."
"You are going to wash the middle third of the walls. I’ll do the bottom third, and Sloan will do what we couldn’t get when he gets finished."
"God might meet you in the middle if you show Him you’re serious about doin’ that heart cleanin’. Maybe He don’t like spiders and dust, either."
"I’m not religious, but I have faith. I think there’s a difference, but I haven’t quite got it put into words yet."
"Family seems pretty special to you, so maybe if you could see where they’re buried, it might bring you some closure."
"Destiny would not take me anywhere where the hand of God would not protect me."
"I always wished I’d had a brother or a sister, but who can complain with neighbors like I’ve got."
"Maybe it’s someone that knows what’s going on and why, and can’t live with their conscience if they let it happen."
"Just promise me that if I’m killed doing this, you will put my name on the birth certificate as the baby’s father."
"You won’t be wrong, and I’m not going anywhere."
"They’ll never know how close a call that was."
"It’s like the real Sloan Baker is stepping out into the light."
"I want my child to know that she had grandparents, no matter what kind of folks they were."
"If I push her down the stairs and break her hip, do you reckon she’d bring more, like maybe twice a week?" - Kate
"Oh, stop your bitchin’ and enjoy the bounty that is before us." - Connie
"And besides, it would be a sin to let these doughnuts get stale." - Betsy
"I’m choosing to stay with these wonderful people, and I’m choosing to see where this attraction between me and Sloan might go." - Ginger
"Nothing that brings you peace is ever silly." - Sloan
"I would go back in if they’d let me, though as I understand it, they won’t." - Sloan
"That’s amazing, but what will we do without you?" - Betsy
"So why are you going?" - the voice inside Ginger's head
"Are you sure about that? You’d forget me in a day or two, like the foster parents did when they said goodbye and I was taken away." - Ginger
"Words can’t describe what’s in my heart right now." - Ginger
"We all love you so much, and you can always trust us, and you can always come to us with any problems, or just to talk." - Betsy
"I’ve never done anything impulsive in my life." - Ginger
"You can’t name the baby that and leave us, Ginger. We need you to be part of our lives." - Sloan
"I’ve felt myself coming out of living inside myself, and I’ve learned to trust y’all and Sloan." - Ginger
"I work for moonshine," Doc said. "And Kate always overpays me, so this one is on the house."
"Honey, it don't take much at the beginning," Linda reassured her.
"The mattress for the baby bed had arrived on Tuesday, but they had no sheets for it."
"Well, at least you answered this time," Commander Watterson said. "Were you out doing PT? You sound out of breath."
"I can't tell you what this means to me, sir," Sloan said, "or thank you enough for the opportunity you're giving me."
"Oh, honey, there's no doubt that she's already that."
"The recipe is on the back. It says to add an egg and some milk. Stir and bake at three hundred fifty degrees for twenty minutes."
"Blood don't always make families. Hearts do."
"Martha Belle. It rolls off the tongue so well."
"You ain't blood kin to us, either, but we couldn't be happier that you're in our lives."
"If the ladies hadn't let us borrow their car, we'd have had to hire a taxi to get us home."
"You know, we could try one more time for a boy. I'm not quite forty yet."
"We're living together, and we're getting along really, really good."
"I love you, Sloan. I think I fell in love with you that first day when you came to the Banty House."
"That goes double for me. The Banty House was my salvation."