Mary Downing Hahn Quotes

Odd, isn't it? You know when your birthday is, but not your death day, even though you pass the date year after year, never suspecting that some day ... ~ Mary Downing Hahn

The water is DEEP AND DARK AND DANGEROUS ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Time doesn't run backward, you know, and things that have been done can't be undone, no matter how hard you wish. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Try again, Andrew," Hannah said patiently.
For the rest of the long morning, we played. By the time we quit, my thumb hurt, my neck and shoulders ached, and my finger felt permanently crooked. It looked like I wasn't going to beat Andrew anytime soon.
Chucking me under the chin, Hannah laughed. "Goodness, don't look so glum. It's a game, Andrew, not a matter of life and death."
I turned away quickly and began gathering the marbles. The things the Tylers said in ignorance were downright scary. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Papa cut his business trip short when he heard how ill you were. He'll be home on the afternoon train. Won't he be happy to see you looking so well!"
Hannah came running up the stairs. "Dr. Fulton's on his way, Mama."
"He's in for a surprise, isn't he?" Mrs. Tyler smiled at me. "Dr. Fulton didn't think you'd live till morning, Andrew. The very idea--Hannah told him it would take more than diphtheria to kill you. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

To tell you the truth, I'm beginning to forget things too. The more I learn about you, the less I recollect about me. It's as if your memories are crowding mine out, there's no room for them in my head."
I nodded, agreeing with him. "Every day I get more like you, less like me."
"Lord A' mighty," Andrew said solemnly. "I hope that doesn't mean I'll become a total pantywaist."
The thought of such a dreadful fate seemed to revive him. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

As Corey and I followed Grandmother out of the library, we glanced at each other. Without saying a word, I knew my sister was thinking exactly what I was thinking. Rappings and tappings, footsteps, doors opening and shutting - we could do that. And more. Bringing ghosts back to Fox Hill would be like playing haunted house all summer long. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

You must go back to bed."
"No," I shouted. "Not yet! I have to finish this game." I couldn't leave Andrew, not now, not when I was finally winning.
Hannah released me so suddenly I staggered backward. "I'll fetch Papa!" she cried.
Andrew threw himself at her. "Hannah, stop, you're ruining everything!"
I grabbed his arm. "Let her go. We don't have much time!"
Casting a last terrified look at me, Hannah ran downstairs, calling for Mama and Papa.
Andrew turned to me, his face streaked with tears. "Quick, Drew. Shoot four more marbles out of the ring!"
Holding my breath I aimed. Click, click, click. An immie, a cat's-eye, and a moonstone spun across the floor, but I missed the fourth.
Andrew knuckled down and shot at the scattered marbles. Of the seven in the ring, he managed to hit two before he missed.
Downstairs I heard Hannah pounding on Papa and Mama's door.
"One more, Drew," Andrew whispered.
It was hard to aim carefully. Papa and Mama were awake. Their voices rose as Hannah tried to explain I was in the attic acting as if I'd lost my mind. My hand shook and the first marble I hit merely clicked against another.
Andrew took his turn, hit three, and missed the fourth. "Send me home, Drew," he begged. "I don't care if I die when I get there."
Two marbles were left--a carnelian and an immie, widely separated. Neither was close to my aggie. Even for someone as good as Andrew, it was a hard shot.
Holding his b ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Fetch, Buster," she called. "Fetch."
I watched the dog pounce on the stick and carry it back.
Hannah held out her hand. "Give it to me, sir."
Buster shook his head and wagged his tail. He wasn't going to surrender the stick. Nothing could make him open his mouth.
Hannah laughed. "Silly old thing. Just wait till Andrew's well enough to play. He'll make you obey!"
I didn't like the sound of that. Would I be expected to order Buster around? He was at least twice the size of Binky. And his teeth--they must be enormous, as sharp as a wolf's. If he wanted a stick, I wasn't going to take it away from him. Just looking at him scared me. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

In the sudden silence, Andrew grabbed my hand and shook it. "I'll miss you, Drew. You've been a regular gent."
It was hard not to cry, but I was determined to show Andrew I could be as tough as he was. "I'll miss you too," I admitted. "And Hannah and Theo and Mama and Papa. I never had a brother or a sister or a dog of my own before."
"But you won't miss Edward. He'll be there waiting for you." Andrew meant it as a joke, but neither of us laughed.
Suddenly serious, I gripped his shoulders tightly and stared into his eyes. "How will I know what happens to you?"
"Look in the graveyard," Andrew said in a melancholy voice. "If you don't see my tombstone, you'll know I didn't die."
He laughed to show me he was joking again, but death was even less funny than the old man in the wheelchair. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

For a moment, I thought I heard laughter, the click of one croquet ball striking another, a dog barking.
I stared at the empty yard, trying hard to see what Great-grandfather saw, but nothing shifted, nothing changed. If the Tylers were playing croquet, they were visible to him and him alone. The only dog in sight was Binky. Running across the lawn to meet him, I took the stick he carried and threw it as hard as I could. It sailed across the sky, and Binky dashed after it.
As the dog disappeared into the bushes, I looked up at the attic window and remembered the flash of white I'd seen the day I arrived--my first glimpse of Andrew. Funny to think I'd been scared. Nothing stirred in the attic now. No one watched, no one waited.
Deep in my pocket, I touched the red bull's-eye, warm as blood and twice as lucky. The marbles were mine for keeps. They were safe, and so was Andrew. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

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.
Theo scowled, but the sound of a Model T chugging up the driveway stopped him from saying more. Its headlamps lit the trees and washed across the house.
"It's John again," Theo said. "Papa will start charging him room and board soon."
Hidden in the shadows, we watched John jump out of the car and run up the porch steps. Hannah met him at the door. From inside the house, their laughter floated toward us as silvery as moonlight, cutting into my heart like a knife.
"Hannah has a beau." Theo sounded as if he were trying out a new word, testing it for rightness. He giggled. "Do you think she lets him kiss her?"
I spat in the grass, a trick I'd learned from Edward. "Don't be silly."
"What's silly about smooching? When I'm old enough, I plan to kiss Marie Jenkins till our lips melt." Making loud smacking sounds with his mouth, Theo demonstrated. Pushing him away, I wrestled him to the ground and started tickling him.
As he pleaded for mercy, we heard the screen door open. Thinking Mama was about to call us inside, we broke apart and lay still. It was Hannah and John.
"They ~ Mary Downing Hahn

At that moment, the back door opened, and Great-grandfather wheeled himself outside. Slowly and carefully, Hannah stepped through the door behind him. Aunt Blythe followed, balancing a tray loaded with a pitcher of lemonade and five glasses.
"Come along, you two," Hannah called.
"Tarnation," Andrew muttered. "Am I going to have to see that jackass today?" Without letting me help, he levered himself out of the chair with his cane. "I bet Hannah woke the old coot up just to make me miserable."
When we joined the others on the porch, Great-grandfather refused to look at us. Keeping his head down, he fidgeted with the blanket on his lap.
"This is a fine way to greet me," Andrew said.
"Maybe he doesn't recognize you." Aunt Blythe bent down to peer into Great-grandfather's face. "Your cousins are here, Father. Can you say hello to Hannah and Andrew?"
"It's my house," he mumbled. "They can't have it."
Andrew looked as if he wanted to give his cousin a punch in the nose, but Hannah intervened. "We know the house is yours, Edward," she said. "Don't worry, we haven't come to take it back. Andrew and I have our own home."
Great-grandfather raised his head and stared at Hannah. "You never liked me. Neither did your brothers. I wasn't welcome in this house when you lived here. Now it's mine and you're not welcome."
Ignoring Aunt Blythe's protests, Great-grandfather wheeled himself toward the back door. "You and your Roosevelt," he muttered befo ~ Mary Downing Hahn

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

I wished that the chains would break and the wind would sweep me up, up, up into the sky, beyond the clouds, beyond the sun and the moon, to some marvelous kingdom where no one ever changed and friends were friends for life. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

We reached the bushes beside the porch without being seen. Crouched in the dirt, we were so close I could have reached up and grabbed Hannah's ankle. To keep from giggling, Theo pressed his hands over his mouth.
Sick with jealousy, I watched John put his arm around Hannah and draw her close. As his lips met hers, I felt Theo jab my side. I teetered and lost my balance. The bushes swayed, the leaves rustled, a twig snapped under my feet.
"Be quiet," Theo hissed in my ear. "Do you want to get us killed?"
We backed out of the bushes, hoping to escape, but it was too late. Leaving John in the swing, Hannah strode down the porch steps, grabbed us each by an ear, and shook us like rats. "Can't a body have a second of privacy?"
Theo and I begged her to forgive us, but Hannah's dander was up. If she hadn't noticed the fireflies under our shirts, I don't know what she would've done to us.
Snatching my jar, she gazed at my captives. The flickering glow lit her face. I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, I wanted to tell her I'd love her forever, but all I could say was "These are for you, I caught them just for you, Hannah."
"Poor things," she said softly, her temper gone without a trace. "I'll have to let them go, Andrew. They'll die if I don't."
Before I could stop her, she removed the lid and held the jar high over her head. "Fly away, fly away," she cried. Like sparks from a bonfire, the fireflies escaped in a sparkling green mist.
Theo han ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I was tempted to tell my father the truth, but perhaps it was better to let him go on believing that 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. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

WHEN YOU'RE READING YOU SHOULD PRETEND YOU'RE REALLY THERE BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE THE BOOK MOR INTERESTING! ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I think Hannah had two brothers. Yes, I'm sure she did. Theo and, and--this boy."
I shook my head. "If he's Hannah's brother, why isn't he in any of the other pictures?"
Aunt Blythe didn't answer right away. In the silence, rain pattered against the windows and dripped through holes in the roof. The wind crept in through cracks and stirred the folds of a long white dress hanging from the rafters.
Finally, my aunt raised her eyes from the photograph. "I think his name was Andrew. Isn't that strange? You share a face and a name with a boy who died years before you were born."
My throat tightened. "He died? Andrew died?"
Aunt Blythe looked at me. "Oh, dear," she said, "I didn't mean to frighten you."
"I'm not scared!" My voice came out as high and squeaky as a girl's. Furious at myself for being such a baby, I leapt to my feet and headed for the stairs.
"Slow down, Drew," my aunt called. "You'll go through the floor!"
Before the words were out of her mouth, a board split under my weight, and I fell flat on my face.
In seconds my aunt was beside me. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"I'm fine." Too embarrassed to meet her eyes, I peered into the hole I'd made. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Stu asked me to marry him ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I have to ask you something." Stumbling over words, I described my encounter with Edward. "I have to meet him at the railroad trestle next week. I'm supposed to do something when I get there, but he didn't say what…" My voice trailed away. The expression on Andrew's face told me he knew exactly what I was talking about.
"Drat," he muttered. "That low-down skunk. I was hoping he'd forgotten."
Andrew hesitated. Without looking at me, he picked up a piece of chalk and started drawing a little train on the floor. Concentrating on his sketch, he said, "Before I got sick, Edward dared me to jump off the trestle."
My heart beat faster. "Is that what I'm supposed to do? Jump off?"
"Now, now, don't get all het up, Drew. It's not as bad as you think." Carefully, Andrew added a curlicue of smoke to his drawing. "You walk out on the trestle and jump in the river. Then you swim to shore. It's a simple as one two three." He tapped the chalk three times for emphasis.
My mouth was so dry I could hardly speak. Lying down between the rails or dynamiting the train might be better than this. "How high is the trestle?"
Instead of answering my question, Andrew said, "It's a test of manhood. Lots of boys have done it."
I wasn't interested in testing my manhood or hearing about other boys. I just wanted to know what was going to happen to me. Me--a boy who was scared to jump off a diving board into eight feet of crystal-clear chlorinated water. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I told you before--you mustn't let Edward scare you. He's a bully and a coward. What would Frank Merriwell do if he were you?"
Frank Merriwell--I was thoroughly sick of hearing that name. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

In Riverview, we stopped at Larkin's Drugstore for a cold drink. Leaving the rest of us to scramble out unaided, John offered Hannah his hand. Although I'd just seen her leap out of a tree as fearless as a cat, she let him help her.
At the soda fountain, Hannah took a seat beside John. In her white dress, she was as prim and proper as any lady you ever saw. Quite frankly, I liked her better the other way.
I grabbed the stool on the other side of Hannah and spun around on it a couple of times, hoping to get her to spin with me, but the only person who noticed was Mama. She told me to sit still and behave myself. "You act like you have ants in your pants," she said, embarrassing me and making Theo laugh.
While I was sitting there scowling at Theo in the mirror, John leaned around Hannah and grinned at me. "To celebrate your recovery, Andrew, I'm treating everyone to a lemon phosphate--everyone, that is, except you."
He paused dramatically, and Hannah gave him a smile so radiant it gave me heartburn. She was going to marry John someday, I knew that. But while I was here, I wanted her all to myself, just Hannah and me playing marbles in the grove, talking, sharing secrets, climbing trees. She had the rest of her life to spend with stupid John Larkin.
"As the guest of honor," John went on, "you may pick anything your heart desires."
Slightly placated by his generosity, I stared at the menu. It was amazing what you could buy for a nickel or a dime in 1 ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Theo," Aunt Blythe said. "According to Father, he was a no-good rascal, but just look at that angelic little face. He couldn't have been all bad."
"I guess Great-grandfather didn't like him either."
"No, indeed." Aunt Blythe laughed. "If anything, Father disliked Theo even more than Hannah. The feeling was mutual, I'm afraid. I haven't seen either one of them since their mother died. Lord, that was more than fifty years ago."
I looked closely at the swing in the picture. "Was this taken on your porch?"
Aunt Blythe nodded. "Hannah used to live here. Father bought the house after her mother died." She pointed to the sweet-faced woman and the stern man beside her. "Great-aunt Mildred and Great-uncle Henry."
I leaned against my aunt's shoulder. "Let me guess," I said. "Great-grandfather didn't like them either."
"What a perceptive boy you are. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

When Mama leaned over to kiss me, I hugged her so tight she could hardly breathe. "I'll never forget you," I whispered.
Mama drew back. "What did you say?"
"Nothing," I mumbled. "I love you, Mama."
She smiled. "Well, for goodness sake, you little jackanapes, I love you too."
Smoothing the quilt over me, she turned to the others. "What Andrew needs is a good night's sleep. In the morning, he'll be himself again, just wait and see."
"I hope so," Andrew said.
Papa frowned. "No one will get any sleep, good or bad, with Buster making such a racket. I don't know what ails that animal."
While we'd been talking, Andrew had gone to the window and whistled for the dog. Though the Tylers hadn't heard the loud two-fingered blast, Buster definitely had. His howls made the hair on my neck prickle. Even Andrew looked frightened. He backed away from the window and sat quietly in the rocker.
"Edward told me a dog howls when somebody in the family is about to die," Theo said uneasily.
Papa shook his head. "That's superstitious nonsense, Theodore. Surely you know better than to believe someone as well known for mendacity as your cousin."
Muttering to himself, Papa left the room. Taking Theo with her, Mama followed, but Hannah lingered by the bed.
I reached out and grabbed her hand. "Don't leave yet," I begged. "Stay a while."
Hannah hesitated for a moment, her face solemn, her eyes worried. "Mama's right, Andrew," she said softly. "You ~ Mary Downing Hahn

The lake's deep...and dark...and dangerous. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Hannah tells me you're an archeologist," she said. "Drew's father has followed in your footsteps. He spent the whole summer in France, excavating a Roman ruin."
A spark of mischief flared in Andrew's eyes. "Why, it could be the other way around," he said. "Perhaps I got the idea from him."
Hannah gave Andrew a sharp poke with her cane. Luckily, Aunt Blythe didn't notice that either.
"You have the oddest sense of humor," she said to Andrew. "It's a pity you spent most of your life overseas. I'm sure I would have enjoyed knowing you."
To escape his sister's reach, Andrew shifted his position. "It's strange," he said to my aunt, "but I feel like I do know you."
"Isn't that funny?" Aunt Blythe stared at him. "Even though I've never set eyes on you before, I feel the same way."
With a little guidance from Hannah, the conversation changed to Andrew's years in South America. For at least an hour he entertained us with his adventures, which Hannah claimed were highly exaggerated.
"He never tells a story the same way twice," she told me. "You wouldn't believe how much more exciting they've gotten since the first time I heard them. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

You'll never be the heavyweight champion of the world," he said, "but you should be able to duck anything Edward throws at you."
Theo wanted his turn, but John said it was too hot for more lessons. He looked up into the tree where Hannah sat swinging her feet, and smiled. "Maybe your sister will come down from her perch and offer us a nice cold glass of lemonade."
Hannah gave her hand to John and allowed him to help her. "Not that I need your assistance," she said. "I'm merely practicing my manners."
We watched John and Hannah walk away, still holding hands. "He's as bad as diphtheria," Theo muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"Diphtheria made you into a perfect gentleman," Theo said, "and John makes Hannah into a perfect lady. I'm sure I don't know which is worse--being sick or falling in love. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

To keep from crying in front of everyone, I ran down the hall, opened the first door I saw, and dashed inside. Too late I realized the room was already occupied. An old man in a wheelchair sat beside a window. Of all the places I might have gone, I'd chosen Great-grandfather's sanctuary. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

You didn't marry?" Aunt Blythe asked Andrew.
He glanced at me. "When I was a boy no older than Drew, I had a close brush with death. It always seemed to me a miracle that I lived."
Once more Hannah made an attempt to stop her brother with a poke of her cane, but Andrew went on talking, his eyes on my face, his voice solemn. "I often thought I'd been meant to die, so I decided to lead a solitary life. There's no way of telling what one person might do to change the history of the world."
Before he could say anything else, Hannah patted Aunt Blythe's arm. "I brought along an old photo album. Would you please fetch it from the car?"
As soon as my aunt was out of sight, Hannah said, "If you don't hush, Andrew, we're going to leave the minute Blythe comes back. I swear I don't know what ails you. You might as well be twelve years old!"
She turned to me then and took my hand. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Drew? He was an absolute imp when he was your age and he still is. All that's changed is his outside."
I stared into Hannah's eyes, faded now to the color of shadows on winter snow. "He told you, didn't he?"
"In some ways, I think I knew all along." Hannah squeezed my hand. "I'm so glad we've lived long enough to see you again."
I flung my arms around her. She felt as thin-boned as a bird, and I was afraid to hug her too tightly. I didn't want to hurt her.
"It must be a shock to see us so old," Hannah said. "I'm afraid I ~ Mary Downing Hahn

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. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

When Dad pulled up in front of the house, the three of us sat still for a moment and stared at the gloomy pile of bricks my great-aunt called home. Up close, it looked even worse than it had from a distance. Ivy clung to the walls, spreading over windows and doors. A wisteria vine heavy with bunches of purple blossoms twisted around the porch columns. Paint peeled, loose shutters banged in the wind, slates from the roof littered the overgrown lawn.
Charles Addams would have loved it. So would Edgar Allan Poe. But not me. No, sir, definitely not me. Just looking at the place made my skin prickle.
Dad was the first to speak. "This is your ancestral home, Drew," he said, once more doing his best to sound excited. "It was built by your great-great-grandfather way back in 1865, right after the Civil War. Tylers have lived here ever since."
While Dad babbled about family history and finding your roots and things like that, I let my thoughts drift to Camp Tecumseh again. Maybe Martin wasn't so bad after all, maybe he and I could have come to terms this summer, maybe we--
My fantasies were interrupted by Great-aunt Blythe. Flinging the front door open, she came bounding down the steps. The wind ballooned her T-shirt and swirled her gray hair. If she spread her arms, she might fly up into the sky like Mary Poppins. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

It must be a shock to see us so old," Hannah said. "I'm afraid I couldn't climb a tree or shoot a marble if my life depended on it. Neither could Andrew, but I doubt he'll admit it."
"If I put my mind to it," Andrew said, "I could beat Drew with one hand tied behind my back. He was never any match for me."
Hannah raised her eyebrows. "It seems to me he outplayed you once."
"Pshaw. What's one game?"
If Aunt Blythe hadn't come back just then, I'd have argued, maybe even challenged Andrew to a rematch, but instead, I smiled and leaned my head against Hannah's shoulder, happy to feel her arm around me. This close, she still smelled like rose water.
Turning the pages of the album, Hannah showed us pictures of Mama and Papa, Theo, herself--and Andrew.
"These are my favorites." She pointed to the photographs John had taken of us in the Model T. We were all smiling except Theo. He sat beside me, scowling into the camera, still angry about Mrs. Armiger and the music lessons.
"We wanted Theo to come with us today," Hannah said, "but he's living down in Florida with his third wife--a lady half his age, I might add."
Andrew nudged me. "He sends his best, said he hopes to see you again someday."
I glanced at Aunt Blythe but she was staring at the photograph. "The resemblance is incredible. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was Drew."
Andrew chuckled. "Take a good look at me now. This is how the poor boy will look when he's ninety-six." ~ Mary Downing Hahn

People were so fragile, so easily broken, so hard to put back together. "Mr. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Now don't go too fast, John," Mama said. "And be careful of the curve at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes Mr. Pettengill's cattle get out and block the road."
"Yes, ma'am." John cranked up the engine. The car shook and trembled and made a series of loud popping noises before it began to roll down the driveway, picking up speed as it went.
"Hooray!" shouted Theo. "Hooray!"
"Heavens to Betsy," Mama cried, "slow down, John. Do you want to kill us?"
Leaning over the seat, I estimated we were going all of ten or fifteen miles per hour.
"It's a good thing there aren't more motorcars on the road," Mama said. "If everyone drove like you, we'd never make it to town in one piece."
Hannah gave her mother an agonized look. "Mama," she whispered, "John knows how to drive. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Here, there, and everywhere-an opinionated riddle. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I was in a temper fit to blow the lid off a kettle of boiling water. And who wouldn't be? Since sunup, I'd been doing chores. I'd milked the cow, hauled two buckets of water from the well, fed the chickens, and then fought the hens for their eggs. Now I was down on my knees, sweat-soaked and bug-bitten, yanking weeds from the vegetable patch. My hands were caked with mud, and my nose was burned as red as a strawberry. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

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. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Do you know how to play?" I asked.
Hannah gave me one of her vexed looks. "Goodness, Andrew, if it weren't for me you wouldn't know the first thing about marbles. Your brain is a regular sieve these days."
I tapped my forehead to remind her I'd been sick. She looked so contrite I felt guilty. "Will you teach me all over again?"
Hannah poured her marbles onto the quilt and sighed. Without raising her eyes, she said, "Girls my age are supposed to be ladies, but sometimes I get mighty tired of trying to be what I'm not."
Cradling an aggie almost as shiny as Andrew's red bull's-eye, she cocked her head, studied her targets, and shot. The aggie hit a glass marble and sent it spinning off the bed. Hannah grinned and tried again.
When all the marbles except the aggie were scattered on the floor, Hannah seized my chin and tipped my face up to hers. Looking me in the eye, she said, "If you promise not to tell a soul, I'll give you as many lessons as you want. No matter what Papa thinks, I'd rather play marbles than be a lady, and that's the truth."
"Ringer," I said sleepily. "Do you know how to play ringer?"
Hannah ruffled my hair. "You must be pulling my leg, Andrew. That's what we always play. It's your favorite game."
I yawned. "Starting tomorrow, we'll practice every day till I get even better than I used to be."
"When I'm finished with you, you'll be the all-time marble champion of Missouri. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Alone in the bathroom, I stared into the mirror over the sink. Who was I looking at? Andrew or Drew? The boy on the lawn had been wearing my jeans, my T-shirt, my running shoes. I was wearing his clothes. I'd whistled for his dog the way he would have. I'd called his mother "Mama" as naturally as I'd once called my mother "Mom." If I stayed here long enough, would I sink down into Andrew's life and forget I'd ever been anyone else?
No, no, no. Splashing cold water on my face, I reminded myself I was just acting a part. When I won the marble game, the curtain would go down on the last act. I'd be Drew again and Andrew would be Andrew--for keeps. Till then, I'd call Mrs. Tyler "Mama" and Mr. Tyler "Papa," I'd think of Hannah and Theo as my brother and sister, I'd whistle for Buster, I'd do whatever my role demanded.
Outside, a horn blew and Theo yelled, "Andrew, hurry up or we'll leave without you!"
Yes--I'd even ride in a genuine Model T. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Why, I never!" Waving a letter covered with spidery handwriting, she said, "What a surprise! After all these years, Hannah wants to pay me a visit. She'd love to see the house she grew up in."
At the sound of Hannah's name, my heart beat faster. Speechless with happiness, I listened to my aunt chatter excitedly.
"She says John died last winter and she's staying in Riverview to straighten out his estate." Aunt Blythe paused to scrutinize the letter. "Listen to this, Drew: 'You'll find me a bit long in the tooth, Blythe, but, never fear, I still have my wits about me. You might warn Edward I'm not a jot sweeter than I was the last time we met!"
Aunt Blythe laughed. "In other words, Hannah hasn't changed a bit! ~ Mary Downing Hahn

I trudged home by myself, worrying about the trestle. What was I supposed to do there? If Andrew had dreamed it up, it was sure to be terrible. Maybe I'd have to lie down between the rails and let the train run over me. Boys did that in stories, but I wasn't sure it worked in real life. It seemed to me you'd be gouged to death by things hanging from the bottoms of boxcars.
I thought a little longer. Maybe it had something to do with explosives. Andrew had blown up an outhouse once--he might want to dynamite a whole train.
I kicked a stone so hard I almost broke my toe. There was no way of guessing what went on in Andrew's fiendish mind. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Sissy tilted her chair back so far I was sure she'd fall on her head any second. Not that I cared. Maybe she'd leave if she hurt herself. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

After a while, Hannah said, "I heard Papa and Mama talking last night. Mama told Papa she thinks John Larkin is fond of me."
To my annoyance, a little smile danced across her face. "I'm fond of John too," she admitted, "but Papa--"
Hannah bit her lip and frowned. "Papa said a girl with my notions will never find a husband. He told Mama I'd end up an old-maid suffragette. Those were his very words, Andrew."
Forgetting everything except making her happy, I said, "No matter what Papa thinks, you'll marry John. What's more, women will get the vote and drive cars and do everything men do, even wear trousers and run for president."
Hannah sucked in her breath. "The way you talk, Andrew. I could swear you've been looking in a crystal ball."
Clapping my hand over my mouth, I stared at her. Whatever had made me say so much? I didn't even want to think about her marrying John, and here I'd gone and told her she would, as well as revealing a bunch of other stuff she shouldn't know.
"Do you see anything else in my future?" Hannah was leaning toward me, her face inches from mine, gazing into my eyes, her lips slightly parted. "Will John and I be happy? Will we have lots of children? Will we live a long, long time?"
I tightened my grip on the branch. I was drowning, losing my identity, speaking words that made no sense. "You'll be old when I'm young," I whispered, "but I'll remember, I'll never forget, I'll always love--"
"What are you talking about? ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Reaching out, Andrew crooked his little finger with mine. "If I live, I'll find a way to let you know, Drew," he promised. "I owe you that much--and a whole lot more."
After a little silence, Andrew's face brightened. "You don't suppose you could stay, do you? Just think of the fun we'd have playing tricks on Edward and Mrs. Armiger." He laughed at his own thoughts. "Why, we'd make their heads spin, Drew. They wouldn't know one of us from the other."
For a moment, it seemed possible. My mother and father were away, they wouldn't miss me. As for Aunt Blythe--well, we'd think of some way to let her know I was all right. We were bouncing on the bed, singing "Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay," when the door opened and Mama appeared. It was Andrew she looked at, not me.
"Why are you still awake?" she asked. "I told you to go to sleep."
As Mama approached the bed, Andrew flung his arms around her. "You can see me, Mama," he cried. "Oh, thank the Lord! It's me, your own true son, back again for keeps."
She stared at him, perplexed. "What nonsense is this? Of course I can see you. Of course it's you. Who else would it be, you silly goose?"
I slid off the bed and ran to her side. "Me," I shouted, "it could be me."
When Mama didn't even blink, I tugged at her nightgown. "Look at me," I begged. "I'm here too, we both are. Andrew and me. Can't you see us both?" I hugged her, but all she did was shiver.
"No wonder this room is so drafty," she murmured. "The attic do ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Long before I was ready to say good-bye, Hannah rose to her feet and beckoned to Andrew. "We've had enough excitement for one day. It's time to leave."
After making sure Aunt Blythe wasn't looking, Andrew pulled a leather bag out of his pocket. "She thinks you already have these," he said. "They're yours for keeps now."
I clasped the marbles to my heart and stared at him through a blur of tears. "Come back soon, Andrew."
He hugged me so hard he squashed my nose against his bony shoulder. "At my age, I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best to see you again, and that's the truth. After all, Hannah and I aren't that far away. With modern cars and highways, Riverview's a sight closer than it used to be."
Reluctant to let him go, I looked him in the eye. "No matter what happens, I'll always keep you here." I struck my chest with my fist. "Right here in my heart as long as I live."
Andrew smiled. "I fancy you picked up that pretty notion from Hannah." Hugging me again, he said, "I hope your heart lasts as long as mine has, Drew. I want you to have all the time in the world to do whatever you like. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Women Rule," that's the way I see it. "Beside every great man there is a powerful woman. The same does not hold true for every successful woman. A lot of us are single because men want to wear the pants, even if they didn't buy them. ~ Mary B. Morrison

I am convinced that any feeling of exaltation because we have people under us should be conquered, for I am sure that if we enjoy being over people, there will be something in our manner which will make them dislike being under us. ~ Mary Parker Follett

Politeness is half good manners and half good lying. ~ Mary Wilson Little

Time, on its own, heals nothing. ~ Mary Rakow

I left the sadomasochist dump with a girl from the south of France named Simone. She was wearing a tight blue dress with red wine spilled down the front of it. She was so drunk, she didn't care. "Fuck it," she kept saying in English, "you know?" The tattooed doorman called out an endearment to us as we emerged for his cave ... We linked arms and walked. Simone was talking about her new boyfriend, but I didn't listen. I was thinking about Lisa's shame at Naxos, trying to gloat. But Alex was right- even a young girls shame could be beautiful. ~ Mary Gaitskill

Man is not himself only ... He is all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources ... He is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys. ~ Mary Hunter Austin

And you've got a boy right there who looks at you like he would drink your bathwater if you'd ask him! ~ Abbi Glines

I could never put my finger on her realness. She was so pretty and so quick that even when she had just awakened, her eyes full of sleep and hair tousled, I thought she looked just like the Virgin Mary. But what mother and daughter understand each other, or even have the sympathy for each other's lack of understanding? Mother ~ Maya Angelou

At boarding schools of every description, the relaxation of the junior boys is mischief; and of the senior, vice. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft

The longing for improvement and the fear of waste and worse - it is a pattern still with us, and maybe it speaks to the medium's essential marriage of light and dark, or as Mary Pickford put it in her autobiography (published in 1955), Sunshine and Shadow. Light and dark were the elements of film, and they had their chemistry in film's emulsion. They had a moral meaning, too. But not everyone appreciated that prospect, or credited how it might make your fortune. ~ David Thomson

I wouldn't leave L.A. if the whole place tipped over into the ocean,' Mary declared. And indeed, she only left Los Angeles on urgent business. She was too tough and too fragile for anyplace else. ~ Eve Babitz

Mad' sounds dashing, daring and admirable when you hold the tattered flag in the midst of battle and expired natives lie all over the carpet with holes in 'em that you put there. 'Mad' is less impressive written on a form by a commissioner of lunacy as you're turned over to the hospitallers of St Mary of Bedlam to be dunked in ice water because your latest 'scrape' was running starkers down Oxford Street while gibbering like a baboon. ~ Kim Newman

was "Night Moves" by Bob Seeger. This, he ~ Mary McNear

We don't have all the answers. Perhaps prayer is simply a time we set aside to acknowledge that reality. ~ Mary E. Hunt

Our politicians tell us we are free, even though most governments take over 50% of what we earn. They claim we get services that we need for our hard-earned money, even though we could buy the same services at half the price from the private sector. Today, we ridicule the slave-owners' claim that they "gave back" to their slaves by housing, clothing, feeding them, and bestowing upon them the "benefits" of civilization instead of leaving them in their native state. We see this as a self-serving justification for exploitation. In the future, we will view being forcibly taxed to pay for things we don't want, such as bombs for the Middle East, subsidies for tobacco, other people's abortions, regulations that put small businesses out of business, prisons for people trying to feel good, keeping life-saving medications out of the hands of dying people, etc., as taking away our freedom. When even a small portion of our lives is spent enslaved, that part tends to dominate the rest of our time. If we don't put our servitude first as we structure the remainder of our lives, our masters will make sure we regret it. How much freedom do we need to survive and how much do we need to thrive? ~ Mary J. Ruwart

clinical picture ~ Mary Jo Wagner

Looking out the window of a large women's monastery after Divine Liturgy, my friend saw a few nuns walking toward the woods with satchels on their backs. Inquiring who they were, she was told they were ascetics who lived in the wilderness and had come to the monastery to attend Liturgy and to receive some food. Although we are much weaker in our times and far less ascetical than the early desert fathers and mothers, let it never be said that extreme Christian asceticism is extinct. Who knows how many St. Mary of Egypts are hidden in the wilderness? ~ Constantina R. Palmer

I believe the day is done. Whether it's been the best day or the worst, it's over; let it go. ~ Mary Fairfax

To love and to be loved, one must do good to others. The inevitable condition whereby to become blessed, is to bless others. ~ Mary Baker Eddy

When we were 15, my girlfriend Ruth Kaplan and I applied to the Universidad Ibero-Americana in Mexico City. We were accepted into a program that placed us with a lovely Mexican family. We lived with them for six weeks while studying Spanish poetry and Mexican anthropology. ~ Mary Doria Russell

What he meant was that the face has, to a large extent, a mind of its own. This doesn't mean we have no control over our faces. We can use our voluntary muscular system to try to suppress those involuntary responses. But, often, some little part of that suppressed emotion - such as the sense that I'm really unhappy even if I deny it - leaks out. That's what happened to Mary. Our voluntary expressive system is the way we intentionally signal our emotions. But our involuntary expressive system is in many ways even more important: it is the way we have been equipped by evolution to signal our authentic feelings. ~ Malcolm Gladwell

When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. ~ Mary Kay Ash

If you have had some taste of success, it's extremely addicting. I think the withdrawal from that is what's most devastating. I don't think it's the success that kills people, it's the withdrawal. ~ Mary Harron

At some future time I shall see New York the artist's ground. I think you will create an American School. ~ Mary Cassatt

By the mid second century BCE, the profits of warfare had made the Roman people by far the richest of any in their known world. Thousands upon thousands of captives became the slave labour that worked the Roman fields, mines and mills, that exploited resources on a much more intensive scale than ever before and fuelled Roman production and Roman economic growth. ~ Mary Beard

Your tattoo," I said without thinking. "Does it mean anything?"

"Don't most tattoos?" he said. "I kind of want something to have significance if it's in permanent ink. On my skin."

"What does it mean?"

"It's a warning," he said.

Right.

"Do you have others?" I couldn't see any, despite his short sleeves. "I mean, under your clothes?"
What was wrong with me? Was it inappropriate hour or something?

"One more." He was trying not to smile. "But I need to know you a little better first. ~ Mary Watson

If you're here right now in your life, your journey continues and you've lived to tell the story. ~ Mary J. Blige

I knew that, without killing the creative mood, I had to keep the balance between my emotional outburst and the merciless discipline of a super-personal control, thus submitting myself ti the self-imposed law of dance composition ~ Mary Wigman

And for all the people waiting for permission to level up enough before they start working on something big and scary--just go in. Don't be like me. ~ Mary H.K. Choi

If your wish is to become really a man of science and not merely a petty experimentalist, I should advise you to apply to every branch of natural philosophy, including mathematics. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Thank you. There were three of us kids, all right together. I'm the oldest, she was the knee-baby, and my brother Henry came last. Funny, I miss her all the time, but I miss her most when I'm reading Austen. We'd been fans since we were in the seventh and eighth grade, two Creole girls gigglin' about marriage proposals gone bad. Our daddy teased us about reading each other passages during a Fourth of July crawfish boil, so he named the biggest one Mr. Darcy and threw him in the pot." She looked up, a smile fighting the tears in her eyes. "We refused to eat him. ~ Mary Jane Hathaway

Whatever you worship will consume you, Dong-Sing wrote one week. Bob Wright worships money. Wyatt Earp worships justice. Eddie Foy worships applause. Doc worships home and family, as I do. How will this consume us? ~ Mary Doria Russell

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961. The pay wasn't much, so to get $300 more per year, I agreed to coach the golf team. I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments. ~ Lou Holtz

words. "Hell no! Sarah took Davie to Bingo. My old man's working four to twelve." "Where's your sister?" "Let's get one thing straight," Stanley grumbled. "She's not my sister!" "Okay, smart ass. Where's your cousin?" "She's upstairs. And she's not my cousin either. She's not related to me at all!" JD took the joint from Stanley's thick fingers and ~ Mary Ann Gouze

Mr. Darcy," he said. "Mrs. Darcy what a pleasant surprise this is," the older man said as he came up to them. "Mr. ~ Mary Jane Ballew

I don't think of my songs as sad songs. I think of them as vulnerable and honest. I crack jokes in between songs, so people don't leave feeling too dark. ~ Mary Lambert

Because there is no substitute for vigorous and exact description, I would like to say how your eyes, at twilight, reflect, at the same time, the beauty of the world, and its crimes. ~ Mary Oliver

Often, the teachers would ask me what language we spoke at home. This was a not-so-subtle way of discovering if we spoke Yiddish (which we didn't) and were therefore Jewish (which we were). ~ Edith Hahn Beer

Sully's brooding blue eyes sparked to life when they kissed, like his truck when he fired the engine. ~ Mary Alice Monroe

I never wanted Mary Poppins to be my nanny. I wanted to be her when I grew up. ~ Anita Diament