dialogue prompts from lila by marilynne robinson.
you still don't trust me at all.
maybe you should just tell me those things, whatever they are.
i was thinking about you all the time.
i was thinking about you, and wondering about myself.
do you still pretend to talk to me, now that i'm here?
i'm very trustworthy, so there's no need to cry.
the way we used to laugh was better than anything.
everything you tell me surprises me. it's always interesting.
you never could let anything be.
i guess it's been a while since i had dreams worth talking about.
no point making it worse than it has to be.
you shouldn't have waited up for me.
i can't go on protecting you from other people.
did i do something i shouldn't?
i'll tell you about my day if you'll tell me about yours.
i have a lot of memories, these days, and i have some pretty bad dreams.
no matter what happens, i am on your side.
there are people you seem to know the first time you see them.
i thought i'd learned not to set my heart on anything.
i did know you. i do know you.
you don't mind all the scars and scratches?
folks are their bodies, and bodies can't be trusted at all.
there's no point being scared of pain.
nobody knows what to say about sorrow like that.
it's amazing that anybody in the world can hurt your feelings, if they want to.
i've got feelings i don't know the names for, but i wouldn't wish them on a snake.
i don't want you looking at me that way.
i can talk better than this. guess i just don't want to.
you never told me what you're scared of. there must be something.
i think through things. it calms me. otherwise, i don't react as well as i might.
some things you want so much, you can't believe you have them.
sometimes i just laugh because i'm surprised.
i'll come to find you, like i always do.
how can i tell you about things i don't understand myself?
it's worse every day because it's the same, every day.
how is praying different from worrying?
stealing is stealing, especially if you get caught at it.
just crawl under the covers with me until i get warm.
i won't cry if you won't.
i tried praying a couple times, and nothing came of it.
the best things that happen, i'd have never thought to pray for.
fear and comfort can be the same thing.
i think you've been playing possum.
we'll be nowhere, and it will be all right. i have friends there.
when you're scalded, touch hurts. makes no difference if it's kind or not.
you have to stay out of trouble, for the sake of your child.
that's what my heart is like sometimes, secretive and bitter and scared.
i can't love you as much as i love you. i can't feel as happy as i am.
i know you'll do the best you can, the best that can be done.
stepping back into the loneliness is a dreadful thing, like walking into cold water.
what you think, you might not have to feel.
i feel like moses on the mountain, looking out at the life he will never have.
did i ever say that? that i love you? i always thought it sounded a little foolish.
i used to read to myself out loud, just to hear a voice.
there is goodness at the center of things.
it's not fair to punish people for trying to get by.
sometimes we think terrible thoughts to blunt our own fear.