Quotes from Barbara O'Connor

I knew what it felt like to be a stray, not having a home where somebody wanted you.

She would say, "Abracadabra sis boom bah," and there Queenie would be, curled up in the middle of her bed with her chin resting on her toy monkey.

My mama says you should never keep your troubles to yourself. She says if you share 'em with somebody, they get smaller.

Suddenly Howard seemed different. He didn't seem so much like a nosy up-down boy, nagging me half to death about being my Backpack Buddy. He seemed more like somebody being nice to me. Somebody I had shared my troubles with.

The three of us sat out on the porch as the stars were beginning to twinkle up in the Carolina sky and ate blackberry cobbler before supper.

washed my hair in the bathroom of the Texaco gas station that very morning. And I pretended like my daddy hadn't just waltzed off and left us with nothing but three rolls of quarters and a mayonnaise jar full of wadded-up dollar

That night when I went to bed, I laid there in the dark and pictured a clothesline full of somebody else's troubles. I knew for sure there were a lot of them I'd rather pluck off of that line than mine. I imagined what the other troubles might be. There would probably be toothaches and failed math tests. Lost cats and ugly hair. Cheating boyfriends and broken-down cars. But none of those could hold a candle to my troubles, weighing down that clothesline like a sack full of bricks.

I wish I could've saved that moment there in that weed-filled yard surrounded by those good-hearted Odoms, with Wishbone sitting there on the cooler in front of us. Just pack it into one of Bertha's canning jars to keep in my room. Then when I was feeling bad about myself or loaded down with all my troubles, I could open it up and breathe in the goodness of it and I'd feel better.

The thing about Howard was, you could be with him and talk or you could be with him and not talk. He liked you either way.

Everybody thinks my sister is an angel straight down from heaven, but I know better.

I don't know why, but I felt shy and out of place in there with the noise and energy bouncing around and sheer goodness clinging to the walls of that house.

the nightstand. She will stay in that bed the livelong day. If I was there, she wouldn't care one little bit if I went to school or stayed on the couch watching

ole Waffle House,

Making a wish?" Gus asked. I felt myself blush. "No." Bertha nudged Gus. "Tell her about the time you wished your uncle Dean would disappear and then he did," she said. Gus flapped his hand at her. "Aw, now, Bertie. She don't want to hear that boring ole story." He rocked his chair, making the porch floor creak and groan.

First, I'd like for each of y'all to tell us your name and then three fun facts about yourself." Right away, I thought about my first day of school in Colby and that "Getting to Know You" paper. But this

For a minute, I thought maybe Howard was embarrassed by all that stuff I'd

If there was ever a time when I wished the earth would open up and swallow me whole,

I was gonna steal me a dog.