“One day on a ranging we brought down a fine big elk. We were skinning it when the smell of blood drew a shadowcat out of its lair. I drove it off, but not before it shredded my cloak to ribbons. Do you see? Here, here, and here?” He chuckled. “It shredded my arm and back as well, and I bled worse than the elk. My brothers feared I might die before they got me back to Maester Mullin at the Shadow Tower, so they carried me to a wildling village where we knew an old wisewoman did some healing. She was dead, as it happened, but her daughter saw to me. Cleaned my wounds, sewed me up, and fed me porridge and potions until I was strong enough to ride again. And she sewed up the rents in my cloak as well, with some scarlet silk from Asshai that her grandmother had pulled from the wreck of a cog washed up on the Frozen Shore. It was the greatest treasure she had, and her gift to me.” He swept the cloak back over his shoulders. “But at the Shadow Tower, I was given a new wool cloak from stores, black and black, and trimmed with black, to go with my black breeches and black boots, my black doublet and black mail. The new cloak had no frays nor rips nor tears … and most of all, no red. The men of the Night’s Watch dressed in black, Ser Denys Mallister reminded me sternly, as if I had forgotten. My old cloak was fit for burning now, he said. “I left the next morning … for a place where a kiss was not a crime, and a man could wear any cloak he chose.”
―
George R.R. Martin,
A Storm of Swords
“Poem for My FatherYou closed the door.I was on the other side,screaming.It was black in your mind.Blacker than burned-out fire.Blacker than poison.Outside everything looked the same.You looked the same.You walked in your body like a living man.But you were not.would you not speak to me for weekswould you hang your coat in the closet without saying hellowould you find a shoe out of place and beat mewould you come home latewould i lose the keywould you find my glasses in the garbagewould you put me on your kneewould you read the bible to me in your smoking jacket after your mother diedwould you come home drunk and snorewould you beat me on the legswould you carry me up the stairs by my hair so that my feet never touch the bottomwould you make everything worseto make everything betteri believe in god, the father almighty,the maker of heaven, the makerof my heaven and my hell.would you beat my motherwould you beat her till she cries like a rabbitwould you beat her in a corner of the kitchenwhile i am in the bathroom trying to bury my head underwaterwould you carry her to the bedwould you put cotton and alcohol on her swollen headwould you make love to her hairwould you caress her hairwould you rub her breasts with ben gay until she stinkswould you sleep in the other room in the bed next to me while she sleeps on the pull-out cotwould you come on the sheet while i am sleeping. later i look for the spotwould you go to embalming school with the last of my mother's moneywould i see your picture in the book with all the other black boys you were the handsomestwould you make the dead look beautifulwould the men at the elks clubwould the rich ladies at funeralswould the ugly drunk winos on the streetknow benpretty benregular benwould your father leave you when you were three with a mother who threw butcher knives at youwould he leave you with her screaming red hairwould he leave you to be smothered by a pillow she put over your headwould he send for you during the summer like a rich unclewould you come in pretty corduroys until you were nine and never heard from him againwould you hate himwould you hate him every time you dragged hundred pound cartons of soap down the stairs into white ladies' basementswould you hate him for fucking the woman who gave birth to youhate him flying by her house in the red truck so that other father threw down his hat in the street and stomped on it angry like we never saw him(bye byeto the will of grandpabye bye to the family fortunebye bye when he stompled that hat,to the gold watch,embalmer's palace,grandbaby's college)mother crying silently, making floating islandsending it up to the old man's ulcerwould grandmother's diamondsclose their heartsparksin the corner of the closetyellow like the eyes of cockroaches?Old man whose sperm swims in my veins,come back in love, come back in pain.” ― Toi Derricotte
“Because it’s only ever been you.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“He burned with the need to hug her. But since their reconciliation they’d kept each other at arm’s length, as if they were both aware that to step into the murky waters of physical contact would break down the delicate dam they’d created.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Richard.” Her voice was surprisingly strong. She could do this. She could tell him the truth, and then get the hell out of here.Back on a plane.Back home.Back to him.“Richard, we had a baby.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“They’d both made separate deals with the devil, promising not to step over the invisible line if it allowed them to be in each other’s lives. They’d made the mistake once before of trying to be lovers, and look how that turned out.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“It never ends, does it? Just when you think the hardest part is over, something else comes up to take its place.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Isn’t that what we all are?’ Martin asked, his voice sympathetic. ‘The victims and villains of our own lives? We have to come to terms with the good and bad inside of us, accept that we’ll never be all one or the other. And if we acknowledge we have a bit of Beast as well as Beauty in there, maybe we can find a way for them both to live together.” ― Carrie Elks, A Winter's Tale
“Stabbings, shooting, rapes, homicides -- the denizens of places like the Elk brought those crimes along with them the way ordinary travelers carried luggage.” ― Linda Fairstein, Death Dance
“I’m trying to make an important point here. The fact is we have to learn to live with the good and bad parts of ourselves, and that brings a certain peace to our lives. The panic and the anger and the destructiveness comes from when we try to fight against ourselves, where we try to cling on to a modicum of control when there really isn’t any there. Acceptance, it’s the key to everything.” ― Carrie Elks, A Winter's Tale
“They never had cavities. Osteoporosis was unknown. The men had strong and powerful erections and the women gave birth painlessly by squatting, slinging the baby over their back, and then resuming carrying a moose or elk for several miles.” ― Dr. Willy Mammoth, Mastering the Real Paleo Diet: All You Can Eat Meat, and All You Can Handle Health and Leanness
“PS: Does room 101 contain your worst fear?” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Hanna’s quirkiness endeared her to him.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Dreams do come true, and ever afters can be happy. I should have believed the books all along.” ― Carrie Elks, Strictly Business
“Poem for My FatherYou closed the door.I was on the other side,screaming.It was black in your mind.Blacker than burned-out fire.Blacker than poison.Outside everything looked the same.You looked the same.You walked in your body like a living man.But you were not.would you not speak to me for weekswould you hang your coat in the closet without saying hellowould you find a shoe out of place and beat mewould you come home latewould i lose the keywould you find my glasses in the garbagewould you put me on your kneewould you read the bible to me in your smoking jacket after your mother diedwould you come home drunk and snorewould you beat me on the legswould you carry me up the stairs by my hair so that my feet never touch the bottomwould you make everything worseto make everything betteri believe in god, the father almighty,the maker of heaven, the makerof my heaven and my hell.would you beat my motherwould you beat her till she cries like a rabbitwould you beat her in a corner of the kitchenwhile i am in the bathroom trying to bury my head underwaterwould you carry her to the bedwould you put cotton and alcohol on her swollen headwould you make love to her hairwould you caress her hairwould you rub her breasts with ben gay until she stinkswould you sleep in the other room in the bed next to me while she sleeps on the pull-out cotwould you come on the sheet while i am sleeping. later i look for the spotwould you go to embalming school with the last of my mother's moneywould i see your picture in the book with all the other black boys you were the handsomestwould you make the dead look beautifulwould the men at the elks clubwould the rich ladies at funeralswould the ugly drunk winos on the streetknow benpretty benregular benwould your father leave you when you were three with a mother who threw butcher knives at youwould he leave you with her screaming red hairwould he leave you to be smothered by a pillow she put over your headwould he send for you during the summer like a rich unclewould you come in pretty corduroys until you were nine and never heard from him againwould you hate himwould you hate him every time you dragged hundred pound cartons of soap down the stairs into white ladies' basementswould you hate him for fucking the woman who gave birth to youhate him flying by her house in the red truck so that other father threw down his hat in the street and stomped on it angry like we never saw him(bye byeto the will of grandpabye bye to the family fortunebye bye when he stompled that hat,to the gold watch,embalmer's palace,grandbaby's college)mother crying silently, making floating islandsending it up to the old man's ulcerwould grandmother's diamondsclose their heartsparksin the corner of the closetyellow like the eyes of cockroaches?Old man whose sperm swims in my veins,come back in love, come back in pain.” ― Toi Derricotte
“Because it’s only ever been you.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“He burned with the need to hug her. But since their reconciliation they’d kept each other at arm’s length, as if they were both aware that to step into the murky waters of physical contact would break down the delicate dam they’d created.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Richard.” Her voice was surprisingly strong. She could do this. She could tell him the truth, and then get the hell out of here.Back on a plane.Back home.Back to him.“Richard, we had a baby.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“They’d both made separate deals with the devil, promising not to step over the invisible line if it allowed them to be in each other’s lives. They’d made the mistake once before of trying to be lovers, and look how that turned out.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“It never ends, does it? Just when you think the hardest part is over, something else comes up to take its place.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Isn’t that what we all are?’ Martin asked, his voice sympathetic. ‘The victims and villains of our own lives? We have to come to terms with the good and bad inside of us, accept that we’ll never be all one or the other. And if we acknowledge we have a bit of Beast as well as Beauty in there, maybe we can find a way for them both to live together.” ― Carrie Elks, A Winter's Tale
“Stabbings, shooting, rapes, homicides -- the denizens of places like the Elk brought those crimes along with them the way ordinary travelers carried luggage.” ― Linda Fairstein, Death Dance
“I’m trying to make an important point here. The fact is we have to learn to live with the good and bad parts of ourselves, and that brings a certain peace to our lives. The panic and the anger and the destructiveness comes from when we try to fight against ourselves, where we try to cling on to a modicum of control when there really isn’t any there. Acceptance, it’s the key to everything.” ― Carrie Elks, A Winter's Tale
“They never had cavities. Osteoporosis was unknown. The men had strong and powerful erections and the women gave birth painlessly by squatting, slinging the baby over their back, and then resuming carrying a moose or elk for several miles.” ― Dr. Willy Mammoth, Mastering the Real Paleo Diet: All You Can Eat Meat, and All You Can Handle Health and Leanness
“PS: Does room 101 contain your worst fear?” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Hanna’s quirkiness endeared her to him.” ― Carrie Elks, Fix You
“Dreams do come true, and ever afters can be happy. I should have believed the books all along.” ― Carrie Elks, Strictly Business
