The Good Part

by Sophie Cousens

“Ambition is like perfume, Lucy. A little goes a long way.”

“If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that it’s best to keep an open mind and a closed toilet seat.”

If you can’t get off the bus, you might as well enjoy the ride.

nothing fixes a bout of existential depression like a pair of killer heels and a fitted purple suit with epic shoulder pads.

Downstairs, I hear life going on without me.

“Remember when I didn’t want to go to school because Tom Hoskyns was picking on me for still liking Corn Dogs Adventure Planet?” He shakes his head. “You said, ‘You have to get up and face the day, because every day is a gift, and you can’t let Tom Hoskyns or anyone else steal a single one from you.’ ”

“Plants don’t mind who you are, what you’ve done, or what you’ve forgotten. If you visit them frequently and look at them properly, you’ll sense what they need. People are the same—you don’t need to know someone’s entire history to know when they need a hug.”

I need to put on proper clothes, brush my hair, buy eye-wateringly expensive coffee,

“It’s okay,” I tell her, “I don’t need to be anywhere else.” And even though there are a hundred things I could be doing, even though there is never enough time, right now, it’s true.

remembering is not the same as living.