Cuts

Three weeks ago, on a Monday afternoon, I cut out Teddy. Alarmingly, it took me only two hours. This morning I decide to cut Oak; it takes me less than two hours to change what I have, until now, considered a major component of the plot line. Not that we can judge people’s importance in our lives by the length of time we know them or the number of interactions we have. Who has not been changed by two words spoken by a stranger? But Teddy and Oak are gone, and once gone seem utterly unnecessary to Frederick’s story. The loss is mine, but not the book’s.