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03b74c7
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My flat's about half a mile away, and you know what I'd like most of all in the world? I'd like a cup of tea. Come on, let's go and put the kettle on.
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mary-malone
tea
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Philip Pullman |
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596f900
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"And at half past nine in the evening at that restaurant table in Portugal," Mary continued, "someone gave me a piece of marzipan and it all came back. And I thought: am I really going to spend the rest of my life without ever feeling that again? I thought: I want to go to China. It's full of treasures and strangeness and mystery and joy. I thought, Will anyone be better off if I go straight back to the hotel and say my prayers and confess to the priest and promise never to fall into temptation again? Will anyone be the better for making me miserable? "And the answer came back--no. No one will. There's no one to fret, no one to condemn, no one to bless me for being a good girl, no one to punish me for being wicked. Heaven was empty. I didn't know whether God had died, or whether there never had been a God at all. Either way I felt free and lonely and I didn't know whether I was happy or unhappy, but something very strange had happened. And all that huge change came about as I had the marzipan in my mouth, before I'd even swallowed it. A taste--a memory--a landslide..."
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mary-malone
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Philip Pullman |
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8ed138b
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I was aching--all my body was aching for him, and I could tell he felt the same--and we were both almost too shy to move. Almost. But one of us did and then without any interval between--it was like a quantum leap, suddenly--we were kissing each other, and oh, it was more than China, it was paradise.
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mary-malone
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Philip Pullman |
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1dcdd83
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She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, except that she knew that if she fooled around for long enough, without fretting, or nagging herself, she'd find out.
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life-lessons
philosophy
mary-malone
knowledge
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Philip Pullman |