Since I am not as stupid as my children believe I am, I had immediately realized this might be a ruse, but I was not at all averse to a confrontation. In fact, I had been hoping for some such thing.

I believe that story changes reality.

I didn't expect that anyone would be interested in my kind of writing. I was interested, and this was for me enough.

What I wanted to do seemed simple. I wanted something alive and shocking enough that it could be a morning in somebody's life. The most ordinary morning. Imagine, trying to do that.

Any story worth its salt can handle a little shaking up.

Did all this make sense?

It hadn't shocked the old woman, not much. She had got past being shocked early in life.

History has shown that one person's willingness to stand up for what is right can be the spark that ignites far-reaching change.

A compelling narrative fosters an illusion of inevitability.

That the boat did not upset I simply state as a fact. Why it did not upset I am unable to offer any reason. I have often thought about the matter since, but I have never succeeded in arriving at any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon.

Possibly the result may have been brought about by the natural obstinacy of all things in this world. The boat may possibly have come to the conclusion, judging from a cursory view of our behaviour, that we had come out for a morning's suicide, and had thereupon determined to disappoint us. That is the only suggestion I can offer.

Once I found an issue enough people cared about, I could take them into action. With enough actions, I could start to build power.

A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn't have to live with this lie anymore. But no one woke up and in the silence that followed, I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.

I assure you I haven’t been so surprised since Christopher Columbus discovered America — truly I haven’t!

Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did.