The next day, Todd felt pretty subdued. The success of the reading seemed a long way in the past, and also kind of empty after what had happened with Billy. Sara had offered to stay over, but Todd felt he needed to be on his own, and Sara was okay with that (by the time Todd realized he should have asked Sara if she was also okay being on her own, she was gone).

One or two people called up to talk about the reading and how great it was, which didn’t help. Todd couldn’t stop thinking about Billy lying there for weeks, undiscovered and, frankly, un-given-a-shit-about.

What was it that Billy, or the thing that had once been Billy, had said to him? Todd tried to remember. Something about a hawk. Todd thought it might be a quote. In fact, he was damn sure it was a quote. He went into his study—now a tidier, cleaner place—and pulled down a few reference books. The Oxford Dictionary Of Quotations. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. The Everyman Literary Encyclopedia. The World Encyclopedia. And, finally, a book he’d guiltily used more than any of the others, a cheerful-looking hardback emblazoned with pictures of both writers and celebrities called Who Said It?

The dictionaries and encyclopedias confirmed that the question Billy had tried, and failed, to ask Todd was indeed part of a quotation. But it wasn’t one that made a lot of sense to Todd:

Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2.

HAMLET: I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

Which was interesting but made no sense, in context or, apparently, out of it. Todd decided there was nothing for it but to screw the highbrows and consult the oracle. He opened Who Said It?, found “hawk” in the index, and turned to the relevant page. And there it was.

“A hawk from a handsaw.” This is a line from Hamlet, where the eponymous Prince of Denmark has gone crazy. The saying may be something to do with different kinds of bird, but is deliberately obscure, which is why a lot of people misquote it as “a hawk and a HACKsaw.”

Todd closed the book. Great, he thought, just my luck to be persecuted from beyond the grave by something that can’t quote properly.

*  *  *

Carrie called.

“How did it go last night?” she asked.

Todd erased all images of Billy, alive or dead, from his mind.

“Really well!” he said.

“Well, that’s a good omen,” said Carrie.

“Hometown crowd,” Todd pointed out.

“Todd, once people realize how good All My Colors is,” said Carrie, “the whole country’s going to be a hometown crowd.”

Todd imagined an entire nation sitting at his feet as he read to them.

“I have your finalized itinerary,” said Carrie. “We’re going to send it over to you today.”