[Rincewind's simple, obvious suggestion sets off a cascade of excuses, every one of them in Jim's voice, if not as it is now, how it once was. However, not a single one of them comes from his lips, each one coming from everywhere at once, as if the walls of the apartment themselves were talking.]

After the baby's born, I promise.

The city needs me.

After this case.

[The excuses soon blur together into a sort of cacophony, and, when they do go silent, they're replaced by a silence utterly unlike the silence of the absence of noise. The silence seems to be waiting for something. The silence is broken by James' voice, uttered from his own lips.]

There was always time later. Always something more import-- No, not more important.

[He looks at the grisly scene.]

I always thought I'd be able to make up for lost time later. That one day I'd retire and be able to spend all the time I wanted with them.

[He runs his fingers through his wife's hair, and looks at his children.]

I've missed so much. You're right. Time is a limited resource, and I'm suddenly not so sure I've been using mine well.