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the tenants weren’t open for business, they wouldn’t earn money. If they couldn’t earn money, they couldn’t pay rent. If they couldn’t pay rent, we couldn’t eat. It was very much my place to be here now.
Show, don’t tell
I cursed the conventions that kept me in a gilded cage like a canary and just as helpless when the cat came calling.
His arms felt as safe and secure as Nanette’s kitchen.
“The proverbial man with a fish,” I said. “But with breads and pastries.”
It was as though I’d been wandering the desert, dying of thirst, and he appeared before me as the most glittering oasis, a blessed respite from my arid existence.
“It’s easy to get away with things when your parents don’t pay attention.
“If only more people were comfortable having their views challenged, the world might be a better place.
there was more to life than elaborate dinners and fancy dresses.
it made me want to rage in a tantrum like a two-year-old wailing about the odious injustice of being forced to eat one’s supper before sweets or having to take a nap.
I think I hate similes
One was flawlessly smooth, made to glisten under candlelight. The other was sturdier and was a garment in which one could . . . live a life. I knew how the cool satin felt against my skin. How luxurious and effortless the fabric was to wear. But one spill, even a few droplets of water, could spoil it irrevocably. I knew the linen was stiff and scratchy. But it would withstand long hours in a kitchen and long walks in the city. It would withstand summer sun and winter snows. I released the satin and slipped into the linen. I couldn’t spend my life like a china doll on a shelf. I was the linen,
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With my arm linked in Théo’s, I felt like I wasn’t facing the future alone.
I was compelled like a drunkard to his wine, and I was just as helpless to stop.
pulled his lips to mine and drank from them as from a desert oasis.
He was like a giant toddler who was just old enough to be compliant in the bath.
they dress theirs up with medals and trinkets to remind us they’re better than we are.”
‘Give them enough to do something, but not enough to do nothing’
“We painted it green,” I said. “To match the ring. It seemed fitting.”
