Kazran Sardick:
On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact midpoint, everybody stops, and turns, and hugs, as if to say
"Well done. Well done, everyone!
We're halfway out of the dark."
Back on Earth, we called this Christmas, or the Winter Solstice.
On this world, the first settlers called it the Crystal Feast.
You know what I call it? I call it expecting something for nothing!
The Man Who Forgets:
There's a portrait on the wall behind me.
Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father.
All the chairs are angled away from it.
Daddy's been dead for 20 years but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you.
There's a Christmas tree in the painting but none in this house on Christmas Eve.
You're scared of him and you're scared of being like him
and good for you, you're not like him, not really.
Do you know why?
Kazran Sardick:
Why?
The Man Who Forgets:
Because you didn't hit the boy. Merry Christmas, Mr Sardick.
Kazran Sardick:
I despise Christmas!
The Man Who Forgets:
You shouldn't. It's very you.
Kazran Sardick:
It's what? What do you mean?
The Man Who Forgets:
Halfway out of The Dark.
