I Cheerfully Refuse

by Leif Enger

Lark said, “Rainy, you could’ve driven past but didn’t. He needed somebody, and you stopped and listened.” She made me look at her, pulled my face to hers. “You’re a man who stops and listens. If that’s not the definition of friendship, it’s close enough for now.”

with, and it began to resemble what I once imagined church might be like, a church you could bear, where people laughed and enjoyed each other and did not care if they were right all the time or if other people were wrong.

“Words are one way we leave tracks in the world, Sol. Maybe one day you will write a book, like Olaus did, or Molly Thorn. And people will read it, like I’ve been reading to you. And they will know that you were here, and a little about what you were like.”

What scares me is the notion we are all one rotten moment, one crushed hope or hollow stomach from stuffing someone blameless in a cage.