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"Don't be like that," said Ren. "I wasn't really a child. He's got a fever."
"Don't go, don't go," said Jimmy. "Come back to the tree!"
"You're sticking up for him? After how he dumped you?"
"Yeah, right, but he's kind of a hero now," said Ren. "He helped save Amanda. He almost, you know, died."
"Amanda," said Croze. "I don't see her. Where is she?"
"She's over here," said Ren, pointing to the group of Craker women surrounding Amanda, stroking her and purring gently. They moved aside to let Ren into their circle.
"That's Amanda?" said Crozier. "No shit! She looks like ..."
"Don't say it," said Ren, putting her arms around Amanda. "She'll look a lot better tomorrow. Or next week, anyway." Amanda started to cry.
"She's gone," said Jimmy. "She flew away. Pigoons."
"Cripes," said Crozier. "This is fucking weird."
"Croze, everything is fucking weird," said Ren.
"Okay, right, I'm sorry. I'm almost off sentry. Let's ..."
"I think I should help Toby," said Ren. "At this moment."
"Looks like I sleep on the ground, since that fuckwit's tagged my bed," Croze said to Manatee.
"Please grow up," said Ren.
That's all we need, thought Toby. Love's young squabbles.
They carried Jimmy into Croze's cubicle and laid him down on the bed. Toby asked two Craker women and Ren to aim the flashlights she'd got from the kitchen. Then she found her medical materials, on the shelf where she'd left them before setting off to find Amanda.
She did all she could for Jimmy: a sponge bath to get off the worst of the dirt; honey applied to the superficial cuts; mushroom elixir for the infection. Then Poppy and Willow, for the pain and for a restful sleep. And the small grey maggots, applied to the foot wound to nibble off the infected flesh. Judging from the smell, the maggots were just in time.
"What are those?" said one of the two Craker women, the tall one. "Why do you put those little animals on Snowman-the-Jimmy? Are they eating him?"
"It tickles," said Jimmy. His eyes were half open; the Poppy was taking effect.
"Oryx sent them," said Toby. That seemed to be a good answer, because they smiled. "They are called maggots," she continued. "They are eating the pain."
"What does the pain taste like, Oh Toby?"
"Should we eat the pain too?"
"If we ate the pain, that would help Snowman-the-Jimmy."
"The pain smells very bad. Does it taste good?"
She should avoid metaphors. "The pain tastes good only to the maggots," she said. "No. You should not eat the pain."
"Will he be okay?" Ren said. "Has he got gangrene?"
"I hope not," said Toby. The two Craker women placed their hands on him and began to purr.
"Falling," said Jimmy. "Butterfly. She's gone."
Ren bent over him, brushed his hair back from his forehead. "Go to sleep, Jimmy," she said. "We love you."
