Then suddenly, after his molting of adolescence, Red crossed over some invisible yet magical threshold and emerged the other end as a handsome man. It was as if some benevolent master sculptor had carved edges into those previously shapeless youthful cheeks and smoothed away the acne and worry. The resulting sculpture revealed skin empty of the freckles and ruddiness that usually colonized the faces of anyone else so fair. New muscles were built upon more muscles, and that candy-red hair lightened to a golden merlot, as fine as the red wine.