How do you do it?
Do what?
This. Be there, for all of them.
I have a job to do. And I do it.
When the first living thing existed, I was there.
When the last living thing dies, I'll put the chairs on the table, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave.
And I'm not there for all of them. There are exceptions. Mad Hettie. And then there's your ongoing project. How's he bearing up after all this time?
Who? Hob Gadling?
[nods] Hmm.
I don't know. I was forced to miss our last appointment.
Well, I'm sure he'd love to see you. They're never too keen to see me, though.
Does it not bother you?
I actually used to think I had the hardest job in all our family.
Oh, did you?
They fear the Sunless Lands, yet they enter your realm every night without fear.
And yet I am far more terrible than you.
It was fine in the beginning. Dying and living were new things and people did them with the enthusiasm they always bring to new things. And then after a bit, it just got harder.
But you continued.
I thought about giving up. Walking out. This was a long time ago, long before this world. It really started to get to me. I got kind of hard and brittle inside. I mean, people feel as pleased to have been born as if they did it themselves. But they get upset and hurt and shaken when they die. But eventually, I learned that all they really need is a kind word and a friendly face. Like they had in the beginning.
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