You tell a soul or even God Hisself what you seen when the rougarou changes , or even that you met one, and a year ain’t passed, you’re liable to change to one yourself.

Not having any drink about ain’t the same as not understanding the need for one. Times like these change a body’s perspective.

I don’t like coming over here at night, the girl said. The bayou is scary in the dark, all manner of things running wild out there.

You’ll likely always have some reason or other to hang onto that girl. You just want her cause she was married to your son, and I understand that, he was a friend to me like a brother, near the only family I ever knew, and I miss him almost as much as you. But I need me a woman.

Tastes change, Cherie. I find the older I get the more I like to be reminded of my youth.

War’s all either country knows, and everything seems to depend on it now.

I offer you your life, friend, and recommend you take it.

Lightening flashed again and again but above the shriek of the wind and the pounding hail they never heard the thunder.

Dead man shouldn’t have no fears. Makes his passing easier.

What one of us wants we all want. You a man of the earth as you are, you ought to have known we hunt in packs. And now I come to finish you.

She ran the harder and zagged more erratically, and in the wreckage left from the hurricane the girl misjudged her path and ran straight into the old well. She didn’t even scream.

You want a sermon? Jesus died and resurrected and then run off to Heaven to leave us sinners here. Amen.

The oaks along the ridge were writhing like tortured epileptics in the winds, and she could make out through the thick rain a cascade of water like a cataract come roiling down the inside slope toward her; a vast arching spray exploded bright against the dark sky as the Gulf slammed over the chenier.