Touching Spirit Bear Events Quotes

Finally his parents quit trying to visit. Even Nathaniel Blackwood quit stopping by except when hearings and depositions required his presence. Cole didn't like the lawyer. Blackwood was a stiff ma...

Cole felt a sudden rush of anger and jerked away. Why did everybody always have to touch him? He didn't need anyone's help. What he needed was for the world to butt out. "Aren't you guys ever leavi...

Cole rocked back and forth on his feet. Nobody cared about him. Nobody understood him. Nobody knew what it was like living with parents who wished he wasn't alive. (3.2)

Cole's father sat up taller in his chair. "I'm William Matthews," he announced importantly. "I'm here to make sure my son never causes problems again." He turned and glared at Cole. "This is all go...

"We've always wanted the best for Cole," he said. "His mother and I have devoted our lives to him, but he—" "That's bull!" Cole shouted suddenly, although he wasn't holding the feather. "You drin...

"Peter, would you like to tell us what you think would make things better again?" Peter bit at his lip before speaking in a struggling, slurred voice. "I think someone should smash Cole's head agai...

All of the landscape, the air, the trees, the animals, the water, the rain, all seemed to be part of something bigger. They moved in harmony, bending and flowing, twisting and breathing, as if conn...

Watching the bird made Cole curse every second of his miserable and haphazard life. If he were the mother bird, he would just leave the babies to fend for themselves. She didn't owe them anything....

Cole envied the dead sparrows. He had never really known any home. It sure wasn't the big brick building that his parents landscaped and fixed up to impress the neighbors. Nor was it the empty spac...

In that moment, Cole realized how badly he wanted to live. The food he had thrown up was still food. Those fish bits still contained energy, and energy was life. No thieving seagull was going to st...

Now Cole felt himself slipping fast. he had struggled too long to hold on, his energy bleeding away. Now it was his turn to die. This thought made Cole sad, but he accepted it. He felt content. Bef...

"Now you'll end up in a hospital. When you're released, you'll still have your parents to deal with and you'll still be facing a jail term. I doubt the Hearing Circle will consider returning you to...

During Cole's hospital stay, many people from the Circle had visited him, including his mother. Her visits had been the hardest. She spoke little except to wring her hands and ask, "How are you doi...

"You two are the only ones who ever cared about me," he blurted. "It's not like I don't appreciate what you're doing. But I screwed everything up. I'm going to jail—can't you see that? Why don't...

"All around us there are powers. There are animals like the whale, the bear, the wolf, and the eagle. There are powers like the sun and moon and seasons. And there are the powers inside of us like...

"It's not about supper," said Garvey. "It's about the chip on your shoulder. You still think life is a free ride. You're still blaming the world for everything and looking for the easiest way to ge...

Cole drove himself hard after Edwin and Garvey left, staying busy every waking minute of each day. If he had to spend a whole year on this island, he had no intention of living like an animal. Each...

Cole felt helpless as he watched the Tlingit elder disappear across the water. This time he stayed barely long enough to unload supplies. Didn't he care? Wasn't he mad? Cole returned to camp and sp...

When waves from the splash reached shore, he called into the darkness, "I'm sorry!" He screamed louder, "Please forgive me! I didn't mean to hurt Peter!" (23.21)

On Christmas Eve, Cole sat alone in front of his twisted little tree as the wind outside moaned through the treetops. Did anyone anywhere miss him at this moment? He went to bed early that night, n...

Cole felt no anger, but he was tired of trying to prove himself to Edwin. He was tired of trying to prove himself to the world. "There are two choices," he said. "Give Peter the same chance I've ha...

Garvey pointed toward the shore. "Pay me back by not giving up on Peter." Cole looked out the window and saw that Peter was still sitting on the shore, but the Snickers bar was gone. Cole smiled. "...

For a full minute, the bear stood frozen in place, gazing at them. The chattering of a squirrel nearby echoed like thunder in the silence. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the Spirit Bear swun...