"Mother always said she was a size 7 woman she kept wrapped in fat to prevent bruising."
— Haven Kimmel

"I later discovered that in order to be a good athlete one must care intensely what is happening with a ball, even if one doesn't have possession of it. This was ultimately my failure: my inability to work up a passion for the location of balls."
— Haven Kimmel (Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana)

"'That cat doesn't have a lick of sense,' I said, sighing.

'Well, honey, he's not right in the head,' Dad said, flipping his cigarette into the front yard.

I glared at him. 'And just what do you mean by that?'

Dad counted on his fingers. 'He's cross-eyed; he jumps out of trees after birds and then doesn't land on his feet; he sleeps with his head smashed up against the wall, and the tip of his tail is crooked.'

'Oh yeah? Well, how about this: he once got locked in a basement by evil Petey Scroggs in the middle of January and survived on snow and little frozen mice. When I'm cold at night he sleeps right on my face. Of that whole litter of kittens he came out of he's the only one left. One of his brothers didn't even have a butthole.'

'I stand corrected. PeeDink is a survivor.' "
— Haven Kimmel (Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana)