How to Age Disgracefully

by Clare Pooley

She couldn’t remember what it felt like to be her.

“Where’s the fun in aging gracefully?” said Daphne. “Personally, I intend to age as disgracefully as possible.”

How could someone so small elicit such huge emotions? A complex tangle of resentment, fear, and confusion, all wrapped up in the most overwhelming, primal love.

Why on earth, when there were so many more important things they could be teaching their children, would parents waste their time reading stories about an insect with a dysfunctional relationship with food? And she objected to the use of a butterfly as an aspirational ending. Butterflies were fragile, and had extremely short life expectancies and the tiniest imaginable brains. What sort of a role model was that? A unicorn would be far more appropriate. At least they carried a built-in weapon on their heads.

You’ve spent so long worrying about everyone else that you’ve completely lost sight of who you are and what you need.

She had loved him once, more even than she’d loved herself. And perhaps that was the problem.