"Don't you love these velvety things?" she said. "Just feel before you put on your glove."
"N-no"—he looked suspiciously at the silver-gray leaf—"no, thank you."
"Why not?"
"I don't like touching things like that."
"But why?"
"Oh, just an absurd notion of mine."
"But is it a notion, or is it a real feeling?"
He laughed.
"Now I know what reality is to my cousin Val."