Caul Baby Quotes

“Plenty more. A whole lotta Black women been getting sick, losing babies, and everything—and they blame it all on those Melancons. I don’t believe in correlation actually implying causation. But it does make you wonder who they are giving the caul to if not the women of this neighborhood.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“She was as protective as she was embarrassed of her sister. Sometimes when Amara would call her mother, she would hear thrashing or wailing in the background. Maybe Laila was totally medicated or still asleep.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Well, you should be. It’s a part of your heritage, hon. All of our heritage, actually. You see, Yemaya, or Yemoja, is an orisha. A great spirit. A water deity. She is a protector of women, especially those in childbirth. So, we adorn this place with royal blue to invite her into this place and protect all of our expectant mothers.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“There was no reconciliation. All the caul that was cut and sold from her body, all the initial conversations with vendors—there was no pocket of space to preserve her body and name it rightfully hers.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“She made enough money to take care of herself but not enough to shift anything in her favor, and she didn’t trust a single one of those people. No matter how much they smiled in her face or placed a hand on the small of her back, she was still their shining example of the meritocratic myth, and if she thought about it too long, she’d lose focus.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Maman was not one for painful emotions. She either redirected her attention to the upkeep of the home or pulled from a blunt to numb the edges of her most difficult memories. But lately in her old age, she couldn’t control her own mental faculties as much as she wanted.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Your daughter? Your daughter? You didn’t want a daughter, remember? You wanted to get rid of her, and I helped you do that so you could graduate from college and go on to law school. Everything worked out. Why are you purposely trying to throw a wrench in your own plans?”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Why aren’t we fighting for the Black boys getting gunned down in the streets by police and trigger-happy white folk? Why aren’t we fighting for people stuck in Rikers waiting for trial for just having”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Why the hell would we bring weapons into a church anyway? We aren’t loner white boys.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“You two shouldn’t be eating all that junk. It’s heavy in calories and saturated fats, and it can mess with your cholesterol.” “Thank you for the public service announcement,” Denise said sarcastically.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“She completed the most prestigious internships and clerkships, mingled and hobnobbed with Connecticut blue bloods, and sublimated her vengeance toward the Melancon family to extreme discipline that put her on the fast track to becoming one of the biggest rising stars in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She blew through all the low”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“You’re not even twenty-one yet, so your caul still grows. The rest of us are in our thirties and forties. There’s only so much of our cauls that we got left to give, and we can’t risk our bodies and our livelihood for situations like this. For all we know, this girl may’ve never wanted the child in the first place and smothered her with paper towels in the bathroom. You said yourself that she didn’t have a good home life.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“We’ve had so many white people coming in and out of here, you would think it was a slave auction.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“With Hallow as the succcessor, she saw to it that the family was made more aware of what was happening in the neighborhood, but her family’s interest could not be aroused. They were reluctant to get involved because they were relieved that their family name was not at the center of the drama. So Hallow tried another route.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Many things. Things women only tell to other women. Things a man cannot know because what he cannot fix would drive him crazy. But I have something for her.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“Sure they do. With time.” “I never got over my miscarriages.” “Because you like to be stuck in the past and wallow in your own misery.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“The constant hemorrhaging of money concerned the repairmen. They asked why Maman kept repairing when all the money going into it could be used for another home. With the rising property taxes, where else could she go in Harlem? She refused to be displaced to Inwood, much less Washington Heights.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“You’re only proud of me for doing what you ask. You don’t give a damn about my feelings, and you never have, so don’t patronize me.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“They practically foam at the mouth.” She put her head in her hands. “Who?” Landon asked. She looked at him again, disgust curling her lips. “White people. When they watch us slice up our bodies for them. I won’t have it for Hallow.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“We gave you two extra months of wiggle room, but now she’s got to earn her keep!”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“But don’t get involved with those people. Us women selling parts of our bodies is just unnatural. Slavery is over! They just ain’t get the memo!” Denise cackled.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“From there, Laila created an entire narrative in her head about this woman: she had to be stuck-up, and her attire was a way to prove that she was better than everyone else. Most stuck-up people tended to be bitchy and rude. That’s probably why people always gossiped about the Melancons but no one ever knew them. They didn’t let people get too close because they were bougie,”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“How was it that this woman could afford such expensive attire from managing a run-of-the-mill bodega?”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby

“As the first failed pregnancies turned into several, people stopped asking though she never stopped announcing, hopeful that collective faith would carry her flailing belief in the power of her body, and in God’s will. Eventually, she lost count of how many children abandoned her after the first heartbeat, or how many times she’d wake up with blood soaking her backside.”
― Morgan Jerkins, Caul Baby