Page:Different gods (IA differentgods00quir).pdf/13



HEILA laughed to think she was fifteen. She wondered how she had borne the preceding years, and was amazed that she hadn't been crushed by their boredom. She despised herself for not having realized before how dull her life had been, and tried to understand how she could have been satisfied by school, meals, and occasional outings.

She had always known, of course, that she would one day be grown-up, but grown-upness to her had meant putting your hair up, wearing long skirts, giving up games, and being serious; a dull condition altogether. How was it that it had suddenly become a thing of stirring delight, and sweet, unknown excitement?

Men, of late, had been looking at her curiously. Did they sense her sudden, delicious interest in life? For when life had been merely pleasant, though peculiarly complete, they had passed her without a glance.

She was fifteen. She laughed again to think of it. She was so happy, not because anything actual had happened. It was her body that was happy. Her lungs were so glad to be breathing that they drank in the warm moist air as though they could never get enough of it. Rh