“Yes. And I was furious and I wanted to rip it off of him but Vadeshex told us that we couldn’t do it without killing him. It was part of him now, and if it died, Loaf would die. And the other way around, too. So I led Loaf around like a blind deaf-mute for a while, except that he wasn’t blind, he didn’t bump into anything. And already his reflexes were unbelievably quick. And I kept hoping he was still inside there. Loaf. That he hadn’t been completely taken over by this thing.”

“And you’re here to assure me that even though he’s uglier than before, it’s really Loaf.”

“It is! But I know you won’t believe me and you’ll scream at me that I don’t know him well enough to know whether it’s really him but listen to me: Of course you know him better than everybody, but this isn’t going to work if you make him prove who he is. He’s either coming home to his wife or not. And his wife—and these are his exact words—‘My wife will not make me spend the rest of my life proving that I’m really me.’ Do you understand? I’m his witness. You’ll have him telling you, and you have me telling you, and if that’s not good enough, he isn’t going to stay. Do you understand that?”

“Understanding isn’t agreeing.”

“You know him!” said Umbo fervently. “He’s made up his mind that if you doubt him, he’s gone. He says he’ll understand if you reject him, if you can’t live with him the way he is now. The only thing he wants is to come back to you and live with you the way he did before. Except that he’s stronger and quicker and smarter and prettier—he says he’s prettier but that’s—”

“That’s his sense of humor,” said Leaky.

“Yes,” said Umbo.

“Go and get him,” said Leaky.

“You mean it?”

“I can’t believe you had to go to all this trouble. Of course I want him back, however I can get him. If you dragged him back in a sack without arms or legs, I’d take him. What do you think marriage is, boy?”

“Judging by my parents, it’s not like the two of you. But do you promise—”