Quote 4
"Mama's making me something."
"What color?"
"Blue. The prettiest blue."
"Child, did you know blue is the color of the will of God? Is she about finished?" (6.92-95)
Abyssinia and Mother Barker are discussing what Abby will be wearing to the church anniversary party. Patience is making Abby a blue dress. Just as Abby is compared to Jesus when she's born (check out the quote right above this one to see this happen), again we see her compared to a gift from God.
Quote 5
Over at Abby's house, Mother Barker had set up a corner of the room to apply her folk medicine to Abby's body.
"The lightning bugs are out tonight, Mother Barker," Abyssinia said.
"Now that's the truth, honey," the old woman agreed as she applied snuff spit to the stings on Abby's face.
[…]
"But how come the lightning bugs are here?"
"You mean down here on the earth?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"For the same reason we're here, daughter. He put them here."
Mother Barker pasted the snuff spit between Abby's braids. (12.8-19)
Here we see Christianity and folk medicine—which we've seen tied to folk spirituality (see the previous quote to check this out in more depth)—interspersed with each other. As Mother Barker tends to Abby's wasp wounds using folk techniques, they discuss God and his creation of lightning bugs.
Quote 6
She saw a bus pulling out. She looked around the station quickly. Not seeing her father, she peered more closely at the moving bus. She recognized the back of her father's head in the row of seats.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
The head did not turn around. The motor of the bus roared.
"Daddy!"
The bus picked up speed.
"Daddy!"
She ran after the bus until she realized it was too far away for her to possibly catch up. Her father was too far away.
Homeward bound, her footsteps were dejected. Her legs felt heavy. Her head felt light. She felt dizzy and lost. (7.105-112)
After desperately searching for her dad, Abby finds him—but it's too late. If he hears her, he gives no sign, and if the bus driver notices her chasing the bus down, he doesn't show it, either. She's just a girl left chasing after a bus that's carrying her dad out of town after he's lost his mind. It's a truly heartbreaking moment in the book, and its physical impact on Abby makes it clear that she is truly upended.