`` I'm a mess '', she said, and suddenly she was alarmed.

You see, he lied to us when he said he was leavin alone ''.

`` That was a terrible thing to do '', I said to Oso.

The War Department wrote Mr. Manuel a letter and said he was a hero.

`` But that was war '', I said.

What else he said was lost in the rattle of gunfire on all sides.

She said, and her tone had softened until it was almost friendly.

`` Oh, no '', he said, and he was without humor now.

Normally Hague wasted no words, but now he found himself unable to stop their flow although he knew Kodyke was aware of all he said.

When they reached their neighbor's house, Pamela said a few polite words to Grace and kissed Melissa lightly on the forehead, the impulse prompted by a stray thought -- of the type to which she was frequently subject these days -- that they might never see one another again.

An Ah coudn ansuh him an so Ah said ' Aw right, Ah gay-ess, an his fathuh didn uttuh one wohd an aftuh Huhmun was gone, the majuh laughed an tole me thet he an the bawh had been hevin an occasional drink t'gethuh f'ovuh a yeah, onleh an occasional one, but just the same it was behahn mah back, an Ah doan think thet's nahce at all, d'you ''??

She was still hugging the stained coat around her, so I said, `` Relax, let me take your things.

That was all she said.

This was the worst thing I could have said.

The girl took a couple of steps toward the man in shorts when Benson, in that barefoot courtliness Ramey could never decide was real, said, `` You don't want to go around there, Ma'am ''.

There was no doubt that Herr Schaffner meant every word of what he said.

But they never said anything, so he figured it was all right.

He said, lapsing into the profanity he often used when away from his parents and especially when he was with Charles.

While she was struggling to get her skirt down and get on her feet again, Jack ran over, offered her his hand and said, `` Gosh, I'm sorry, Miss Langford.

That should do it, he thought, because Miss Langford had said she was going to be strict about school work.

`` I only said I was hungry.

`` No, I don't think so '', said the big man, and it was the final clincher for Ernie.

`` I'd wind up full of bullet holes '', he said, and there was no question that he was talking about bullets fired by his coworkers.

The best antidote for the bitterness and disappointment that poisoned him was hard work.

He didn't think it was possible for this couple to be pretending.

It must have hurt her even to walk, for the sole was completely off her left foot and Morgan saw that it was bruised and bleeding.

It was the only thing in his life for which he felt guilt.

He knew who was riding after him -- the men he had known all his life, the men who had worked for him, sworn their loyalty to him.

Still, I was disgusted with myself for agreeing with Montero's methods.

He was naked except for a clout.

Now under me I could see him for what he really was, a boy dressed up in streaks of paint.

Well, the grass was there, though in some places the ground was too steep for a cow to get to it.

But it was not easy for him and he often slipped.

Now, here was something of obvious importance to me, yet when I reached for the tickets he snatched them away from my hand.

It was, I felt, possible that they were men who, having received no tickets for that day, had remained in the hall, to sleep perhaps, in the corners farthest removed from the counter with its overhead light.

I was constantly searching for clues around the neighborhood of the hall.

No one was behind it, but in the rear wall of the office I noticed, for the first time, a door which had been left partially open.

Was I sure, he asked, that I knew what I was applying for??

At one and the same time, she was within it but still searching for the drawbridge that would give her entry.

That was the day that he had practically mopped up the main street of Big Sands with Aaron McBride, field boss for the Highlands Oil & Gas Company.

It was payday for Highlands, and he was packing a lot of money back into the oil fields.

I was just doing my job, just following orders, and for that he's going to kill me.

Somehow more terrible than the certainty that he was about to die was the knowledge that Lord would probably not suffer for it: the murder would go unpunished.

He was readying a batch of sourdough biscuits for the Dutch oven.