If You Are Lonely and You Know It (Currency)

by Yiyun Li

Gordon was the only non-homeowner in the neighborhood. Homeowner—what a strange word, as though people living in a rented place have a lesser right to speak of the sweetness of home.

speaking does not guarantee a reply; being listened to and responded to requires status.

Gordon liked to feel puzzled by un-pressing matters. They were worthier of his imagination: pressing matters do not allow the luxury of hypothesizing without ever having to come to a conclusion.

“Half the world believes the wrong things. The other half doesn’t believe the right things.”

Schulmeister, don’t overestimate your ability to do damage,” Iris said. “‘That way madness lies.’”

You hold on to some things for sentimental reasons, and other things for practical reasons. The same with people—most of them.

only on those nights did he feel that perhaps talking to himself and the trees and the flowers and animals was not enough.

The world is full of random dangers that threaten to turn lives into statistics. The rational make forecasts and predict with data sets. Parents do not give birth to and raise data sets.

“Parenthood is not some special currency,” Iris said. “Being a parent is not a status thing.”

“There is never as good a parent as the one who doesn’t give birth to a child,”