“well she was precious like a flowershe grew wild, wild but innocenta perfect prayer in a desperate hourshe was everything beautiful and differentstupid boy, you can't fence that instupid boy, it's like holdin' back the wind”

“This boy who made her feel like she was twenty again. Made her feel ridiculous, yes, idiotic. Made her feel crazy and awkward and wild.”

“Then summer came. A summer limp with the weight of blossomed things. Heavy sunflowers weeping over fences; iris curling and browning at the edges far away from their purple hearts; ears of corn letting their auburn hair wind down to their stalks. AND THE BOYS. The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs. EVEN THEIR FOOTSTEPS LEFT A SMELL OF SMOKE BEHIND!”

“If you know the country he said then you will be a wild colonial boy forever”

“But Aunt Margaret doesn't like boys," objected Elnora."Well, she likes me, and I used to be a boy. ...”

“Their lips brushed like young wild flowers in the wind.”