Sorry. With the start of a smirk forming, Cooper softly said, “Life sucketh,” feeling less alone than he had in a long time. And then he replaced his almost-smirk with a passionate reiteration. “Life does sucketh!” He looked up at Story, and stared at her for a long time, as if he’d known her forever. “I heard someone on TV say that nothing good lasts forever,” he said. She snuggled a little closer to him. “But nothing bad lasts forever either,” she said, hoping he would believe it. As she watched him try to wrap his little mind around the big, elusive idea of hope, she shoved her inner cynic aside and said her silent prayer. Abracadabra. Abracadabra. Abracadabra. “So what do you do?” he finally said. Story thought of advice she’d heard a long, long time ago. “Ten percent of life is what happens to us, Coop, but ninety percent is what we do.” As Cooper absorbed the concept, Story said, “So . . . we’ll do. Magic doesn’t happen to those who wait. It happens to those who go get it.”
