Textile X-ray vision is what we’re talking about. First, what you’re talking about is not a blanket sort of X-ray vision, where your sight penetrates through any substance, but a very specific sort of X-ray vision that only goes through clothes. “But what people don’t think about when they talk about X-ray vision…is two things. Then he admitted that he would probably use it to look at women. He said that the first thing he would do would be to look through the walls while the cooks were making up their curry powder, since it was extraordinarily good curry powder and he wanted to be able to duplicate it at home. He was eating a yellow curry chicken dish. He drifted into temping while working on a master’s in something or other… We were at a Chinese restaurant one time when I asked him what he would look at if he had X-ray vision. As usual, Baker gets into detail when he talks about what other people take for granted.Īnd just what would other people think of the Fermata? What would they do if they were me? Although I have up to now been able to keep my powers a strict secret, I have gone through periods when I have been eager to get some idea of what others would do in my place… I had an interesting talk with a man named Bill Asplundh about this.

But he’s too cautious and superstitious to get too specific. Arnold’s secret is so good, he finds it hard not to share it with others.

The Fermata by Nicholson Baker