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“I’m going to faint, Norman thought, just as his legs gave way, and he sat down hard on the stage. The world came back in a snap, led by the nauseating sound of Alvin’s Hyena Laugh. “Normie fell down and go boom, baby! Look at him! He’s white as a sheet! Whassamatter, Norm, you look like you saw a ghost! Get it? Get it? A ghost!” The laughter of Alvin and his Meaty Henchmen was momentarily drowned out by the sound of the bell. Leaving his script where it had fallen, Norman jumped to his feet and sped out of the gym. For just a moment, he was the only person in the hallway—everything looked oddly deserted and devoid of human life. Like how a school might look in a ghost town.”
― Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, ParaNorman: A Novel Extended Free Preview

“And her cracked voice confirming what they already knew: that God would carry them in the palm of His hand through their illness or grief or a long, hard birth. That’s why people cared”
― Augusta Trobaugh, River Jordan

“Phosphorus is added to
streams and enters the lake. Algae
growth is stimulated, and a dense
layer forms. (c) The algae layer
becomes so dense that the algae at
the bottom die. Bacteria feed on the
dead algae and use up the oxygen.
Finally, fish die from lack”
― Daniel B. Botkin, Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet

“Madame Defarge immediately called to her husband that she would get them, and went, knitting, out of the lamplight, through the courtyard”
― Charles Dickens