“We’d seen the pictures of a bunch of really mad white people with twisted-up faces screaming and giving dirty finger signs to some little Negro kids who were trying to go to school. I’d seen the pictures, but I didn’t really know how these white people could hate some kids so much.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever know what to do when I’m a grown-up. It seems like you and Momma know a lot of things that I can never learn. It seems real scary. I don’t think I could ever be as good a parent as you guys.”
“And I’m sure there was an angel in Birmingham when Grandma Sands wrapped her little arms around all of the Weird Watsons and said, ‘My fambly, my beautiful, beautiful fambly.‘”
“I guess I should have told Momma that I really appreciated her helping me get my friend back but I didn’t have to. I was pretty sure she already knew.”
“That’s when he came swimming real slow out of the deep, and even though my head was underneath the dark water I could see him coming right at me. . . Where he should have had a face there was nothing but dark gray. Where he should have had eyes there was nothing but a darker colder-looking color. He grabbed my leg and started pulling me down.”