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"Ordinary, I told you, very ordinary Anglo-Saxon? Yes, probably Distinctly Irish or Nordic? No Just a man Not a Frenchman, I don't think No, a routine flavor of Aly tall like you I couldn't have seen him for more than five seconds It was sunrise He had me trapped there I couldn't flee, I went blank The mattress covered ined it But I didn't iine it!"

"Thank you The hair?"

"Ash blond, alray You kno ash blond can fade to where it's really truly aa graying brown color, or colorless alray "

He gave a little gesture that he understood

Cautiously I leant on the glass Withto have accidentally shattered the wall The last thing I wanted was a blunder

Obviously he wantedI could recall the reeable

He was the kind of man who doesn't impress one with size or physicality so ence, I suppose you'd call it He looked like an interesting man "

"Clothes "

"Not noticeable Black I think, maybe even a bit dusty? I think I would remember jet black, or beautiful black, or fancy black "

"Eyes distinctive?"

"Only for the intelligence They weren't large or deeply coloredHe looked nor like that Nor dandified like mine Or yours "

"And you believe he spoke the words?"

"I'm sure he did I heard him I jumped up I ake, you understand, fully awake I saw the sun Look at my hand "

I was not as pale as I had been before I went into the Gobi desert, before I had tempted the sun to kill me in the recent past But we could both see the burn where the rays of the sun had struck ht side of h it wasn't visible there because I'd probably turned my head

"And you woke and you were under the bed, and it was askew, and had been thrown over and had fallen back down "