The writer knew he was referring to the word used in the . Dispatch headline. “I’m glad you can laugh at it. I hope you . don’t let it get you anymore.”

“It doesn’t. I got over that hump. I realize there’s going to be a lot more, but I don’t think they’ll be sprung on me, and I’ll be able to handle them easier.”

During their conversation, the writer realized he had been sensing a barely perceptible change in Billy’s expression. His

gait was quicker. His speech had become more articulate. And now the mocking reference to the headline.

“Let me ask you something,” the writer said. “In talking to you now, if you hadn’t told me you were Billy-U, you could have fooled me, because you sound like the Teacher …”

His eyes brightened and he smiled. “Well, why don’t you ask me?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the Teacher.”

“You sonofabitch. You like to spring things on me.”

He smiled. “That’s the way it goes. When I become relaxed, it happens. It’s got to take an inner peace. That’s what I’ve found out here … talking with you, being able to see these things again and relive and remember.”

“Why did you wait for me to ask you? Why didn’t you say, ‘Hey, I’m the Teacher’?”

He shrugged. “It’s not as if I’m re-meeting you. The unfused Billy has been talking to you. And then all of a sudden Ragen joins the conversation, and then Arthur, because they have something to contribute. And in a way it’s also very embarrassing to say, ‘Oh, hey, hi, how are you?’ as if I haven’t been talking to you all the while.”

They walked on, and the Teacher said, “Arthur and Ragen really want to help Billy explain to you what happened during the last mix-up time.”

“Go ahead,” the writer said. “Tell me.”

“Danny was never going to jump off that cliff. He was only following the flowers up the hill to where the bigger ones were growing.”

The Teacher walked ahead, showing the writer the path Danny had taken and the tree behind which he had braced himself. The writer looked down. Had Danny jumped, he would surely have killed himself.

“And Ragen never intended to hurt those guards,” the Teacher said. “The broken glass was for him. He knew Billy had been betrayed, and he was going to ice himself.” He held his hand up to show that what had been seen by outsiders as a threat to them was actually the glass at his own neck level. “Ragen was going to cut his own throat and end it all.”

“But why did you tell Dr. Caul you were going to break his bones?”

“What Ragen actually intended to say was, ‘Come, Dr. Caul. You first vatch me break some bones.’ I wasn’t going to hurt that little man.”

“Stay fused, Billy,” the writer said. “The Teacher is needed. We have work to do. Your story is important.”