a very secret experiment , that defense was trying for the first time on a human being . but he loved the smell of the barns : the hay and the leather , the horses and the wood . as i stand in the doorway staring at laney , i remember our kiss at the blue hole . at least i think its the field ... i can see the oak tree . they were loose threads , and the time had come to snip them . a simple black coffin sat in the center of the room , earth sprinkled beneath it . 