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The Water Museum

Luis Alberto Urrea

Top 10 Best Quotes

“That irked the crap out of him, but maybe that's just what happens when you get old. Everything's so damned irksome.”

“Doesn't every town in America have an old-timer called The Professor? That duffer who knows everything and everybody, as long as they are dead.”

“To be macho, you must already know everything, know it so well that you're already bored by the knowledge.”

“She bent over the table and proceeded to tip the pitcher over each plate and spill a thick white goo over everything. It covered the turkey and the yams and puddled all over each plate. Roughly the texture of heavy whipping cream. Decker couldn’t, by god, tell what that was supposed to be. “What is that?” he asked. “Gravy?” Stung, Araceli backed away from the table and clutched the pitcher to her heart. “Is los mash potatoes!” she cried and ran to the kitchen in humiliation. They could hear her crying in there. Dexter rose. “God. Damn. It,” he announced. “Look here. This is my country. This is my country. We been here, working this land, forever. We made our lives here. We planted crops here. We had our children and - and we buried our loved ones here. Right here! Is it too goddamned much to ask that somebody pay the slightest fucking attention to our traditions and history and stop wrecking everything? Could you learn the language? Could you cook a simple meal that anybody from here would recognize as real food? Am I asking too much?” He was red in the face and shaking. He was embarrassed about the whole thing - ashamed of his comment to Araceli, ashamed to have shown his emotions, ashamed that he had tears in the corners of his eyes. Outbursts were simply not the West Linden way. Reverend Visser just stared at his own hands with his head bowed. Juan fingered the arrowhead, spun it around and around with one finger. He didn’t want to eat the goopy mash potatoes either. “Yeah, Jefe. That’s what Geronimo said.”

“Okay," he said, informing the universe he was ready for decisive action.”

“Museums suck," said Billy. The bus rattled along between tan fields. "Right?" said Charlie. "History," said Higgins. "Shit like that.”

“Lately," said Hubbard, "I have been considering language to be the enemy.”

“Ina the Viking was out in her potato patch waving at him like some idiot. Some people thought life was just the spiffiest thing that ever happened.”

“He hadn't enjoyed school all that much, but they could have warned him that language would prove overtaxing.”

“Every winter he'd be out here plowing with the big red blade mounted on the Ford, and when he was done opening up his drive, he'd by God get cracking on the neighbors' spreads down the road. Arnie and Ina, good Vikings from Minnesota. The Rays over to the east--they had a kid. Couldn't be trapped out here in snow. That's how America worked. Used to work. That was what made things function. It was all obvious come winter. Some folks wouldn't pitch in with a snow shovel if they saw a naked one-hundred-year-old lady out there struggling with a drift.”

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Book Keywords:

neighbors, plowing, museums, writing, macho, helping, old-timers, characters, terribleness, enemies, irritation, difficulties, being-neighborly, happiness, speaking, small-towns, aging, being-annoyed, knowledgeable, contentment, pleasure, boredom, machismo, snowplowing, old-age, decisiveness, history, understanding, life, decisions, being-irked, school, language, winter, know-it-all, challenges, words, stereotypes, snow, knowledge, annoyance

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