“
Thing was' he faced them, and Harry was astonished to see that he was grinning, 'they bit of a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably think they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway' Neville laughed, 'Dawlish is still in St Mungo's and Gran is on the run. She sent me a letter,' he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, 'telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parents' son, and to keep it up
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))
“
Usually people avoided mentioning Abel's name, as if he'd done something unforgiveable. Which I guess he had: He reminded people of the cruel unfairness of life, and the closeness of death.
”
”
Sara Gran (The Book of the Most Precious Substance)
“
She said, "Well, that's right, she's going to heaven very soon. And now it's time for us to say good-bye to her and tell her how much we love her."
Mary martha nodded and looked at the needlepoint in her hands.
"Will her brain still be hurt, in heaven?" she asked.
[Rebecca]....said, "Do you remember that time at the beach, when you went into the water with Gran-Gran and the waves were too big and she lifted you up over them? And you two were laughing so much and you said she was the coolest grandmother in the world?"
Mary Martha smiled. "Yes"
"That is how she will be in heaven," Rebecca said.
”
”
Tim Farrington (The Monk Upstairs)
“
Gran had always called the space between life and death "the two walks", a corridor where souls came and went from between worlds.
”
”
Leanna Renee Hieber (The Spectral City (Spectral City, #1))
“
Everything that was his was now no one's; everything he'd seen and felt and knew was now gone.
”
”
Sara Gran (The Book of the Most Precious Substance)
“
Estos baños son un gran placer para mí. Karen Blixen dijo en sus Seven Gothic Tales: «Conozco un remedio para todos los males: agua salada […] en cualquiera de sus formas. Sudor, lágrimas o agua de mar».
”
”
Maggie O'Farrell (I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death)
“
Él mordió sus labios y durante segundos, boca contra boca, aspiró esa tibieza que le traspasaba como si estrechara el mundo entre sus brazos. Mientras tanto ella se agarraba a él, como ahogada, surgía por impulsos de este gran agujero profundo en el que estaba arrojada, rechazaba entonces sus labios que atraía después, volviendo a caer entonces en las aguas negras y heladas que la quemaban como un pueblo de dioses.
”
”
Albert Camus (A Happy Death)
“
Iwalk at a leisurely pace back to my apartment. It’s funny how when you’re feeling the impact of stress, it’s hard to appreciate the small, inspiring things around you—the birds chirping their last lullabies before puffing up for a night’s sleep, the cotton-candy sky as the sun sets, the fact that you’re on your way home and unlike every other day for the last several months, when you open your front door, there will be a friend there waiting for you. It may be the first time since Gran’s death that I feel such a sense of hope. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.
”
”
Nita Prose (The Maid (Molly the Maid, #1))
“
That’s when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran.”
“They what?” said Harry, Ron, and Hermione together.
“Yeah,” said Neville, panting a little now, because the passage was climbing so steeply, “well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave, I s’pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way around. Thing was,” he faced them, and Harry was astonished to see that he was grinning, “they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn’t need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway,” Neville laughed, “Dawlish is still in St. Mungo’s and Gran’s on the run. She sent me a letter,” he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, “telling me she was proud of me, that I’m my parents’ son, and to keep it up.”
“Cool,” said Ron.
“Yeah,” said Neville happily. “Only thing was, once they realized they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don’t know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban; either way, I knew it was time to disappear.”
“But,” said Ron, looking thoroughly confused, “aren’t--aren’t we heading straight back into Hogwarts?
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))
“
Y delante del establo una mujer tenía sobre su falda un pato que había degollado y al que acariciaba dulcemente, mientras que una niña sostenía una taza para recoger la sangre, con la que iban a hacer la salsa, y el pato parecía muy contento, y cuando lo depositaron en el suelo -toda la sangre había caído ya dentro de la taza- el se contoneó dos veces sobre sus patas, y comprendió que estaba muerto. Y nos lo comimos más tarde, relleno y asado, y otros muchos platos también, con el vino de aquel año y del anterior y el gran vino de cuatro años antes, y otros vinos de otros años, cuya memoria he perdido, mientras que los brazos de un espantamoscas artificial, movido por un mecanismo de relojería, giraban y giraban; y hablábamos francés, aunque todos sabíamos mejor el español.
”
”
Ernest Hemingway (Death in the Afternoon)
“
Ebbe l'intuizione di aver involontariamente infilato la mano nel Gran Nido di Vespe della Vita. Come immagine non valeva granché. Come cammeo della realtà, gli pareva abbastanza valido. Aveva infilato la mano in un gronda fradicia in piena estate e la mano e anche l'interno braccio erano stati consunti da un sacro fuoco di giustizia, che aveva operato il concetto di comportamento civile. Ci si può forse aspettare che uno si comporti da essere umano ragionante quando ha la mano infilzata su una fila di aghi da rammendo roventi? Ci si può aspettare di vivere nell'amore delle persone più vicine e più care quando la bruna nube infuriata si sprigiona dal buco nel tessuto delle cose (il tessuto che si riteneva fosse tanto innocente) e ti si scaglia addosso come una freccia? Si può forse essere considerati responsabili delle proprie azioni mentre ci si aggira a folle corsa sul tetto in pendenza a oltre venti metri d'altezza, senza sapere dove si va, senza ricordarsi che i piedi, mossi dal panico, possono indurti a fare una mossa improvvisa e a precipitare oltre la grondaia per trovare la morte sul cemento venti metri più in basso?
”
”
Stephen King (The Shining (The Shining, #1))
“
David Greene was kind, and he had a sense of humor. He made your mother laugh.”
That was all Gran could muster up? “Did you not like him?”
“He wasn’t a big believer in Tarot. Humor aside, he was a very practical man. From New England,” she added, as if that explained everything. “I’d been wearing Karen down about the Arcana—until she met him. Before I knew it, your mother was pregnant. Even then, I sensed you were the Empress.”
“He didn’t want us to live up north?”
“David planned to move there.” Her gaze went distant. “To move you—the great Empress—away from her Haven.” That must have gone over well. “In the end, I convinced them not to go.”
......
I opened up the family albums. As I scrolled through them, her eyes appeared dazed, as if she wasn’t seeing the images. Yet then she stared at a large picture of my father.
I said, “I wish I could remember him.”
“David used to carry you around the farm on his shoulders,” she said. “He read to you every night and took you to the river to skip stones. He drove you around to pet every baby animal born in a ten-mile radius. Lambs, kittens, puppies.” She drew a labored breath. “He brought you to the crops and the gardens. Even then, you would pet the bark of an oak and kiss a rose bloom. If the cane was sighing that day, you’d fall asleep in his arms.”
I imagined it all: the sugarcane, the farm, the majestic oaks, the lazy river that always had fish jumping. My roots were there, but I knew I would never go back. Jack’s dream had been to return and rebuild Haven. A dream we’d shared. I would feel like a traitor going home without him. Plus, it’d be too painful. Everything would remind me of the love I’d lost.
“David’s death was so needless,” she said. “Don’t know what he was doing near that cane crusher.”
“David’s death was so needless,” she said. “Don’t know what he was doing near that cane crusher.”
I snapped my gaze to her. “What do you mean? He disappeared on a fishing trip in the Basin.”
She frowned at me. “He did. Of course.”
Chills crept up my spine. Was she lying? Why would she, unless . . .
”
”
Kresley Cole (Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles, #4))
“
During homeroom, before first period, I start a bucket list in one of my notebooks.
First on the list?
1) Eat in the cafeteria. Sit with people. TALK TO THEM.
2)
And…that’s all I can come up with for now. But this is good. One task to work on.
No distractions. I can do this.
When my lunch period rolls around, I forgo the safety of my bag lunch and the computer
lab and slip into the pizza line, wielding my very own tray of semi-edible fare for
the first time in years.
“A truly remarkable sight.” Jensen cuts into line beside me, sliding his tray next
to mine on the ledge in front of us. He lifts his hands and frames me with his fingers,
like he’s shooting a movie. “In search of food, the elusive creature emerges from
her den and tries her luck at the watering hole."
I shake my head, smiling, moving down the line. “Wow, Peters. I never knew you were
such a huge Animal Planet fan.”
“I’m a fan of all things nature. Birds. Bees. The like.” He grabs two pudding cups
and drops one on my tray.
“Pandas?” I say.
“How did you know? The panda is my spirit animal.”
“Oh, good, because Gran has this great pattern for an embroidered panda cardigan.
It would look amazing on you.”
“Um, yeah, I know. It was on my Christmas list, but Santa totally stiffed me."
I laugh as I grab a carton of milk. So does he.
He leans in closer. “Come sit with me.”
“At the jock table? Are you kidding?” I hand the cashier my lunch card.
Jensen squints his eyes in the direction of his friends. “We’re skinny-ass basketball
players, Wayfare. We don’t really scream jock.”
“Meatheads, then?”
“I believe the correct term is Athletic Types.” We step out from the line and scan
the room. “So where were you planning on sitting?"
“I was thinking Grady and Marco were my safest bet.”
“The nerd table?”
I gesture to myself, especially my glasses. “I figure my natural camouflage will help
me blend, yo.”
He laughs, his honey-blond hair falling in front of his eyes.
“And hey,” I say, nudging him with my elbow, “last I heard, Peters was cool with nerdy.”
He claps me gently on the back. “Good luck, Wayfare. I’m pulling for ya.
”
”
M.G. Buehrlen (The Untimely Deaths of Alex Wayfare (Alex Wayfare #2))
“
I can only imagine the sort of havoc Oliver must have wreaked as a boy.”
Oliver handed Minerva in, then climbed in to sit beside her. “We weren’t that bad.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Minerva exclaimed, her eyes twinkling. “One dull evening, he and his friends went to a ball dressed in the livery of the hired footmen. Then they proceeded to drink up the liquor, flirt and wink at the elderly ladies until they were all blushing, and make loud criticisms of the entertainment. After the lady of the house caught on to their scheme and rounded up some stout young men to throw them out, they stole a small stone cupid she had in her garden and sent her a ransom note for it.”
“How the devil do you know that?” Oliver asked. “You were, what, eleven?”
“Twelve,” Minerva said. “And it was all Gran’s servants could talk about. Made quite a stir in society, as I recall. What was the ransom? A kiss for each of you from the lady’s daughter?”
A faint smile touched Oliver’s lips. “And she never did pay it. Apparently her suitors took issue with it. Not to mention her parents.”
“Good heavens,” Maria said.
“Come to think of it,” Oliver mused aloud, “I believe Kirkwood still has that cupid somewhere. I should ask him.”
“You’re as bad as Freddy and my cousins,” Maria chided. “They put soap on all the windows of the mayor’s carriage on the very day he was supposed to lead a procession through Dartmouth. You should have seen him blustering when he discovered it.”
“Was he a pompous idiot?” Oliver asked.
“A lecher, actually. He tried to force a kiss on my aunt. And him a married man, too!”
“Then I hope they did more than soap his windows,” Oliver drawled.
The comment caught Maria by surprise. “And you, of course, have never kissed a married woman?”
“Not if they didn’t ask to be kissed,” he said, a strange tension in his voice. “But we weren’t speaking of me, we were speaking of Dartmouth’s dastardly mayor. Did soaping his windows teach him a lesson?”
“No, but the gift they left for him in the coach did the trick. They got it from the town’s largest cow.”
Oliver and Minerva both laughed. Mrs. Plumtree did not. She was as silent as death beside Maria, clearly scandalized by the entire conversation.
“Why do boys always feel an urgent need to create a mess others are forced to clean up?” Minerva asked.
“Because they know how it irritates us,” Maria said.
”
”
Sabrina Jeffries (The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1))
“
Now, then,” he said, returning to the head of the table, “I think you should know that Gran’s original requirement is still in place. The four of you must marry or she will disinherit the lot of us. I’ve done my part. So I suggest that while Maria and I are in America, you four start looking for mates.”
It took a second for that to sink in.
Minerva exploded first. “That isn’t fair! Gran, I’m sure you’ll have your heir from Oliver and Maria in no time, given the hours they spend up there in the master bedchamber. Why in heaven’s name must you continue this farce?”
“I asked her to continue it,” Oliver said. When his siblings gaped at him, he added, “Gran is right-it’s time that we take our place in the world as more than hellions. We’ve been sleepwalking too long, locked into the past, unable to live fruitful lives. Now that Maria has awakened me, I want to wake you up, too. I want you to stop boxing at shadows and hiding in the dark from the scandal of our parents’ deaths. I want you to find what I’ve found-love.”
He gazed at Maria, who cast him an encouraging smile. They’d both agreed that this might be the only way to force his siblings awake.
“Speak for yourself,” Minerva answered. “I’m perfectly fine. You’re just using that nonsense as an excuse for joining up with Gran to ruin our lives.” She glanced resentfully at Maria. “Is this the thanks we get for pushing him into your arms?”
“Pushing me into her arms?” Oliver echoed.
“All that making you jealous and keeping you from her-“ Gabe began.
“And lying to you about her inheritance,” Jarret added. “Though that didn’t work out quite as planned.”
“You wouldn’t even be together if not for us,” Celia said.
“I suspect my wife would beg to differ,” Oliver drawled. “But that’s neither here nor there. Rail at me all you want, but Gran’s deadline is still in place. You have ten months to marry.” He cast them a thin smile. “Given how difficult that may prove, however, I’ve hired someone to help you.”
He turned to the door. “Mr. Pinter? Would you step inside, please?”
The Bow Street Runner walked in, looking uneasy at facing the entire cadre of scandalous Sharpes.
“Mr. Pinter has agreed to help you by researching the backgrounds of your potential spouses. I know it can be difficult, especially for you girls, to sort the legitimate suitors from the fortune hunters.” He knew that firsthand. “So Mr. Pinter will investigate anyone who sparks your interest. That should make the entire process move more quickly.”
“And cold-bloodedly,” Celia muttered under her breath.
Pinter arched an eyebrow but said nothing.
”
”
Sabrina Jeffries (The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1))
“
1298: Seizure of the Gran Tavola of Sienna by Philip IV of France 1307: Liquidation of the Knights Templar by Philip IV 1311: Edward II default to the Frescobaldi of Florence 1326: Bankruptcy of the Scali of Florence and Asti of Sienna 1342: Edward III default to the Florentine banks during the Hundred Years’ War 1345: Bankruptcy of the Bardi and Peruzzi; depression, Great crash of the 1340s 1380: Ciompi Revolt in Florence. Crash of the early 1380s 1401: Italian bankers expelled from Aragon in 1401, England in 1403, France in 1410 1433: Fiscal crisis in Florence after wars with Milan and Lucca 1464: Death of Cosimo de Medici: loans called in; wave of bankruptcies in Florence 1470: Edward IV default to the Medici during the Wars of the Roses 1478: Bruges branch of the Medici bank liquidated on bad debts 1494: Overthrow of the Medici after the capture of Florence by Charles VIII of France 1525: Siege of Genoa by forces of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire; coup in 1527 1557: Philip II of Spain restructuring of debts inherited from Charles V 1566: Start of the Dutch Revolt against Spain: disruption of Spanish trade 1575: Philip II default: Financial crisis of 1575–79 affected Genoese creditors 1596: Philip II default: Financial crisis of 1596 severely affected Genoese businessmen 1607: Spanish state bankruptcy: failure of Genoese banks 1619: Kipper-und-Wipperzeit: Monetary crisis at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War
”
”
Michael W. Covel (Trend Following: How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear, and Black Swan Markets (Wiley Trading))
“
I immediately packed up Bindi and went to catch the next plane home. The family was in free fall. Steve was in shock, and Bob was even worse off. Lyn had always acted as the matriarch, the one who kept everything together. She was such a strong figure, a leader. Her death didn’t seem real.
I sat on that plane and looked down at Bindi. Life is changed forever now, I thought. As we arrived home, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never dealt with grief like this before. Lyn was only in her fifties, and it seemed cruel to have her life cut short, as she was on the brink of a dream she had held in her heart forever. These were going to be her golden years. She and Bob could embark on the life they had worked so hard to achieve. They would be together, near their family, where they could take care of the land and enjoy the wildlife they loved.
I couldn’t imagine what Steve, his dad, and his sisters were going through. My heart was broken. Bindi’s gran was gone just when they had most looked forward to spending time together. The aftermath of Lyn’s death was every bit as awful as I could have imagined. Steve was absolutely inconsolable, and Bob was very obviously unable to cope. Joy and Mandy were trying to keep things together, but they were distraught and heartbroken. Everyone at the zoo was somber. I felt I needed to do something, yet I felt helpless, sad, and lost.
Steve’s younger sister Mandy performed the mournful task of sifting through the smashed items from the truck. One of the objects Lyn had packed was Bob’s teapot. There was nothing Bob enjoyed more than a cup of tea. As Mandy went to wash out the teapot, she noticed movement. Inside was Sharon, the bird-eating spider, the sole survivor of the accident. Although her tank had been smashed to bits, she had managed to crawl into the teapot to hide.
After the funeral, time appeared to slow down and then stop entirely. Steve talked about moving out to Ironback Station. He couldn’t seem to order his thoughts. He no longer saw a reason for going on with all the projects on which we had worked so hard. Bindi was upset but didn’t have the understanding to know why. She was too young to get her head around what had happened. She simply cried when she saw her daddy crying.
It would be a long time before life returned to anything like normalcy. Lyn’s death was something that Steve would never truly overcome. His connection with his mum, like that of so many mothers and sons, was unusually close. Lyn Irwin was a pioneer in wildlife rehabilitation work. She had given her son a great legacy, and eventually that gift would win out over death. But in the wake of her accident, all we could see was loss.
Steve headed out into the bush alone, with just Sui and his swag. He reverted to his youth, to his solitary formative years. But grief trailed him. My heart broke for my husband. I was not sure he would ever find his way back.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
A rat, Evie,” she murmured. “A rat on my table . . . gnaws the threads . . . the salamander stares at me from the shadows . . . the serpent coils around the tree . . . and chokes its roots.”
How had she gotten so much worse in such a short time?
Her gaze darted. “Spite couldn’t spit . . . and the Devil knew his verses. The cups see the future . . . in a chalice of blood.” ...“Only you can bring us back. You must win . . . the earth depends on it. Cards know it . . . beware the Fool . . . dark dealings. The dark calling, the calling dark.”
When she started on another rant, I touched her arm. “What about the Fool?”
“The wild card! The game keeper.”... “You have to kill Death. He will turn on you—they all will. Death is poisoning me!”
I read until her chest no longer rose and fell. My grandmother was at peace.
For some reason, I turned to the last page. Gran had updated the chronicles. The first entry:
The cunning Empress has beguiled Death, until all he can see is her. He reunites an Arcana with her Tarasova, courting his own destruction.
Another entry:
They are murdering me, but the Empress turns a blind eye. Though they have tricked her, I see clearly. She won’t do what’s necessary, so I have put the end into motion.
She can never be with him. She has no idea what Life and Death become. . . .
What had she meant by that? And what “necessary” thing had she put into motion?
I left you clues, Evie. Nothing is as it seems. Midnight serpents choke the roots. The Agent. The ro—
”
”
Kresley Cole (Arcana Rising (The Arcana Chronicles, #4))
“
Anyway,’ Neville laughed, ‘Dawlish is still in St Mungo’s and Gran’s on the run. She sent me a letter,’ he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, ‘telling me she was proud of me, that I’m my parents’ son, and to keep it up.
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))
“
Samsāra was one name for the wheel of life and death, the stupidity we wander through, lost, until we find enlightenment and get to join with the divine. All the shit that hurts so much. The big things like death and loss and pain and also just the everyday grind of eating and sleeping and wanting and wanting and wanting—that was samsāra. You were supposed to want to get out of it. You were supposed to look for the exit, the golden ticket that could take you to the chocolate factory. Escape from New York. This way to the egress.
”
”
Sara Gran (Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Claire DeWitt Mysteries, #2))
“
La memoria es la capacidad de seguir adelante arrastrando ciertos
aspectos de la experiencia. Incluso los músculos tienen memoria, algo que
puede apreciarse con los cambios que se producen en ellos como resultado
del ejercicio. No obstante, y más importante aún, la memoria es lo que el
cerebro hace, el modo en que nos forma, y permite que nuestro pasado ayude
a determinar nuestro futuro. En gran medida, el cerebro nos convierte en
quienes somos(...).
”
”
Bruce D. Perry (A Child's Loss: Helping Children Exposed to Traumatic Death (The ChildTrauma Academy Press Caregiver Series Book 1))
“
Despite my granddad spending a lifetime complaining about the immigrants and darkies, he took his military pension and retired to Thailand and saw no contradiction. In typical expat style, he did not learn the language, did not integrate and did not particularly respect the culture; he lived in his enclave with other ‘expats’ from Australia and America and moaned about the Thais in their own country instead. After my granddad’s death, my white gran went native and got re-married to a Thai man, much to the
”
”
Akala (Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire)
“
Yeah, well, I couldn’t ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That’s when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran.” “They what?” said Harry, Ron, and Hermione together. “Yeah,” said Neville, panting a little now, because the passage was climbing so steeply, “well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave, I s’pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way around. Thing was,” he faced them, and Harry was astonished to see that he was grinning, “they bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn’t need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway,” Neville laughed, “Dawlish is still in St. Mungo’s and Gran’s on the run. She sent me a letter,
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))