How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I started off to Ray's that evening with a two-dollar bill in my jeans and a song in my heart. I felt like I was six feet tall and shaved. My right hand played through the gearshift positions, and I was ready. (6.143)
Joey can't wait to get behind the wheel of that car and take off. (And he also can't wait to shave, we learn.)
Quote #8
I was fifteen the last summer we went down to Grandma's. Mary Alice was thirteen, so we both thought we were too old for this sort of thing. Next year I'd be in line for a summer job in Chicago, if I could find one. Mary Alice was about to sail into eighth grade, which put her in shooting distance of high school. (7.1)
When Joey turns 15, he knows that this is probably going to be his last summer with Grandma Dowdel. The kids are both teenagers now, which means that they're going to start having their own busy lives back home in Chicago.
Quote #9
I strolled out into the hall, and stepped back. Mary Alice stood there, posing in the old white dress. She was beginning to develop a figure, more or less. But the dress had a figure of its own. Narrow in the waist, generous above. (7.41)
Joey is shocked to see that Mary Alice is actually grown up enough to wear Grandma Dowdel's old wedding dress. It seems that his kid sister is growing up, and that she's not just an annoying little Shirley Temple wannabe anymore.