A tick has found its way into Anthony’s flesh, inside his ear. It snuggles itself into the curve, where the blood is thin and scarce; it will have to wait awhile to be fed, and so it won’t become fat and found and killed. It will take what it wants and fall away. Slowly, it will drink Anthony’s warm blood, through a nick it makes with its mouth. It’s a good home for this little thing, which lives on the life of the living.
