Frances Dee Quotes

Alma Good morning, Miss.

Betsy Connell Thank you for waking me.

Alma I didn't want to frighten you out of your sleep, Miss. That's why I touched you farthest from your heart.

Paul Holland It's not beautiful.

Betsy Connell You read my thoughts, Mr. Holland.

Paul Holland It's easy enough to read the thoughts of a newcomer. Everything seems beautiful because you don't understand. Those flying fish, they're not leaping for joy, they're jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies. The glitter of putrescence. There is no beauty here, only death and decay.

Betsy Connell You can't really believe that.

Paul Holland Everything good dies here. Even the stars.

Betsy Connell Alma, try it this way... Turn your back on him. You see, that's the way it is with a horse: you can't lead him and look at him at the same time.

Alma Sounds sorta man-like, don't it?

Betsy Connell Frankly, it was something of a shock to see my patient that way for the first time. Nobody had told me Mrs. Holland was a... mental case.

Paul Holland A "mental case"?

Betsy Connell I'm sorry...

Paul Holland Why should you be? My wife IS a mental case. Please remember that, Miss Connell. Particularly when some of the foolish people on the island start regaling you with the local legends. You'll find superstition a contagious thing. Some people let it get the better of them. I don't think you will.

Betsy Connell No.

Paul Holland Come along. I'll introduce you to Dr. Maxwell and your patient.

Betsy Connell Well, I used to be afraid of the dark when I was a child. But, I'm not afraid any more.

Betsy Connell I thought voodoo was something everyone was frightened of?

Paul Holland I'm afraid it's not very frightening. They sing and dance and carry on. And then, as I understand it, one of the gods comes down and speaks through one of the people.

Mrs. Rand These people are primitive. Things that are natural to them might shock and horrify you.

Betsy Connell I'm not easily frightened.

Mrs. Rand That may be the pity of it.

Job Interviewer You're single?

Betsy Connell Yes.

Job Interviewer Where were you trained?

Betsy Connell Memorial Hospital, here in Ottawa.

Job Interviewer Now, this last question is a little irregular, Miss Connell. I really don't know quite how to begin. Do you believe in witchcraft?

Betsy Connell Well, they didn't teach it at Memorial Hospital, but I had my suspicions about the Directors of Training.

Betsy Connell I walked with a zombie. It does seem an odd thing to say. Had anyone said that to me a year ago, I'm not at all sure I would have known what a zombie was. Oh, I might have had some notion that they were strange and frightening... even a little funny. It all began in such an ordinary way...