“Yeah, okay,” Tom says. He pauses again because he wants to make sure he words this next part right. “So…my mom, she told me those two-way mirrors were in grocery stores, back when people could look around freely, you know? And she said they were in a lot of movies. Detective movies? I can’t be sure. Anyway, she also told me that the man I was named after, Tom, he sounds like a cool guy actually. Like someone I would’ve been friends with. Well…he was the first to tell my mom that maybe the creatures are…infinity. It’s hard to explain.”

“We know the theory,” Athena says.

“Yeah, okay,” Tom says. “Well…so…if the creatures are something we can’t understand, because our heads can’t comprehend what they are…what if we could like…what if we could make them do something we can relate to? That’s what I was thinking. If we could make them do something, anything, that makes sense to us, or is familiar to us…well, maybe then we could understand them. Even if it’s only a little bit.”

The two seated men exchange a look. Tom thinks they probably think he’s crazy. Or not smart. But when they look back to him, both appear to be wholly interested.

Athena reaches out, taps Tom’s knee.

“Go on,” she says.

“So…one thing I was thinking was…one day I was in the office and I thought, man, what if I looked through the glass and saw a creature in the lodge. Right? Well, I guess I’d go mad. Mom would say so, anyway. I think most people would. And my sister, she has this idea that the creatures have no face…not like ours, I guess? She says they’re all face and all not at the same time. That’s her theory anyway. So it struck me that…if a creature was in the lodge…and if it was reflected, right? If it looked at the glass…which, if it’s all face, on all sides, then if it was reflected at all it would be looking, right? Well, in this case, it wouldn’t see me. You know? It would see itself. In the mirror.”

The people in the tent are silent. Henry smiles as if he thought of this idea himself.

Athena’s eyes seem to be frozen on Tom. As if he’s talking to a photograph.

“And I got to thinking…if a creature saw itself…wouldn’t it…couldn’t it maybe…consider itself? I don’t know if that’s the right word exactly. But…maybe it would look at itself and be forced to consider what it is. And while it did look…at itself…while it did consider…what it is…maybe that’s something I could understand. That’s something I could relate to. Making it…you know…safe…to…to look at it.”