And as he played he looked up, but all he could see were birds.
Sometimes he had a feeling he was being toyed with, that something or somebody someplace was playing a little game of brinkmanship, to test his limits, to perhaps see what mettle lay beneath.
And he chuckled, a sweet, sinister, resigned chuckle. For what more was all this than just a long, protracted game?
PLENTY MORE, that's what.

And he wasn't down, or out yet.