Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

“Mom, please don't use 'the happy voice.' It reminds me of the day Tinkles died."
"Who was Tinkles?" Sue asked around a mouthful of pancake.
"My cat. When I was five, Tinkles died choking on a mouse that was a bit ambitious for a kitten to eat."
"It was terribly traumatic for Aurelia because it was the first time she'd experienced loss." 
"What did you do to help her get through it?" 
Rosalind smiled at Mother Guardian. "Well, after a good cry, we performed an autopsy."
Aurelia reached for her mother's hand. "I never thanked you for that.”
― Therisa Peimer, Taming Flame

“Silently she stared at the splintered pieces and felt the flame in her soul gutter.  The flame she had nurtured since she was a child. The flame that had in it what little sparks of happiness she had ever known as well as all her hopes and dreams for the future.  She had tended it so carefully and for so long, and in one, horrendous, agonizing second, felt it simply... go out.”
― Barbara Sontheimer, Victor's Blessing

“Waiting for the correct time to descend for cocktails, Mary sat on her bed and reviewed her impressions of the house party one by one. Belinda Choudhry M. P. she knew least. As mother of murdered Perdita, she was sure to be a volatile addition.”
― Susan Rowland, Murder on Family Grounds

“The only clarity â€� if oppressive fog could ever be clarity â€� was the violent, throbbing, boiling agony pressing her against the ground.
There were sounds, too: shouting, screaming, banging, thudding, squawking, chittering.
It hurt to breathe.
“No snake! No snake!� A woman’s voice shrilled.
“Christ sake! Let the bloody thing out. That one, too.� A man’s voice, shouting – bellowing – commands.
A hand lifted her wrist, and through the torment of pain, she realised that fingers were releasing her watch strap.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: Saskia van Essen and the Australian timber industry