The Life She Was Given

by Ellen Marie Wiseman

“I don’t want to be a star,” Lilly cried. “I just want to go home to my cat.”

Life was too big and too short and too important to talk about the lack of rain or the latest gossip. She wanted to know how people felt about themselves and

one another, whether they were happy or sad. She wanted to know what made them feel loved and what hurt them to the core. She wanted to know about their past, how they got where they were, and their relationships with their mothers and fathers and siblings. She wanted to know if she was the only mixed-up person in the world who felt completely and utterly alone.