In Gregory Maguire's Son of a Witch (his new sequel to Wicked), Candle tells Liir that she cannot read the future but she can give him the present. He responds:
"You gave me memory. That's the past."
She corrected him, "Memory is part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our heart pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work, too: it keeps us who we are. It is the influence that keeps us from flying off into separate pieces likeā¦this peel of orange, and that clutch of pips"
"You gave me memory. That's the past."
She corrected him, "Memory is part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our heart pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work, too: it keeps us who we are. It is the influence that keeps us from flying off into separate pieces likeā¦this peel of orange, and that clutch of pips"