Tom manages to convince himself that he\u2019s doing the right thing. He may be giving birth to monsters like Sally and Bernard, but he\u2019s won folks like Amber and Harold for the House of Dreams. In the end,<\/i> he thinks, isn\u2019t it better to have two more science adventurers and any number of cannibals, then to have neither and leave the world helpless before great beasts?<\/i><\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t start realizing just how far he\u2019s going wrong until he slips the hat onto young Morgan\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
Plus,<\/i> he thinks, those cannibals \u2014 at least they find it filling!<\/i><\/p>\n
Morgan\u2019s in runics. He\u2019s hanging upside down from a tree and he\u2019s thinking. You\u2019d think that what he\u2019d be thinking is \u201chow can I get down from here?\u201d but he shows no actual evidence of this intent.<\/p>\n
Fulfilling,<\/i> Tom corrects. Then he looks up. There\u2019s Morgan!<\/p>\n
\u201cDude,\u201d says Tom.<\/p>\n
Morgan smiles at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for wisdom,\u201d Morgan says. \u201cThis world\u2019s spiraling out of control. Did you know that? Hans, who kept it sane, is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the blood is going to your head, man,\u201d says Tom.<\/p>\n
Morgan laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeriously,\u201d says Tom. \u201cYou think that\u2019s a way to get wisdom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mere,\u201d says Morgan.<\/p>\n
Tom does.<\/p>\n
Morgan whispers, \u201cI completely blew off my runes all year, but if I hang upside down for nine days and nine nights in search of wisdom, it\u2019s basically a guaranteed A on the midterm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom draws back. He squints at Morgan suspiciously.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you need a spear in your side and to have one eye out,\u201d he says, \u201cfor that?\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s referencing the story of Odin, who hung in such a fashion, and learned the runes and also mastery of the world.<\/p>\n
Only:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a midterm, man,\u201d says Morgan. \u201cChill.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Tom winds up sitting beside him. They talk. Morgan hangs there. And after a while, Morgan wishes he didn\u2019t have to hang there; or rather, that he could hang there, only without the negative consequences, like the agony and the wind.<\/p>\n
And to such wishes as these Tom has an answer.<\/p>\n
He puts his crowning hat on the hanging boy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard, of course, because Morgan\u2019s hanging upside down. It takes some serious ingenuity. Tom has<\/i> some serious ingenuity, though.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\t\t