How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
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Important Quotations Explained
1. She has
been too frightened to carry out any strategy, but now a road is
opening up before her. She clasps her hands on her chest—she can
feel her pounding heart—and nods. Then, as if the admission itself
loosens her tongue, she begins to speak, English, a few words, of
apology at first, then a great flood of explanation . . .
2. His face
darkened with shame at having his pleasure aroused in public by
one of his daughters. He looked from one to the other. His gaze
faltered. On the face of his youngest was the brilliant, impassive
look he remembered from when she had snatched her love letters out
of his hands.
3. The words
tumble out, making a sound like the rumble of distant thunder, taking
shape, depth, and substance. Yo continues: "Doc, rock, smock, luck,"
so many words. There is no end to what can be said about the world.
4. So, Laura
thinks. So the papers have cleared and we are leaving. Now everything
she sees sharpens as if through the lens of loss - the orchids in
their hanging straw baskets, the row of apothecary jars Carlos has
found for her in old druggists' throughout the countryside, the
rich light shafts swarming with a golden pollen. She will miss this
glorious light warming the inside of her skin and jewelling the
trees, the grass, the lily pond beyond the hedge.
5. There
are still times I wake up at three o'clock in the morning and peer
into the darkness. At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear her,
a black furred thing lurking in the corners of my life, her magenta
mouth opening, wailing over some violation that lies at the center
of my art.
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