“Shush. I’m just the custodian now,” John Window said, almost in a drawl. There was a sly closed look about his face; and yet a secret smile belied his proclaimed ignorance. He moved rather loosely toward the television set and stood watching the program in progress.

“You thought you were Christ a minute ago,” Gregory yelled, scandalized. “You just … did the impossible. How can you pretend nothing happened?” In his bafflement, Gregory grabbed Window’s arm and half swung him about.

There was no doubt that Window was suddenly frightened. “Don’t tell anyone,” he said, in a new, low, quavering voice. “When I think I’m Christ, sometimes I do things that can’t be done. But I know who I am now. I’m John Window, and that’s a fact.”

The sunlight now had a hard yellow cast, an objectionable glare. Gregory backed away from Window scowling. It was a game Window was playing, he realized—and not a nice one. Window was terrified of … well, whatever … power he had. So Gregory said, “That’s all right. I’ll play it any way you want. Don’t you worry, everything will be okay. Cool it. Don’t get upset.”

John Window’s eyes fluttered just slightly. It seemed to Gregory that one powerful ray of strength or understanding or compassion—traveled from Window’s eyes to his before the custodian turned his back and ambled away. No, Gregory thought, watching. Window was shuffling, where before his steps had been quick and sure.

Gregory couldn’t believe what had happened, and he couldn’t not believe it either. What was Window so frightened of? he wondered, because he recognized real fear when he saw it; he felt it himself a good deal of the time. Window wasn’t feigning that. But what was he so scared of, and why should someone with such … power fear anything?

He watched until Window disappeared into another room off the main corridor and then, forgetting he’d wanted coffee, Gregory drifted out to the lawn. The mental changes in himself weren’t at first obvious, though the physical ones were; and he tested these at once. Grinning, he tugged at his teeth, tugged, and they were as firm in their sockets as teeth could be.