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Mary Anne “Queenie” Anthony
Rill Foss’s biological father. Briny and Queenie got married when Queenie was just a teenager and soon began having children. Briny calls his wife Queenie because he considers her the queen of their shanty boat, the Arcadia. Together with their first five children (Rill, Camellia, Lark, Fern, and Gabion) they lead a happy life on the Mississippi River until Queenie’s difficult labor with twins forces Briny to bring her to a hospital. When the twins are born, a nurse tells Briny that the twins were stillborn. Briny sends his friend, Old Zede, back to the shanty boat to tell Rill and others about what happened. After Old Zede leaves, however, the Foss children are kidnapped and brought to an orphanage. It is revealed that Briny unwittingly signed some papers relinquishing his rights to the children and is unable to get them back. A short time later, Queenie dies of blood poisoning and Briny becomes an alcoholic. Years later, not even the sudden reappearance of two of his children—Rill and Fern—is enough to make him happy again. One stormy night, he unties their boat on the river and it is destroyed by a floating tree. Although a rescue party promptly arrives to save Briny, he is never found. Rill thinks she sees him on the shore, but the man walks away before Rill can determine whether it was Briny or not.
B. A. “Briny” Foss Quotes in Before We Were Yours
The Before We Were Yours quotes below are all either spoken by B. A. “Briny” Foss or refer to B. A. “Briny” Foss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12
Quotes
“Poor little waifs,” she says to the man. “We take them in when they are unwanted and unloved. We provide them with all that their parents cannot or will not give them.”
I bolt my eyes to the ground and make fists behind my back. It’s a lie, I wish I could scream at the man. My mama and daddy want us. They love us. So did the father who came to see his little boy, Lonnie, and ended up broke down on the porch crying like a baby when they said Lonnie’d been adopted.
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Chapter 14
Quotes
Inside my skin, I’m empty and cold, like the Indian caves where Briny took us camping one time when we hiked up over the bluffs. There were bones in the caves. Dead bones of people who are gone. There are dead bones in me.
Rill Foss can’t breathe in this place. She doesn’t live here. Only May Weathers does. Rill Foss lives down on the river. She’s the princess of Kingdom Arcadia.
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Chapter 24
Quotes
The trees lean close after we turn, and I take one look back. I let the river wash away something inside of me.
It washes away the last of Rill Foss.
Rill Foss is princess of Kingdom Arcadia. The king is gone, and so is the kingdom.
Rill Foss has to die with it.
I’m May Weathers now.
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B. A. “Briny” Foss Quotes in Before We Were Yours
The Before We Were Yours quotes below are all either spoken by B. A. “Briny” Foss or refer to B. A. “Briny” Foss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12
Quotes
“Poor little waifs,” she says to the man. “We take them in when they are unwanted and unloved. We provide them with all that their parents cannot or will not give them.”
I bolt my eyes to the ground and make fists behind my back. It’s a lie, I wish I could scream at the man. My mama and daddy want us. They love us. So did the father who came to see his little boy, Lonnie, and ended up broke down on the porch crying like a baby when they said Lonnie’d been adopted.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14
Quotes
Inside my skin, I’m empty and cold, like the Indian caves where Briny took us camping one time when we hiked up over the bluffs. There were bones in the caves. Dead bones of people who are gone. There are dead bones in me.
Rill Foss can’t breathe in this place. She doesn’t live here. Only May Weathers does. Rill Foss lives down on the river. She’s the princess of Kingdom Arcadia.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24
Quotes
The trees lean close after we turn, and I take one look back. I let the river wash away something inside of me.
It washes away the last of Rill Foss.
Rill Foss is princess of Kingdom Arcadia. The king is gone, and so is the kingdom.
Rill Foss has to die with it.
I’m May Weathers now.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
