"He and my mother didn’t live long enough to learn that they were the greatest generation.”
"Daddy tended bar. This was after serving our country in the Pacific as a tail gunner on a B29, 'the plane that won the war.’”
“If Sister Mary James asked me to draw a picture of Kentucky in the winter, I’d only need a white piece of paper and a gray crayon.”
"Without waiting for Nina, I ran up the steps to the front porch, past the hydrangea bushes and white planters spilling red geraniums, anxious for the good part of Sunday to begin."
"He and Mama never go to church. Actually, they did go once. It was the Easter Sunday I made my First Holy Communion.”
"I had to be ready on time since Nina and I ride there with Mrs. Foster our neighbor across the street.”
"Playing outside in August was a hot task, but with Buddy’s companionship I could ignore the heat, at least for a while.”
I tried to close my eyes and imagine Mama without hair, but I couldn’t do it. Uncle Frederick had been almost bald. Otherwise, I couldn’t think of any bald people. I had always liked Uncle Frederick, Nina’s baby brother, but Mama bore no resemblance to a skinny old man with wire rim glasses.
"Christmas was the first holiday lightly penciled in on my calendar. I marked it by venturing up in the attic and dragging down our shiny aluminum tree and matching color wheel. It wasn’t a celebration, but lying on the floor watching the metallic branches shimmer in alternating patterns of red, blue and green I thought about happier Christmases gone by."
"Glancing at the nightstand, I saw two happy faces smiling back at me. I reached for the brass frame and tucked it safely in the pile of shirts. Kevin and I had had our photo taken at a local studio a few weeks ago.”
"Becoming a nurse at the time required white caps with black stripes, crisp starched uniforms, and higher education, and we weren’t college people.”
“Daisy!” I said, causing Biscuit to walk over to me wagging her big blonde tail. “Your name is still Biscuit, not Daisy,” I said patting her head. “Such a smart and pretty girl.”
Kevin’s lack of concern over my plight strengthened my resolve. If there were cause for alarm, he would be the one breaking the glass and pulling the red lever.
The new boyfriend, actually an old high school crush, was stationed near the new school. Then, when Nicole was twenty and the boyfriend was nineteen, they married.