The Kitchen House Quotes

“Could I be your girl, too?" I asked quickly.
The large, broad-shouldered man looked away before he answered. "Well, now," he said, as though he had given it deep thought, "I sure do think I would like that."
"But," I said, concerned that he hadn't noticed, "I don't look like your other girls."
"You mean because you white?"
I nodded.
"Abinia," he said, pointing toward the chickens, "you look at those birds. Some of them be brown, some of them be white and black. Do you think when they little chicks, those mamas and papas care about that?”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“We a family, carin' for each other. Family make us strong in times of trouble. We all stick together, help each other out. That the real meanin' of family. When you grow up, you take that family feelin' with you.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“[Y]et, I wondered why Marshall did not at least attempt a kiss. In many ways, his treatment of me reminded me of the way I had behaved toward the doll that Mamma Mae had given me as a child. I favored it so that I had refused myself of the joy of playing with it, daring to love it only with my eyes. But in doing so, I had denied myself its very purpose.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“...but like Mama say, sometimes we got to live it out before we learn.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“This world is not the only home. This world is for practice to get things right.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“What the color is, who the daddy be, who the mama is don't mean nothin'. We a family, carin' for each other. Family make us strong in times of trouble. We all stick together, help each other out. That the real meanin' of family.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“You look at today, chil'. You say, 'Thank you, Lawd, for everythin' you gives me today.' Then you worries about the next day when the next day come.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“This world is not the only home. This world is for practice to get things right. Times, the Lawd say, ‘Nope, that mama, that baby Henry, they too sweet to stay away from Me no more. I brings them home.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Chil', there things in this world you don't know about yet. We your family, that never change. Even when you find a white boy and gets married, we still your family. Mama always your mama, Belle always your Belle."

I stopped crying. "What about Papa and Ben?" I asked hopefully.

"They watch out for you just like now. Abinia" - Mama looked into my eyes - "you on the winnin' side. One day might be you lookin' out for us.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Then you go ahead and cry, " Will said.

That ended my weeping. Had he asked me not to cry, I would not have been able to stop, but his permission somehow quit my tears.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“there are times we got to trust the Lawd.” Somehow”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Her words calmed me, but that day I was awakened to a new realization and made aware of a line drawn in black and white, though the depth of it still had little meaning to me.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Family make us strong in times of trouble. We all stick together, help each other out. That the real meanin’ of family.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Mama interrupted. “Why you thinkin’ about leavin’ now? That some long time away. You look at today, chil’. You say, ‘Thank you, Lawd, for everythin’ you gives me today.’ Then you worries about the next day when the next day come.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“what had happened to the Marshall I had”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Papa don’t look me in the eye when he sees me. I know he got Ben to jump the broom with Lucy. When I think of Benny’s lips on her, I want to stomp that girl’s head. She’s just some ugly thing up from the quarters! One night I go down to Ben’s place, just to know for sure. I hear them together, and they’re sounding like animals, but I stay to listen ’cause I can’t move, my feet won’t take me. My heart’s banging so hard I sit right down in the high grass, never mind the snakes. I stay till Benny’s snoring, then I go back to my house. I can’t see for crying. Next day Ben’s working here in my kitchen when Will Stephens comes with a letter. I talk to Will like he’s one fine man. Ben’s eyes are spittin’ fire when he runs out of here! Makes me feel good”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Dessert, a rich plum pudding, was warming in the kitchen, but on the sideboard, awaiting their turn, was a tray of jellies and crèmes. Next to those treats stood four miniature silver carts drawn by tiny silver goats. Belle had given me the privilege of burdening them with sweetmeats and dark raisins”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Last time Jamie down at the barns, Papa talk to him about Belle bein’ his real mama. Jamie get mad, say Papa don’t know what he talkin’ bout. Jamie say he a white boy. Papa say, ‘No, you a nigra, just like me.’ Jamie go runnin’ off, and now he don’t go down to the barns no more. He gettin’ too old for this, Abinia. And his mouth gettin’ too smart. It time he know he a nigra; he got to learn to work like one.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“masta say to my daddy to get down from that mule. When my daddy say, ‘No, I’s going for help,’ that old masta shoot him in the back. That night all I know to do is keep the flies away when I watch my mama die.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Mama’s voice shook. “You listen, girl. I’m gonna tell you what happens when you say no to a white man. I watch my own daddy get shot when he saddle up and ride out on a mule to get help for my own sick mama. She havin’ a baby, cryin’ out for help. I standin’ right there when that”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“There are times we got to trust the Lawd.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“You look at those birds. Some of them be brown, some of them be white and black. Do you think when they little chicks, those mamas and papas care about that?”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Then you go ahead and cry," Will said.

That ended my weeping. Had he asked me not to cry, I would have not been able to stop, but his permission somehow quite my tears.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“Thirteen years old. Not a boy, not a man.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“When I relented and ventured forth into the healing sun, I realized how much of a recluse I had become.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“The next day she came to my room and gave me a pamphlet to read. Information in it implied that the union between married couples was, while performed by men, to be endured by women. Meanwhile,”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“When there was a conversational lull, I remembered my duty and asked my guest about himself. I listened for quite some time as Marshall went on, noting with an inward smile how right Miss Sarah had been when she said that no man could resist talking about himself.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“My grandma showed me that there is always something to learn, that everybody got something to tell you.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“I often dreamed that I was on a ship. I would wake, my heart pounding from fear of the next wave, the one that would wash away all that was familiar. T”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House

“I was not ungrateful for the fortunate circumstances I found myself in, but through all my time in Williamsburg, my deep longing to return home did not abate.”
― Kathleen Grissom, The Kitchen House