“THEN SHALL IT COME TO PASS THE SAYING THAT IS WRITTEN,” A VOICE SAID. “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP. IN VICTORY.” PERHAPS ONLY FRED HEARD IT. “BECAUSE,” THE VOICE SAID, “AS SOON AS THE WRITING APPEARS BACKWARD, THEN YOU KNOW WHICH IS ILLUSION AND WHICH IS NOT. THE CONFUSION ENDS, AND DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY, SUBSTANCE DEATH, IS SWALLOWED NOT INTO THE BODY BUT UP—IN VICTORY. BEHOLD, I TELL YOU THE SACRED SECRET NOW: WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP IN DEATH.”

THE MYSTERY, HE THOUGHT, THE EXPLANATION, HE MEANS. OF A SECRET. A SACRED SECRET. WE SHALL NOT DIE.

THE REFLECTIONS SHALL LEAVE.

AND IT WILL HAPPEN FAST.

WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED, AND BY THAT HE MEANS REVERSED BACK, SUDDENLY. IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE!

BECAUSE, HE THOUGHT GLUMLY AS HE WATCHED THE POLICE PSYCHOLOGISTS WRITING THEIR CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNING THEM, WE ARE FUCKING BACKWARD RIGHT NOW, I GUESS, EVERY ONE OF US; EVERYONE AND EVERY DAMN THING, AND DISTANCE, AND EVEN TIME. BUT HOW LONG, HE THOUGHT, WHEN A PRINT IS BEING MADE, A CONTACT PRINT, WHEN THE PHOTOGRAPHER DISCOVERS HE’S GOT THE NEGATIVE REVERSED, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO FLIP IT? TO REVERSE IT AGAIN SO IT’S LIKE IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE?

A FRACTION OF A SECOND.

I UNDERSTAND, HE THOUGHT, WHAT THE PASSAGE IN THE BIBLE MEANS, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY. BUT MY PERCEPT SYSTEM IS AS FUCKED UP AS EVER. LIKE THEY SAY. I UNDERSTAND BUT AM HELPLESS TO HELP MYSELF.

MAYBE, HE THOUGHT, SINCE I SEE BOTH WAYS AT ONCE, CORRECTLY AND REVERSED, I’M THE FIRST PERSON IN HUMAN HISTORY TO HAVE IT FLIPPED AND NOT-FLIPPED SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND SO GET A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IT’LL BE WHEN IT’S RIGHT. ALTHOUGH I’VE GOT THE OTHER AS WELL, THE REGULAR. AND WHICH IS WHICH?

WHICH IS REVERSED AND WHICH IS NOT?

WHEN DO I SEE A PHOTOGRAPH, WHEN A REFLECTION?