Status Updates From Lost Everything

"She hoped those who had come before her would forgive her for not sharing their conviction, could hear that she shared their hope. Hoped, too, that she could convince the boy that the earth was worth staying on."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"After all that they had seen, they wanted to believe. But they did not know how to talk to each other about it."

-Slattery, Brian Francis.

"Somewhere between the border of Wilkes-Barre and the place where the river turned north, the sun went down and the sky above the smoke darkened. No one noticed."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"It was a good lie. The con artist’s lips narrowed, his eyes grew glassy. Then he was pumping Sunny Jim’s hand, thanking him over and over. Sunny Jim did not know what to say. He could see Aline shaking her head. Feel her, still, reaching for him from the water."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

'The war raged in him. Tell him nothing, or you will lose him, him and Aline, for he will leave you when he hears what you have to say, and she will vanish in the telling. No. Give yourself up and tell him everything, and you all can live. “I don’t know,” Sunny Jim said.'

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"WE TRY TO FIX our gaze on the consolations, the bread broken, the fruit shared, the kind words. The light that must be coming. But it is too easy now to remember other things instead. All that suffering. There must be something better than this world, and the world must be better than this."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"They were all going somewhere, beyond the ship and the dark water, and he wanted to go with them, with her. But she did not return."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"She imagined sometimes that kindness would come as an annihilating flood. Drown the war and us with it, recede just when we were on the edge of death. Leave us lying faceup on the ground, staring into the brilliant sky. Thankful for every breath."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"He already knew what he would do if either of those things happened. Aaron, his boy, was everything. He did not know how to be without him."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"The violence I do to all of them, when I put holes in their skulls to show you the thoughts in their heads. It is the only way I know how to bring them back for you—them, the boat, the cities, everything—and let them into your head. Maybe then we can live again, in you. As though it were the last day, and we were all risen from the dead."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"The sound he made was unclean, but the melodies were simple and clear enough. He kept the viola out for longer than he should have, but he could not help himself. Every note brought her back to him."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"Nothing of it spoken between them. They could read it on each other, their faces wrinkled pages. Words hiding in the folds of their clothes. She was made of letters then, as all of us are now. Here, in these words. Us and the city and the towns and river, and everything else, too. All that we know, and everything—everyone—we wish we knew."

-Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.

"He bowed his head again as the faces of the families turned skyward, listening for news, for the last thoughts in the heads of the dead, set free and swirling around them like leaves. They never really go. They are always here. With me. And now with you."

Slattery, Brian Francis. Lost Everything.