Lenni is seventeen years old and Margot is 83. Together, they are 100. They meet in a hospital where Lenni is on the terminal ward and Margot is a heart patient. Lenni tells most of the story as first she meets Father Arthur, who she befriends and tortures with her many irreverent questions and observations. When she asks him why she is dying and he tells her that only God can answer that question, Lenni replies "That's the biggest pile of crap I have ever heard. I'm dying here! And I have come to one of God's designated spokespeople with a really important question, and you refer me back to him? I tried him already, but I didn't get an answer." Lenni's wisdom includes statemens like "Dying isn't brave,... it's accidental. I'm not brave, I'm just not dead yet." After meeting Margot, Lenni befriends her and together they begin an art project - to make one hundred paintings in the hospital art class - one for each year of their lives. So Margot shares her story with Lenni and we learn about her life in bits and pieces as she shares the stories of her paintings with Lenni. The story is funny and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it. And finally, in the words of Lenni, "putting a church inside a hospital is like looking at an oil painting to see what the weather will be like."
No comments:
Post a Comment