Elsewhere

by Gabrielle Zevin

“In the end, the end of a life only matters to friends, family, and other folks you used to know,” the pug whimpers miserably. “For everyone else, it’s just another end.”

So Earth is the branches, growing up to the sky, and Elsewhere is the roots, growing down in opposing but perfect symmetry. The branches don’t think much about the roots, and maybe the roots don’t think much about the branches, but all the time, they’re connected by the trunk, you know?

“Even on Earth, it’s difficult to ever go back to the same places or people. You turn away, even for a moment, and when you turn back around, everything’s changed.”

“It’s a mystery,” Liz answers. She hands him his keys and gets out of the car.

Everything that happens has happened to someone else before. I feel like I’m getting everything secondhand.”

“A life isn’t measured in hours and minutes. It’s the quality, not the length.

“but I believe good things happen every day. I believe good things happen even when bad things happen.

And I believe on a happy day like today,

we can still feel a little sad. And that’s l...