David Hill Quotes

“Simon drove his wheelchair straight between the posts and into the back of the net. ‘Goal!’ all us Eeny-meenys yelled.”

“Poor Simon Shaw. He’s gone downhill a lot, hasn’t he?”

“Simon’s my best friend, and sometime in the next year or two years, he’s going to die.”

“Traffic always stops for Simon- he never has to wait while cars keep tearing past. Sometimes he’ll give the drivers a wave and a bow, and say, ‘Thank you, my loyal subjects.’ He’s an expert in being embarrassing.”

“It’s easy to forget that Simon’s not going to live on like the rest of us. A few MD patients get mentally affected, but Simon’s so quick, and he’s got such a wicked sense of humor, that once you know him you hardly notice he’s in a wheelchair...”

“Mum- my Mum- said once that having to cope with a handicapped child was supposed to make good marriages better and bad marriages worse. ‘The Shaws belong to the first lot, all right,’ she told me.”

″‘...is there anyone in the class who’s not worried about getting old?’ Simon’s hand went up. ‘I’m not,’ he said. ‘Good, Simon.’ exclaimed Ms. Kidman in relief. ‘Why’s that?’ And suddenly I saw her try to stop herself, as she realized what was coming. ‘Well, I’m not going to get to old age, am I?’ replied Simon. ‘I’m going to be dead first.‘”

“Simon managed to keep a perfectly straight face for about twenty seconds, till Antilla had begun tearing strips off Haare. Then he looked across the aisle at me and gave me a huge wink.”

“Anyway, when he was in about Form One, some stupid fool started a rumor that Simon had AIDS, and that’s why he was sick. Next thing you know, some parents wouldn’t let their kids play with Simon, in case they caught something from him.”

“When I have dreams, I can walk and run in them. A lot of it’s slow-motion running, you know, like you have in dreams. But even that’s pretty good for me.”

“Becky was pushing the wheelchair and Nelita and Lana were holding his hands- lucky guy! They were whirling him in big circles across the floor, swooping him in and out among the other kids...”