They Turned A Distracted Gaze On The

This Is What He Knew That Paul Didn't: The World Was Precarious And Sometimes Cruel. He'd Had To Fight Hard To Achieve What Paul Simply Took For Granted.

He Could Hardly Imagine Anymore What His Life Would Be Without The Weight Of His Hidden Knowledge. He'd Come To Think Of It As A Kind Of Penance. It Was Self-destructive, He Could See That, But That Was The Way Things Were. People Smoked, They Jumped Out Of Airplanes, They Drank Too Much And Got Into Their Cars And Drove Without Seat Belts.

He Fished In His Pocket For His Keys And Instead Pulled Out The Last Geode, Gray And Smooth, Earth-shaped. He Held It, Warming In His Palm, Thinking Of All Mysteries The World Contained: Layers Of Stone, Concealed Beneath The Flesh Of Earth And Grass; These Dull Rocks, With Their Glimmering Hidden Hearts.

The Thing Is, I Used To Like That: Feeling Special Because I Knew Something No One Else Did. It's A Kind Of Power, Isn't It, Knowing A Secret? But Lately I Don't Like It So Much, Knowing This. It's Not Really Mine To Know, Is It?

This Was Her Life. Not The Life She Had Once Dreamed Of, Not A Life Her Younger Self Would Ever Have Imagined Or Desired, But The Life She Was Living, With All Its Complexities. This Was Her Life, Built With Care And Attention, And It Was Good.