There was a black and white movie on about a nurse who loved her marine. The TV was a dirty gray puddle of shadows. Earl watched enraptured; Louise was sleeping. His inside life constantly projected a silent film onto the wall of his skull. He was barely aware of the flickering images that were underneath everything else he saw, but they were always with him. He stared at the black shadow that was carved under the nurse's cheekbone. Suddenly the image of eyelids slowly opening and closing flashed underneath his own eyes. It made him look at Louise. She never tells lies, he thought. Her face was wet with tears. Honey...honey, he said. Her body twitched and she woke up. That nap did me so much good, she said. She didn't notice her wet cheeks.