“She look me over from head to foot. Then she cackle. Sound like a death rattle. You sure is ugly, she say, like she ain't believed it.”

“Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever girl, and adaptable; you can see that from the shape of her ears.”

“She remembers sprinting over the thin after-waves that slid over each other like sheets of glass. When she ran with the waves it looked like she wasn’t moving. When she ran against them it looked like she was flying. She refuses to believe her brother will never know these things. Somewhere, they will find sand.”

“He sighs. “If it’s any consolation, I’m not overly thrilled about being away from my wife for so long, either.”“She a cougar?” Cora asks.Karl stares at her, mouth open.“I’m just saying,” she says defensively. “He looks like the sort to snag a cougar.”She did not just say that. “Cora!”“My wife is off limits to you.” He shakes a finger at her. And then, after a moment, “She’s not a cougar.”Cora cackles brightly.”

“Here's the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord. Feeling like shit. It? I ask. Yeah, It. God ain't a he or a she, but a It. But what do it look like? I ask. Don't look like nothing, she say. It ain't a picture show. It ain't something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself. I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you cam feel that, and be happy to feel that, you've found it.”

“Sounds like you've got it all planned out.""Honey, I've got more plans than Wes has ugly shoes.""And that's a lot." I laugh."It sure is," she says with a sigh.”