Ardette

“Like everyone else, she is stumbling forward, one foot in front of the other, not always in the right direction but staggering on just the same.”
― Suzanne Redfearn, In an Instant

“look at the painting again. Despite the obvious differences, this girl is deeply, achingly familiar. In her I see myself at twelve years old, on a rare afternoon away from my chores. In my twenties, seeking refuge from a broken heart. Only a few days ago, visiting my parents’ graves in the family cemetery, halfway between the dory in the haymow and the wheelchair in the sea. From the recesses of my brain a word floats up: synecdoche. A part that stands in for the whole. Christina’s World. The”
― Christina Baker Kline, A Piece of the World

“harm I caused you both. But I give you this, this gift that our dead friend here gave me. He hands her the packet. She opens the sheaf of paper and starts to read. A few words in, and she cries out in pain.”
― Richard Powers, Playground

“Couples sat on benches and the girls walked across a bridge over a wide, shallow river. The bridge was covered in padlocks. Names were written on the locks. Hearts and arrows and the word “Love” in English. At the other end of the bridge a worker in a green zip-up jumpsuit cut locks, one by one. He knelt, brought the bolt cutter into place and squeezed. The locks that did not fall into the river were kicked in by the worker, each one sounding a different note as it fell into the water.”
― Ramona Ausubel, The Last Animal