Wren Wilds > Quotes

“I'm about to walk out when I notice something on Jay's pillow. A piece of paper, folded in half. My name is written on the outside in Jay's handwriting, the letters shaky and uneven like he wrote it with his wrong hand. I pick it up with trembling fingers and unfold it carefully, and inside there are just a few lines. I meant every word. I will find you. Don't give up on me.
Remember my name. — J Something breaks inside me when I read those words. Something that was already cracked splits completely open, and I have to bite down hard on my lip to keep from crying out loud, from sobbing right here in front of the police officer who's waiting by the door.”
― Wren Wilds, Remember My Name

“We’re never telling Sheila about the coleslaw,” I say. “Agreed.” “If that woman finds out her coleslaw went bad because nobody helped you eat it, she will drive to this hospital and she will burn it to the ground.” “Also agreed.”
― Wren Wilds, Benji

“An elderly man sits down on an overturned bucket near the serving table and doesn't say anything, just sits, and Stormy brings him a plate without being asked and sets it in front of him and says, "Ribs are the best thing on the menu. Don't tell Tex I said that, he thinks it's the burgers." I hear him say that and I almost drop the tongs into the fire. Not because of what he said about the ribs. Because he made a joke. To a stranger. Unprompted. A joke that included my name spoken with the familiarity of someone who belongs here. God, that lights up my big old heart.”
― Wren Wilds, Stormy

“I understand why the rules exist. I even understand that they help some kids. But I can barely afford to eat. The part-time job at Carl's garage pays minimum wage, and minimum wage doesn't cover rent and food and transportation and all the other costs of being alive. It's a trap. The whole system is a trap designed to keep you down. You need money to survive, but you need stability to make money, but you need money to have stability. And if you're starting from nothing, with no family to fall back on and no safety net to catch you, then every wrong step can send you spiraling down into a hole you'll never climb out of.”
― Wren Wilds, Remember My Name

“Somebody left a door open so I could breathe.”
― Wren Wilds, Levi

“A few miles later, I turn off onto a smaller road. Jay watches the scenery change—condos and beach shops replacing the strip malls. Then I make one more turn, and suddenly the road dead-ends. And there it is. Right in front of us. The beach and the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico. The beach stretches out wide in front of us with white sand so bright it's almost blinding in the sunlight. The water color shifts from brilliant turquoise to deep emerald to dark blue as it stretches toward the horizon. And overhead, seagulls are squawking, their calls mixing with the rhythmic sound of the waves. This is Jay's safe place. The one he described to me when we were kids—the beach he'd never been to but imagined anyway, the place he went in his mind when everything else was too much to bear.”
― Wren Wilds, Remember My Name

“The first people show up half an hour later. A two-man power crew working on the lines a quarter mile up the road. They come walking up the beach road, hard hats on, tool belts heavy, and they stop when they see the grill and the smoke and me standing in the parking lot with tongs in one hand and a spatula in the other. "Is that what I think it is?" one of them calls out. "You cooking out?" "Depends on what you think it is. If you think it's free barbecue, you're right. If you think it's a mirage caused by heat exhaustion, you're also right but come on and eat anyway. Welcome to Big Tex's Roadhouse, hurricane edition. We're open. We're free. The ambiance is 'apocalyptic parking lot' and the dress code is 'whatever survived.' Our Yelp rating is currently unavailable because the internet doesn't exist anymore, but I promise you four stars minimum.”
― Wren Wilds, Stormy

“inside”
― Wren Wilds, Benji