Why doesn't momma come back?

“The people they had been last summer, the person she had been--Dicey guessed sh…”

“She looked at her hand: Just some hand, holding a cheap pen. Some girls’ hand. …”

“I got to thinking—when it was too late—you have to reach out to people. To your…”

“You must not let yourself become too respectable. Keep yourself a little wild. …”