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Sometimes Zeke could see Casey as he wished he were, as he ought to have been, and then Casey didn’t have little bald spots from pulling out his hair, and his cheeks weren’t hollow and there were no circles under his eyes. The Casey-who-should-have-been looked you in the face with curious, intelligent eyes, and his face radiated openness and peace. The Casey-who-should-have-been wasn’t scrawny and malnourished and didn’t wear poorly fitting, second-hand clothes. He didn’t shake and twitch and cringe.
The Casey-who-should-have-been was so vibrant and real that sometimes Zeke thought he could make that person come into being yet.