.

.

"Like this--see?
One little tilt backwards and I would have been gone--after the others.

One little tilt--the least bit--the least bit." He frowned, and tapping his forehead with the tip of his middle finger, "It was there all the time," he said impressively.
"All the time--that notion.

And the rain--cold, thick, cold as melted snow--colder--on my thin cotton clothes--I'll never be so cold again in my life, I know.