He went off toward the den, and the television came on before he was all the way through the door.

Thomas came down at a quarter past eleven for a glass of water, barefoot, in a T-shirt, and stopped on the second step when he saw me at the counter.

“Just getting water,” he said, to the floor.

“There’s water in the tap.”

He filled the glass too full, and it ran over the rim onto his wrist, and he did not seem to feel it.

“Thomas.