How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Phoebe looked over his shoulder and read his note aloud: I had to go away. I can't explain. I'll call you in a few days. (20.28)
Why doesn't Mrs. Winterbottom tell her family in person that she is leaving and that she'll be gone for a few days? This is another moment in which Mrs. Winterbottom reminds us very much of Sal's mom when she left home. Maybe it's just too hard to say goodbye.
Quote #11
My father came to the doorway and said, "People usually come back."
Now I can see that he was just talking in general, just trying to be comforting, but then – that night – what I heard in what he said was the tiniest reassurance of something I had been thinking and hoping. I had been praying that a miracle would happen and my mother would come back and we would return to Bybanks and everything would be exactly as it used to be. (20.47-48)
It's amazing that Sal is still holding on to the hope that her mom might come home one day. She really can't accept this huge change in her life. She needs help – someone to talk to – and it seems like she can't really talk to her dad, even though she loves him.
Quote #12
I was uneasy because everything that happened at Phoebe's that morning reminded me of when my mother left. For weeks, my father and I fumbled around like ducks in a fit. Nothing was where it was supposed to be. The house took on a life of its own, hatching piles of dishes and laundry and newspapers and dust. (22.14)
So much of the change that Sal experiences is completely and totally out of her control. And that makes it hard to cope with. What do you do when the life you knew is turned upside down? Well, one thing Sal learns is that, although she can't always control change, she can control the way she reacts to it.