To get rid of annoying student friends who genuinely wanted to cheer him up before the dangerous operation, he muttered, “Find me a forest witch!” And these pranksters did—bringing me, frightened and disheveled, with a bag full of herbs. He looked at me and thought, “Now they’ll go. I’ll talk to her, calm her down, and tell her to take her home.” And I watched how ghostly herbs wrapped his legs, and understood that I would have to stay in this house after all.