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She was eager to turn ten, because the number 9 looked like a sprout coming out of the ground, small and easily stomped. Ten was a strong, two-digit number that looked like a sword and a shield that belonged to someone who was about to conquer the world.
She thought of life as something that unfolded around her and happened to her while she was content being an observer.
Most importantly, for the first time in a long time, she had a friend, someone who believed in her before she did, which is a powerful thing.
“We don’t need the right answer,” said Iris. “We just have to begin.”
Magnolia wondered why adults were always reminding her that she used to be smaller and was now larger. What else were they expecting to happen?
“Even if you make a wrong guess or go backward, you must keep moving, adapting as you go along. There’ll be plenty of confusion and frustration, but there’ll be surprises and small victories too.”
Magnolia had never thought of an error as a creative act.
As Carl had predicted, they’d made a few wrong turns, but as long as they persisted, they’d end up in exactly the right place.
It’s hard for plants when they’re uprooted, takes time for them to get grounded in new soil. It’s called transplant shock.” Magnolia thought about Iris, her roots ripped out of California, the vulnerability of trying to grow in a new city. “It needs a little support,” said Rosa.
“I guess she was worried it was too complicated for people to pronounce,” said Magnolia. “Magnolia, listen to me,” Zito said, looking her dead in the eye. “People are walking around saying big words like xylophone, peperoncini, Guggenheim Museum. If they can’t make the effort to learn her name, then that’s big-time baloney. I’m serious. I’m going to practice it right now until I get it right.”
Thirty seconds and I’ve got it. Not hard at all. If someone doesn’t have thirty seconds to learn it, then they’re not worth your time in the first place.
Flamingos become what they consume.” Aspen took another breath. “So I started to imagine that my dad’s words were like shrimp—if I absorb them into my system, I become them. I turn stupid, turn pink. But if I spit them out, I get to stay myself, stay gray. His words won’t change me if I don’t let them. Does that make sense? Don’t ever repeat what I just told you.”
The quiet felt heavy, like a big sagging balloon hovering over them in the air that could be pricked by a single sound.
As those words tumbled out of Magnolia’s mouth, her brain reached out to try and catch them, but it was too late.
Surely the universe had to be better at spacing negative things out so you didn’t have to deal with it all at once.
I learned that endings don’t have to be awful or unbearable things. Endings are inevitable, natural, because people evolve, circumstances change, and you’re just happy for every moment you got with them.”
“The sadness you’re feeling now is not a bad thing,” he said. “It just means you care deeply about your friend. Anyway, I believe you all finished the conversation on a comma, not a period. Don’t you think so?”
She knew that just below the surface of a person, there were endless unexpected layers and stories, pain and longings and dreams, and how grateful she was to have glimpsed them. As for herself, she had found the plant to her bamboo stick, her other pawn, her beach bud, her sock shielder, Iris.
