It's shame then, that happily ever after seems so unworthy of note. A line here, three words come to a full stop. A darn shame, that when the challenges posed to the protagonist resolve, the antagonist dealt their just dessert, happily ever after rears its not-altogether-unappealing little head as signifier for conclusion.

This is not how it works, of course, because the narrative continues to unfold, with complex dramas forever entangling our heroes. It's just that the story never provides us with further solutions to a life-time of tedious puzzles.

So what happens in happily ever after? Would people still want to read the sequel? You know, the one where they married and lived another sixty or so years, before succumbing to heart-disease and various other illnesses that plague the elderly.

And it's not really happily after until all the people we're interested in are dead and buried. In which case it's not really happy unless you believe in an afterlife or are at least at ease with your own demise.

0030 Before, during and after.