How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I was born eleven years ago, during one of the meanest hurricanes in history. That night as people slept, they say, the rivers rose like a mutiny and pushed ashore, shouldering houses off foundations, lifting the dead from graves, gulping down lives like fresh-shucked oysters. (3.9)
Mo doesn't have some boring old birth story like other kids. No, her story of how she came to join her family is pretty crazy and includes a hurricane, floating down the creek on a raft, and being found by the Colonel after he crashed his car.
Quote #2
The Colonel came to town the same stormy night I did, crashing headfirst into a pine at the edge of town. Some people say he lost his memory in the wreck. Others say he lost it before he got in the car, or he wouldn't have been out in a hurricane. Either way, he climbed out of that car free of every memory he'd ever owned. (3.68)
Mo doesn't have any memories of her life before Tupelo Landing because she was just a newborn when she floated down the creek and into the Colonel's arms. But the Colonel was a grown man. He lost all of his memories because of the car crash… and hasn't regained them since.
Quote #3
"That's me prior to blossoming," she said. "I was just about your age." I turned the page. "And these are my parents sitting in the shade of our oak tree. There's no telling how many Sunday afternoons we spent there. This was before we had air-conditioning—a hundred degrees, a hundred and three…" (11.13)
Miss Lana is the only person in the family who remembers her life before coming to Tupelo Landing, but she doesn't talk about it all that much because she doesn't want to make things uncomfortable for Mo and the Colonel.
Quote #4
"I saw him sneak up in the moonlight, and slide a white envelope under the door. After that, I staked out the door for a couple of weeks. It was him, all right." (15.90)
Only Thes has good memories of Mr. Jesse giving the church a hundred dollars every single week. Everyone else's memories of Mr. Jesse have to do with him insulting them or being stingy with tips.
Quote #5
A photo fluttered from the scrapbook as he closed the door. In it, a young Colonel and Miss Lana stood arm in arm in front of an old church, smiling at me. The wind whipped Miss Lana's hair around her face. I laid it on the table, clicked off the light, and settled back into bed. (19.39)
Without the Colonel and Miss Lana here to take care of her, Mo has to find comfort in her memories of them and in the scrapbook that Miss Lana gave her. Hopefully they'll come back soon so that they can all make new memories together.
Quote #6
"We introduced ourselves, and suddenly Lana and I were best friends. After a while we went inside, and there was that old striped suitcase lying open, full of baby things. And beside the suitcase was a stack of cash. The Colonel scooped the cash into the suitcase and closed it, and then he and Macon laughed about the Colonel's suitcase full of cash." (20.19)
Apparently all of these rumors about the Colonel having a suitcase full of cash were started by Mr. Macon—and he didn't even believe it when he first said it. But even though the rumors aren't based in truth, they've still put the Colonel and Miss Lana in huge danger.
Quote #7
In that instant, your billboard careened ashore on a wall of water, cracking the back of my head. I reached for balance and touched what I thought was a puppy. Then you grabbed my finger. My God, I thought. It's a baby. I fainted dead away. (20.49)
The Colonel's memories of meeting Mo for the first time are pretty dramatic. Neither of them showed up in Tupelo Landing in a normal way—instead they floated in during a terrible storm.
Quote #8
"I don't know." I hopped down and peeked inside. Newspaper clippings? I scanned the headlines: Slate Found Guilty. Slate Gets Life. Underneath lay a legal pad of notes—all of them in the Colonel's scrawl. My mouth went dry. Why would the Colonel have notes on Slate? (23.64)
What's the deal with all of the Colonel's newspaper clippings about Robert Slate's trial way back in the day? Why would he have all of these details saved? The possibilities make Mo feel nervous.
Quote #9
"Soldier," he said, straightening the clippings. I slipped into the chair beside him and waited. "I will be honest with you, my dear. When Lana told me about these papers, I hoped she was just being dramatic. But after looking at them, I realize I was somehow involved in Slate's robbery," he said, his voice thick with grief. "I can't imagine I'd have these notes if I weren't. Apparently, Slate had at least one accomplice. I hope I'm not that man, but we have to prepare ourselves. I could be." (27.10)
Mo can't even go to the Colonel for reassurance that he wasn't a bank robber because he simply doesn't remember. The Colonel has completely forgotten the earlier parts of his life, and he's as in the dark as anyone else.
Quote #10
"When I found him a week later, he held a beautiful baby—and not the first memory of me." She blinked back tears as she stood there, alone, curls framing her face. For an instant, she looked like the photo of herself as a young girl, prior to blossoming. "I did the only thing I could," she said. "I stayed, and hoped he would fall in love with me again." (29.60)
Miss Lana sure is a trooper for love. She recalls when her fiancé—the Colonel—lost his memory and she just had to stick around in the hopes that he'd love her again. How romantic and sad.