"Better'n nothing. And give what you can when you can, don't worry too much about it now." Bert knew what a shock it had been to him, to come to grips with the idea that he still had some sort of life to live. Eddie knew this place, but Bert couldn't imagine that made it that much easier.

"I do alright for myself. I catch on to things quick, and you can learn anything in a library. Nearly shit myself and died all o'er again when I saw the one here! Inside, I mean. All those books...didn't think there were that many books in the whole world!"

It was, he realized, something of a relief to be able to properly explain his fascination with so many things people here concerned unremarkable.