The Museum of Eterna's Novel

CHAPTER XVIII A BRILLIANT LITTLE HEAP OF DELIBERATION SPOKEN IN WHISPERING GUSTS, BY THE CHARACTERS, WHO RALLY TO GIVE ETERNA LIFE

Each of the characters tries to do something to give Eterna life. One talks about finding a moonbeam in a rose, another of finding a sparrow wing etching itself across the face of the full moon.

Until one interrupts:

“How can we give a life, when we haven’t any?”

The Lover breaks the disconcerted silence:

“What you need, on the contrary, is to not have life; what we don’t know is whether Eterna wants it. Until now we haven’t thought of that. Only the President can say for sure. Let him tell us. Does Eterna want life?”

President: “Don’t torment me further with such a question. She would want life if there were someone in the world worthy of her love. But this hasn’t happened, and until then her only mode of happiness is that of the character.”