Fate

A cluster of sentences that sum up what "life" is in Lorrie Moore's short fiction, Referential:

Living did not mean one joy piled upon another. It was merely the hope for less pain, hope played like a playing card upon another hope, a wish for kindness and mercies to emerge like kings and queens in an unexpected twist in the game. One could hold the cards oneself or not: they would land the same way, regardless.Tenderness did not enter into it, except in a damaged way.