The Keeper of Lost Things

by Ruth Hogan

At seventeen she was still vulnerable, unformed; unsure of her own worth.

Her grandmother had once told her that one could blame ugliness on one’s genes and ignorance on one’s education, but there was absolutely no excuse whatsoever for being dull.

Eunice had been a clever girl, but restless; too bored in lessons to do well. She wanted excitement; a life less lifeless.

Her only escape was in films and books. She read as though her life depended on it.

But perhaps it would be a woman; a sharp, spiky unfolded paper clip of a woman with black bobbed hair and red lipstick.

She was an inelegant zigzag of nose, elbows, and knees; unsoftened by any cushioning flesh and with a face which had, over the years, sunk into a permanent sneer.

A life still scarred and cracked and misshapen but worth living nonetheless. A

Years later, she once asked Lilia how she had known that he was the man she should marry and Lilia told her. Because he loved her anyway.

But no matter how ill her temper, how sunburned her face, how dreadful her cooking, James loved her anyway.

hush is a dangerous thing. Silence is solid and dependable, but a hush is expectant, like a pregnant pause; it invites mischief, like a loose thread begging to be pulled.

And now she was blushing. Not a flattering, rosy tint, but a vivid, scarlet mottling that made her look as if she had just had her head in the oven.

But she was young and impatient, stubborn even, and marrying Vince had seemed like a shortcut to growing up.

We can’t always win and we can’t always be happy. But the one thing that we can always do is try.

She and Laura had met at school and remained close friends ever since. Not close in terms of geography or frequency; they rarely met or spoke more than two or three times a year. But the bond between them, formed at an early age and tempered over time by triumphs and tragedies, remained as durable as it was dependable.

life was still exciting and full of possibilities; opportunities that she had wasted years of her life wishing for instead of chasing.

She had some serious catching up to do.

“A word in your ear.” He winked conspiratorially at her and lowered his voice. “Pretty damn sure that woman was my daughter. But there have to be some consolations for having this ruddy awful disease.”