The Pigman Home Quotes

[John:] At least twice a week we'd meet for a telephone marathon. Wednesday afternoons we'd have it at Dennis' house because his mother goes shopping at the supermarket and his father doesn't get home from work until after six P.M., even when he's sober. And on Sundays we'd do it at Norton's because his father plays golf and his mother is so retarded she doesn't know what's coming off anyway, but at least they didn't mind if their kids used the house. Mine and Lorraine's we can't even go to. We couldn't use the phone at Lorraine's anyway because her mother doesn't have unlimited service, and at my house my mother is a disinfectant fanatic. She would have gotten too nervous over all of us using her purified instrument. Another difficulty there is that my father, whom I warmly refer to as Bore, put a lock on our phone—one of those round locks you put in the first dialhole so you can't dial. He put it on because of a little exchange we had when he called from work. (3)

[John:] "No, no, no," she [his mother] said in her best grating voice, all the while shining the coffee table in our sparkling living room, which sparkles because nobody's allowed to live in it. She's got plastic covers on everything. I mean, I like my Mom and all that, but she runs around like a chicken with its head cut off. (5)

[John:] The house [Mr. Pignati's] had a nice warm smell to it. We had to walk through a hall that had a lot of old junk stored in it, and then we went into this living room that had all that old kind of stuffed furniture with lace things that cover the arms so you don't wear them out. (5)

[John:] "Touch them," he told [Lorraine]. "Don't be afraid to pick them up." It was a big change from my mother who always lets out a screech if you go near anything, so I couldn't help liking this old guy even if he was sort of weird. (5)

[John:] They [his parents] just seemed tired, and I seemed out of place in the house. I had become a disturbing influence, as they say. If I light up a cigarette, all my mother's really worried about is that I'm going to burn a hole in the rug. If I want a beer, she's worried I'm not going to rinse the glass out.

"John, turn your radio down."

"John, you're disturbing your father."

"John, you're disturbing the cat."

"John, don't slam the door when you go out; don't make so much noise on the porch; don't bang your feet when you walk up the stairs; don't walk on the kitchen floor—don't, don't, don't."

"John, please do whatever you like. Make yourself comfortable. If you want something out of the refrigerator, help yourself. I want you to feel at home."

And always with a big smile so you knew he meant it.

That was the Pigman, and I knew I'd kill Norton if he tried to hurt the old man. (9)

[Lorraine:] It got so that every day John and I would go over to the Pigman's after school and have a glass of wine and conversation. It was routine by the time the Christmas holidays came around, and it was nice to have some place to go besides the cemetery when it was cold out. Masterson's tomb is an escapist's dream in the summer, but it's a realist's nightmare in December. (10)

[Mr. Pignati:] "She used to keep the house so clean," Mr. Pignati muttered, lowering his head.

I [Lorraine] squirmed slightly.

"Who?"

"Conchetta…" (10)

[Lorraine:] We really went to work on the house and fixed it up better than ever before. The only room we didn't touch was the one with the pigs in it. There was something almost religious about that room, as though it contained a spirit that belonged only to Mr. Pignati, and it was best left alone. (12)

[Jane Appling:] "Saaaaaay, this is a nice house. Whose is it?" That's the kind of mind Jane has.

"My uncle's," I [John] told her, with just enough hesitation so she'd know I was lying. There's no point in having a house unless kids wonder how you got it. (13)

[John:] I pushed the curtains open, and there was Norton holding a large white pig, which he brought down suddenly on a table edge, knocking its head off. He looked inside and then threw it against the wall where it blasted to pieces. Several other broken pigs were laying all over the floor, and the only thing I could think of at that moment was the proud and happy look on Mr. Pignati's face when he had shown us the pigs that first day. (13)