St Stephen walks towards his office in the city

If St Stephen had ever cried – he might have shed a tear at this moment. But St Stephen had never done that. He noticed he should have been at work. He noticed he should not have been dealing with physchadelics – and finally he noticed the Silver Wizard was naked – although that last realisation was perhaps the least significant. St Stephen looked away.

And so the two men dealt with the unusual situation the usual way. It had been a long time since St Stephen had had the time free to sit still and stay silent, although this was something that the Silver Wizard did all the time. The Silver Wizard felt grateful that he lead a solitary uncomplicated life, and that he had just one personality. St Stephen the Pragmatist felt grateful for the Silver Wizard. Perhaps this will all wear off he thought to himself. He was not the kind of man to feel these feelings. He was always motivated, he was always full of life, and he never engaged in such unnecessary activities as sitting and thinking about the world.

And then, when the first hints of dawn were seen on the horizon of the artists colony – St Stephen decided that perhaps it was time for him to go. He said good-bye to the Silver Wizard and he walked off into the early morning.

The Silver Wizard thought of going to sleep. He often stayed up all night but he had found that particular night completely exhausting. The Silver Wizard had cried before in his life and although he did not cry at this point – he might well have done. He thought about how lonely he was. Perhaps he should invite Derek around to eat the remaining cakes he thought to himself. But he didnt want to walk all the way to Derricks boat – perhaps he should make himself a comforting hot chocolate – perhaps he should find some food to feed the river rats with. Soon the sound of their fucking would begin again. It was that time of year. He wasnt looking forward to that although the idea did not repulse him. Perhaps he should…

The Silver Wizard fell asleep.

Meanwhile St Stephen was still at the early stage of his journey home and he did not want to think about how long it would take him to walk all the way from the artists colony to his side of the city. Where he lived was very different – there was not all this poverty and the discontentment was obscured behind the doors not in front of them. St Stephen surprised himself by noting the tide marks across the walls. The artist colony was regularly flooded. Like most shanty towns you would have thought that the people building them were completely idiots – until you realised that they were not allowed anywhere else.

St Stephen was being careful not to think about the cold. But the subject entered his mind. He was tired and he had no choice – he was walking extremely quickly – none of these things kept the weather from his chest. He wondered how much difference his suit could possibly make to his warmth – would he be any colder if he was naked? He felt he couldnt have been. He wished he had taken a cloak of the Silver Wizard. A strange character that man – he thought and he wondered why his other self had respected him at all. Cloaks were certainly eccentric in the city – but he would have stood out less than he did now. Perhaps passers by would think that he had been visiting a prostitute. That was much more respectable than visiting an artist – and much much more respectable than his nervous breakdown.

And his thought pattern continued like this until he noticed that his feet were taking him past the arches where psyKo mozKeeto rehearsed and another mile he would be at his office. It was properly light now.

Fuck this this is too cold, thought the St Stephen. It was starting to rain – as he passed the bridge in which the ratfucker was thinking about the loneliness of his situation – and whether he would ever be allowed back in to the office. For the last few minutes of the journey St Stephen completely forgot about whether he would look dignified or not. Flood waters were already starting to appear since the draining repair company had been laid off. St Stephen walked into his office grateful that nobody had decided to come in early. In his office he had everything he needed for emergencies such as this. The old St Stephen was returning and once again – he was in control.