I bent over and picked up one, two, three of them; all bore the name D-503 . I was on all of them, drops of myself, of my molten, poured-out self. And that was all⁠—that was left.⁠ ⁠…

Somehow I felt they should not lie there on the floor and be trodden upon. I gathered a handful of them, put them on the table and carefully smoothed them out, glanced at them and⁠ ⁠… laughed aloud! I never knew it before but now I know, and you too, know, that laughter may be of different colors. It is but a distant echo of an explosion within us; it may be the echo of a holiday, red, blue and golden fireworks, or at times it may represent pieces of human flesh exploded into the air.⁠ ⁠…

I noticed an unfamiliar name on some of the pink checks. I do not remember the figures but I do remember the letter⁠— F . I brushed the stubs from the table to the floor, stepped on them, on myself, stamped on them with my heels⁠—and went out.⁠ ⁠…