In the end, staring out over the Mutt on the evening of the second day, I found my answer. A cold answer. But I took some pride in the fact that it had nothing to do with my ambitions.
I would only be a burden to her.
* * *
Sometime around noon of the next day, as I walked north, I remembered Wolfgang’s last words to me. And it was strange, that it was those words which brought the first smile to my lips in days.
Two words. “The secret of the universe,” according to a lunatic.
Things change.