Dept. of Speculation

by Jenny Offill

Einstein wondered if the moon would exist if we didn’t look at it.

Taller? Thinner? Quieter? Easier, he says.

But now it seems possible that the truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be.

But Lia is only twenty-four. She is beautiful and brilliant. There are so many more years when people will come.

Or more properly, she thinks instead of acts. A character flaw, not a virtue.

No one young knows the name of anything.