There There

Tommy Orange

“Opal worked for the post office. Delivered mail. She liked to watch TV whence was home. Cook for them. They didn’t know much else about her. She did make fry bread for them on special occasions.” pg. 132

“Lony, you like the taste of Indian tacos, right?” Orvil says.

“Jacquie went to the back table and looked at the food spread—a pot of coffee in a very old auto-drip coffeemaker, cheese, crackers, meat, and mini-celery sticks fanned out in a circle around various dips. “ pg. 108

“Me and Jacquie looked up at the big house. It’d been okay, the yellow house. For what it was. The first one we’d been in without either of the dads, so it’d been quiet, and even sweet, like the banana cream pie our mom made the first night we spent there, when the gas worked but the electricity hadn’t been turned on yet, and we ate standing up in the kitchen, in candlelight.” pg. 47

“Okay, Sonny,” Maggie said “Go get us all some napkins? I got that lemonade you like,” Maggie said to me.

“Thanks, I’m’a get a beer though. We still got some, right?” I said.

“I got up and opened the fridge, thought better about the beer, then got the lemonade. Maggie didn’t see that I didn’t get a beer.

“You can get the lemonade I got for us though,” she said.

“You gonna tell me what I can and can’t do now?” pg. 89

“They had their usual: hamburger meat, mashed potatoes, and green beans from a can.” pg. 30

“I had half a cheeseburger I forgot was in my backpack for like a month. When I found it, it looked and smelled exactly the same as when I left it. Real food spoils,” Lucas said.

“Beef jerky doesn’t spoil,” Opal said. pg. 168