10.9.12

Favorite Excerpts from Willow by Julia Hoban[1]

                “You couldn’t really say that something that hurts so badly feels good exactly.  It’s more that it just feels right.  And something that feels so right just couldn’t be bad.  It has to be good.


Better than good.”

“She gets up from the bed and walks into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face.  She stares in the mirror for a few seconds, looking at herself as if she were a stranger.

Who is this?

She supposed that to anyone else she looks exactly the same as she always did, except for her hair, that is.  She doesn’t have the energy or inclination to fuss with it like she once did, so she just wears it in a braid that hangs halfway down her back.

But she doesn’t recognize herself.  Maybe her face isn’t any different, but the look in her eyes is.  Worse than dead, their expression is simply blank.  She reaches out a hand to cover them in the mirror.  She remembers the reflection that used to stare back at her.  Those eyes weren’t dead.

She had never known that she used to be happy.  It had simply never occurred to her that her life had all that she would ever need or want. 

The one thing that can make her laugh these days is how much she used to take things for granted.  In the past, little hurts, like doing badly in school, or getting dumped by a guy, really used to throw her.  How was she to know what was lying in store for her? She shakes her head at how foolish she used to be, getting upset because her favorite dress got lost at the cleaners, or something equally stupid.

Stupid!”

 





[1]I have altered some of the text to exclude the character’s name and generalize who may be speaking.

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