“I took her hand and looked earnestly and, I think, soulfully, into her eyes. 'Marcia, we love you. We really do. We think you’re the swellest girl on the block.' Steenie took her other hand. 'Nobody can play marbles or get scabs on her knees as well as you,” he said.”
This quote illustrates the close friendship between Josh, Steenie and Marcia during Josh’s year in New Mexico. In this quote, Josh and Steenie try to make Marcia feel better about herself, saying that she is the “swellest girl on the block.” The end section is humorous, which is a typical characteristic of Bradford’s writing. They tell Marcia that “nobody can play marbles or get scabs on her knees as well are you."
“Ah. Your mother is drunk. She may or may not have a psychiatric problem, but at the present time she is drunk.”
This quote is said by Dr. Temple, when he sees Josh’s mother about her depression and alcoholism. Josh’s mother struggles to cope with the transition from Alabama to New Mexico, so she turns to alcohol in order to cope. Here Dr. Temple is essentially saying that he cannot help her and that the only thing that he can ascertain is that she is drunk.
“The telegram, that goddamn telegram that turns up in all the war movies... lying on the coffee table”
The telegram Josh describes here contains that news that his father has died in a mine accident. He compares his experience to a war movie, emphasizing how surreal his situation is. He can hardly believe it is happening. As such, this shows how shocking the news is to Josh.
