Many evenings the chimpanzees would scream within the dark trees surrounding my village, their cries too strange for a person and too intimate for an animal. I still hear those shrieks, these years later. Whenever they got too loud, my mother and I would huddle on the floor of our hut, her arms wrapped tight around me. 'This is why you must promise always to be home before dark, Luc,' she would whisper. 'If you're not, you'll become one of the kivili-chimpanzee.' The mock men.
-- Luc (Chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: This quote comes at the beginning of the story and foreshadows the journey that Luc will take away from civilization and toward living in the wild. Luc mother's fears he will be snatched away from her, but she is the one to die and leave Luc alone, just like all the important adult figures in Luc's life.

It might have all been in...
-- Luc (Chapter 1 paragraph 72)