As Liz travels down the River, farther and farther away from her home, farther and farther away from Elsewhere, she has many thoughts. Indeed, there is much time for rumination when one is a baby at the start of a long journey.
There is no difference in quality between a life lived forward and a life lived backward, she thinks.
She had come to love this backward life. It was, after all, the only life she had.
Furthermore, she isn't sad to be a baby. As the wisest here know, it isn't a sad thing getting older.
On Earth, the attempt to stay young, in the face of maturity, is futile. And it isn't a sad thing growing younger, either. There was a time Liz was afraid that she would forget things, but by the time she truly began to forget, she forgot to be afraid to forget. Life is kind, the baby thinks.
The waves cradle the babies and rock them to sleep. And before long, this one succumbs, too.
She sleeps; she sleeps.
And when she sleeps, she dreams.
And when she dreams, she dreams of a girl who was lost at sea but one day found the shore.
Epilogue: At the Beginning
The baby, a girl, is born at 6:24 a.m.
She weighs six pounds, ten ounces.
The mother takes the baby in her arms and asks her, "Who are you, my little one?"
And in response, this baby, who is Liz and not Liz at the same time, laughs.
GABRIELLE ZEVIN's novel for adults, Margarettown, was published earlier this year.
She lives in New York City with her unusually clever dog, Mrs. DeWinter.
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