Small Mercies

by Dennis Lehane

Jules shoots her a smile that manages to be bright as the sun and cold as the moon.

They’re poor because there’s a limited amount of good luck in this world, and they’ve never been given any.

It feels good for a moment to remember who they were before they again have to sit with who they are.

He doesn’t play Bad Cop well, though. He comes off more as Bitch Cop or Whiny Cop or Embarrassing Teenage Son Cop.

Not for the first time in his life—or even the eightieth—Bobby hates humanity. Wonders if God’s great unforgivable crime was creating us in the first place.

He glances sideways once, catches her glancing sideways right back at him with a secretive smile, and he considers the possibility that maybe the opposite of hate is not love. It’s hope. Because hate takes years to build, but hope can come sliding around the corner when you’re not even looking.

So, instead of baring her soul to a sister who would turn her back to that soul and ask it to put its clothes back on in the name of common decency, Mary Pat didn’t answer the door.

Work only gets you so far. You have to lean into what you were born to do.