Carter Jackson Quotes

“You ask a lot of questions for a girl in a tree."
"Asking questions is a sign of intelligence."
"I've heard that. Do your parents know you're out here?"
"You ask a lot of questions for a lady who looks like she's been up all night."
"Intelligence," Grace said playfully.
"Barefoot in the mud? I dunno. You don't 'look' so smart.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard

“Do you know how to climb a tree?"
Grace straightened her posture. "Yes, I know how to climb a tree."
"Okay," Carter said skeptically.
"When I was your age, I practically lived in trees."
Grace grabbed hold of the trunk and began to hoist herself up. After New Guinea, this was gonna be easy.
"No offense, but you're not exactly my age anymore," said Carter, amused with herself.
Grace squinted at Carter. Then she looked at the wet tree trunk, then up at the girl who was holding her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. Grace was more than confident she could just climb up the trunk, but having been messed with, she decided to show the girl a little something.
Standing under the tree, she squatted, and then stood up, and then down and up again, and on the third time, she crouched down as far as she could, and throwing all her weight upward, arms reaching completely outstretched, she jumped as hard and as high as she possibly could, springing from the ground, and with both hands grasped the limb upon which the girl sat.
With amusement and curiosity, the girl looked down at Grace dangling below by her hands, exposed feet swinging in the mist. 'What is this lady going to do now?'
Shifting her weight, Grace swung herself forward and then back, and then forward again farther and back again farther, and forward again even more, and as she swung back, throwing her weight firmly, she simultaneously lifted herself upward and as she rose parallel to the limb pushed down on it forcefully and with a quick twist of her hips- 'plop'- set herself down right next to the little girl.
"I 'know' how to climb a tree," Grace said.
"Impressive," said the little girl as she raised an eyebrow.
Grace grinned, proud of herself.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard

“This kid 'was' smart. A bit of an attitude, but sharp. Enjoying Grace's company, Carter returned the smile and, for the first time, in the light, Grace got a really good look at her. She had auburn hair, close in color and in form to Grace's, actually, but it was long overdue for a decent cut. She was thin, bony, moving in the lithesome knobby-kneed way of a girl at the inelegant doorstep of puberty, but that and the ill-fitting tomboyish clothes she wore could do little to diminish the hints of the beautiful young woman she would soon become. You could see it in her when she smiled. Someone had passed on striking features to her, but there was something else that Grace saw, in the girl's big anime eyes, something mature beyond her years that seemed familiar to Grace, and immediately brought to mind the vegetable garden of her youth, where she used to sit and think and spend time alone just like this.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard

“You have a pretty name."
"So do you."
"Not like you. 'Grace' is the name of a princess or a movie star or, you know, something from heaven. Grace. The fruit of redemption." Carter said it as though repeating something she'd heard many times, which of course she had.
Grace just chewed, her mouth full of apple.
"At least, that's what they say," Carter continued.
"That's what they say." On the backs of Carter's hands Grace could see a few scrapes, the kind kids get from running around in the woods. Grace remembered when the backs of her hands looked just like that.
"'Carter' means 'driver of a cart.' In Old English or something. But everyone thinks of the ex-president of Georgia."
"Well, I didn't."
Carter stared at Grace, blinking, as though looking for something.
"I think it's a beautiful name," said Grace. "It's full of character.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard

“You want to test our apples?" Carter asked.
"I want to find out what makes them taste so special so that we can share that with other people, maybe lots of them." Grace saw Carter's perplexed expression. "You ever had a fruit-flavored soft drink?"
"Like an orange soda?"
"Exactly. Well, somebody found the perfect orange somewhere, studied it carefully, and then made a formula based on its special flavor so that anyone anywhere in the world could taste it."
"In a can of soda."
"Right."
"Very cool."
"Do you like peach ice cream?"
"Yes!"
"Well, a lot of the 'all-natural peach flavoring' that you taste in that ice cream is really Gamma-Aldehyde C-14, a molecule created by Nanjing Yuance Trade Company, which I'm sure is based on a perfect peach they found somewhere."
"So you're like a scientist-cook," Carter said excitedly.
"Something like that." Grace smiled.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard

“After several hours of preparing, cooking, eating, and laughing together, the kitchen was now lit by the glow of candlelight, and the entire house filled with the glorious aroma of freshly roasted heritage turkey. While Dylan had readied the bird with a few sprigs of chopped rosemary, ground black peppercorn, and a splash of maple syrup, Grace and Carter gathered fall beans and bush squash and a few little sugar pie pumpkins, and cooked the vegetables along with the sweet corn that Carter had brought home.”
― Jeffrey Stepakoff, The Orchard