How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Ten days after telling the story of the white pigeon, my sister, Agatha, ran off. The date was Thursday, May 25. If the pigeons left with a great clapping sound, my sister slipped off with no sound at all. (3.71)
Why is it important for Georgie to know how much time passed between the story of the white pigeon and Agatha's disappearance? Why does she relate the pigeons' disappearance to her sister's?
Quote #2
On the sixth day—Tuesday, May 30—Sheriff McCabe pursued those pigeoners. He ended up in Dog Hollow, Wisconsin. One week later, on Tuesday, June 6, Sheriff McCabe returned to Placid with a body. (3.81)
Georgie seems to be obsessed with getting the dates of events exactly right. One way of understanding this is as part of her general desire to maintain control—she likes to pin things down, be they dates or her sister's future.
Quote #3
In 1871, I experienced the pigeons on three distinct occasions. The first time was in February, when I saw a small, easily frightened group. I spotted them once. Then they were gone. In March, I saw pigeons a second time. This time they were the mighty cloud that Agatha spun underneath. These pigeons also left. And then there was the third time: in April, the pigeons returned and nested in our woods, not five miles west of Placid, Wisconsin. (6.4)
Okay, so Georgie is pretty on top of things to be able to recall so specifically when she saw pigeons in 1871. Time, then, is also an indicator of what close attention she pays to the world around her.
Quote #4
It's funny how months of memories can flash through a person's head in moments. How many minutes has it taken me to tell you? Five minutes? Ten? But for me, I stood upright in that pigeoner camp and did all of that remembering in under a minute. (7.68)
Yeah, time is weird like that. This is the first time we see Georgie slip out of her insistence on getting the dates exactly right and reveal that her perception of time is slipping. What does this say about her internal state?
Quote #5
As Billy continued his reminiscing, I began counting days, working out the time line of events. I started with the kiss—a fist in the air, a whoop, a whistle. I saw the kiss on a Thursday, the first week of May. I went to see Mr. Olmstead the next day, on Friday. (10.48)
Time is something Georgie doesn't seem to waste, anyway—she didn't sit on that information for long. And can we just say that two days isn't a very long time line? Not to knock Georgie's mental organizational skills or anything.
Quote #6
Agatha gave me the silent treatment for a week. The next Monday night, May 15, the nesting broke and Agatha told me the story of the old man and the white pigeon. Ten days after that, she ran off with the pigeoners. That was Thursday, May 25. Now it was sixteen days since she'd run off, and here I was a runaway too. I'd run off with Billy McCabe in order to search for her. (10.77)
Oh, Georgie, the constant counting. Why? Why the constant counting of time? Is counting actually a theme of the book? What else does Georgie count?
Quote #7
In addition, I was beginning to understand how the past can seem more alive than the present. I thought of Agatha all the time. (11.38)
All this reminiscing and time line creation mean that Georgie really is beginning to spend a lot of time in the past as it exists in her own head. Do we see any consequences of this? Is she starting to lose her mind?
Quote #8
I began a countdown in my head. Four months ago (February), Billy had proposed marriage to Agatha. Three months ago (March), the pigeons had migrated over Placid, and Agatha had spun underneath them. Two months ago (April) Mr. Olmstead and Agatha had courted, and the pigeons had nested. One month ago (May), Agatha had kissed Billy, and the nesting had broken, along with Agatha's ties to Mr. Olmstead. Agatha had been angry with me, but I'd honestly thought—and I hesitate to admit this—that it was all over. Life would return to the way it had been previously. Agatha would have no other choice but to run the store with me. So only one month ago, I'd felt relieved. (16.17)
So now it's a countdown and not a time line. We have to admit, a lot has happened in four months. And now Georgie stands at ground zero, her sister gone and her world unraveling.
Quote #9
Seemed like I'd lived two lifetimes already. My first thirteen years took an uneventful forever, but this second lifetime? Why, it took all of three days: Billy and I had left on a Saturday night. I'd met a cougar on Sunday. I'd been in Dog Hollow on Monday. And today was Tuesday. On Tuesday, I'd been to the nowhere place and Garrow Farm, made a marriage proposal, and found money in a cave. Would this Tuesday never end? (16.19)
Georgie does something interesting with time here: She bends it to suit her purposes. She has two lifetimes, one with Agatha, and one agonizing one without her.
Quote #10
I desperately wanted to go somewhere from before: before counterfeiters' caves; before nowhere places; before cougars; before a boxed body that weighed less than two cats. I hadn't appreciated before when I'd been there. But now before was where I wanted to be, before was where I wanted to live. (17.19)
Ah, and now we arrive at what may be the reason for this obsession with time. Georgie is trying to go back to a place where she felt relieved, happy, and secure. She feels none of those things now, and it's a big problem, so now Georgie just wants to go back, but she can't. The best she can do is think back.