“The boy shall have a proper beating,' said Cecil.'But I beat him already,' I said, 'and don't tell me I didn't do it properly. I'm touchy about these things.”

“And so I beat him and beat him until he kissed me. And then I kept on beating him until he did it properly.”

“Well he didn't treat my mother very well. He did some horrible things.""Like..." I hesitated. "Blood-whore things?""Like beating-her-up kinds of things" he replied flatly."Oh God," I said "That's horrible. And she...she just let it happen?""She did." The corner of his mouth turned into a sly, sad smile. "But I didn't""Tell me, tell me you beat the crap out of him"His smile grew, "I did.”

“I told him I didn't want to have sex until I got married. Without missing a beat, he nodded and said, "So let's get married.”

“I shall beat you,' he said, looking at her.How else should I know you loved me,' she answered.”

“What I learned playing basketball at Ole Miss," he said, "was what not to do: beat up a kid. It's easy to beat up a kid. The hard thing is to build him up.”