Wait Until Spring, Bandini Quotes
"He came along, kicking the deep snow. Here was a disgusted man."
"He hated the snow. It froze the mortar between the bricks he laid."
"The mountains were a huge white dress dropped plumb-like to the earth."
"The beautiful white snow was like the beautiful white wife of Svevo Bandini."
"Svevo Bandini’s eyes watered in the cold air. They were brown, they were soft, they were a woman’s eyes."
"A soul was an immortal thing she knew about."
"He had a son named Arturo, who loved to touch his round shoulders and feel for the snakes inside."
"Svevo plunged into deeper snow off the sidewalk, letting his anger fight it out with the snow."
"The house said insolently: you do not own me, Svevo Bandini, and I will never belong to you."
"Her name was Maria, and the darkness was light before her black eyes."
"She prayed for the soul of Svevo Bandini and her children."
"A soul was an immortal thing. Well, whatever it was, a soul was immortal."
"He wriggled closer and pushed his face into her braided hair."
"Christmas will soon be here, Svevo. Say a prayer."
"He got up, raised his eyes to the sky, shook his fist at God."
"The only way to get the dime was in answering to suit Grandma."
"But peace between Svevo and his mother-in-law, well, there were requests that taxed even the generosity of the Almighty and the Blessed Virgin Mary."
"They pounced upon them like savages, fighting and tumbling over the floor."
"Arturo quickened his pace. ‘I’m not bothering you, Tall Man. I just want to walk home with you.’"
"Please, Arturo! Don’t yell. I won’t tell. Honest I won’t, Arturo. I won’t say a word! Only don’t yell like that."
"Suppose we all go downtown before the stores close, you and me and Mamma, all of us, and go down and buy some Christmas presents for everybody."
"I’ll kill her, by God, I’ll kill her. Sangue de la Madonna! It shall not be forgotten."
"You kids have a happy Christmas. Take that money and go down and buy what you want."
"He looked into the sky and took deep breaths of the cold air."
"I went over to the church and said the rosary."
"Because if you have faith in God you have to pray, but I don’t go around saying it."
"No matter what happens, you have to have faith."
"Let him stay away a few more days. He’ll come crawling on his knees. I know that man."
"I saw him. He lives down in the Rocky Mountain Hotel. He’s in the same room with Rocco, just him and Rocco together."
"You are a foreigner, so maybe that’s the reason."
"Save for the roar of his heart, he was dead, neither hearing, seeing, nor feeling."
"‘Of course he’s coming,’ Maria said. ‘Where else would your father eat?’"
"She wasn’t my girl. She was just a friend."
"‘Go to the show,’ she whispered. ‘Buy yourself some ice cream with the rest. Shhhhhhh. Not a word to your brothers.’"
"Rosa, my Rosa, I cannot believe that you hated me, for there is no hate where you are now."
"‘The funeral will be at nine tomorrow,’ she said. ‘The eighth-grade class will be dismissed for the day.’"
"‘I’m afraid you’re not strong enough.’ ‘But I am!’ he insisted."
"Home, where nothing ever happened, where it was warm and where there was no death."
"‘In here, Arturo. With me.’ His very fingers seemed to burst into tears as he slipped beside her."
"And if you hate me now, Rosa, and I cannot believe that you hate me now, then look upon my grief and believe that I want you here, for that is good too."
"‘Mrs Hildegarde,’ he said. ‘That’s my boy. You can’t talk to him like that. That boy’s an American. He is no foreigner.’"