I should hate to be a regular girl with a sugar-plum voice. I should hate to have swan-like lashes, and a thick, sooty neck. I sound as though Iโm joking, I know, but I should truly hate to be like Leanne, so charming and ordinary and stuffed with clichรฉd feelings. Iโm glad Iโm the ice maiden. Who wants to be crying over every stray dog? Not I. Scratch my surface and what do you see? More surface.
Franny BillingsleyI don't like my shoes,' said Rose. 'I'm wearing my shoes and you don't see me complain.' 'You only hear a person complain,' said Rose. 'Not see.' How has Rose lived for seventeen years and no one has killed her, not once?
Franny BillingsleyFatherโs silence is not merely the absence of sound. Itโs a creature with a life of its own. It chokes you. It pinches you small as a grain of rice. It twists in your gut like a worm. Silence clawed at my throat. It left a taste of burnt matches.
Franny BillingsleyYou mind your tongue!โ โOh, I do,โ I said. โI sharpen it every evening on your name.
Franny Billingsley