"I know," Dorothy said. She leaned across the table and Lin kissed her.
"Cigarette?" Phil asked, holding out his pack. They each took one and he lit them with his lighter.
"Three on a match," Dorothy said nervously. "I guess it's all right this time though. The conclusion is foregone."
"Wonder how long it will take," Lin said, sucking in the smoke hungrily.
"That's another thing," Phil said. "That other time you took that long walk and got the paper and walked back to where you started from, and it all happened in less than an instant."
"That's right," Lin said. "He should be...."
"As a matter of fact," Phil said, "I think he should. So it worked after all. I'd really hoped it would. Or maybe ... but I think it worked."
"What worked?" Lin and Dorothy demanded together.
"He must have tossed that paper into the flame by now, unless he read what was on it," Phil said. He spread his hands apologetically. "You see I knew this couldn't go on forever. The only way to fight the supernatural is to outsmart it, I figured. So I wrote on it. Simple as that. I bore down good too so that if the ink came off, the writing would still be creased in good. On the theory that whatever was on that paper would come true when it got burned."
"What did you write?" Again Lin and Dorothy spoke in unison.