Page 73 - The Midnight Library

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‘You sleep. And then you wake up in that life. It’s nothing to worr y about.

But if you are ner vous, you could tr y a life where it’s another time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it’s not night-time ever ywhere, is it?’
‘What?’

‘ ere are an infinite number 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.’
‘Ver y good choice.’
‘What? It’s a ver y good life?’

‘Oh, I didn’t say that. I merely feel that you might be getting better at
choosing.’
‘So, it’s a bad life?’
‘I didn’t say that either.’

And the shelves sped into motion again, then stopped a few seconds
aer wards.
‘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 gi.
‘ ere you go. You know what to do.’
Nora hesitated.

‘What if I am dead?’
‘Sorr y?’
‘I mean, in another life. ere must be other lives in which I died before
today.’

Mrs Elm looked intrigued. ‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’
‘Well, yes, but—’
‘You have died an infinite number of times before today, yes. Car accident,
drug overdose, drowning, a bout of fatal food poisoning, choking on an

apple, choking on a cookie, choking on a vegan hot dog, choking on a non-
vegan hot dog, ever y illness it was possible for you to catch or contract . . .
You have died in ever y way you can, at any time you could.’