A Curtain of Green and Other Stories Quotes

“Life and death, she thought, gripping the heavy hoe, life and death, which now meant nothing to her but which she was compelled continually to wield with both her hands, ceaselessly asking, Was it not possible to compensate? to punish? to protest? Pale darkness turned for a moment through the sunlight, like a narrow leaf blown through the garden in a wind.
In that moment, the rain came. The first drop touched her upraised arm. Small, close sounds and coolness touched her.
Signing, Mrs. Larkin lowered the hoe to the ground and laid it carefully among the growing plants. She stood still where she was, close to Jamey, and listened to the rain falling. It was so gentle. It was so full— the sound of the end of waiting.”
― Eudora Welty, A Curtain of Green and Other Stories