there 's the spackle that tried to kill me , 1017 , riding a battlemore , and ben 's sitting behind him on another one , the song he 's singing coming clear , i heard a maiden call from the valley below- but his mouth is n't moving- which must be a mistake of the crowd noise- but he 's there , riding up the road , and since no one here can know him , his face must be accurate , it must really be ben- and i can feel the mayor 's medicine surging through me and i use my new strength to start shoving people out of the way even harder- because in their noise , i can see the mayor pushing forward ahead of me , too- and i see that todd 's reached ben- see it like i 'm right there- feel it like i 'm right there because todd 's own noise has opened , as he 's got farther away from the mayor and closer to ben , his own noise is opening as wide as it used to be , opening with astonishment and joy and so much love you can hardly bear to look at it and those feelings are surging back along the crowd like a wave and the crowd is staggering under it , staggering under the feeling that todd 's transmitting to them- transmitting it just like the mayor can- [ todd ] i ca n't even say nothing , i just ca n't , there ai n't no words for it as i 'm running to him , running right past 1017 , and ben 's coming down off his battlemore and his noise is rising to greet me with everything i know about him , everything since i was a baby , everything that means he 's really ben- and he ai n't quite saying it in words- and he 's opening up his arms and i 'm throwing myself into 'em and i 'm hitting him so hard we fall back against the beast he was riding and- how big you 've gotten , he says- `` ben ! ''