In the pause between the narrator's oftimes discordant tones, Dr Crane heard something. Opening his eyes, of course, was out of the question, so instead he removed his headphones, though he kept his eyes shut. He'd always had the odd fear that something would pierce his eyes when he was blind and he'd never notice.

At the touch, he stilled. He wanted to grab the hand to stop it, but he held back. In his patented calming psychiatrist's tones (guaranteed to calm down %50 of psychotics!), he asked, "Hello?"