Ghost Flower Quotes

“Are we running away from home?” I asked, giving voice to the question that had been on my mind for two days, ever since the lady at the Wok On restaurant asked where we were from and my mother lied.
My mother had laughed. I couldn’t see her face, but her laugh I could always conjure—rich, ringing, like bells calling you to a wedding. “No, silly goose. You can’t run away from home. It’s not home if you want to run away from it.” She paused to brush a strand of hair from my face. “You can only run away from a house. Home is something you run toward.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“I felt a wave of longing roll out of me, but not the way it usually did, diffuse and sad. This was hopeful, as though it had been coaxed out by a whispered promise.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“I was thinking that maybe when everything around you changed all the time, it was nice to know that something would always be the same.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“The memory brought back the timbre of her voice and the tickle of her hair on my chin as I put her to bed that night and the feeling of belonging to someone, mattering to someone, having someone whose first smile in the morning was for you. Someone who slipped their hand into yours when they were scared and trusted you to make them feel better. Someone who knew you, the important things about you, and loved you anyway.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“I paused, deciding which story to pluck from my quiver and shoot in his direction" -Eve”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“You can't run away from home. It's not home if you want to run away from it.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“I picked out a question with care. You have to be careful with strangers; questions can reveal as much as answers" -Eve”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“I watched the raindrops slide down the window, finding pathways through the dust. It's fascinating to watch how they do that - one of them leads the way, and then the others follow in that path, perhaps veering slightly and making it wider, but generally sticking to the same direction unless acted on by something powerful like the wind picking up or a sudden turn. Watch them sometime; their reluctance to chart their own course is remarkable. And if raindrops exhibit that - raindrops that have nothing at stake in their brief lives - how unsurprising is it that people do it too, following paths carved by others, even if it leads nowhere good" -Eve”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“N. Martinez: Wildfires. That' why it smells so smoky. We had a dry winter, so the brush is like kindling
Eve: Are they different from regular fires?
N. Martinez: They're more unpredictable. They leap from one object to another, so it's hard to guess at their path or limit their destruction. Outside the city, they can roll over the landscape like a wave and hit you before you know it.
Eve: How do you stop them?
N. Martinez: You can't. Once they start, they choose their own path. All you can do is try to contain them until they burn themselves out. They're beautiful to watch, but they can be dangerous.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“But secrets can also keep things precious. Private. That's what can be hard for people to understand. It can be nice to have something you don't share with the world." -Bridgette”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower

“You can't run away from home. It's not home if you want to run away from it. You can only run away from a house. Home is something you run toward.”
― Michele Jaffe, Ghost Flower