How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I was Joey then, not Joe: Joey Dowdel, and my sister was Mary Alice. In our first visits we were still kids, so we could hardly see her town because of Grandma. (P.1)
When Joey first starts visiting Grandma during the summer, he still goes by Joey rather than Joe because he's just a kid. As the years go by though, Joey and Mary Alice both start to grow up… and they know that their time with Grandma is limited.
Quote #2
Now I'm older than Grandma was then, quite a bit older. But as the time gets past me, I seem to remember more and more about those hot summer days and nights, and the last house in town, where Grandma lived. (P.2)
When the book opens up, Joe (not Joey any longer) is an old man reflecting back on all the good times that he had at Grandma's house over the summer. Now that he's an adult, he has a different perspective on those days—but he still remembers them clearly.
Quote #3
"It was because you wadded up your underdrawers to stop up the flue on the stove and smoke out the schoolhouse! That was the end of yer education!"
"Working for you was an education," Grandma muttered, though only Mary Alice and I heard. (3.135-136)
It's strange to think that Grandma Dowdel was once a little girl, too, but Aunt Puss remembers when she was just a kid getting in trouble at school. The years sure have taught Grandma a lot.
Quote #4
I was thirteen at last, so I'd thank you to call me Joe, not Joey, and I walked a few strides ahead of Mary Alice.
For one thing, she'd been taking dancing lessons all year and never went anywhere without her tap shoes in a drawstring bag. (5.3-4)
Once Joey turns 13, he considers himself way too cool for Mary Alice. He walks far ahead of her as they make their way into town, pretending that he doesn't even know that kid.
Quote #5
"Well it's not skin off my nose," she said calmly, "but seems like your boy's old enough to make up his own mind. How old is he?"
"Thirty," Mrs. Stubbs said, "but he's a young thirty." (5.145-146)
Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs really need to learn when to let their kid grow up and leave the nest. It's obvious that Junior Stubbs is totally old enough to make his own choices…and to start his own family with Vandalia.
Quote #6
"What do you want to learn to drive for anyway?" she said. "Don't you go around Chicago in taxicabs and trolleys?"
I couldn't explain it to Grandma. I was getting too old to be a boy, and driving meant you were a man. Something like that. (6.46-47)
Grandma Dowdel just doesn't understand that learning to drive isn't a practical choice for Joey—it's a rite of passage. By learning to drive, he feels that he'll be more of a man than a boy.
Quote #7
I started off to Ray's that evening with a two-dollar bill in my jeans and a song in my heart. I felt like I was six feet tall and shaved. My right hand played through the gearshift positions, and I was ready. (6.143)
Joey can't wait to get behind the wheel of that car and take off. (And he also can't wait to shave, we learn.)
Quote #8
I was fifteen the last summer we went down to Grandma's. Mary Alice was thirteen, so we both thought we were too old for this sort of thing. Next year I'd be in line for a summer job in Chicago, if I could find one. Mary Alice was about to sail into eighth grade, which put her in shooting distance of high school. (7.1)
When Joey turns 15, he knows that this is probably going to be his last summer with Grandma Dowdel. The kids are both teenagers now, which means that they're going to start having their own busy lives back home in Chicago.
Quote #9
I strolled out into the hall, and stepped back. Mary Alice stood there, posing in the old white dress. She was beginning to develop a figure, more or less. But the dress had a figure of its own. Narrow in the waist, generous above. (7.41)
Joey is shocked to see that Mary Alice is actually grown up enough to wear Grandma Dowdel's old wedding dress. It seems that his kid sister is growing up, and that she's not just an annoying little Shirley Temple wannabe anymore.
Quote #10
Mary Alice turned back. "You look good," she said. "The hat's dumb, but you look good."
"So do you." Though I'd never noticed before, Mary Alice was going to be quite a nice-looking girl. I supposed boys would be hanging around her pretty soon. It was a thought I'd never had. (7.48-49)
When Joey and Mary Alice are both decked out in vintage finery, they realize that they have both grown up quite a bit in the past years. Soon, Joey will be off to join the Air Force and Mary Alice will be a teenage girl with boys stopping by to ask her out on dates.