"What it begins with, I know finally, is the kernel of meanness in people's hearts. I don't know exactly how or why it gets inside us; that's one of the mysteries I haven't solved yet."
Chapter 1, pg. 1

"When I was small my favorite time of day came at the sight of Wendell Kate driving the cows past our farm into Honey Creek to his barn. It's a gift he gave me." Chapter 1, pg. 5

"It came to me, as a revelation, that May lived through all the history I learned about from Miss Daken." Chapter 4, pg. 41

"May was thirty-eight when I was born. She probably thought I was going to be retarded since she was over the hill. I wonder if she enjoyed carrying me. I wonder if she ate liver and spinach and drank a quart of milk a day, like they tell you you must. Sometimes, the...