Harrison Squared Quotes

“That morning, while Mom had fought with Grandpa, Aunt Sel had asked me to bring her a glass of wine—it was nine in the morning—and when I’d delivered it she’d handed me a ten dollar bill and said, “I dislike children, but I do appreciate decent service.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“The best aunts aren't substitute parents, they're co-conspirators.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“What I remember are tentacles. Tentacles and teeth.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“Sometimes you have to just act normal to make the world *be* normal.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“If I don't come back, donate my books to the library.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“I took a breath. Talking to her was like trying to hit an off-speed pitch.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“This was the problem with a small school in a small town. Not only did the students all look like each other, they’d all developed the same nervous tics. It made me wonder about inbreeding. Take off their shoes, and did they have webbed feet? Was the weird-looking fish boy who’d stolen my book just a relative on the more damaged branch of the family tree?”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“But it’s dead, right?” “Of course!” he said. “For, like, a long time?” “True! But there’s no expiration date on the powers of galvanism!”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“All I had to do to get home was follow gravity. The school perched on a high, rocky promontory surrounded on three sides by the sea. A single road—the cunningly named “Main Street”—snaked downhill through beautiful downtown Dunnsmouth (a handful of sad stores and a police station), past the town’s only stop sign, and ended at the bay. If I’d turned left at that stop sign I would have eventually made it to the highway and civilization. Don’t think I didn’t fantasize about it.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“Lydia will show you the sheet bend. Miss Palwick?” The girl to my right—Lydia Palwick, I presumed, since I’m smart like that—looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, though that was probably because her eyes were so large. Her long black hair shined as if oiled.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“Threshers were large sharks who could stun prey with their tails.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“We’re in the ocean, and it’s night, and the waves are lifting us and throwing us down. Somewhere nearby, a boat is upside down, showing its white belly. We’re getting farther and farther from it. (How would a toddler know this? Well, he wouldn’t. These are “facts” I’ve layered on over time, like newspaper on a papier-mâché piñata.)”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“You're being parental', I said. 'Go find that squid'.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“Everyone in the class turned. On one of the tables, a frog had started to smoke, and the limbs were twitching spasmodically. Dr. Herbert rushed over, clapping his hands. "It's alive!" he cried.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared

“I walked downhill to the rental place, my backpack ten pounds heavier than it was this morning because of three huge textbooks: one on government from world history class; one from English class called Catastrophes of New England: 1650 to 1875; and a much-used book from my last class of the day, Non-Euclidean Geometry. The class was taught by Mr. Gint, a pale, balding man who barely looked at us. The entire class period he sat at his desk with a protractor and pencil, drawing pictures and muttering to himself.”
― Daryl Gregory, Harrison Squared