I hope this is good enough for you, the tulpa thought to the man buried in the grave. You literally gave me everything you had, and this is a lousy way to repay you, but it's the best I could come up with. I hope it's at least a little better than floating around anonymously in a dark underwater cave.

She curled her arm around the tulpa's, interrupting any further ruminations. “Penny for your thoughts,” she said with a grin. “but you're paying travel expenses, because by the look on your face they're about a million miles away from here right now.”

“No,” the tulpa assured her while pointing to the grave marker. “All of them are right there, I promise.” When I die, I wonder if I'll leave a body behind; if I do, I think I'll have them bury it here. I just hope somebody takes a picture of the face of the person who finds out there's already a body in that grave.

Seeing a grin suddenly appear on the tulpa's face, she tilted her head quizzically. “What's so funny?” she asked.

“It's hard to explain,” the tulpa answered, “kind of like the grave marker.”

She shook her head. “Well it is a bit strange,” she admitted. “But since most of the office figured you'd be in a grave by now at the rate you were going, I'll take strange! It sure beats getting yourself killed doing something stupid trying to prove that you're not getting 'old.'”

“Yes,” he agreed with a sad smile. “It does. It most definitely does.”

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