"Dear Lizzie- I feel so full of love tonight because of her."
"You've got to give it away."
"Yes. But not to anybody. When you feel full to the brim with your own life, committed, given, complete, it makes you feel so free too.I don't know what the future holds, Lizzie.I just know it's all to do with her. But that makes other love in a way all the more real if it exists at all, because it's pure, it's unselfish, it's for nothing.Will you love me for nothing Lizzie, asking nothing, going, nowhere, just because we're us?"
"Either this is wisdom or you're cheating. You're certainly drunk."


The other day I tried putting my sister on a reading programme by shoving some of my favourite books in her face. It was not a triumphant conquest. Archie comics are still her staple. I have never felt more defeated by a picturebook.