Of course I understood. I remember my thoughts at that moment: “his appearance is nonsensical and lacking in symmetry, yet what an orderly-working mind he has!” This made him dear to me, that is to the real me . (I still insist that I of before is the real one; my I of late is, certainly, only an illness.)

Apparently R- read my thought in my face; he put his hand on my shoulders and laughed: “Oh you!⁠ ⁠… Adam! By the way, about Eve.⁠ ⁠…” He searched for something in his pockets, took out a little book, turned over a few leaves and said, “For the day-after-tomorrow⁠—oh, no, two days from now⁠— O-90 has a pink check on you. How about it?⁠ ⁠… As before?⁠ ⁠… You want her to?”

“Of course, of course!”