Five Midnights Quotes

“His shadow was a bizarre shape, stretching and pulling like it belonged to someone else.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“You don't know, Javier, you can't know what it's like to see your baby, your only baby, slipping away. You have all these hopes when you hold this perfect swaddled creature in your arms, you imagine academic awards, nice little friends, Ivy League colleges, marriage to a girl from a good family, grandchildren. And then one day, you realize you have no control, that any control you thought yo had was an illusion. You realize you don't know how to save them as they teeter on the edge. We were all feeling that, all of the mothers. And then I found you with all those...drugs." She shuddered. "That night, we would've tried anything to get you all back. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he came. In order to see you, I would've sold my soul to el diablo if he were there that night. I guess he was" She looked at the floor and started to cry. "We just wanted to scare you. He was a fairy-tale monster. Never, never in a million years did we expect him to come, for him to...”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“I mean, back then I believed everything my mother told me. It was that time when you think your parents are all-powerful."

'How would I know?' But she kept that comment to herself.

"It's funny, now, as a parent, I realize that it's actually the children who have all the power. If I'd have known that as a child I would have been threatening *her* with El Cuco!”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“I was sitting at home, well into my fifth drink, when my cousin called about Esteban. I couldn't believe it. I always knew you'd be all right because you had Esteban to take care you, just like he did me. After your mother left, he was a safety net, you know?"

Lupe just nodded into the phone. 'Safety net' was a good way to describe her uncle.

"And then it hit me: I can't assume Esteban will always be there. I shouldn't have made him your default father. Your mother isn't coming back, and it's time I stop feeling sorry for myself and step up.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“Did Abel used to threaten you and Dad with El Cuco?"
Her uncle nodded.
"Did she ever say what he looked like?"
He shook his head. "That used to scare me more, not knowing what he was. Childhood imaginations are powerful things."
"Not as powerful as a mother's threat." Javier heard his voice like it was coming from someone else. He had planned to stay quiet. Now the light beam was on him again.
"Nothing is more powerful than that, son.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“Ay, joven, I might not believe in the supernatural, but I do believe that those who pass on are always with us.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“This legend was brought here from Portugal in the seventeenth century, a time of great unrest and revolt. I think it's no accident that it's coming up again now when the island is in such terrible shape. Legends like El Cuco reassure people that there are still consequences, that the laws of right and wrong are still upheld.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“You think I'm happy about having the skin color of my mother who took off? It's the only damn thing she left me and all it does is make me feel like I'm not part of the only family I have!”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“I'm so sorry, dear. But it's so amusing how you North Americans are so anxious to destroy everything that gets in your way. It's so very... John Wayne of you." He then began to clean his glasses with the handkerchief. "Most cultures live quite contently with their monsters. Except yours, of course." He put his glasses back on and regarded Lupe. "You can't destroy El Cuco. He's woven into the very fabric of the island's culture.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“When you think about it, the Cuco is rather gorgeous in his simplicity. He manifests for one purpose and one purpose only. As for your query, retribution for some transgression, whatever a parent might consider 'bad' behavior, I imagine."
"Bad? But that's way too subjective and vague a descriptor on which to base supernatural vengeance!"
The professor clapped his hands. "How delightful! The gringa is intelligent! My dear, you must be like a unicorn in your hometown.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“El Cuco has always been what parents threaten their children with, in order to get them to behave. My theory is that he's a physical manifestation of the very limits of a parent's control over their children. It is he they turn to when they no longer have any influence. And in calling him, they had the power over to him.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“Myth? Men have always relegated whatever they don't understand to myth. I would wait until you learn more before you call it a myth.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“We're in a depression here, not a recession. We have a saying in Puerto Rico: 'Cuando Los Estates Unidos tiene catarro, Puerto Rico tiene pulmonía.' That means 'When the U.S. gets a cold, Puerto Rico gets pneumonia.' Whenever you think it's bad on the mainland, you can guarantee it's worse here.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“For a moment, he'd thought that Sebastian was going to help him understand what was going on. It was too much to hope that someone would just hand him the answers. When Javier was little, he worshipped his father, thought that he was impossibly strong and smart, that he knew the right thing to do at all times, knew all the answers. But then again, he'd also believed in the Easter Bunny.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“In Jamaica, a fight during Nine-Night is a dangerous thing."
"What's Nine-Night?"
"It comes from African tradition; the belief is that the deceased's [spirit] takes nine days to return to Africa. So family and friends gather for nine nights. You're supposed to give the deceased a good send-off to the next world or the spirit stays around and bothers the living, so fighting is a big no-no."
"Did you ever see a fight at one anyway?"
Sebastian chuckled. "Oh yes. The tradition also includes hundred-proof rum so, as you can imagine, that isn't very conducive to quiet reflection.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“Well, it's a metaphorical monster, right? I mean, there's no such thing."
"Oh Lupe, or course there is. I think some people have their own personal monsters.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights

“His mother had two modes, righteous fury and totally oblivious. Both were in full force that morning.”
― Ann Dávila Cardinal, Five Midnights