It seemed unfair to Nora that Mrs Elm could read the lives without falling into them.
Time went by.
Although technically, of course, it didn’t.
Nora could have stayed there for ever without getting hungry or thirsty or tired. But she could, it seemed, get bored.
As time stood still, Nora’s curiosity about the lives around her slowly grew. It turned out to be near impossible to stand in a library and not want to pull things from the shelves.
‘Why can’t you just give me a life you know is a good one?’ she said suddenly.
‘That is not how this library works.’
Nora had another question.
‘Surely in most lives I will be asleep now, won’t I?’
‘In many, yes.’
‘So, what happens then?’
‘You sleep. And then you wake up in that life. It’s nothing to worry about. But if you are nervous, you could try a life where it’s another time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it’s not night-time everywhere, is it?’
‘What?’
‘There are aninfinitenumber of possible universes in which you live. Are you really saying they all exist on Greenwich Mean Time?’
‘Of course not,’ said Nora. She realised she was about to cave in and choose another life. She thought of the humpback whales. She thought of the unanswered message. ‘I wish I had gone to Australia with Izzy. I would like to experience that life.’
‘Very good choice.’
‘What? It’s a very good life?’
‘Oh, I didn’t say that. I merely feel that you might be getting better atchoosing.’
‘So, it’s a bad life?’
‘I didn’t say that either.’
And the shelves sped into motion again, then stopped a few seconds afterwards.
‘Ah, yes, there it is,’ said Mrs Elm, taking a book from the second-to-bottom shelf. She recognised it instantly, which was odd, seeing that it looked almost identical to the others around it.
She handed it to Nora, affectionately, as if it was a birthday gift.
‘There you go. You know what to do.’
Nora hesitated.
‘What if I am dead?’
‘Sorry?’
‘I mean, in another life. There must be other lives in which I died before today.’
