The Teller of Small Fortunes

by Julie Leong

Familiarity could look very much like love from a certain angle, if one didn’t look too hard.

Everyone deserves a home, Tao thought, patting Laohu’s whiskery grey nose. And what was a home but somewhere you wouldn’t have to feel quite so alone?

“People think they want true fortunes, but they don’t really. What they want are lies. Small lies, big lies, entertaining lies, comforting lies.

“What they don’t want is a stranger—an outsider—to see the full truth of them.

“And the suspicion turns to fear, and the fear, as it always does, turns to anger.”

Aye, our lives are short and shaped by circumstance, and maybe we can’t control most of what’s to come. But we can control how we feel. We can savor the sweetness of a blackberry scone, and the company of our friends, and the warmth of the summer wind at night, and be grateful for it. We can be nothing, and choose to be miserable about it, like you—or we can be nothing, but choose to be happy, and let that be purpose enough. Which sounds more worthwhile to you?”

There’s no such thing as greater good—there’s just good, and the more of it we can do, the better.”