"Isn't giving presents... fantasy?" he asked. He walked over to a stack of books the library let him check out and pulled out one where he remembered the characters gave each other gifts. "Like magic," he said slowly. "Something that only happens in books?"

Like turning into a dragon? he pushed that thought aside. His fantasy reality border took a regular pummeling since he got here and he was loosing control of his awareness of what was real, and what wasn't.

Here... people... seemed to actually CARE... about HIM. Here he turned into a dragon and sometimes that was a good thing. Here people gave without asking. Here people walked or flew or swam under ice without dying. Here... there was no pain at the end of the day, here his father never burst in on him... He was beginning to wonder if maybe he had died after all... or was in a coma or something... and this was all some weird elaborate dream....