I was pretending that I did not speak their language; on the moon we spoke a soft, liquid tongue, and sang in the starlight, looking down on the dead dried world.
Shirley JacksonThe sight of one's own heart is degrading; people are not meant to look inward - that's why they've been given bodies, to hide their souls.
Shirley JacksonI wonder if I could eat a child if I had the chance.' 'I doubt if I could cook one,' said Constance.
Shirley JacksonMy name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.
Shirley Jackson