Alice Munro | "Royal Beatings" | 1977

Dear Rose,

I always thought of you as something that grew and was pretty. Is that obvious? There is so much in your life that was vegetative, and so much that was animal. I like the part where Flo found your father's papers, where he had jotted down notes on scraps, and she thought that "Spinoza" sounded like some kind of vegetable. There is so much in your life that was known, and so much that was unknown. I like hearing about it because even though no moment itself suggests wisdom, the whole thing, if absorbed, prevents ignorance.

Protect yourself,
Bennet