Hemlock & Silver

by T. Kingfisher

I was a child with a child’s attention span. Many adults think this is no more than a butterfly’s, flittering from thought to thought, but they have forgotten how, in some children, it is as sharp and pointed as a stiletto. Mine was focused now.

There is a crazy-wild delight that comes over you when you discover something new, something extraordinary. If you try to share that and people look at you blankly, it’s crushing. But if there’s someone else there to say really?! and take fire with enthusiasm alongside you—well, that will keep you going for a long time.

One corner of his mouth twisted up in a smile. “That’s the thing about learning. You get to keep it.”

Maybe the point of gods and saints is that they can make the monstrous choices that people can’t.

No sense asking why he was like this. He was a cat. If cats were helpful, they’d be dogs.