“Ed,” Yusuf cries, “you look so sexy!” Ed looks up without bothering to act surprised. Won’t he resent this obvious lie when he sees himself in the mirror? He tips forward without changing his expression and the tears flow. Yusuf says with complete conviction, as though he hadn’t said it before: “Ed, you look so sexy!” He says it with joy: “Ed, you look so sexy!” Ed wears a questioning expression, and I can see that maybe he doesn’t look so bad. Yusuf says, “You look so sexy,” and I wonder if he is becoming demented. He says, “Ed, you look so sexy,” and Ed brightens a little. Ed does not look so bad, the shape of his head is fine, his features sculptural. His ears protrude, but that’s okay. Yusuf speaks with wonder and Ed begins to smile. “Ed, you look so sexy.”

Later that day we see animated dinosaurs, scaly and reptilian, on TV, and Yusuf says they look sexy. I wonder if Ed notices, but Yusuf’s credibility stays high.