A prayer for Owen Meany: a novel

I finished it. He pointed to the sink.

"BETTER WASH YOUR HAND-SCRUB IT GOOD," he said. "AND THEN RUB ON THE ALCOHOL."

I did as I was told.

"YOU'RE GOING TO BE FINE," he said. "I'LL HAVE YOU AT THE HOSPITAL IN FIVE MINUTES-UNDER TEN MINUTES, TOPS! WHAT'S YOUR BLOOD TYPE?" he asked me; I shook my head-I didn't know my blood type. Owen laughed. "/ KNOW WHAT IT IS-YOU DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING} YOU'RE THE SAME TYPE AS ME! IF YOU NEED ANY, YOU CAN HAVE SOME OF MINE." I couldn't move away from the sink.

"I WASN'T GOING TO TELL YOU THIS-I DIDN'T WANT TO WORRY YOU-BUT YOU'RE IN THE DREAM. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU COULD BE IN IT, BUT YOU ARE-EVERY TIME, YOU'RE IN IT," he said.

"In your dream?" I asked him.

"I KNOW YOU THINK IT'S 'JUST A DREAM'-I KNOW, I KNOW-BUT IT BOTHERS ME THAT YOU'RE IN IT. I FIGURE," said Owen Meany, "THAT IF YOU DON'T GO TO VIETNAM, YOU CAN'T BE IN THAT DREAM."

"You're absolutely crazy, Owen," I told him; he shrugged-then he smiled at me.

"IT'S YOUR DECISION," he told me. I got myself from the sink to the saw table; the diamond wheel was so bright, I couldn't look at it. I put my finger on the block of wood. Owen started the saw.

"DON'T LOOK AT THE BLADE, AND DON'T LOOK AT YOUR FINGER," he told me. "LOOK RIGHT AT ME." I shut my eyes when he put the safety goggles in place. "DON'T SHUT YOUR EYES-THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU DIZZY," he said. "KEEP LOOKING AT ME. THE ONLY THING YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF IS MOVING-JUST DON'T MOVE," he said. "BY THE TIME YOU FEEL ANYTHING, IT WILL BE OVER."

"I can't do it," I said.

"DON'T BE AFRAID," Owen told me. "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO-IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT."

The lenses of the safety goggles were very clean; his eyes were very clear.

"I LOVE YOU," Owen told me. "NOTHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU-TRUST ME," he said. As he lowered the diamond wheel in the gantry, I tried to put the sound of it out of my mind. Before I felt anything, I saw the blood spatter the lenses of the safety goggles, through which his eyes never blinked-he was such an expert with that thing. "JUST THINK OF THIS AS MY LITTLE GIFT TO YOU," said Owen Meany.