“He believed that all forms of government were spiritually bankrupt, that the only true way to follow Jesus was to be radically self-reliant – off every grid. The energy grid was wasteful and corrupt, and the food grid devalued and destroyed the planet, and the culture at large was full of pain and deceit, and money itself was truly evil, and even the church (or, as he would say, the corporation that calls itself the church) was the most corrupt – contaminated by money and political greed and widespread land ownership. Worst of all, they called themselves holy.”
Catherine Lacey“It depressed me to think that I might have been looking at another person but seeing only myself.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“I sometimes wondered why I even answered the phone, but I guess I always had the hope that it would be someone else, some other way of life calling for me.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“She missed his nothing. It had felt like something.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“But what had really happened? It was still unclear. Was it possible nothing of any significance had ever happened between us and our ending was just the sad process of realizing this?”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“Speaking felt impossible, as contained and enclosed as she was, a longing that went on a loop, a longing for nothing at all.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“I closed my eyes, tried to get as far away from myself as I could.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“She was sure no one had ever been more in love than they were in those weeks, consumed by such longing, wanting to just be alive beside each other.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“I couldn't decide how to feel about what he was saying, whether it was all nonsense or just more evidence that I would never understand this world.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“It was grotesque and eerie, too strange of a dream.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers“He would never be that way again. He would never have the power of that specific kind of not-knowing.”
Catherine Lacey, The Answers