"Why?"
He shrugged and put his tools away. "Wishful thinking."
"More fun to know than wish—look than dream."
"Not many agree with that."
"They don't know enough—look far enough. If you're going to get yourself free—you've got a lot of illusion to hack through first."
"Do you feel really free?"
I shook my head. "Not free at all. But I do feel I know what freedom is—what it means—what it's for. Maybe that's as near as you can get—these days."
He went to the toilet and washed—in an absent-minded, habitual manner. "Hot night."
"Hot."
"You've been told your number was up before now. I've been considering that. You know what it's like."