One Came Home Time Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

It's funny how months of memories can flash through a person's head in moments. How many minutes has it taken me to tell you? Five minutes? Ten? But for me, I stood upright in that pigeoner camp and did all of that remembering in under a minute. (7.68)

Yeah, time is weird like that. This is the first time we see Georgie slip out of her insistence on getting the dates exactly right and reveal that her perception of time is slipping. What does this say about her internal state?

Quote #5

As Billy continued his reminiscing, I began counting days, working out the time line of events. I started with the kiss—a fist in the air, a whoop, a whistle. I saw the kiss on a Thursday, the first week of May. I went to see Mr. Olmstead the next day, on Friday. (10.48)

Time is something Georgie doesn't seem to waste, anyway—she didn't sit on that information for long. And can we just say that two days isn't a very long time line? Not to knock Georgie's mental organizational skills or anything.

Quote #6

Agatha gave me the silent treatment for a week. The next Monday night, May 15, the nesting broke and Agatha told me the story of the old man and the white pigeon. Ten days after that, she ran off with the pigeoners. That was Thursday, May 25. Now it was sixteen days since she'd run off, and here I was a runaway too. I'd run off with Billy McCabe in order to search for her. (10.77)

Oh, Georgie, the constant counting. Why? Why the constant counting of time? Is counting actually a theme of the book? What else does Georgie count?