The Turning - WACE quotes

Big World

“I thought about killing myself.”

“Meg is as thick as a box of hammers.”

“Right then, I can’t imagine an end to the quiet.”

Abbreviation

“She kissed him and her mouth was soft and hungry.”

“…kissed the top of his head.”

“There must be rain on the way.”

Damaged Goods

“My husband had this thing about a girl with a birthmark.”

“At first glance her face looked burned, as though she’d suffered a terrible scorching.”

“…what a shame she’s damaged goods.”

“He found that the only legitimate way to watch Strawberry Alison was on the netball court.”

“I suppose the sources of obsession are at once mundane and mysterious.”

“So much of his youth seems to have taken place in an altogether different country.”

Small Mercies

“He hadn’t even considered that she might still be in town.”

“We always loved you, Peter, said Marjorie.”

“Dyson had no desire to see Faye Keenan.”

“And you’re fuckin mother paid for it…You know how my parents are. You know what it’d do to them. It’d crush them”

On Her Knees

“The car reeked of bleach and rubber gloves.”

“It’s demeaning, Mum!”

“Nothing, she said, too quickly.”

“I followed her into the hot afternoon.”

“Through it all, my mother maintained her dignity and her hourly rate.”

“She left jobs, she did not lose them.”

“People bragged about her and passed her around like a hot tip.”

“These people, they can say anything they like. You can’t fight back.”

“There is more honour in scrubbing people’s floors rather than having strangers scrub your own.”

The Turning

“She was as crook as a dog and her face hurt.”

“Handle with Care.”

“But she had something special”

“You’re paying me to leave him?”

“She was free, she had already outlived him.”

“She was tired, yet it wasn’t ordinary fatigue. It was a deeper exhaustion. She was sick of herself.”

“She said his name, too, said it aloud with love enough to send a shudder through Max as he pushed her down. She knew she was safe from him now, not safe from tonight but gone from him altogether. He smelt of death already, of burning, of bile and acid. He was crying and she did not pity him. He was gone and it didn’t matter when. Everything was new.”

“…Rae wondered about Sherry, what it was, apart from looks, that she had. “

“So it’s this, she murmured.”

Long, Clear View

“You can hold out for as long it takes to have everyone home safe, returned to themselves and how things used to be. You cock your weapon.”

“From here you have a long, clear view. Responsibility is on you now, formless and implacable as gravity… Yes, let them try.”"

Reunion

“Carol laid an indulgent hand on my arm and I just kept talking.”

“Bloody hell, said Vic, You never told me this.”

“Just the way she held my arm, I knew she understood.”

“Family, said Vic, it’s not a word, it’s a sentence.”

“Rubbish, said Carol. It’s an adventure.”

Commission

“I was unprepared for how strongly the shack smelt of him.”

“Once upon a time it had been true. Honest Bob... I believed in him. He was godlike.”

“She turned herself inside out to protect him and then me. And at such cost.”

“Cowardice, it’s a way of life. It’s not natural, you learn it.”

“Have you written to her?

Not since I’ve been straight.

Why not?

He shrugged. Shame, I spose. And I didn’t want to get in her way.

She’s still married to you!”

Fog

“No, he decided. He’d say nothing. It was what he was best at now.”

Defender

“But beyond that, even at this age, he still didn’t know the first thing about saving himself.”

“He hit both targets and felt his face crease into a smile that tested every scab.”

“He blasted away, pull after pull after pull, until he was covered in sweat and they were out of ammo and he realised that darkness had fallen around him and he was happy.”

“He thought of the boy lurking behind the curtain.”

Order of Vic Lang stories

1. Abbreviation

2. Fog

3. Long, Clear View

4. Immunity

5. Damaged Goods

6. Reunion

7. Commission

8. Defender