This Is How It Always Is

by Laurie Frankel

On the last night of school, Rosie was at work, and Penn was doing bedtime. Grumwald’s friends were over, helping him pack. Grumwald was leaving his parents’ house to go make his way in the world. It seemed silly to the king and queen that he should do so. Grumwald didn’t need to earn any money, for the castle was his to live in as long as he liked. He didn’t need a job, for prince was job enough already. He didn’t need a way in the world. He needed a way to stay out of the world, to stay home, to stay put. But Grumwald had secrets which meant he had to go. And it was time. “How will you learn to be king if you go?” Grumwald’s father and mother pled. “How will I learn to be king if I stay? I have to go.” “Go where?” his parents moaned. “Away.” “But if you don’t have anywhere specific you need to be, why can’t you just be here?” “Here is the only where that’s not away,” Grumwald explained. “Away is anywhere that is not here. So that’s where I must be.” Even though they were the queen and king, his parents were confounded, as parents of young people—not too young, Penn emphasized—are meant to be. They were worried about him being anywhere but there, Away as he called it. They could not find Away on any map, though they called in their atlas maker and made him do a thorough search. Grumwald was a little worried too, truth be told, but he had to go. He also knew some things his parents did not, and these things gave him strength. He knew he had infinite stories to see him thro...