Born abnormal sounds about right, Ned thinks, though he doesn't say that aloud. Instead he just files it away, along with the bitter mental footnote that out of the pair of them, he is probably the more abnormal. Not that it is a competition, and he certainly wishes it weren't the case. He's simply failed to meet anyone in all his years who can top being born with an unexplained power over life and death. But Ginsberg doesn't need to know about that. No one does.

"You don't think abnormal can pass for normal? Given the proper amount of routines, and strategies, and attention to detail?"

An abstract kind of a question, for a simple piemaker, but he's curious to hear Ginsberg's answer. His offer to be Ned's friend makes him smile, radiantly. "I'd like that. I guess it only makes sense. Us abnormal kids should stick together."