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I look after those who look after me." He smacks his lips, stares at me, and adds, "I also look after those who don't." - Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants)
Sara Gruen -
With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.
Sara Gruen
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I scan the room. Catherine is writing quickly, her light brown hair falling over her face. She is left-handed, and because she writes in pencil her left arm is silver from wrist to elbow.
Sara Gruen -
At this moment, the story in his head was perfect. He also knew from experience that it would degenerate the second he started typing, because such was the nature of writing.
Sara Gruen -
I'm truly grateful for my microwave, which allows me to easily clarify butter, steam vegetables, and - when I am really lazy - feed my three kids in less than five minutes.
Sara Gruen -
Is where you're from the place you're leaving or where you have roots?
Sara Gruen -
Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it.
Sara Gruen -
It's as though I've been sleepwalking and suddenly woken to find myself here
Sara Gruen
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I hate this bizarre policy of protective exclusion, because it effectively writes me off the page.
Sara Gruen -
Sometimes I think if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn.
Sara Gruen -
Then I lie down on the horse blanket and drift into a dream about Marlena that will probably cost me my soul.
Sara Gruen -
You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of.
Sara Gruen -
...poking a lump of red Jello that jiggles outrageously, like a breast I once knew.
Sara Gruen -
What else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That’s the reality of getting old, and I guess that’s really the crux of the matter. I’m not ready to be old yet.
Sara Gruen
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When I first submerged my feet into frigid water, they hurt so badly I yanked them out again. I persisted, dunking them for longer and longer periods, until the cold finally blistered.
Sara Gruen -
I stroke her lightly, memorizing her body. I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin. I lie motionless, savoring the feeling of her body against mine. I'm afraid to breathe in case I break the spell.
Sara Gruen -
I am further back, surrounded on all sides by wailing men, their faces shiny with tears. Uncle Al promised three dollars and a bottle of Canadian whiskey to the man who puts on the best show. You've never seen such grief-- even the dogs were howling.
Sara Gruen -
I was always searching, always seeking the next big thing, because that was the thing that was going to make everything all right again. And while I was working toward it, it gave me something to think about other than that thing I couldn't put my finger on. But it always came back.
Sara Gruen -
Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?
Sara Gruen -
Jacob: I've never seen so much manure. Wade: Baggage stock horses. They pack'em in 27 a car. Jacob: how do you stand the smell? Wade: what smell?
Sara Gruen
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He stares at me, and then leans back in his chair. "He's ill, Jacob." I say nothing. "He's a paragon schnitzophonic." "He's what?!" "Paragon schnitzophonic," repeats Uncle Al. "You mean paranoid schizophrenic?" "Sure. Whatever. But the bottom line is he's mad as a hatter.
Sara Gruen -
I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.
Sara Gruen -
I had my whole life planned.. I knew exactly where it was taking me.
Sara Gruen -
i'm afraid to breathe in case i break the spell
Sara Gruen