"In the end, Jack Burdette came back to Holt after all. None of us expected it anymore" (Part 1: Chapter 1, pg. 9.)

"'I did think you knew better than to come back here. What in hell was you thinking of?'" Part 1: Chapter 1, pg. 19

"In fact when it was their year to have him in their classrooms our teachers, by the middle of September, were already counting the days until the end of May. They had big calendars fastened to the walls with heavy Xs scratched and double-scratched through the accumulation of finished days, and one of them, Miss Ermalline Johnson, actually resigned during Christmas break rather than return for another half year" (Part 1: Chapter 2, pg. 24.)

"But it was on the football field that he made his real mark during those years" (Part 1: Chapter 2, pg. 27.)

"He had had his first brief taste of law and authority. He had been warned...