"Things work out," Noah said with a philosophical shrug. "They always do. It just takes a bit more thought and planning and flexibility."
He looked over at her. When she talked about her son, Kathy's entire face lit up with love and pride. Noah wondered what that felt like, and from Kathy's expression, decided that it must be wonderful. Julia would have looked amazing like that.
"They seem to think that the lottery is the thing that will save humanity, but I don't think so. People would have been glad to take it voluntarily, without being forcibly matched to a stranger, all in the name of 'family values.' If they have to have the lottery, they should have waited until people were twenty-one, at least. I don't think that in the long run, waiting from sixteen until twenty-one is going to make a great deal of difference. Obviously, the government does not agree."