How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I pulled perhaps an inch of this worm—pink and gray, streaked, like something infected—out of the hole in my foot, and then felt it stop. I could feel it, inside my flesh, making itself rigid, unpullable. I was not scared by this. It was obviously just something that happened to people, like when the neighbor's cat, Misty, had worms. (5.12)
How is he not scared by this? Out of all the weird things that happen in this story, him not being afraid of pulling a strange worm out of his own foot is the least conceivable to us.
Quote #2
It was a warm spring day, and sunny, and I climbed up a rope ladder to the lowest branch of the big beech tree, sat on it, and read my book. I was not scared of anything, when I read my book: I was far away, in ancient Egypt, learning about Hathor […] (6.13)
Ah, the power of distraction. It's hard to be scared of something when your mind is somewhere else entirely. Plus, reading about Hathor must've been particularly reassuring.
Quote #3
I was starving. I wondered whether the sandwiches were dangerous or not. I did not know. I was scared that I would eat one and it would turn into worms in my stomach, and that they would wriggle through me, colonizing my body, until they pushed out of my skin. (6.44)
Oh so now he's scared of worms in his body… Still, the kid has a point about being afraid of anything Ursula Monkton puts in front of him. He's pretty sure that she is the worm that he pulled from his foot, and as a parasite, her culinary skills must be highly questionable.