Leaving Paradise

"I'm usually not a guy who breaks under pressure, and the past year in jail has definitely given me an invisible piece of armor I wear around me. But waiting for a group of strangers to decide your fate is majorly nerve wracking. I wipe beads of perspiration off my forehead" (pg. 4).

So much closer

"but at the same time, it's kind of lonely. Dad's hardly ever home. I don't really know anyone at school. things with Scott aren't the way I'd hoped. I miss my mom. we've talked a few times since I left, but it's not the same. even though we weren't really getting along, having her home every day mattered. seeing my friends every day mattered. I really miss April and Candice. I miss the things we used to do." (72)

Rangers Apprentice

1. Like Tug, he was stocky and barrel-chested, and somewhat short in the legs. His mane and tail were both long and his coat was on the shaggy side. But he'd been curried and brushed until his coat almost gleamed. And she felt a catch in her throat as she saw that he was a piebald-marked in irregular patterns of white and black. She'd always fancied piebalds.

                    Page 158

Tangerine

     On page 9, "Then in that instant, in the blink of an eye, we crossed over from this wasteland into a place carpeted with green grass, with tress along both sides of the road and flower beds running down the middle of a median strip. We could see the roofs of a big, expensive houses peeking up over the landscaping."
                                                                                                               Ryan McFadden

Where She Went

"She jogs through the crowds, down the avenue, simultaneously pushing me ahead of her and shielding me like a defensive linebacker. She turns off on to a dark street full of tenement buildings. About halfway down the block, the cityscape of brick apartments abruptly gives way to a low area full of trees that's surrounded by tall iron fence with a heavy-duty lock for which Mia magically produces the key. With a clank, the lock pops open." Where She Went, page 76

Exile by Rebecca Lim

"The Green Lantern[a café] occupies the ground floor of a multistory building that was constructed out of a series of utilitarian concrete slabs sometime in the late 1970's. The large front window, with its overpainted and peeling border in an unattractive dark green, is fly-struck and streaked with grime; and multicolored plastic strips hang down over the entrance in a continuous sticky curtain... two men in button-down shirts are seated at opposite ends, heads bent over their newspapers, bald spots leveled at passersby... beside the door is a large gimmicky carriage lantern missing several panes of glass, also green. Okay, I think. We get it." (Page 31, Exile by Rebecca Lim)

My double life

                                                               My Double Life

 

 

 

" Even before I reached the door, I could hear their voices inside, yelling at each other. My steps grew slower. Were they fighting about me?...kari was sitting on the floor in the entry, surrounded by shopping bags. At least a dozen of them. there were shoe boxes and hat boxes and dresses in a clear plastic. it look like Christmas without a tree." pg 213. Jenette Rallison