There it went, boring through the air, all aquiver with life, a sentient, live thing to be worshipped; a thing to fight for, a thing to cling to as he clung to life itself.

And here was he, locked into a hot, bare little room, fed as one feeds a caged beast.

Disgraced, abandoned, impotent.
It was in that hour that Johnny found deeper depths of despair than he had dreamed of before.

Bedraggled hope limped away, crushed and battered anew by this fresh tragedy..