All Quotes

"Woman: I'm sorry. What were you thinking about?"

"Larry: There's not a lot to do around here. Who are you, anyhow?"

"Woman: I'm the new teacher."

"All: No luck!"

"Woman: Luck?"

"[Luck? The boys exchange bewildered expressions]"

"Evan: What's she speaking about?"

"Woman: I'm here from England for a semester on a teaching exchange."

"Jeffrey: Nobody warns us anything."

"Nick: There's two classes. Little children––––"

"Jeffrey: And big children."

"Woman: I'm the teacher for the big children."

"Woman: Luck. Hey, it's jolly nice to meet you."

"Nick: Jolly pleased?"

"Larry: The new teacher's a pirate."

"[Sheriff Tom Palmer speeds down the road, the red light on top of his police car flashing. He has gotten a call about an emergency on Hicks Road that requires his immediate attention]"

"[Tom is glad to get the call. Not much police business that day, then Tom is anxious for some emotion. In fact, the last emotional nonsense Tom can remember going on in Elma is since big Sissy Whitehead got stuck in the doorway of her back porch. It takes Tom, Cookie and Ed to squeeze her out]"

"[As he drives, Tom remembers how it is in Elma fifteen years earlier. That is back until everybody has jobs. Before the grain-processing plant closes. In these days, Tom is the star quarterback for the Elma High School Armadillos. Of course, Elma has an actual high school back then. After the mill closes, most families move aside in search of jobs. But Tom stays on and becomes sheriff]"

"[After a while, Tom pulls over to the side of the highway and gets out of his car. He has found the emergency. A large armadillo is flattened across the road like a pancake. Road murder. And it is Tom's job to clean it up]"

"[Some emergency, thinks Tom as he opens the trunk of his car and takes out a shovel]"

"Tom: This town doesn't need a sheriff, it needs an undertaker. [As he stuffs up the armadillo, Tom warns the carcass] You're going to a better place."

"[After disposing of the armadillo, Tom feels hungry. Driving down Main Street, he passes a row of boarded-up shops and abandoned cars and pulls up in front of The Office, the local bar and grill]"

"[Nick, Larry, Jeffrey and Evan, yet damp from their shower at the schoolyard, are kicking around an old ball as Tom pulls up]"

"[WHAM!! Nick kicks the ball into the side of Tom's car]"

"Tom: How many times do I have to warn you to keep away from the car?"

"Jeffrey: How many times have you warned us today?"

"Nick: Hey, however many, I think it wasn't enough, Deputy Dog."

"Tom: Watch your mouth or I'll kick your butt!"

"Nick: All the road to Pizza Hut?"

"Larry: I wish we lived in a town that had a Pizza Hut."

"Tom: Move it, midgets. I have work to do."

"Jeffrey: Hey, wait! You may think you know everything, but here's a news flash. Something radical eventually happened in this town!"

"Tom: Nothing radical ever happens in this town."

"Larry: Wrong."

"Evan: We met our new teacher."

"Tom: You get a new teacher every year. [He shrugs his shoulders]"

"Nick: This one's different, Deputy Dog."

"Jeffrey: Yes. Really different."

"[Tom pauses for a brief moment. The boys have roused this interest. For these children to get this emotional, the new schoolteacher may really be something special. He decides he has to find out for himself. Tom gets back into his patrol car and drives to Bomma Cole's farmhouse]"

"[Bomma Cole is the schoolteacher for the elementary grades. Tom guesses that the new schoolteacher may be staying with Bomma since Emma has no hotel. As he sees an unfamiliar red convertible parked in Bomma's driveway, he knows he has guessed correctly]"

"[Bomma knows why Tom has come]"

"Bomma: News travels fast."

"The experience taught her a valuable lesson."

"I learnt then that you can fail and you don't die."

"over my dead body."

"It will be careful in deciding how to handle it."

"It will not be religious about it."

"When I left Cambridge for what was then the top name in mergers and acquisitions in the City."

"I'd never heard of the glass ceiling, still less the concrete one."

"I'd studied what I wanted (philosophy and history) while ensuring I did the maths for arts students course."