[Tolly] The first day of the new year. I don’t really know what to say! Well, we fell in love with a bunch of people, then fell out of love with them, got hurt, began healing. Ah, Leotrim wants to write something…! But he wants me to shower first. I’ll be right back…
…I’m back! Ah, I got so excited to make pastuccia that I added the cornmeal instead of the water first, then brought that to a boil… It seems OK, though. And it looks like the baking soda sped up the cooking process substantially!
[Leotrim] I suppose I’m grateful for my existence. Those three, or is it four? regularly subdue me with affection. I met them in the hospital… They introduced Anatolij, as a relative of Isabella’s. I had no reason to doubt them. They seemed earnest. Ansel brought me a bouquet of flowers… Bedivere struck me as an honest man, if of dishonest means.
Anatolij told me, it is natural for most living beings to seek out one another. Even whilst struggling under the reality of competition, most organisms depend on one another, even on other species, to survive. Wolves hunt in family packs. Birds fly in flocks. Fish swim in schools. Deer form herds. Our cells coexist with helpful bacteria—in fact, we are mostly bacteria. Trees rely on fungi. And so on. It is natural to seek out others in order to live. That is what he told me…
I don’t mind a peaceful existence with him. I don’t mind having a family.