Leonard and Hungry Paul

by Ronan Hession

As the eldest child, everything new to Grace was new to her parents,

People, it turns out, weren’t so bad.

‘I see. It’s true that it’s hard not to hurt people. Even doing nothing, you can end up hurting people.

there was something special about the way that quiet people just seemed to find each other in life.

Though this was all still quite new to him, he could see that making big decisions was just as consequential as not making them. Either way you were committing to something. We are never entirely outside of life’s choices; everything leads somewhere.

And then, when you come over—once a week, once a month, whenever you can, it doesn’t matter—just hang out and be yourself. No versions of Grace any more. Not world-on-her-shoulders Grace; not why-can’t-you-all-get-your-act-together Grace; no deferring-of-happiness Grace. Just come over, and who knows? Maybe I’ll have moved on. Maybe I’ll be a hotshot. Or maybe I won’t. But let’s not test each other. Let’s just be happy. While there is still time.’