in bed , he reaches far back for an image of legs lyle and wonders at the magic inherent in how her looks could change so much from day to daya days whim and cheeks pinkened , eyelashes lengthened , or breasts remolded , and wondered , too , at the greater magic that a laugh could stay the same across twenty thousand days of livingand at the wildest , and most inexplicable , magicthat he could remain so affected , so infected , by that soundeven when it punctuated pain .