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9ef9098
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Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently
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Sara Gruen |
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2e1f572
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She's not your friend. She's a barmaid.
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Sara Gruen |
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4a6b784
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I'm glad has promised three dollars and a bottle of Canadian whiskey to the man who puts on the best show. You've never seen such grief-even the dogs are howling.
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Sara Gruen |
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276acba
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In seventy years, I've never told a blessed soul.
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Sara Gruen |
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4d1390d
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Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse. Metastatic,
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Sara Gruen |
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246aec9
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I hate this bizarre policy of protective exclusion, because it effectively writes me off the page. If I don't know what's going on in their lives, how am I supposed to insert myself in the conversation?
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Sara Gruen |
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537b1dc
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Anna's parents were staunch Wee Frees, and she wasn't even allowed to wear face powder, never mind attend a dance. Music itself was not allowed, except on Sundays, and then it had to be for the sake of worship only, and sung unadorned. The senior McKenzies were so strict they confined their cockerel under a bushel basket on the Sabbath so he wouldn't get up to anything untoward with the hens.
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Sara Gruen |
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203e34d
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When you're five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three, you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties something strange starts to happen. It's a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm--you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you're not. You're thirty-five. And then you're bothered, because ..
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Sara Gruen |
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ee05ea5
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You call your child by the names of all your other children and finally the dog before you get to his.
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Sara Gruen |
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9986176
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And then I laugh, because it's so ridiculous and so gorgeous and it's all I can do to not melt into a fit of giggles. [...] If they're willing to accept me and my guilty conscience, why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?
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humorous
running-away
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Sara Gruen |
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0fc8e5e
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She looks at her watch--a real one, with arms. Those digital ones came and went, thank God. When will people learn that just because you can make something doesn't mean you should?
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Sara Gruen |
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095e921
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But then this Isabelle turned and laughed and in that instant I saw my wife. This made me weepy and these people whom I didn't recognize exchanged furtive glances and shortly thereafter announced that it was time to leave because Grandpa needed his rest. They patted my hand and they tucked my blanket in around my knees, and they left. They went out into the world, and they left me here. And to this day I have no idea who they were. I
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Sara Gruen |
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383d307
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I'm glad nothing requires my intervention, because I'm trying hard to maintain my composure. This is the first time I've ever seen a woman naked and I don't think I'll ever be the same.
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Sara Gruen |
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3d81351
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Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse.
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Sara Gruen |
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38ccdff
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It takes a while to get to the end of the hall, but I do--and on my own pins, too. I'm pleased as punch, although once there I realize I still have to find my way back.
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Sara Gruen |
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f60393a
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his hat from his head and presses it to his chest. I walk a few dozen yards from the train, climb the grassy bank, and sit rubbing my
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Sara Gruen |
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10cc5d5
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The whole thing's illusion, Jacob, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what people want from us. It's what they expect.
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Sara Gruen |
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0a19de1
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I came home poorer by several hundred dollars and richer by more books than I could carry.
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Sara Gruen |
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a00d5a8
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When you're five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three, you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties something strange starts to happen. It's a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm--you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you're not. You're thirty-five. And then you're bothered, because ..
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Sara Gruen |
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92e2f43
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Actually, it's not so much that I've forgotten. It's more like I've stopped keeping track.
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Sara Gruen |
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bb057f0
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But my darling was as frail as a bird. She died nine days later. After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled. Although
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Sara Gruen |
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072b534
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ones I had watched.
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Sara Gruen |
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65fbe12
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His mother was exacting revenge because he'd dared to marry me, and his father--well, we weren't exactly sure. Either
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Sara Gruen |
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da37194
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my intention that people will feel like throttling her
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Sara Gruen |
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41af231
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He's paragon schnitzophonic." "He's what?!" "Paragon schnitzophonic," repeats Uncle Al. "You mean paranoid schizophrenic?"
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Sara Gruen |
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290daf5
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At home, she sulked with extravagance, and I learned early that silence was anything but peaceful. She was always upset about some slight, real or imagined, and more than capable of creating a full-blown crisis out of thin air.
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Sara Gruen |
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89d65dd
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Make yourselves at home, boys. Stay awhile. Oh, sorry--I see you already have. Damn ghosts.
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Sara Gruen |
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bd910ce
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Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn.
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Sara Gruen |
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2a64ab2
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paraded around town in an elephant cage, an elephant who repeatedly pulled her stake and stole the lemonade,
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Sara Gruen |
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2142ac1
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Ellis had slept through the entire thing. That, or he was dead, but I saw no reason to check. If he was dead, he'd still be dead in the morning.
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Sara Gruen |
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cbbc6ec
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I usually know what the crisis of the book is going to be, though I don't know how I'm going to get there. I try to make it bad enough that I don't know how I'm going to get out of it. And when I get there, I have to get out of it. I just get myself geared up, and I write every day and see what happens.
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Sara Gruen |
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6fec759
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I sat in silence, absorbing this. They'd wagered that Mr. Ross wouldn't throw me out if I was on my own, and no thanks to them, they were right. I wasn't just their plaything, their pretty, fake wife. I was their unwitting pawn, theirs to strategically play.
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Sara Gruen |
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c41e198
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And then I laugh, because it's so ridiculous and so gorgeous and it's all I can do to not melt into a fit of giggles. So what if I'm ninety-three? So what if I'm ancient and cranky and my body's a wreck? If they're willing to accept me and my guilty conscience, why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?
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Sara Gruen |
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33bfec6
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She had been warned away from it her entire life, for its depth came quickly, its coldness was fierce, and the Kelpie lay in wait.
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Sara Gruen |
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c194cb0
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I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other. When you are five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties, you know how old you are. I'm twenty-three you say, or maybe twenty-seven. But then in your thirties, something strange starts to happen. It is a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I'm--you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say thirty-three, but you are not. Yo..
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memory-loss
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Sara Gruen |
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6db96d3
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In the entire history of our marriage, it was the only secret I kept from her, and eventually it became impossible to fix. With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.
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secrets
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Sara Gruen |
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38e597f
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I stepped forward, as Mairi once had, until my feet were at the water's edge. I took another step, just a little one, so that the soles of my shoes were submerged. I watched the water swirl around them, then looked up at the loch itself, black and rolling, endlessly deep.
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Sara Gruen |
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daaee23
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And August was a force. Charming, gregarious,
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Sara Gruen |
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586bb13
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That moment, the music screeched to a halt. There was an ungodly collision of brass, reed, and percussion--trombones and piccolos skidded into cacophony, a tuba farted, and the hollow clang of a cymbal wavered out of the big top, over our heads and into oblivion.
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Sara Gruen |
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289ccc1
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stared at him for a long time. If he wanted to end his search for the beast, he need look no further than a mirror.
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Sara Gruen |
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3a6c77e
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Keeping up the appearance of having all your marbles is hard work but important.
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Sara Gruen |
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1838f19
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I did not take enough care with my hair, but a permanent wave would fix that. I was not thin enough, but for that, alas, there was no quick fix. I should never put more than the equivalent of three peas on my fork at a time, or one small disk of carrot. I should always leave two thirds of my meal on my plate, and was never to eat in public.
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Sara Gruen |
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93a0a46
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Now don't tell anyone," she says, bustling in and sliding my dinner-table-cum-vanity over my lap. She sets down a paper napkin, plastic fork, and a bowl of fruit that actually looks appetizing, with strawberries, melon, and apple. "I packed it for my break. I'm on a diet. Do you like fruit, Mr. Jankowski?" I would answer except that my hand is over my mouth and it's trembling. Apple, for God's sake. She pats my other hand and leaves the roo..
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Sara Gruen |