Abscond

by Abraham Verghese

In her vocabulary, “passion,” 8especially in a child, was the grass fire that had to be stamped out before it destroyed everything the farmer planted.

The air was hot and humid and carried such intense scents of cut grass, pine needles, and suntan lotion that Ravi felt he could taste those fragrances on his tongue.

“You see, Ravi, this world isn’t just all the things we can see and touch. It’s also all the things we can’t see, the things we choose to believe.”

there’s an old Scottish saying my ma was fond of. What’s for you won’t go by you.

No matter how many times we ate like that together, and for so many years, he always acted as if that day’s visit was special because he might never have another chance.”

Yes, he could plan, he must plan, but he had to take into account that fate—or God, or the universe—had its own plans; it was indifferent to his plan.

It was silly to worry about pleasing or displeasing others with his choices; life was hard enough without such meaningless concerns.