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Show CHRYSALIS pAGE 13? the dead person is in bad condition at that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments, Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is "So it goes!'" So it goes. I am three years old and they have taken me to say "goodbye" to my grandpa, who is sleeping in flowers, but he doesn't wake no matter what is said to him. Then I am six years old, having another encounter with vulture Death. I hold a brown leather dog collar. Sparky was a good dog, now he is dead, run over by an ice-cream truck. The ice-cream truck meant no harm. The driver was sorry, and he said so. "I am sorry the kitty died," I say, tucking the boys into bed. "I am sorry, too," Remy whispers. "I prayed she would get better. I thought she might." "It hurts her to be dead?" asks Chris. "No, it doesn't hurt her," I say. (What the hell do I know about being dead?) "The poor kitty is better off," I tell him. "Oh," he says, gazing at me with his trusting light-colored eyes. |