Pal doesn’t know what John’s reaction will be to the bit of misshapen cow’s bone, but he js certainly not expecting that look of pained horror. Perhaps he has said too much. Perhaps he has gone too far. Perhaps cow bones means something different to this man, or perhaps he feels the same creeping disgust that Pal so often does when he contemplates the power at his fingertips.
But it cannot be denied that John sees something in that lump of calcium phosphate that no one but him does, and so he grasps that fact and runs with it.
“Well, the cow was already dead,” he begins, immediately realizing that that might not sound much better. “Perhaps you’ve noticed the piles of bones at the edge of town? My only hypothesis is that some past residents took care of the animals, and when they disappeared, the poor things starved. Which is dreadful, but—well, as far as I can tell, it happened a long time ago.”
He rolls the bit of bone back and forth between his thumb and forefinger like a worry stone. “…it was a rib when I found it. But I’ve found that with the right kind of concentration, I can turn it into other things.” He winces. “Sorry, that was a bit much, was it?”
no subject
But it cannot be denied that John sees something in that lump of calcium phosphate that no one but him does, and so he grasps that fact and runs with it.
“Well, the cow was already dead,” he begins, immediately realizing that that might not sound much better. “Perhaps you’ve noticed the piles of bones at the edge of town? My only hypothesis is that some past residents took care of the animals, and when they disappeared, the poor things starved. Which is dreadful, but—well, as far as I can tell, it happened a long time ago.”
He rolls the bit of bone back and forth between his thumb and forefinger like a worry stone. “…it was a rib when I found it. But I’ve found that with the right kind of concentration, I can turn it into other things.” He winces. “Sorry, that was a bit much, was it?”