A Whole Life

He had the sense that with every step he left behind him something of the loneliness and despair that had gripped him down on that unfamiliar square

longing so searing and profound he thought his heart would melt

But he could look back without regret on the time in between, his life, with a full-throated laugh and utter amazement.

People are often alone in this world,’ she said.

She trusted in the children’s innate powers of development, and she hung the old oxtail outside on the schoolhouse wall, where it weathered with the years and became a support for the wild ivy.

He liked these people, even if some of them did try to explain the world to him or behaved idiotically in some other way. He knew that during a two-hour uphill climb, if not before, their arrogance would evaporate along with the sweat on their hot heads, until nothing remained but gratitude that they had made it and a tiredness deep in the bones.

‘Maybe it makes no difference the way nothing makes any difference in the end,’