Quotes from Mary Downing Hahn

They always talk about teenagers thinking their lives will never end. I expected my life to end at any minute, every day.

You aren't worried about tomorrow, are you?" "What do you think?" He propped himself up on his elbows and studied my face. "You told me last spring it was the easiest thing in the whole wide world. You could hardly wait to jump. Why, even when you got sick you worried you'd die without having a chance to do it." "I must have been a raving lunatic," I muttered.

Never more to find her where the bright waters flow...her smiles have vanished and her sweet songs flown

I was tempted to run down to the kitchen, but the memory of Dad's words stopped me. "Fearful, nervous, insecure"--wasn't that what he'd told Aunt Blythe? She'd already seen me behave like a baby once today. I didn't want to give a repeat performance.

Be careful," Aunt Blythe said. "The floor's riddled with dry rot." Forgetting her own warning, she plunged ahead, opening trunks and boxes, poking and pawing through things, reminiscing.

Aunt Blythe went inside to check on Great-grandfather, but I sat on the front steps and watched the sun sink behind the trees across the highway. A little chill crept across my skin. Summer was almost over. Soon my parents would return and I'd go back to Chicago. There would be no more midnight meetings in the attic. No croquet games with Hannah, no boxing lessons from John, no fights with Edward.

What happened at the trestle?" "Edward fell," I said. "He almost drowned." Andrew grinned. "It's a pity he didn't.

The world was so unfair when it came to dying. The best people, the ones you loved the most, died and other people, mean and nasty, lived and went right on being mean and nasty all their lives.

Stu asked me to marry him

As she said, our talents made us different from other people, but not strange.

Sometimes nothing is the scariest thing of all

They've never been the kind of parents who ask if you want to drink your milk from the red glass or the blue glass. They just hand you a glass, and that's that. Milk tastes the same whether the glass is blue or red or purple.

But who will I say you are? How will I explain you? People don't just appear out of nowhere. Lord A'mighty, Andrew exclaimed. Have you no brains? We're as alike as two peas in a pod. All we need to do is switch places.

I was tempted to tell my father the truth, but perhaps it was better to let him go on believing Vincent was depraved, a pervert of some kind, a child abuser. If Dad believed he'd invited a creature from myth and legend to cross his threshold, he'd have to rethink his entire concept of reality. I wasn't sure he was ready for that.

Here, there, everywhere

I'd been in love dozens of times, but it was always the unrequited kind.

By the time we got to Ferrington, I was laughing at Will's stories about Rockpoint High. It seemed the kids gave the teachers a hard time; they were always cutting up and saying funny things. Will was good at imitating their Down-East accents, but I had a feeling Susan was right about his not having any friends. It was as though Will spent most of his school day watching and listening.

By the time we got to Ferrington, I was laughing at Will's stories about Rockpoint High. It seemed the kids gave the teachers a hard time; they were always cutting up and saying funny things. Will was good at imitating their Down-East accents, but I had a feeling Susan was right about his not having any friends. It sounded as if he spent most of his school day watching and listening.

Above the snap and pop of the fire, the wind howled, prowling around the inn, snooping at the windows and whining at the door. The candle flames quivered in the draft, melting the wax into strange shapes.

I wanted to leap up and defend her, perhaps throw my arms around her and protect her, but I just sat there like a nincompoop.

Dad is the world's greatest soup chef.

I missed Mom, but I was just beginning to feel comfortable with Dad. If I left now, I might not have another chance to get to know him. Soon I'd be in college. After that I'd be on my own. Things wouldn't be the same then.

Writing's a long, slow process. It affords me so little pleasure I often wonder why I make the effort.

To be candid, things hadn't been good in our house since I'd turned thirteen and, as Mom put it, lost my mind overnight. Which meant I'd changed from an obedient child who never gave anyone a second's trouble into an obnoxious teenager who left wet towels on the bathroom floor and dirty dishes in front of the television, played loud music and argued about everything from politics to curfews.