Page "fiction" Paragraph 350

Now the face was his own.

He wondered what expression, as he made that gesture, was on his face.

He wondered if it wore the old anxiety, or the old, taut stoicism.

But there was no need, he remembered, for his hand to reach out, for his face to show concern or stoicism.

It was nothing to him if rain fell and nobody came.

Then why was he assuming the role -- the gesture and the suffering??

What was he expiating??

Or was he now taking the role -- the gesture and the suffering -- because it was the only way to affirm his history and identity in the torpid, befogged loneliness of this land.