The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 Foolishness and Folly Quotes

"You've cut school so much that Mr. Alums has come here three times to see what's wrong with you, you've been lighting fires, you've been taking change out of my purse, you've been in fights, you had that trouble up at Mitchell's Food Fair, you had that...that...problem with Mary Ann Hill, you set mousetraps in the backyard for birds, you fell out of that tree when you were trying to see if that poor cat always landed on its feet, you got that conk, you joined that gang...There's just too much, Byron." (8.173)

Who could understand Byron? Here was a chance for another Fantastic Adventure and he was going in the wrong direction. Something was wrong with him. If he was in Flint and you told him not to do something he'd go right out and do it, but now he was acting real dull and square. (13.13)

It also seems like the worse the trouble is that you get into, the more steps it takes to get there. Sort of like you're getting a bunch of little warnings on the way; sort of like if you really wanted to you could turn around. (13.35)