“I came,” she said, “hoping you could talk me out of a fantasy.”

“Cherish it,” cried Hilarius, fiercely. “What else do any of you have? Hold it tightly by its little tentacle, don’t let the Freudians coax it away or the pharmacists poison it out of you. Whatever it is, hold it dear, for when you lose it you go over by that much to the other. You begin to cease to be.”

“Come on in, ” Oedipa yelled.