And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

by Fredrik Backman

Grandpa exhales through his nose. Nods. “We don’t know, really. We know so little about how the brain works. It’s like a fading star right now—do you remember what I taught you about that?” “When a star fades it takes a long time for us to realize, as long as it takes for the last of its light to reach Earth.”

“Those who hasten to live are in a hurry to miss,”

“The only time you’ve failed is if you don’t try once more.”

I would rather be old than a grown-up. All grown-ups are angry, it’s just children and old people who laugh.”

They never stopped arguing and they never slept apart; he spent an entire working life calculating probabilities and she was the most improbable person he ever met. She turned him upside-down.

“My brain is shrinking now, the square gets smaller every night.”

“I know that the way home is getting longer and longer every morning. But I loved you because your brain, your world, was always bigger than everyone else’s. There’s still a lot of it left.”

“Lord how you’ll argue with me then. If we meet in Heaven.”