“Connie Madison Parker, age 36, on Merchandise: "You got to put yourgoods on display, babe. Otherwise, not only will the boys ignore you but—an'trust me on this, my sister's flat as you—we're talkin' the Great Plains of East Texas — no landmarks — one day you'll look down and have no wares at all.What'll you do then?”

“No matter where you go in East Texas, ‘Deep’ East Texas is always about twenty miles further in than wherever you are.”

“One day I was driving down the farm track in the pickup,with two of the little boys, aged about four or five, sitting beside me. One of them turned to me conversationally and said, "Baba, don't worry. When you get old one day you'll be sitting here where we are, and we'll be driving you around!”

“Connie, have you been trying to call me?" No Archie. "Well, my phone has not been ringing all day, and I thought it might have been you.”

“Breaking down that wall is the kind of story that might have a happy middle - oh, look, we broke down this wall, I'm going to look at you like a girl and you're going to look at me like a boy, and we're going to play a fun game called Can I Put My Hand There What About There What About There.”

“If you help me find my sister, you can have these back. I saved them for you.""Thanks," he croaks, surveying the wings. "They'll look great on my wall.”