Kai Harris > Quotes

“All these words that other people use to label us, to decide who we are, who we gon’ be.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“It’s like I’m standing in a field full of fireflies, struggling to catch ’em all, when really, I just gotta slow down and catch one.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Our children don’t have to make the same mistakes we did.” Granddaddy speaks, calm. “Let ’em decide who to be for themselves.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Sometimes, when you wanna speed up, you gotta slow down first.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Sometimes you gotta give up something you want to get something you need.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my family, it’s that when you hurt, you gotta ignore it and pretend it don’t exist; otherwise it’ll swallow you whole.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“In life, we’re going to get hurt. If we stay focused on that hurt, and nothing else, then we won’t ever be able to heal. But if we focus on the healing, well, then we’ll start to notice that hurt disappear. It’s all a matter of what you choose to focus on.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“When we lose someone we love, it’s easy to just pretend they was never there. To try and make it easier. But it don’t work,”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“A daddy hug is something special that you don’t even know you need.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“was the one who found Daddy dead, crammed in the little space where my old bike’s training wheels turned rusted.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“I ain’t scared of the dark, but the dark here feels different, like it’s wrapping my whole body in a hug that’s too tight. In my head, I count the piercing cricket chirps. I wanna fall asleep, so I count and count. Seventy-six, then I’m sleep.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“that word, fiend. But I had heard Momma yell it at Daddy sometimes on the days the basement steps would rot with a sour stench.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Thank you,” I reply with a big grin. “What did you draw?” I point to the mystery picture that’s either a deformed doll or a wild animal. “It’s you.” She says it so sweet that I almost forget to be insulted. Almost. I look back down at the picture, at the too-big lips, thick nose, and nappy hair. Is this how I look to her? I force myself to smile cause I don’t want her to feel bad.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Cause sometimes it’s worth it to give something so you can get something. The first lesson I ever learned from Daddy.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“In life, we’re going to get hurt. If we stay focused on that hurt, and nothing else, then we won’t ever be able to heal. But if we focus on the healing, well, then we’ll start to notice that hurt disappear. It’s”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Momma’s watching us through the rearview mirror before she pulls off, and I wonder how we look to her, two daughters, one who smiles just like her, one who frowns just like Daddy. Either way, she smiles at us both the same before driving again, even slower now.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“I was the one who found Daddy dead, crammed in the little space where my old bike’s training wheels turned rusted. I hadn’t ever seen a dead body before, cept one funeral when all I really saw was one dead arm folded cross a still chest,”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“One day you gon’ realize, the truth ain’t always somethin’ good. And all them secrets—they there for a reason.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Momma always smiles, even in the bad times. Her smile is like a gigantic, dripping ice cream cone, after I stuff my belly full with dinner. Even with a stomachache, I want that smile.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“all a matter of what you choose to focus on.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Lansing is like staying up late on a school night, them times when Momma and Daddy would get in a fight.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“And all grown-ups do is lie to me and treat me like a kid.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“We drove straight from the Knights Inn that’s been home ever since we lost our real house, before we even had a chance to finish crying for Daddy.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Our children don’t have to make the same mistakes we did.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“The more we move around, the more I forget stuff. Like the pattern of my wallpaper in the old house on the dead-end street. I’m starting to forget what it feels like to have a home at all.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“It’s one of my favorite things, watching, cause it’s how I learn the stuff people don’t want me to know.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Once I thought back to that movie, I figured out what the smell was, and what Daddy was doin’ on them stairs, and how Daddy died. At least I think I know, cause I ain’t ever ask nobody. But I think Daddy was doin’ drugs, and kinda like the crack addict Pookie from the movie, Daddy did too much til he died.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Or maybe it did happen, cause God needed me to know happy just one time, so I would really feel it when He took it away.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“I sat wrapped in a thick carpet blanket on the hard kitchen floor, trying my best to listen, but only being able to hear once, just as one cop whispered, “another fiend,” to the other. I ain’t know”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew

“Granddaddy’s house will make the third place we’ve lived in the six months since Daddy died.”
― Kai Harris, What the Fireflies Knew