A Talk to Adolescence

I
Jem: "Well, it be this. What's funny about opposites be that wet and dry both has water, boy and girl be about people, Heaven and Hell be about the places you go when you die. They all has something in common. So they an't completely different from each other the way people think. Having the one don't mean t'other be gone"
Mr. Blake: "You're right my boy. Let me give you an example. What is the opposite of innocence?"
Maggie: "Easy, knowing things"
Mr. Blake: "Just so my girl. Experience. Tell me then: Would you say you are innocent or experienced. You see, that is a difficult question to answer, is it not my girl? Here is another instead: If innocence is that bank of the river, and experience that bank, what is in the middle of the river?"

II
Maisie: "Do that mean he'll go to Hell?"
Maggie: "Dunno, maybe. We're all going to Hell, I expect. I'll wager there is no Heaven"
Maisie: "Maggie, Don't say that!"
Maggie: "Well, maybe there's a Heaven for you, Miss Piddle. You'll be awfully lonely there, though"
Jem: " I don't see why there has to be just the one or t'other. Can't there be something that's more a bit of both"
Maggie: "That's the world Jem"

Excerpt from Chevalier's Burning Bright

Originally posted on August 18, 2008