A girl, poor thing. That fact had alread burdened her short life with a kind of misery I could not imagine. I thought I knew about every ugly thing

that one person does to another, but I had never even thought about such things being done to a baby girl. She sat quietly in the bathtub watching me, and I just prayed she had enough backbone not to fall over and drown, because I had to let her go. I doubled up on the floor at the base of the toilet and tried not to throw up" (Marietta/Taylor 31).

This book is not just about on specific thing, or place and the overall meaning of the book could not put shoved in one little quote. This quote was the one that sucked me in. The one that made it impossible to put down, and the one that brought the most emotion out of the words. Marietta, who just changed her name to Taylor, has had a baby put in her possesion. The reason she left her town, home, and mother behind is she wanted to escape, and get away from the pressure of their way of life. Including having a baby.

The irony in this is interesting, not only was the thing she didnt weant to happen put into her lap, but she is faced with trying to take care of herself and now a new baby girl with a busted car, and no place to live. She stops at a motel for the night to try to warm the baby up. As she is trying to give the baby a bath, the baby is gripping to her so tightly she can barely take one tiny hand off of her before it is replaced with another.

Finally, as she looks at the child, she sees that this baby girl has bruises on her inner thighs. The realization is imediate, and Taylor falls to the floor. This child plays a part throughout the book, and she is an important character.

It is too true that people are terrible to eachother, and rape is one of the many horrible things people are put through everyday. Being put in this possition, I wouldn't have been able to control myself. Pity for this child would overwhelm me, and I would've broke down crying. I reread this page so many times, and yet, I still cant picture myself being there. This book was composed of so many great quotes, but I could not get this one out of my head.