He heard the hollow knock of the pencil as he dropped it and, scratching his head, suddenly had a sense for the proximity of his finger to his brain. He heard his fingers rake across the sheath around his skull and, contrasting that with the sound of the pencil on the paper, thought to make still more of the comparison. This paper was a white skull beneath which lay a wet red brain….
He lay back in frustration. (His brain, which he couldn’t see, but was behind him, could not reach that red brain, which he couldn’t see, but was before him. He scratched pen upon paper, finger upon scalp, then lay back in frustration.)
He said to himself here I am but could not get ‘into’ here nor could he quite be am. (But if he wasn’t here, where was he? Was he? Was he but not here — then where?) He said to himself if I am — but am not here — am I there? (Where?) The problem had something to do with ‘all these people,’ but he couldn’t say what he meant by that. (Which people? There weren’t any people.)
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 