How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
So far, my life is one big, fat mystery. At the heart lies this question: Who is my Upstream Mother, and why hasn't she come for me? (3.2)
Mo doesn't have a lot of answers about her life and where she comes from. Mostly, she just wants to know who her biological mother is and if she'll be snatched up by her "real" family someday.
Quote #2
My heart lurched. She'd seen Dale returning Mr. Jesse's boat, sure as my name's Mo LoBeau. I put my hand in my pocket and closed my fingers around my half of Mr. Jesse's finder's fee—money we tricked him out of. (6.62)
Uh-oh… Things aren't going to be good for Dale if Detective Starr finds out the truth about the boat and how Dale stole it before returning it to Mr. Jesse for reward money. Mo has to figure out a way to keep him from learning the truth.
Quote #3
I shook my head. "The problem is, Starr's headed down the wrong path and you're standing at the end of it." I drummed my fingers against my knee. "We could tell the Colonel or Miss Rose about Mr. Jesse's boat. They could talk to Starr." (7.68)
After some time, Mo realizes that the best thing to do is to tell the truth. Too bad Dale's so scared of going to jail forever that he doesn't want to admit to stealing the boat… especially if it means that he'll be accused of Mr. Jesse's murder.
Quote #4
She held out a crumpled scrap of paper and adjusted her reading glasses. "'Mama,'" she read. "'I am a murder suspect over at Mo's if you need me. Please do not worry. Your loving son, Dale.'" She glanced up. "Is that the note you're referring to?" (10.10)
Honesty may be the best policy, but Dale doesn't exactly make the truth easy on his poor mother. When she finds the note about how he's a murder suspect, Miss Rose obviously freaks out.
Quote #5
"All right," he said. "I walked the boat up the creek to Mr. Jesse's dock, and I knocked on the door, like I said. Mr. Jesse come to the door in his pants and his undershirt, and he unlatched the door and pushed it open, and…" Dale took a deep breath. "And he said, 'What are you doing on my door stoop, you no-good son of a white trash drunk.'" (13.69)
Poor Dale has to tell Detective Starr all the mean things that Mr. Jesse said to him when he returned the boat. It's obvious that he's ashamed of what he said about Mr. Macon… especially because it's the truth.
Quote #6
Thes popped to his feet, his round face red and glistening. He loosened his bow tie. "Everybody thinks Mr. Jesse was cheap," he said. "But he wasn't. Every Saturday night he slid a hundred dollars under the church door. He did it for eleven years that I know of. Even in hazardous weather." (15.52)
The Reverend's kid says something nice about Mr. Jesse when no one else will—even though they're at his funeral service. He's the only one who knows the truth about the donations that Mr. Jesse gave to the church every single week.
Quote #7
"Sure," I said. "Anna Celeste has the best girl's voice in our class." It was true-ish. Sort of. We all sing like bullfrogs. "I bet you're proud to have her in your family, Mrs. Sampson. You should be." (17.26)
Anna Celeste may be Mo's sworn enemy for life, but Mo still doesn't like to see a kid getting bullied by her own mother. She sticks up for Anna Celeste and says that she has a good singing voice because it's the truth… and because she wants Anna Celeste's mom to stop being such a meanie.
Quote #8
"My undercover man? What are you talking about?" He spun the laptop around and squinted at the mug shot. "That's Robert Slate, a bank robber. He broke out of prison a few weeks ago. He's a wanted man." (18.104)
Oops. It turns out that Dale is totally wrong about the guy who's been following him around for days. He's not an undercover police officer at all—he's an escaped convict. Yikes.
Quote #9
He shrugged. "Nobody said anything about--"
"I've seen the marks. If he tries it around me, I'll take him down." He cocked an eyebrow. "I'm a born scrapper, plus I have karate skills," I reminded him. (22.80-81)
Dale doesn't need to tell Mo about how Mr. Macon beats him; she's figured out the truth all on her own. And she hates Mr. Macon for it and vows to beat him up if Dale ever needs her to. What a friend.
Quote #10
"Shut up, Mo," Mr. Macon snapped. "You got too much mouth. No wonder your mother threw you away." Dale froze, and I saw the Colonel's hands tighten on his gun.
Finally, someone had said it out loud. And out loud, the words felt surprisingly thin. (26.57-58)
All this time, Mo's assumed that she'd shatter when she heard someone say the "truth" about how her real parents threw her away. But once Mr. Macon says it, she realizes that those words aren't true at all—she isn't just a piece of garbage that someone tossed.