“Is Jase already gonna marry you?” I start coughing again. “Uh, No. No, George. I’m only seventeen.” As if that’s the only reason we’re not engaged. “I’m this many.” George holds up four, slightly grubby fingers. “But Jase is seventeen and a half. You could. Then you could live in here with him. And have a big family.” Jase strides back into the room, of course, midway through this proposition. “George. Beat it. Discovery Channel is on.” George backs out of the room but not before saying, “His bed’s really comfortable. And he never pees in it.”

“Is Jase already going to marry you?"I start coughing again. "Uh. No. No, George. I'm only seventeen." As if that's the only reason we aren't engaged."I'm this many," George holds up four slightly grubby fingers. "Jase is seventeen and a half. You could. Then you could live in here with him. And have a big family." Jase strides back into the room, of course, midway through this proposition. "George. Beat it. Discovery Channel is on."George backs out of the room, but not before saying, "His bed's really comfortable. And he never pees in it."The door closes and we both start laughing.”

“—¿Se va a casar Jase ya contigo?Empiezo a toser de nuevo.—Uh. No, no, George. Sólo tengo diecisiete. —Como si esa fuera la única razón por la que no estamos comprometidos.—Yo tengo estos. —George levanta cuatro dedos ligeramente sucios—. Pero Jasetiene diecisiete y medio. Ustedes podrían. Entonces podrías vivir aquí con él. Y tener una gran familia. Jase entra a zancadas a la habitación, por supuesto, a mitad de esta propuesta—George. Lárgate. Discovery Channel está encendido.George se retira de la habitación, pero no antes de decir:—Su cama es realmente cómoda. Y nunca se hace pipi en ella.”

“George is a goblin who looks like a young boy. He is explaining to his friend Lout, an ogre, that he’s really older than he seems - - -“My people grow slowly and I’ve been around longer than you think. I’m very mature for my age. I have a doctorate degree from Oxford in Medieval Literature,” said George.“Is Oxford really in this story?” asked Lout.“I should have said Oxxphord.”“That sounds better. I’m really impressed, George. With an education like that, you could get a great job.”“Yeah, that’s how I ended up as a stable boy.”

“Jase props himself up on an elbow, looking at me for a minute without saying anything. His face gets an unreadable expression, and I wish I could take back walking over.Then he observes, “I’m guessing that’s a uniform.”Crap. I’d forgotten I was still wearing it.”

“My first question is- do you have a name?"A name? Yes.""Ah!" said the wolf. It wrote several extensive notes. "And what is that name?" "George.""I see," said the wolf. "And how long have you been George?""How long? As in, how long have I been alive?" "oh, were you here in some way before you were alive?" asked the wolf, interested."I...don't really know," said George. " I don't think so." "So you don't know if you were here? Or if you were here before your George-time? Is it possible for you to be here, bu not know it?""My what time? no, I mean, I was born, and then they just named me George." "So you are not George," said the wolf. George is just a name. A word. A propulsion of air modified by the flexing of throat parts." "Well, I am George, but...yes. Yes, and...no." "Is it possible that you became George at a later time, having been originally named that thing?" asked the wolf. " What if the naming had been different, would you still be George?" "I...yes?" "Really?" breathed the wolf in awe. "This is all so confusing." Yet he seemed very pleased with George's answers. " I don't know how you all do it. It seems so marvelously complex to simply...be.”