How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"He was twenty-seven years old then, and that was the closest he would ever get to the Big Show. He hung on for thirteen more years, a baseball junkie, winding up in some hot tamale league in Guanajuato, Mexico, until his curveball could no longer bend around so much as a chili pepper and his fastball was slower than a senorita's answer." (25.30)
Can you imagine being brave enough to stick around minor league baseball for thirteen years, even though you know you'll probably never make it back to the majors? We're not sure we could. We can barely bring ourselves to run the mile in P.E.
Quote #5
Two days later, while playing pepper in the Legion infield, the old man said to the kid, "So why don't you go ahead and teach me how to read?" (26.22)
Grayson courageous? Yes sirree! Asking Maniac to teach him how to read shows us he knows what's important, and he knows better than to let fear get in the way of accomplishing it. After all, this is a grown man asking a little kid to teach him to read. That shows a lot of guts.
Quote #6
He climbed the fence at the American bison pen at the zoo—he had suggested this feat himself, everyone else scoffing—and, while the mother looked on, kissed the baby buffalo. (37.6)
Okay, we really do think Maniac is courageous—but he's also smart enough to know that sometimes, all you have to do is look brave.