““it wasn't uncommon... that such a girl might die young, but this girl had stayed alive long enough to make her mark, to take up residence in his imagination. to haunt him. now, through her, he mourns and celebrates everything that life has denied him, all the beauty, all the magic. this is how it happens: the dead go away into their solitude, but the young dead stay with us, they color our dreams, they make us wonder about ourselves, that we should be so unlucky, or clumsy, or so downright ordinary as to carry on without them.””
![“[About the main character approaching death in old age, observed by her husband . . .] He saw that she had already laid down a large portion of her life long ago. Piece by piece she had given it away as she wrestled with existence, as her self was absorbed as nourishment into his life and the life…” quote by Michael D. O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f03/michael-d-o-brien-17161_death_about-the-main-character-approaching-dea_284602.jpg)
