Tamar

“(That girl on the news never invited that man to touch her. All I can think about is how I wish she had had something savage coursing through her skin. God should have made girls lethal when he made monsters of men.)”
― Elisabeth Hewer, Wishing for Birds

“When I see the expression ' as cruel as a tiger' and ' as bloodthirsty as a tiger' in print, I think of a small boy armed with an old muzzle-loading gun—the right barrel of which was split for six inches of its length, and the stock and barrels of which were kept from falling apart by lashings of brass wire—wandering through the jungles of the terai and bhabar in the days when there were ten tigers to every one that now survives; sleeping anywhere he happened to be when night came on, with a small fire to give him company and warmth, wakened at intervals by
the calling of tigers, sometimes in the distance, at other times near at hand; throwing another stick on the fire and turning over and continuing his interrupted sleep without one thought of unease; knowing from his own short experience and from what others, who like himself had spent their days in the jungles, had told him, that a tiger, unless molested, would do him no harm; or during daylight hours avoiding any tiger he saw, and when that was not possible, standing perfectly still until it had passed and gone, before continuing on his way. And I think of him on one occasion stalking half-a-dozen jungle fowl that were feeding in the open, and on creeping up to a plum bush and standing up to peer over, the bush heaving and a tiger walking out on the far side and, on clearing the bush, turning round and looking at the boy with an expression on its face which said as clearly as any words, 'Hello, kid, what the hell are you doing here?' and, receiving no answer, turning round and waiting away very slowly without once looking back.”
― Jim Corbett, Man-Eaters of Kumaon

“I mean I don’t want to die but I sure would appreciate the quiet.”
― Elisabeth Hewer, Wishing for Birds

“You can’t build a life
on another human being. We’re foundations
of sand. We’re Atlas buckling under the sky.”
― Elisabeth Hewer, Wishing for Birds