“Inside, Lexi saw only people on gurneys. Coughing, screaming, prostrate patients, but no doctors. She yelled for help, flapping open each curtain as she ducked through the maze of rooms. But there was no one.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Something terrible was going on in this mall. Shay just had to keep Preeti and Nani safe. Hide them until this—whatever it was—was over. If she could do that, everything would be fine.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“With the rising emotional barometer, Marco began to consider whether there was any possible scenario for survival within the mall. Each new malevolent customer made escape seem the best option. But was it even possible?”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“I’m Shaila Dixit,” she said, holding out her free hand. Mike shook it. “A little formal,” he said. He looked at Ryan, smiled, and let go of her hand. “But any friend of Ryan’s is a pal of mine.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Maddie began regaling Lexi with another tale from the History of Irvington Country Day. Apparently, it was not all tea parties and polo games. The last story ended with, “And then we had to call the fire department because the bonfire lit up the grass clippings in the lawn.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Take, for instance, Maddie Flynn. Not the brightest chip on the circuit board, but totally entertaining.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“So a guy likes your tits and says so. Why let it get to you?” Maddie asked, giving Lexi the raised-eyebrow once-over. “I’m not like you,” Lexi said. Maddie’s eyebrows sunk into a scowl. Lexi scrambled for a better explanation. “I mean, I’m not good with boys.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Ryan felt tingly all over, like maybe he’d been tossed from his own body. But he was all right. By some small miracle, they were all okay.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“If she could have deleted herself from the universe, she would have.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“So how did you two meet?” the sister asked in a sing-songy, playground-taunt voice. Marco responded viscerally to the tone.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Years of abuse had trained Marco in the tactics of survival, which boiled down to this: If every time someone spoke to you, you fired back some sarcastic, fuck-you response, people tended to leave you alone. This method had served him well; now in his junior year, Marco was practically invisible to his peers. But not completely, as he was now aware.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“How can you seem so normal?” she said. “Knowing what we know.” Her voice was muffled by her folded arms. “What, that we’re caught in a death trap?” Shay glanced up at Marco like he’d bitten her. He decided to holster his usual mode of response. He wanted to talk to this girl.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Having the job makes it easier,” he said, sitting opposite her. “Keeps my mind off things.” He would not say anything about his spy operation. “My job isn’t helping me at all.” She waved her hand up, then let it flop back onto her arm. “Job?” Marco asked. “Taking care of my grandmother and sister,” Shay said. “My grandmother’s diabetic. She needs insulin shots. And my sister is just, well.” Shay looked at him, eyebrows raised. “You have a little sister?” “I’m the little brother, so you’ll get no sympathy from me.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“He forged ahead. “Where’d you move from?” “Jersey,” she said, without adding more. “Why hasn’t the bomb blown up already?” “Maybe it did and we’re all dead,” he said. “Heaven’s a bit of a disappointment.” “Yeah, and the food sucks.” She smiled. She got his gallows humor. He felt suddenly grateful for having been trapped in the squad car for all of yesterday.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Anyway, I thought you and Darren were cybernetically connected.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“The man who’d found Lexi—Dr. Chen, she was told—joined the Senator.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“What would telling people accomplish?” her mother asked. “Run this through with me: We tell people that if they get sick, they’re most likely going to die. Next, people will try to hide their symptoms, lie to themselves about being sick. This means they won’t seek treatment, they’ll stay out in the populace and infect more people.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Nani could always be counted on to act as a coconspirator.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“At least she had a handle on her family. Arthur was convalescing on the couch in the Apple Store stockroom and Lexi was sitting next to him helping to type in the population database she’d asked them to create. It was nice having all of the Rosses on the same page.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“She just had to keep them hopeful. If they had hope, they could be controlled.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Dotty laughed because that was what you did when someone thought they were funny. There should be Oscars for politicians. She took the key and stalked out to the hall.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Lexi shuffled into a sit. Her brain began scratching together an appropriate response. Talking was so different from texting—one had to string words together so quickly in real life.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“I had a good teacher.” Shay felt an incredible urge to touch him, but feared she might burst into flame.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Her ears were blue. Somehow, all Shay could focus on were the ears. They looked like something off a Halloween mask.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“You’re just going to let this happen?” Marco asked, incredulous.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“Suddenly the divide between them and everyone outside seemed insurmountable.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“A man—the boy’s father, it seemed—stepped forward and put one hand on his son’s shoulder, the other around his wife. When the hazmat man stood, the father picked his kid up and tried to leave.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“The news channels were all blocked—not that they’d shown more than vapid speculation over the last few days.”
― Dayna Lorentz, quote from No Safety in Numbers
“es tan tonta de las personas a imaginar que la vejez significa tortuosidad y witheredness y debilidad y palos y espectáculos y el reumatismo y el olvido! Es tan tonto! La vejez no tiene nada que ver con todo eso. La vejez derecho significa la fuerza y la belleza y la alegría y el coraje y los ojos claros y fuertes extremidades sin dolor.”
― George MacDonald, quote from The Princess and the Goblin
“Killing children or adults -- equally horrible.”
― NisiOisiN, quote from Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases
“She could envision Shakespeare's sister. But she imagined a violent, an apocalyptic end for Shakespeare's sister, whereas I know that isn't what happened. You see, it isn't necessary. I know that lots of Chinese women, given in marriage to men they abhorred and lives they despised, killed themselves by throwing themselves down the family well. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm only saying that isn't what usually happens. It it were, we wouldn't be having a population problem. And there are so much easier ways to destroy a woman. You don't have to rape or kill her; you don't even have to beat her. You can just marry her. You don't even have to do that. You can just let her work in your office for thirty-five dollars a week. Shakespeare's sister did...follow her brother to London, but she never got there. She was raped the first night out, and bleeding and inwardly wounded, she stumbled for shelter into the next village she found. Realizing before too long that she was pregnant, she sought a way to keep herself and her child safe. She found some guy with the hots for her, realized he was credulous, and screwed him. When she announced her pregnancy to him, a couple months later, he dutifully married her. The child, born a bit early, makes him suspicious: they fight, he beats her, but in the end he submits. Because there is something in the situation that pleases him: he has all the comforts of home including something Mother didn't provide, and if he has to put up with a screaming kid he isn't sure is his, he feels now like one of the boys down at the village pub, none of whom is sure they are the children of the fathers or the fathers of their children. But Shakespeare's sister has learned the lesson all women learn: men are the ultimate enemy. At the same time she knows she cannot get along in the world without one. So she uses her genius, the genius she might have used to make plays and poems with, in speaking, not writing. She handles the man with language: she carps, cajoles, teases, seduces, calculates, and controls this creature to whom God saw fit to give power over her, this hulking idiot whom she despises because he is dense and fears because he can do her harm.
So much for the natural relation between the sexes.
But you see, he doesn't have to beat her much, he surely doesn't have to kill her: if he did, he'd lose his maidservant. The pounds and pence by themselves are a great weapon. They matter to men, of course, but they matter more to women, although their labor is generally unpaid. Because women, even unmarried ones, are required to do the same kind of labor regardless of their training or inclinations, and they can't get away from it without those glittering pounds and pence. Years spent scraping shit out of diapers with a kitchen knife, finding places where string beans are two cents less a pound, intelligence in figuring the most efficient, least time-consuming way to iron men's white shirts or to wash and wax the kitchen floor or take care of the house and kids and work at the same time and save money, hiding it from the boozer so the kid can go to college -- these not only take energy and courage and mind, but they may constitute the very essence of a life.
They may, you say wearily, but who's interested?...Truthfully, I hate these grimy details as much as you do....They are always there in the back ground, like Time's winged chariot. But grimy details are not in the background of the lives of most women; they are the entire surface.”
― Marilyn French, quote from The Women's Room
“It's salt. Why don't you sprinkle some on me, honey? Aren't I just good enough to eat?”
― Grant Morrison, quote from Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth
“Even though I didn't notice it while it was happening, I got reminded in ninth grade of a few things I guess I should have known all along:
1. A first kiss after five months means more than a first kiss after five minutes.
2. Always remember what it was like to be six
3. Never, ever stop believing in magic, no matter how old you get. Because if you keep looking long enough and don't give up, sooner or later you're going to find Mary Poppins. And if your really lucky, maybe even a purple balloon.
Thanks, Mama. I love you.”
― Steve Kluger, quote from My Most Excellent Year
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