Op een andere plek, in een andere tijd, hadden een oude zwarte man en een jonge blanke vrouw elkaar kunnen omhelzen, maar niet daar, niet toen.

Because brown hyenas and jackals are keen competitors, they always check on each other when meeting and often discover that the other has food. These inexperienced youngsters were apparently hoping Star would lead them to an easy meal.

She cooked a Southern supper as Ma would have: black-eyed peas with red onions, fried ham, cornbread with cracklin', butter beans cooked in butter and milk. Blackberry cobbler with hard cream with some bourbon Jodie brought.

I WILL NEVER LIVE LIKE THAT - A LIFE WONDERING WHEN AND WHERE THE NEXT FIST WILL FALL" l

When her lagoon opened before them, the delicate details of every mossy branch and brilliant leaf reflected in the clear dark water. Dragonflies and snowy egrets lifted briefly at his strange boat, then resettled gracefully on silent wings.

Tate couldn't stop staring. She must be thirteen or fourteen, he thought. But even at that age, she had the most striking face he'd ever seen. Here large eyes nearly black, her nose slender over shapely lips, painted her in an exotic light. She was tall, thin, giving her a fragile, lithesome look as though molded wild by the wind. Yet young, strapping muscles showed through with quiet power.

His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what's necessary to defend a woman.

Don’t go thinking poetry’s just for sissies. There’s mushy love poems, for sure, but there’s also funny ones, lots about nature, war even. Whole point of it—they make ya feel something.” His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what’s necessary to defend a woman.

It seemed to Kya that when Chase played these melancholy tunes was when he most had a soul.

It's besides, not 'sides, and it's polite to greet people before asking a favor.""You say say 'sides sometimes," she said, almost smiling."Yeah, we all got magnolia mouth, being from North Carolina sticks, but we have to try.""Good afternoon, Mr. Tate," she said, making a little curtsy. He caught a glimpse of the spunk and sass somewhere inside.