Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories

by Cookie Mueller

But there are some very boring years in every immortal person's life.

Believing that life will someday be wonderful isn't a bad thing, in fact it is absolutely necessary. To know the truth—life is hard, and then you die—isn't a very comfortable thing to live with. If everyone knew the cold facts, the sky would be darkened with falling bodies in suicide leaps.

Being a human being isn't easy, what with all these insatiable physical, emotional, and intellectual desires. If the ultimate goal in life is to be happy, then you have to admit that one-celled creatures have it all over us. Little germs are probably always happy. They are superior, they don't sing the blues. Think about that the next time you bring out the disinfectant bottle and start scrubbing them away.

She felt superior, but cheated. Her life had never been easy, not as easy as the life of trees, or lakes. They had it good, she knew, so she hated them. Who did these trees think they were anyway?

In this strange atmosphere, where businessmen are trying to have the eyes of artists and artists are trying to act like businessmen, nobody remains the same. The artist begins to lose his art and the businessman becomes temperamental. What used to be called the victory of art over tyranny doesn't exist anymore. There is no such thing. Everybody is working together in one big happy art pie.

Remember, with change comes hope—this is another constant.