¡¶American Ghosts and Old World Wonders¡·


 Lizzies Tiger -1

    o toiger, treet, in a very poor  ime of test parsimony in t  difficult and tised a little touco prick ion of greater productivity. In anoten years time, tates ies, le outbreak of summer couc a toucypo o bill when he had buried his wife.

    For, at t time, t freseen, Lizzie four -- stern and square, a squat rectangle of a ced Lizzies retc back over eac tig and morning  lump of little girl around in   a demonstrative c sion easily, except to ted sometuitively feminine in spite of o court it.

    t cottage on Ferry -- very   taker lived on unconcerned among tiff furnis marriage. s and pieces oday if turned up fresique store, but in time  dreary interior, tiny , mildetern like brains, top of ters sleeping in one room in one ty bed.

    On Ferry, in t part of touguese fres eeto ed cive; every year more cory sle t summoned to labour as bells o prayer.

    tood, or, rat a bibulous angle on a narroreet cut across at an oblique angle by anotreet, all t cookie jar of broken gingerbread  ters uffed  fence and raised voices in unknoongues and side t roerfeit  sometimes used to scream.

    Sucecture of two girls early childhood.

    A  and stuck a poster, siger, on to a picket fence. As soon as Lizzie saer, sed to go to t Emma  a cent. teen-year-old  time, t skivvy just quit e t so mucer on t tal for t er, purpled  off, tore it up.

    t ime. Emma  s cookery and Faty of anotly skivvy until sucime as plague struck, already pondered t-efficiency of remarriage; ly uncooked  almost put ing mood, but t is not to say emper. So t, ten-like upon cruly loved t daughter, whose obduracy recalled his own.

    Emma unhandily darned a sock.

    "Get t co bed before I lose my temper!"

    Emma dropped t in dour lines of affront as sed on tling stratress -- oat straest and c -- sat  t in a sunbeam. Sment. It  midsummer, only six oclock and still brigside.

    S on to tool upon o tcood open for air beo Father.

    Next-doors lean and famisself at t concealed ts on trotting doreet, ent. S be denied. tinkled in  might signify a profane church.

    "ts a tiger," Emma old ed ter on their fence.

    "A tiger is a big cat," Emma added instructively.

    ?

    A very big cat.

    A dumpy, red-striped, regular cat of tic variety greeted Lizzie op a gatepost as sumped determinedly along Ferry Street; our cat, Ginger, imental er protracted spinsterimes call Miss Ginger, or even Miss Ginger Cuddles. Lizzie, ernly ignored Miss Ginger Cuddles. Miss Ginger Cuddles sneaked. t put out a pao detain o suggest sook second ts as to , for all t decision  one firm foot before t t idea   t all  tan, barking dog of unforeseen breed t  could go  pleased.

    ts easy-going grin took a fancy to Lizzie and, yapping tle figure in te pinafore as it marc to pat its head. She was a fearless girl.

    t took a fancy to tle on one particular tree. to t clo sook tle legs could not keep up ten-year-old put o a field on town.

    "See top?" te striped tent of scarcely imaginable proportions, into o spare inside for anot red and riped tent, side and, besides tents, bootalls, dotted about t most of all s number of people, for it seemed to  to be out tonig,  all ern jahose ice-blue eyes.

    Sranger among trangers, for all  to to faces. tures of teristic gloom; and te smiles of tuguese, er tripping off tipsy-sounding tongues.

    "y by to slito pick a pocket or to complete treat, who knows?

    Above ting tones of ts unique to ted industrial cities, sunsets never seen in team t set tion t made us all modern.

    At sunset, t of Neal, a Roman sensuality; under ternly voluptuous sky, Lizzie abandoned o tated smells and never-before- fat in a vat of frying dougs; ; s; cries of vendors; crack of rifles from te-faced cloered a banjo, age. too muco take in at once, too muco take in at all -- too ric for  saken a little beyond  igo, a sense of profound strangeness overcoming her.

    All unnoticeably small as saken up by tossed about among insensitive sticoats, too close to to see mucic bustle of t tced up ement so t so colour up in t by tide of to a long table where hard cider was sold from a barrel.

    te tableclot and sticky , metallic odour. An old in mugs at t, mug after mug, and to oto a tin box -- splaso table to prevent rade urned t off and cider cascaded on to table.

    t into Lizzie, tablecloto  darkness and crouc inuous stream from t until sed t into  very sensitive spot imate sively at the nape of her neck.

    So face , decently dressed in a sligepusly filled  to ance,  quiver of t  drank, tossed its pink snout, and trotted off out table.

    Lizzie did not ate. S past ts. ts tail disappeared beneat piled   to find  in t time in an abrupt margin of pitc of to a , t; able; bes, but irring, and t bird.

    to rootle t o stroke it, it ss ears out of its eyes and took off at a great pace into tryside. tention ely diverted from tment by t of a man o ts, leaning slig sound repeated itself. Fumbling  of rousers, urned round and tripped over Lizzie, because tle unsteady on  and so be seen among t doook hold of her shoulders.

    "Small cy into tle, ted rig of   s of moustache pale half-moon of his smile.

    "Small girl," ed er a closer look.  speak like ordinary folks.  from around ts. ugged at rousers. ook firm   it tenderly up beting thighs.

    "Small girl, do you knohis is for?"

    S buttons; serge; somet and moving. S mind it.  e or th: "Kissy, kissy from Missy?"

 Lizzies Tiger -2

    S and se  like ive kisses, and endured times Emma toucly ed lips. Lizzie ook cly folded it up on its fingers and gave o her.

    quot;Gratuity,quot;  in  and nipped raig t and, after a moments t, stumped off after till, secret edges of to .

    But notention to t even ely fat  for ays, but for black cotton stockings ers tes on t for a majestic  of black leg, but ly and Lizzie scuttled unseen after, casting an inquisitive back ed  smack and sank down on hing unseen moaned.

    tall as Lizzie tle drummer-boy, somersaulted -- ly across ttering to  time to see t, alt se rigo o  then he was gone.

    Dont tened  t frightens easily.

    t tent, not triped tent, but anotent, ent; it  up inside like a Cern and glo last o unfasten and  inside.  so muctempt to close up after o be in as great a umbling d as soon as s here.

    Feet of customers  , ent  s see o see , mixed ter around range cries t did not come from s, so s track.

    S could be seen: a young couple, arm in arm, icks   doeps of size, a man, a o a baby of indeterminate sex in t, but took account of.

    tenc on all time, a roaring as if teeth.

    S skirts and trousers and scratcil sanding beside t brotaircase family at t of t still s see tiger, even if sood on tiptoe, sed a  any clotside only  t and stockings, and some foliage, ars. taircase family  clean and respectable-looking, altire family possessed t pale, peculiar look ceristic of tives. training upwards.

    quot; Veux-tu voir le grand c, ma petite?quot;

    Lizzie did not understand  as her son heaved Lizzie up in his arms for a good look.

    quot;Les poux. . .quot; s her son paid her no heed.

    quot;Voil¨¤, ma petite!quot;

    tiger  an  t burned. It burned so brigs tail, tc tip. tride of tiger; its eyes like yellos round, innocent, toy-like ears; tiff  ificial look; t noise came. It rareh bloody bones.

    tiger kept its ing  of old. All its motion  s back, if it il it rolled over to ts ense muscles keened and sang. It  reacself in one liquid motion; notiful ts  ed nerves. Upon its pelt it bore t of t lived.

    t igo, but  stop ctle fingers and ried but  dislodge tiger stopped in its track s mysterious patrol and looked at  eyes of Neered , mineral eyes of tiger.

    It seemed to Lizzie t time, tiger and herself.

    trange e beast fell to   tle c lead it to eat meat. But only quot;as ifquot;. All  knelt. A crackle of sent; tiger ing out of cer.

    Its mind remained, o itself. e did not kno hinking. how could we?

    It stopped roaring. Instead it started to emit a rattling purr. time somersaulted. Space diminiso ttractive force betiger. All t existed in tiger.

    t came too ring by t tell you iger, nor  it   forced it to come to s knees, like a penitent. It dragged its pale belly across ty straotle soft creature s  folloine lengts ceaselessly tcail.

    ts nose and it buzzed and rumbled and took t idea .

    t scared and pummelled tle fists, but s let go a grip as tig of the newborn.

    Crack! the spell broke.

    to the ring.

    A lasigers carnivorous o t did not ool. s, a brig frogged all . A dervised ool, leaped and t ballet of mimic ferocity, taming of tiger, to wamer gave no co fig all.

    t cat unpeeled its eyes off Lizzies in a trice, rose up on its ed at ts at a piece of paper dangled from a string. It batted at tamer s enormous pa tinued to confuse, irritate and torment it and, ing, ted baying of t, ual custom, a lifetimes training, tiger o an obscure corner of tage, to cower, ws flanks ure of ion.

    Lizzie let go of tains and all, to ector for comfort. So ts by ttack of trainer upon tiger and s he surface.

    tamer gave emptuous ripple around  made it sink its ed foot on tigers skull and cleared  for speeciger  even more so, because he was a man.

    quot;Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, tiger kno alive-oo Boston from its native jungle but t mont time, no my imperious command, offers you a perfect imitation of docility and obedience. But do not let te deceive you. Brute it e it remains. Not for not receive t of Scourge for, in its native at, it t nots breakfast and follo;

    A pleasing singled the crowd.

    quot;tiger,quot; and t ingly ;is table incarnation of blood lust and fury; in a single instant, it can turn from furry quiescence into th-dealing fury.

    quot;tiger is ts revenge.quot;

    O meepost as Lizzie passed by; ment!

    to a confidential e, suc beall, alted suc mastery, not a single person in tent would  he had been drinking.

    quot; is ture of t and Man? Let me tell you. It is fear. Fear! Not fear. Do you knos?  long, every nigers, impossible to close our eyes for brooding on  tal beast rike?

    quot;Dont t bleed, or t t  of scars, scar upon scar. I o be once more broken open. No skin of mine t is not scar tissue. And I am alime in t -- t, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, you see before you a man in tal fear.

    quot;error of my life.

    quot;At t I am in t deatrap.quot;

    trical pause.

    quot;But,quot; and igers nose ock, so t it , quot;but. . .quot;  and Lizzie sa frog  rousers s a little, quot;. . . but Im not e as it is of me!quot;

    he showed his red maw in a laugh.

    quot;For I bring to bear upon its killer instinct a rational mans knoool, are instruments of bluff e s, I abliss you migop dog, because I kno all time t to kill me, t is t, t is tention. . . but as for t dont kno;

    As if enced by tion,  loud again, but by noiger, pered blo a clear and incontrovertible message of disaffection and, s sculptured  a, caugoppled over. And tiger illness, of lines, but a whe air. On him.

    tely bayed.

    But tamer, ances,  uncanny py, bounced backool  o tigers jaiger roying tc tamer leaped, unscat hurrahs.

    Lizzies stunned little face tled all over  of tent, enment.

    to see t of tupendous cat act, to buy anoticket for top, besides ticket for t ant on to do t, in spite of t soon got bored ciger splintering tool, and drifted off.

    quot;Eite,quot; said o , singsong, crooning voice. quot;tu as vu la b¨ºte! La b¨ºte du cauc;

    t  peacefully t noo stir and mumble. Its moth her elbow.

    quot;On va, Papa?quot;

    t  pink lips do; sruggled furiously and sed to be put do,  out of  and silence; ent  oer in all Fall River.

    quot;ell, if it aint Andretle girl!  are ttle Lizzie Borden?quot;

 John Fords Tis Pity Shes a Whore-1

    NOtE:

    Joist of tragedy, tis Pity S;Deep in a dump Jo/it.quot; (Choice Drollery, 1656.)

    Joagecoacine (1946); S;My name is Joerns.quot; (John Ford, Andrew Sinclair, New York 1979.)

    t, icks nailed togeto make a cross because time, yet, to carve a stone.

    Did s anguis killed algia for t beo tiness? Neit vast sky, t he bedrock of an ocean in which she drowned.

    Sold ;Look after your sister.quot; tle;   to build. Deatence of tche girl was younger.

    t careless sky upon , and time t a rock: quot;Beloved ; beneat top  for his own name.

    America begins and ends in tude. Up ic sno in ters of tlantic, ually restless albatross. America, orso of a  time of tory, a , a  laced so tig snapped in t a belt of er tcher and your cold head, your cold head.

    Its central paradox resides in t top  knotom inent, you kno once t teamericanos, or I  speak of t silences tinents multitude of tongues.

    Blond ctle girl in ging. In t call them Johnny and Annie-Belle.

    Annie-Belle ramp t  spare time enougo pause and consider turn. No, sir. A womans work is never done and she became a woman early.

    t paterfamilias o too ces of birto teen, fourteen, increasingly astonis and rendered seen. ty so pray in Gods , like t of split logs. Annie-Belle kept imes, but not mucy land, t surday-nigune, mocked ter at he preacher.

    Silence and space and an unimaginable freedom w imagine.

    Since  of to s in cone. t celebrate to give t was a hard life.

    ters  time tarted. ters oral  about a ;Out t little o talk to cept co;

    did t, and o keep flies out of tter; in er, of t kno a stranger o toake o ty and so on, but, since ion began and ended  t of t of  lig er should.

    Sub. Seen. It  time t year. S on to dry  in ted from talogue,  caug  o be an a of it, tangling up tticoat, ttle, nobody to see  t Jo tone. Giddy, o tangling  see o cover herself.

    quot;;

    Imagine an orcra bee petticoat  lace, er-darkened tle trickles running doible as ligender land.

    t;Love t; send he jogged mirror falls.

    quot;Seven years bad luck --quot;

    In ts of to see t faces t, superimposed upon one anot at every feature, t once t never existed until nohe pure face of America.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. DAY

    (Long s) Farmhouse.

    (Close up) Petticoat falling on to porch of farmhouse.

    isconsin, Oa, Nebraska, tas, yoming, Montana . . . Oerritories! t green vastness, in whing is possible.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. DAY

    (Close up) Johnny and Annie-Belle kiss.

    quot;Love t; up.

    Dissolve.

    No. It  like t! Not in t like t.

    out ouc hair. he was giddy.

    Annabella: Met well.

    Giovanni:  you and I. I ter.

    Annabella: Yes, you know I do.

    And t, t toget; tumbling togeto see too young to kno do it, yet even in t not do it. . .do o do? From ccry curning from t heir own.

    [Music plays.]

    Giovanni: Let not this music be a dream, ye gods.

    For pitys sake, I beg you!

    [She kneels.]

    Annabella: On my knees,

    Brot, I charge you

    Do not betray me to your mirte.

    Love me, or kill me, brother.

    [he kneels.]

    Giovanni: On my knees,

    Sister, even by our mot, I charge you

    Do not betray me to your mirte.

    Love me, or kill me, sister.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE PORCh. DAY

    Upset er-tub, spilling over discarded petticoat.

    Empty rocking-chair, rocking, rocking.

    It is t mysterious to me. te. I imagine e or ype, urns tiful oils and ss. s of tinguis;; of sucook root, so  il now.

    And I imagine elligence nouris dense oil  live in Eden and of ture of t.

    For surely it cannot be this bliss? ho could forbid such bliss!

    as it bliss for oo? Or ? quot;Look after your sister.quot; But it was ser  as she fed him.

    Giovanni: I am lost forever.

    Lost in tes, ake off  s see o touco it than farmyard ways.

    INtERIOR. MINIStERS hOUSE. DAY

    Dinner-table. Ministers  for her husband and her son.

    MINIStERS IFE: taint rig aint rig there, growing up like savages, never seeing nobody.

    MINIStERS SON: Serribly pretty, Mama.

    ters er turn to look at t comprehensively.

    t tless. o ary, once-monts took a c togetc made in t;log cabinquot; pattern by time toget came out of t telling o put t out, singuisactility of the dark.

    Sy of defloration. According to ers  girl. And yet t seem to urned to ting space around to t of t grave ted in ter came, ts in ted and all he birds came back.

    A dusk bird  cone xylopra.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE PORCh. DAY

    Annie-Belle, in apron, comes out on ead porcrikes metal triangle.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Dinners ready!

    INtERIOR. FARM

    Supper-table. Annie-Belle serves beans. None for herself.

    JO eating anytonight.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Cant rigonight.

    t cone.

    ed to run a, furt, to Utao California  Fat enoug; , s on, not  t of t them.

    ters son, in , came courting Annie-Belle. entative manner and mild eyes;  long survive in ting Annie-Belle alted o go to college. quot;  college ; said   ao go out and visit  on the line.

    Sound of ting ts, the very sound of loneliness.

    Soranzo:  to love?

    Annabella: Not you.

    Soranzo: hen?

    Annabella: ts as tes infer.

    S back and fort. s , s queasy.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. DAY

    Johe prairie.

    ANNIE-BELLE: I think he likes me, Johnny.

    Pan blue sky, .

    Noance bethem.

    t, ted lig, filtered t by self.

    Correction:  by self.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE PORCh. DAY

    Rotles on a fence.

    Bang, bang, bang. Jos ttles one by one.

    Annie-Belle on porcub. tears run down her face.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE PORCh. DAY

    Fat up on railing, glass and bottle to hand.

    Sun going down over prairies.

    Bang, bang, bang.

    (Fat of vietles off the fence.

    Clink of fattle against glass.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    Ministers son rides along track in long s.

    Bang, bang, bang.

    Annie-Belle, clean dress, tidy  of o porctle against glass.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    Ministers son tet.

    In tage roses, sbrier, daisies.

    Annie-Belle smiles, takes posy.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Oh!

    o a daisy.

    MINIStERS SON: Let me . . .

    takes tle wound.

    . . . make it better.

    Bang. Bang. Bang.

    Clink of bottle on glass.

    (Close up) Annie-Belle, smiling, breat from her posy.

 John Fords Tis Pity Shes a Whore-2

    And, per been possible, so love ters gentle son before s, not only  impossible, s meant s be married quickly.

    INtERIOR. ChURCh. DAY

    ar.

    Joe, strained; fatoical.

    Ministers hin-lipped, furious.

    Ministers son and Annie-Belle, in simple ton wedding-dress, join hands.

    MINIStER: Do you take this woman. . .

    (Close up) Ministers sons o Annie-Belles finger.

    INtERIOR. BARN. NIGht

    Fiddle and banjo old-time music.

    Vigorous square dance going on; bride and groom lead.

    Fat table, glass in hand.

    Jotle.

    Bride and groom come toget end of dance; groom kisses brides cheek. She laughs.

    (Close up) Annie-Belle looking s ters son.

    ts taggers and faints.

    Consternation.

    Ministers son and Joowards her.

    Jos her up in his arms, her head on his shoulder. Eyes opening.

    Ministers son reac for s ake hold of her.

    Ser Johe crowd.

    Silence s ts on the marriage bed.

    INtERIOR. MINIStERS

    Annie-Belle in bed, in a we nigche pillow, weeping.

    Ministers son, bare back, sitting on side of bed o camera, head in hands.

    In ting into t and, in spite of ests, stripped Annie-Belle and subjected o a midion. S Annie-Belle  tell t sure. too beurn of events to  it; only, to ill loved ther mans child.

    quot;Bitc; said ters ruck Annie-Belle a blo started her nose bleeding.

    quot;Noop t, Mot; said tle son. quot;Cant you see s ;

    terrible day dreo its end. t on treet, but ter, praying for guidance, found  taken in adultery and meditated .

    quot;Only tell me t; o Annie-Belle.

    quot;Better you dont kno,quot; s; .quot;

    quot;as it --?quot; naming one or two.

    quot;You never kne.quot;

    t out crying again, and ook her in his arms.

    quot;It o; said t;t girl made a fool of you!quot;

    Sable and  t t table  e of er t, seeing  bread for Annie-Belle and lay it on e, my son is a saint. o fear for him.

    quot;I  do anyt,quot; er t out.

    tratress uffed rustled beneaturned away from him.

    INtERIOR. FARMC

    Joside, looks at father asleep in rocking-chair.

    Picks up some discarded garment of Annie-Belles from t.

    Shoulders shake.

    Opens cupboard, takes out bottle.

    Uncorks eeth. Drinks.

    Bottle in  on porch.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. NIGht

    (Jo of vie, t;Landscape t; rises.

    INtERIOR. MINIStERS SONS ROOM. NIGht

    Annie-Belle and Ministers son in bed.

    Moonligains.

    Botle of mattress.

    ANNIE-BELLE: You awake?

    Ministers son moves away from her.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Reckon I never properly knowed no young man before. . .

    MINIStERS SON:  about --

    ANNIE-BELLE (sion off): Oh. . .

    Ministers son moves towards her.

    For s consider egory of quot;young menquot;;  in one anot nig mig o be borne, it was already enougoo mucigerrible innocence.

    It  so muc s. Only, fearing t, it turned out t t , or, rat sance, a ne exist.

    So ;It did not signify, my darling; I only did it oget sky t made us scared and so oget ; But s not say t, t t natural love of all  precisely t not acknoo lie doranger o lie do silent. And ime, grow even more precious.

    t nige of t, and ed to murder o get t for titute, but Annie-Belle served t on an apron, cut t, ty, sucitude t t , igrap, but s t for if t rocious gentleness of her menfolk. And. So.

    Joo toers brier, c and still  imagine it, t s do it . She did.

    At tore, all gossip ceased o broreams omed to people. talked,  go, out , still furt as far as tarts again, per some clerking job or ot. their children.

    quot;Yes,quot; s;e s,quot; she said.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    Annie-Belle drives up in trap.

    Jo on porc-sleeves, bottle in hand.

    takes  s get dorap.

    ANNIE-BELLE: heres Daddy?

    Joures tohe prairie.

    ANNIE-BELLE (not looking at Jo someto tell him.

    (Close up) Johnny.

    JO you got noto tell me?

    (Close up) Annie-Belle.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Reckon I aint.

    (Close up) Johnny.

    JO do a .

    (Close up) Annie-Belle.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Cant ime.

    (Close up) Johnny and Annie-Belle.

    JO to scurry back, get your  it?

    ANNIE-BELLE: Jo you come to c married, Johnny?

    Journs away.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    Annie-Belle gets dorap, follows Joowards farmhouse.

    ANNIE-BELLE: Oh, Johnny, you knowed we did wrong.

    Joowards farmhouse.

    ANNIE-BELLE: I count myself fortunate to have found forgiveness.

    JO are you going to tell Daddy?

    ANNIE-BELLE: Im going out .

    Giovanni: , cly lord

    Found out a trick in nighan we

    Could knoy? --  so?

    Or does t come on you, to prove treacherous

    to your past vohs?

    Annabella:

    At my calamity.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    JO ?

    Annie-Belle nods,

    JOhNNY: By yourself?

    Annie-Belle shakes her head.

    JOh him?

    Annie-Belle nods.

    Jos hand on porch rail, bends forward, hiding his face.

    ANNIE-BELLE: It is for t.

    Ss  for ricates herself.

    tle; contents of bottle run out on grass.

    ANNIE-BELLE: It was wrong, w we did.

    JO about . . .

    ANNIE-BELLE: It s ever tle t never see it. Forget everything. Youll find yourself a woman, youll marry.

    Jo and clasps o him.

    quot;No,quot; s;never. No.quot; And foug and scratc;Never! Its s a sin.quot; But, , s;I dont  to,quot; and s it, s not or else  lay before  simplicity of a cterly destroyed. So s free of o ty-split to toing the whip.

    Accompanied by a black trunk like a coffin, ter and o a railen seen on telegraper-toickets. Autumn  stuck;  speak to ly but addressed remarks ter,  by so a repentant sinner.

    Sant   virgin.

    S go le. ig nigo say goodbye to  take care of  Jo come set tongues o set eyes on er in  seems to explain titude. All knoerest in girls himself.

    quot;Bless you, c; says ter. it troubling air of incipient sainttles runk and tucks a rug round  dorack and tober mauve and broance, train  ing sound, bloance, t underlines tance.

    EXtERIOR. FARMhOUSE. DAY

    Jos horse. Slings rifle over shoulder.

    Kicks horses sides.

    EXtERIOR. RAILROAD. DAY

    train  of smoke.

    Engine pulling train across prairie.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. DAY

    Jorack.

    EXtERIOR. RAILROAD. DAY

    train wurning.

    EXtERIOR. PRAIRIE. DAY

    .

    EXtERIOR. StAtION. DAY

    MINIStERS IFE: Noake care of yourself, you  s bring o say it).

    MINIStER: Be sure to tell us about t comes.

    (Close up) Annie-Belle smiling gratefully.

    train wle.

    And see tograp ting on a trunk, ing to be transported onwards, away, elsewure in her belly.

    EXtERIOR. StAtION. DAY

    Station master comes out of ticket-office.

    StAtION MAStER: here she comes!

    (Long s) Engine appearing round bend.

    EXtERIOR. StAtION. DAY

    Joethers his horse.

    ANNIE-BELLE: o say goodbye after all!

    (Close up) Joion.

    JO  here.

    Giovanni: thus die, and die by me, and by my hand!

    Revenge is mine; h love command!

    Annabella: Oher, by your hand!

    EXtERIOR. StAtION. DAY

    ANNIE-BELLE: Dont s -- t --

    MINIStERS SON: Oh, my God --

    Bang, bang, bang.

    to protect  second, before t pierced o to a  and passengers came tumbling off to see  antics  ood and stared and did not believe, did not believe.

    Seeing some life left in er, Joo his knees beside her and her eyes opened up and, perhaps, she saw him, for she said:

    Annabella: Brother, unkind, unkind. . .

    So t Deatisfied, Jo to rigger.

    EXtERIOR. StAtION. DAY

    (Crane s) ter comforting rain in order to look at tastrophe.

    t;Love t; rises over a pan of t sky, t of tinent, th, beloved, cruel, unkind.

    NOtE:

    t out Annabellas  and carry it on stage; tage direction reads: Enter Giovanni,  upon ing t is irresistibly reminiscent of tual tortures practised by the Indians who lived here before.

 Gun for the Devil-1

    A , dusty, flyblooo  grace, tune to find time is about turn of tury, long after t is past; and t ty-stricken s, run tos corrupt ss bank, telegrap is an appointment of theirs.

    tablis in toly ill-matcive European aristocrat and ress, traigive, affectionate woman.

    Ser of Maria Mendoza, ts s ained t, arrived, t of no;Iquot;ve come er all time. . . to go.quot; Roxanad  of experience in trade; affed it  good reason to lie lo tomers very  of trouble, tors -- and sometimes tor, a stray passerby, a travelling salesman, say, or a smuggler. thel prospers.

    And t, in  and ts of dandified black, lends a little class to t; so o to ornament resss bar. A certain bitterness, a dour dignity, cerises t.

    t lets visitors buy drinks for  a distinguisance about ill, even if o ry, a legendary marksman. tter among t o do an act in a circus. o s all il she day she was born!

    But

    some man so, some seamy story. . .  it in San Francisco, on terfront? No, no, no -- everytria, or Germany, or ouc Roxana. s, no only ts best not to pay attention to sucories, even if Maddalena once old  ts sively crosses herself.

    In toions. ion to live anyty as a picture, s sixteen, sullen, dissatisfied, s a feion  to learn o read and e.  does so read and e for? Not  so get married, isnt so a ric !

    In ternoon, time, Roxana and er sit in Roxanas boudoir  togetly tippling tequila. Maria Mendoza is a roaring, mannised and spurred bandit erate, moter only, tiful teresa. quot;e finally fixed it, Roxana; signed, sealed and almost delivered. . . See, ure of teresas fiance. . . isnt ;

    Roxana looks at tograp, even if a more po least so get  o bed. And teresa  even met ended. . . quot;No, no!quot; cries Maria. quot;ts not necessary. Love s eresas babies, my grandcs bo; But Roxana is less certain and sfully. quot;Anyeresa can do about it,quot; says ;its all been fixed up by Mendoza, s queen of tire border. ts a lot better t;

    tockade, in a filt of folloook it over, a rat Spaniseresas e of a fats out teresa, ter, screams at ;e live like pigs! Like pigs!quot;

    Problems in t tiest of all to start up t c for tagecoaco take tting on barrels in tore o er t a coincidence!

    y boy, too, in a velvet coat, e fingers! erously sing at cter. ed voice. Is trace of a foreign accent?

    Like t, artlingly alien in tive, semi-desert environment.

    Roxana melts maternally at t of s t by playing a little Bra-of-tune, onk piano. ts eyes mist over; oire at Vienna? Can it be possible? raordinary. . . so you udying at toire at Vienna? Alted ural sceptic. But  piano-player shes ever heard.

    And, anyions in to matter.   a little room over to sleep in,  to keep t. t bored. . . dont let ther you.

    But Joed being. ely.

    In ograps -- on tered pine dressing-table; pins up a poster for tz. ograp;Ive found out o t  be long no long.quot;

    s outside. Maria Mendoza is coming to visit er, riding astride, like a man,  to pay a formal call on ! Ride back eresa!

    Sullen, surns  trots away, s , Johnnys briefly veil.

    teresa is momentarily confused; thing.

    In t, Jo. tears of sentimental nostalgia roll do still try not to remember. . . ly, is it true ing in tro- starts.

    t t o obtain a bullet t cannot miss its target. . .

    An old legend, says t. In titious villages, till.

    All kinds of s in the open window.

    ts of a certain aristocrat, s -- arent t a man  amongst t whores and murderers?

    t, s another whisky.

    Is it true o  -- t, you! old man -- ation as a marksman so extraordinary t everyone t ural powers?

    t, recovering  of Paganini, t  o play t;

    quot;And per; says Johnny.

    quot;Youre a musician, not a murderer, Jo;

    quot;Stranglers and piano-players bot a bullet is more merciful,quot; suggests Johnny obliquely.

    Out of some kind of dream into  says: quot;t belongs to t is ;

    But tonig, cant say any more. o bed, to Roxana,  Roxana takes care of you, saken care of you, ever since she found you.

    Roxana motoo, but scroubled eyes. All  and play in times s ts old rifle, rokes tock; but  ts of deat all. Notakes no interest in ts unhy.

    It seems to Roxana t ty. to be cting to one anotimes talk in German. Roxana es t, it makes  out, excluded.

    Can  begot and to find him?

    Could it be?

    Old man and young one,  be?

    And if it is, ell her, Roxana?

    Secrets make  out, excluded. Ss in equila.

    Voices beloogetion of ttle scummy pond in front of t back off treet.

    She crosses herself, goes on rocking.

    quot;Speak Englis leave ts mysteries be; says t. quot;ted  bery, full of ;

    rocks of t lour do.

    quot;But try is more ancient by far trange gods brood over it. I s, never.quot;

    Aliens, strangers, t and Joc on teresas fating.

    Jo, tells t s rain carried. s, botinent from California, from a booking in San Francisco. . . and he far away, in Europe.

    Mendoza ore t ried to stop t her because she was screaming so loudly.

    Calm, quiet, Jos all.

    quot;e all ragedies.quot;

    quot;Some tragedies urn back on trators. Ive planned my revenge. A suitably operatic revenge. I siful senorita and give  s rangling tiful pianists ;

    Quiet, assured, deadly -- but incompetent.  knoher; never raised his hand in anger in his life.

    But ter arrived at  o ensure no bullet he mark. . .

    quot;If youve planned it all so ed to your vengeance. . .quot;

    Jo, assured, deadly.

    quot;If youre quite determined, to t is indeed more merciful tely fired.quot;

    And t ed Mendozas contempt for y.

    But Jo o lose? Youve noto a dead end, kept by a  took. . . give me a gun t  self. I kno one. I know --

    quot;I o lose,quot; says t inscrutably. quot;Except my sins, Jo my sins.quot;

    teresa, sixteen, sullen, pretty, dissatisfied, retreats into o ter bed looted from a train especially for  of taed glitter, gorges es, leafs tten, . C on t pokes its eresa tchis living?

    s open. An excited dog folloing on to to gna tten rises on its o bat at teresa es, magazines, screaming -- insupportable! Sorms out of the room.

    In tyard, ering a screaming pig. ts t of teresas made for better t.

    Sely out into ty street. Empty. Like my life, like my life.

    illo of Roxanas brot has a secluded air.

    teresa skulks beside tones at ion. Morning, slack time; in voluptuous d¨¦s;Little teresa! Little teresa! Come in and see your auntie!quot; t ockings, -girl dress, her rumpled hair.

    Roxanas doing t pours  to remonstrate ter of it, returns to side on t teresa.

    Joo play a Strauss z. Roxanas foot taps a little.

    t puts doled -- takes off s  ly flustered. Seeing  becomes more courtly still. Still quite a fine figure of a man! And s a pretty girl s have been.

    Joouco play a Strauss z in earnest.

    Roxana takes ts proffered arm; they dance.

    quot;Look! Look! Roxanas dancing!quot;

    to to dance s, petticoats, torn stockings.

    Maddalena, partnerless, lingers on teasing teresa. Music spills out of thel.

    quot;teresa! teresa! Come and dance ;

    Sloeresa arrives at tairs, peers the dancers collapse in a laughing heap.

    S  catc of ;teresa, teresa, scram! t;

 Gun for the Devil-2

    At table, s picking eeth his knife.

    quot;I  to learn t;

    inues to pick eet  to learn t t; o learn it noo be a lady, Papa; isnt so ;Papa, I  to learn t;

    teresa is spoiled, indulged in everyt o tease   often er pleading s , munches.

    quot;And weac;

    quot;Jo Aunt Roxanas.quot;

    an animal he can become.

    quot;? My daug fat w;

    Maria leaps to ers defence, surging do you insult my sister!quot;

    Mendoza ts ; s;Im not er mixing ;

    quot;I  to learn piano,quot; ts.

    quot;Over my dead body o Roxanas to learn t no;

    quot;t Joo teac;

    A creaking ting ing pigs and flapping chickens.

    Effortlessly, its installed in teresas room; entranced, s tes. quot;Kitty, kitty, t is coming to teac;

    ting, lolling in a rocking-cequila. Jo, elegant, a stranger, damned, folio of music under o give teresa lessons. First, scales. . . soon, Czerny exercises. Jos, cime.

    Bored, equila and nods off to sleep. . . A Czerny exercise; teresa  quite mastered it. Making a mess of it, in fact. On purpose? Joter.

    Joands beo put e tle, broten fingernails.

    Surns to  taken aback. Despises s going to be almost too easy!

    But o be accomplis in teresas bedroom,  in Jo t Roxanas chful eye.

    quot;In c;

    A  cat in expectation of mass conversions among t in ruins, on a kind of bluff, brooding over ty. And terriump, s, sached, rejoicing in his own coldness, his own wickedness.

    Naked, teresa oar, stands looking up vaguely at t. S ongue at her saviour.

    quot;Ill be o be married.quot;

    quot;Married?quot;

    quot;to a fine bandit gentleman.quot; Makes a face. quot;Because I  everyt first I must be married.quot;

    quot;O; says Jo, gone into ;You  be married. I  let you be married.quot;

    Suspicious, at first. t;Do you love me?quot; Exultant, sing. quot;So you love me! You must love me! Youll take me a;

    t rummages trunk in s out old books and curious instruments. terious sries t it is locked; stles tatedly. quot; are you up to?  secrets do you  t? Is it --quot;

    t lets akes o ;ake ts to, ;

    quot;Your. . . son o set you free?quot;

    quot;Not my son, Roxana.quot;

    S s forgets t of ;

    quot;;

    ide-eyed, sares at him.

    quot;Yes, old man, I do believe I do. Its been so long, nooget;

    quot;ell be toget;

    So  materials and no;ttle teresa, not o ;

    quot;No. Not teresa.  o anyone? Not teresa.quot;

    An eclipse of t tar, t and Joe demon -- torm! Out of noo a sandstorm. Roxana, alone in ters close and mutters prayers, incantations.

    t s t of torms, ory figures emerge and merge, figures of demons or gods not necessarily tinent, ts banned daemonology.

    t acle; Aztec and toltec gods appear in giant forms. to have disappeared.

    ual is done, all clears; terior of t over tar cast dos face. Jo pick t t is couge has nearly killed him.

    Outside, all is calm noern, firm,  to .

    quot;;

    quot;ing.  to us.quot;

    Outside, against till  part of ts in t, ing, impassive.

    t, leaning s tly ceremony. But Jo;Got t;

    quot;I got it.quot;

    t.

    quot;;

    quot;On account,quot; says t;On account.quot;

    ips . coillness of t, s diminish.

    Jos ter repeater in  looks perfectly normal. Not used to guns,  clumsily. ment is obvious.

    quot;s so special about it? Could  one in tore.quot;

    quot;It s,quot; says t, impassive as any Indian. quot;And t is t  in it, it belongs to ;

    quot;But --quot;

    quot;t is t for you, even trigger. But t miss targets. t;

    Incredulous, Joakes aim, fires at a movement in toarget, teresas kitten, dead.

    quot;Five left no; says t. quot;Use t a ;

    teresa s ten. quot;Kitty! Kitty!quot; But tten doesnt come. quot;ten it,quot; says teresas mot;And ill, teresa, youre ;

    Its a store-bougagecoacy. All  of teresas bedroom, Maria pops ters  a picture. But teresa sulks.

    quot;I dont  to get married.quot;

    too bad, teresa! tomorro and  married.

    I . I !

    You   time.

    teresa, in  a fees of t;edding Marc; on .

    Jo t;edding Marc;; a , drunk, flings  t. titiously ter. t s, all notable villains. But too mucension to be any joy. Roxana, unsmiling, rings up t mirror on er. t, morose, stoops over  ts treat empt.

    teresa creeps out of eals along treet, conceals ily in treet.

    s for ake me aenderness. Perake o look at er t. Perhaps. . .

    Its very late, no stays up.  t form of a  passed out on tuck a feat on tors aken off rousers, daubed h rouge.

    silently pours  t, love -- certainly ion.

    quot;I could almost ask you. . .quot;

    Joles a few bars of C;Funeral Marc;.

    quot;But to ttle teresa. tleman. . . quot;

    Maybe. Maybe not. But, maybe. . .

    eresas angles in t bustle in t; t a carriage for   paper flo s s table in black, eresa, in urns to urns the embrace fiercely.

    Joograps time. Unudents black velvet jacket, elegant, deadly, mad, ohe church.

    t back t; Jos of tar clotests t of ts.

    t  go to t!  get out of bed. Please, Roxana, dont you go to t? Not see my little niece teresa get married? And you soo, you irreligious old man. Arent you fond of teresa?

    But t is sick t cra of bed. ares at tains on his handkerchief.

    quot;Im dying, Roxana. Dont leave me.quot;

    te, teresas fatakes ar. tion rustles. tly.

    Roxana, late, troubled, untidily dressed, slips in at the church.

    teresa steps out of ted carriage in front of tely around for Joime, t respond, s too mucer ttle dressed up, boots polished, offers her his arm.

    traditional gasps as s s will o save me?

    t.

    teresa arrives beside  glance of furious dislike. t says t he wedding service.

    Joar clotar, ss point-blank thed Mendoza.

    Mendoza tumbles backar steps.

    Silence. ting. then, gunfire. havoc!

    But no bullet can toucs to attack s to two men fall.

    teresa, in ands speechless, shocked.

    owards her dead husband.

    Jos Maria. So the body of her husband.

    teresa at last wakes up. So an end.

    Roxana figer s, noise, gunsmoke.

    Outside t. teresa cant speak. Roxana ohe whorehouse.

    Jos from the church door. Now hes like a mad dog. Blazing, furious, deadly -- carrying a gun.

    By ter teresa faster, faster -- tumbles over e lace  and blood. Faster, faster -- he devil himself is coming!

    ts mistress and ttle teresa run to gazes out of toheir heels.

    t opens the whorehouse door.

    he bar.

    Slowly, s.

    Johnny.

    teresa sees ory to protect  to eria.

    Joartled, s; so turned against urned e!

    akes aim at t, fires t.

    ten its t, forgotten everyt th which he can kill.

    and teresa drops dead by train slides doo ter.

    t bursts into a great fit of tears. Roxana kneels by to ly. Crosses , slumped on the whorehouse veranda, a long, dark look.

    t of turns, runs.

    Coda

    Almost t. e, fantastic rocks, sand, burning sun. Joole one of t founders beneatance. . .

    But ted. A s black jacket, er from t last, a t house.

    quot;t;

    Flies buzz on an unburied corpse in a murky interior. Joce-faced, fevered -- you would he devil pursuing him.

    At t before  till, so silent as at first to seem part of to see Joumbling towards him.

    quot;I ing for you,quot; says t;e o conclude.quot;

 The Merchant of Shadows-1

    I killed t once provoked suc quiet as if, e afternoon ,  t of ttered its foamy peripant cinema organs.

    Id never get used to California. After till ted visitor. ly I ed, I still couldnt , I still tingled ation, still al t somet happen.

    Call me t Abroad.

    All take t of London but you cant take London out of tic but s;petrolquot;, and so on. I dont intend to go native, Im not al of a foggy, t is only good for er-colourists to to ap it, Light was made Flesh.

    I am a student of Lig is, of cinema.  I clapped my eyes on t y no, I t Id glimpsed the holy Grail.

    And no  everyday to meet a legend. A living legend, op like a forlorn seabird.

    I  iated since I left t brougerminated. I s oyota truck t, some time ago, ter days. traransportation for a legend. But I kne of me, and I needed a little time along ryst began. I climbed out of t close to the precipice.

    tittered like an audience ure.

    t time I sa not t even Botticellis prime 36B cup blonde ever came in on tire European mytannia never ruled and t to no myt trangest eyes, lenses on stalks t go flicker, flicker, and give you truty-four times a second. torsos luminesce in every sec ance, no dimensionality. Beings from a iful -- but alien.

    Aliens ed myself in LA, but also due to te. y in an apartment over a Ne ion freak Id met at a mucage of studentimacy of tual runs in Barcelona. Noesy of tress from doairs, imate terms, and alking about aliens.  most of t on treets ing  t.

    ested y quotient sufficiently and s I guessed from  too sure about me. t sayed out of t my  scried to manifest y as eous if curiously impersonal embraces. Noing into leat soon be time to move?

    It must be t t sends t  Pacific, t t, illed, becomes t Umbrae, t Art of Lig it, inkered erns four centuries ago in th.

    And from t Got of t t brougo top -- a long-dead teutonic illusionist ;dark genius of t;, tor ;t touc;, t neglected giant etc. etc. etc.

    But stay, you may ask, ter  ouc of a quest?

    A cliff-top  t of whose legend was she was his widow.

    imate  (silent movies) scic co Viennese tenor for a season of kitscurned o an icon after  up marital sirely, and y of one appreciating, if someedly, tinence. Sher.

    If you are a true buff, you kno itles in talogues survive from  UFA, plus a cills.

    My correspondence , conducted tation. Id been unned and, ing my t Mann, my hobby, my obsession.

    But you must understand t I ing out of pure nerves. For sar of Stars, no less, test of time magazine t;Spirit of t; s cover for time, ory and a illa on t time s inexorable peroxide. And  invited me, me! to call for a c, a drink, at tini-time, t it aing night?

    Only surely s tation of exciting times. S ;living national treasurequot;. Decade after ageless decade, movie after movie, quot;test star in ;. t ric, ty to reveal otain touc t made ural for film noir in ties. Otraordinary durability of inually incarnated afresime due to some occult operation of t Art of Light and Shade.

    One odd t  (s;leading playerquot; up till t toucer o t cutting room in the sky.

    t of jasmine bloed breat my briefcase: notebook, recorder, tapes. I c tained tape. I , briefcase in o summon ts to stride up to e.

    It e  of zinc be squiggles so you couldnt see to ring te creaked open of its oo let me in and to being, definitive clang. So there I was.

    A plane broke t sealed up again be. Inside t . Nobody came to meet me.

    A flig stone steps led up to a pool surrounded by clumps of s-smelling ree or te summer leaves on scummy er and,  , I started to sell you  untended pool, in  of algae, along y gin bottle.

    On terrace, a couple of rusty, omeria, to be erected for his bride.

    t ere cube of pure glass, it exed try of transparency at its most severe. Yet, just at t moment, it took all t of tting sun into itself and flas glittering lounge gaped open to admit me, and only me, but I t,  stick around on terrace for a  looks like not Sno t to me.

    No sound but tant bass of two; pines, her.

    So I ed. And ed. And I found myself

    of jasmine reminded me of, in order to take my mind off  Boulevard, of course. And I kne t even I nor my blessed mot, o so muche floor.

    I ed until I found myself groient.  of Cinema? Burn a little offering of popcorn and old fan magazines? Offer a libation of Jeyes Fluid mixed h Kia Ora orange?

    I found myself vengefully asserting t I kne  per). I kne tting-room floor. I talked to t bely after conceiving ies, retired bank clerk, prisoner of  Englis terness. Broug Frau Mannress. ill. Ko car of Mann. Frau von Mannim of tterness at t, eit asil old me sress of a fairly nasty Nazi. t better.

    Id actually got to meet tired office cleaner and full-time lusoarlet; lack of exposure terminated erminated  o ment. Sill . God, sed ten bucks off me  grace of ual custom. I couldnt t remember.

    Anyer Id donated ten bucks and packed up my tape recorder, s sarted to rummage around amongst tes -- ency ly furnisipped and slitin dancing slippers, old s, artificial flo of triumpograph.

    Not as out-of-date porn. It fully posed spanking pic. I kne, pale, malleable face, tace of tockings;  ted a long-line leats. o smack ty, surned upon toote pretty, in a spit-curled ig and t it  add muco tory of film.

    Foresig Germany in good time, but arted over in  ttom (forgive tendre). , ant art director, assistant director, director.

    terpiece of Manns on. Laug bulk so pools of scalding lig of greater or lesser s monster of t, black  try to give you a sense of t; instead, Paracelsus looks as if it  roped world, of chronic, cramped unfreedom.

    t of Cinema cameos in Paracelsus as tic goddess of ed ,  time and eventually o s only ing above suggestive sive, indeed; from  of ed by aficionados of t of  s knockers in t sernum to tant director believed tter. quot;Furry as a spider,quot; erised ;And just as damn let; Id smuggled a  of Jack Daniels into ric ake a snake-bite kit to terview.

    Paracelsus o say, one of test box-office disasters in tory of t,  eitcopcop  intervieo perpetrate a  as twins, a good girl in a blonde wig and a bad girl in a black one, from wruly miraculous.

    Sly after torious stinker o universal jeers, ar is Born bit, alt into t into t one over t now disposes of her glassware.

    As for t, sor, o tle, a very little plastic surgery, and, t year,  time on soppable, tragedy  widows veil, giving aine.

    o keep s ing.

    In my nervous ennui, I cast my eyes round and round terrace until I came upon sometrange in t earth of a flowerbed.

    Moist, tered, t by   I could , impressed on te outside Graumanns Cre, , unless tiger lilies left it, of a large, clawed paw.

    Did you kno. But tric feline t noomeria aken aback to see me as I o bump into ilted o one side, opened  movement of Beet bloed me arse over tip off to  say it o see eet.

    quot;A to be gummed to deat; said a cracked, ;Go fetc;

 The Merchant of Shadows-2

    ttle in  but trotted off into t toucook breaticed Id some to for some little time -- and sank into one of te metal terrace c -a-pat, I can tell you, but t last appeared from somey sood tirical, piercing, blue eye.

    Except for tances t in one ainless steel, many-brancick of as, butc  silver skull and crossbones for a buckle, coarse, cropped, grey ied Indian-style around ty grey in colour.

    quot;You ts come about t; sion was pure hillbilly.

    I burbled in tive.

    quot; t; sed to ed me still furto herself.

    But noting roar announced action  to commence. ttle person set doerrace table, briskly struck a matc of s and applied to ting t in a cable t ed negligently on t to see.

    dressing up for terviein bias-cut lace-trimmed negligee circa 1935,  sugar almond, one  Max Factor look and s I assumed o tural precision of too far  gave   ed-in red trapezoid.

    But s look  all, at all -- oen or fifteen years younger, t tuagenarian riven as s. Impressive, though. Impressive as hell.

    And you kne once t launc because anytill smouldering a ranscended beauty. But somet you look at her and keep on looking.

    At once I  into automatic, I assumed tance of gigolo. I picked up , said: quot;Enc¨¦quot;, bo not surprised by t s smile for fear of cracking y greeting, eyeing me in a very peculiar  made tively vegetarian.

    It freaked me. S y. So ts . Id never before, nor am I likely to again, encountered sucreamed out of t frail little old lady in ique lingerie and ic about it, alt  t extraordinary sexual c and ted your regard into sexual energy. I  quite terrified, if I , know w I mean.

    And all time I kept t kept running t;tom is up from t;

    Nigainly broug t of jasmine.

    Sy greeting.  you o crouco ung your cell so make you crouch.

    quot;My sister,quot; suring tocion and submission uck in  and an expression of unrelieved cynicism on er. God.

    ts  my leg, making me jump, and ss greying mane.

    quot;And times; more exposure to introduce Leo, formerly of MGM.quot;

    t cocked its o side and roared again, in unmistakable faso identify itself. Mickey Mouse does akes a ride on trigger.

    quot;Ars gratia artis,quot; ss. quot;ure,  you, darling.quot;

    quot;Drinkies!quot; announced Sister, magnificently clattering a tle-laden trolley.

    After tini, o broac of  cars burning, nigal c seemed to cer, to break your balls. But it  to get a  was briskly c my knowledge of screen ory.

    quot;No, t director certainly  Ben Carre, o t!. . . My goodness me, young man, allace Reid o bad rubbisent leat t into your noddle?quot;

    Nos tongue, as if to scer put aumblerful, to my one, and creaked resonantly from time to time, like an old door.

    quot;No, no, no, young man! Laugainly  addicted to self-abuse!quot;

    And out of t came to me t t dreamy perfume of jasmine issued from no floead, rig of ty, do you remember? And I suffered a gly sense of incipient ion, of impending erotic doom, so t I ser, alert and eiting or complicitous, slos of gin into my glass.

    ter belc;Gonna take a leak.quot;

    Evidently equipped  vision, so ter a pause, came tinkle of running er. So Nature as far as toilet training  out ter making pee-pee brougo eartcumbler, for thing solid.

    quot;About time,quot; I said, quot;you met ;

    Nig turned t in dress ser on in it.

    quot;; sed ics; and t seemed, fell directly into trance for, all at once, sance and said no more.

    I took advantage of tention to pour my gin dorusting t by t inguiser, clanking -buckle as sed o us and juggled ice and lemon slices as if notoaking place. tly normal, even conversational tone, t said: quot;e kisses, red kisses. And coke in a golden casket on top of t;

    Sister tsked, possibly ation.

    quot;Reckon youve ; said Sister. quot;Reckon you deserve a stiff w;

    t roused t someunately, stood cter of seconds, ture  ently biffing ty stomaco urbed.

    quot;t it too muc;

    quot;; said Sister. S braying but laughing.

    t propped old me  plane.

    quot;I used to t; s;Niger nigurning in ties, tos, ttoes of tures of t to  of men. And t tle t t urgies of t reverential age, t great age of religion.  tion of t forransmission of divine light.

    quot;No is s tock; but ;

    All t more t s about me. Moment by moment, sitiously, I fumbled ed to get t tape recorder spooling a I; w migalking.

    quot;Is erprets t or does t speak time, not t of shadows?

    quot;; serrupted herself.

    ter, ime or liquor, extended rousered leg in one succinct and noiseless movement and kicked my briefcase clear into t dropped h a liquid plop.

    In spite of t of poetic justice in it, t my file on Manne as  admit t noo a great fear. I even t t o murder me, te. Remember, te drunk; it  arbitrarily drotle tools of my parasitic trade, leaving me naked and at to reassure me, but I  expecting it and jumped  of my skin.

    t broke into speech again.

    quot;Sirement, you knos t almost break taggers beneato op retreat.

    quot;Age does not e sure of t, young man. Sill irradiates t discover true secret of immortality togeto exist almost and only in t;

    I cannot say it comforted me to to some degree, possessed, and so ly s to refer to  ventriloquial, insubstantial voice t scratcc. But by  very close to turbed spirit of ap Art of Ligell you. And speaking of tter -- Atacula Paradoxa Rerum (1624), tre of Paradoxes.

    she spoke no more.

    ter broke t were wind.

    quot;ts about t of it, young man,quot; s;Got enoug;

    S,  ble all t me alone . But notranspired because t seemed to  on, t, flat out in  t broug tin dress inguisoo. I sail a set of floods concealed in t, ted drinks trolley, to terrace by my nervous feet, ttle plants puser of ted, suddenly liged a corpse.

    resolved itself, as I peered, o my o a floating debris of papers and tape boxes. I poured myself anoto steady my nerves. Sister appeared again, rigical air. In close-up,  I oo co care w be. So herself, again.

    quot;e es yall ape recorders,quot; s;Reckon us folks t;

    S at ts s unconscious contents into t and padded after. to. After a moment, a set of concealing crimson curtains s . I ed to see tains, but ts  off and I he dark.

    Uno negotiate teps doo te, I reaclessly for t until I fell into a troubled slumber.

    And I ahe cold hill-side.

    ell, not exactly. I o find myself tucked into t of my ooyota truck in tal lobes and all my joints a-t even try te of t out of t back in again and raiger a  oyota truck. Sister, of course, at the wheel.

    Sook me at illicit speed, blasting t in a toot smile, even teet last s, in terests of sc ya dire operetta in th, I would never have so much as guessed.

    S ed ted too often, too. t ted te courteously, until I raffic, out of their lives.

    o substitute for von Mann difficult to come by in Souter all to let me in on the masquerade. And, if so, why.

    Perructed terpiece of subterfuge, von Mann bear to die  leaving some little , someo s little acolyte, myself, t of est . But, more likely,  resist turning o t one last time, couldnt let doo knoure of ill ac clinc, in my oion did not make me any t ease.

    In taurant, -juicer op, pursing aste; se Kentucky fried cernoon and I ed o come upstairs o remind me to fles and illusion, but she shook her head.

    quot;Boring,quot; ser a one, quot;Not just you. Everyt;

    quot;I t you said you felt like an enemy alien at ;

    Saring t bangs at te sunligside.

    quot;Better t; she said.

    I realised I  a  to note to rip, and, alt to me, all to realise ed to go oo, and longed for rain again, and television, t secular medium.

 The Ghost Ships

    A CMAS StORY

    t ing, or any ot aforesaid, every person so offending so ty.

    Statute enacted by t of

    Massacts, May 1659, repealed 1681

    t before Cmas. Silent nig. tc. etc. etc.; let traditional anticipatory magic of Cmas Eve, and t it.

    Forget it. Even if te moon above Boston Bay ensures t all is calm, all is brigmas as suc noer dream.

    (Dream, t uncensorable state. t if they could.)

    At t time, for alking about a long time ago, about ter ures on tinent t  lay under ter nor more pure tentions.

    to e more largely; to inscribe the name of God.

    And t omorro t her day.

    For t none are holidays.

    Ne turned over; Old England is ty linen t  -- did t recently ual integrity, ters ogetoo orgiastic a fashion.

    Noticularly radical about t, given tans basic premises. Anyone can see at a glance t a Maypole, proudly erect upon trument. t of Cotton Mation reel. No. test genius of tans lay in ty to sniff out a pagan survival in, say, tom of decorating a ive season; tuff of ws would be made!

    And taste for try, graven images! -- is less subtle t at tive season itself. It ivity of it t irked them.

    Nevert assuredly is a gross and ice, to ing, drunkenness, and lewd displays of mumming and masquerading.

    e  none of t filthis new place.

    No, thank you.

    As midnigtle in to tablisom of over sixteen ers able; time, tily refrained from idolatry and .

    Boston Bay, calm as milk, black as ink, smoot just t spins on its spindle and starts to unravel its o w one could call, elsewching hour --

    I sahree ships come sailing in,

    Cmas Day, Cmas Day,

    I sahree ships come sailing in

    On Cmas Day in the morning.

    t as g s smas past.

    And hree?

    Not, as in t;t;; t ory of t you mig be reading tion must obey tuality. (Some of t t s of mossy Yule logs bound toget o tes, t t represents  oter ripe fruit on ter in memory of t nobody in Neree Carol, t tells o pick eful and told o ask to  t, tree bo.

    Clinging to t of tree letoe, sacred since time,  o perform solstitial rites of memorable beastliness at megalites all over Europe.

    Yet more mistletoe dangled from t invitation to the free exchange of precious bodily fluids.

    And  buncs of red ribbon?  is a wassail bob.

    t you did  to took out a jar of o give trees tmas drink. All over Somerset, all over Dorset, everyry of Old England, time out of mind, trees at Cmas, get them.

    You pour tree trunks, let it run doo ts. You fire off guns, you c. You serenade ture apple crop and next years burgeoning, you quot;; toast ty in last years juices.

    But not in t and greenery ed from to tion officials at t of t of entry for memory, sensed contraband in t;Permission to land refused!quot;

    t explosion of green leaves, red berries, , red seeds from bursting pomegranates, of spattering ctering flo to ttered uous flesree spirits and fertility goddesses rived to cmas.

    t ained were gone.

    But to belc amids t abstemious dreamer   in takable s neared s could be seen t tself  just out of tening ter, gilded h egg yolk.

    Not a s all, in fact, but a Cmas pie!

    But no self up to let tumbling out into ter a smoking cargo of barons of beef gleaming s and roast geese dripping  fat. And ted apple in its moutucked bes ears. Above,  of mustard, h wings.

    ting pie came ants of to salivate in their sleep.

    But t burnt offerings and pagan sacrifice of pig, bird and cattle could never be condoned. In unison, to turned tern backs.

    tard pot ser, it dove doo ttom of tmeats t dissipated itself gradually, like sea  too mucoo indigestible, and rejected it, so t to sink.

    t not only of gluttony but also of dyspepsia, sigh relief.

    No.

    t tion an especial eeriness.

    t so t concrete kind, ts and spars ions  ley creypes aboard, ail of to see them.

    Reeling to and fro on tumbling and dancing, mas dancers t Cotton Mated so, every one of tural. t-a-tat-tat on tly jingling ttle bells on tous revellers used to ive season back   t;merryquot; into Merry England!

    And no on forcing ts to celebrate Cmas o or no.

    t t George, ed silver, urkis, a cableclotied round urban, fencing o every Cmas in try, going from o  ed far more deeply in antiquity t claimed to celebrate.

    t of t George and turkis figil Saint George knocks turkis door, o life again -- a sion. (Or else a ritual of revivification, depending on ones degree of fait.)

    ter of ting revels mas, to itco ts, ly fell doo be cer a glimpse of tocks. op  sported paper roses. ed bladder tered true antique, as old as tival t existed at mider before Cmas  of. Older.

    s live, all year round, in terror. Fatmas is ard son, w being obscene enough.

    ted ter Solstice, turns. t Saturnalia and let t for tion, urvy and almost everyt occurred s at time of t s today.

    Yet from tom festival on thing is forgiven.

    A merry Cmas is Cotton Mat nightmare.

    If a little merriment imparts itself to t experience it as pleasure. tables, and tered beasts; t tolerate,  of unreason t used to mark, over ted season of ts are longer t run and you t  never come back again.

    t cry: Avaunt t thee hence!

    tous sime. And taking its Dionysiac cre.

    But, just as  to be engulfed, t mas pudding t still floated on ter. tmas pudding, sprigged uffed s, raisins, almonds, figs, compressed all tmas contraband into one fearful sphere.

    tohe shore.

    too,  dolantic gulped , t .

    Except, next morning, before datle cing t reluctantly into tance to t toes and, investigating furto t glee, eacs oness, plump as if it  came from  overegrating Cmas pudding.

 In Pantoland-1

    quot;Iquot;m bored elevision,quot; announced idoier. quot;I o Pantoland!quot;

    In Pantoland,

    Everything is grand.

    ell, lets not exaggerate -- grandis like  used to be but, t is. Even so, all still brig, all your primaries, red, yello your castle urrets tle, your forest is considerably more impenetrable t and, not infrequently, your coural seats and udders. ere talking multiple projections, s, boobs, bums. Its a bristling oland, eit all, arc sense. Sometively filthy.

    But all also t Maid Marians olands fictive Notting as a pancake. t door may  makes a  s and tire fa?ade gets to riposte and w you see beed beded wall.

    Of course, t it is Baron epfaters, en occupies t of Minister of Finance in Pantoland. Occasionally, even noake to t some s, suced galleon in full sail breasting tumultuous storms ning breaking about t sakes Dick tington and  eito London amidst a nostalgic series of tableaux vivants of Britisain Cook and Nelson, discovering t a full-ted contralto rendition of quot;If I ; s in masks and tigesy of talia Conti school.

    Illusion and transformation, kitco palace c. etc. etc. You kno all costs money. And, sometimes, as if it est illusion of all, t be an incursion of trotting, neig quot;large as lifequot; isnt t p all, at all. quot;Large as lifequot; t be, in text of torium, but y le and inconsequential as , but insignificant, and only raise a laugently drops dung.

    And sometimes ten one of t-erriers. On t ;C; just above ;Cigarettes by Abdulla; (ever o Abdullaaug dog-scc nos , forgets oland, remembers ated into a lig over turned, expectant faces and, after a moments puzzlement, give a little questioning bark.

    It  like toto dropped doo Oz; it is more like it o landed back, alas, in Kansas. C like it. C down.

    t is itular -- and quot;titsquot; is tive oland, scoops  urned to Pantoland. In Pantoland, he can live for ever.

    In Pantoland, hing is excessive and gender is variable.

    A Brief Look at tizens of Pantoland

    thE DAME

    Double-sexed and self-sufficient, transvestite of Pantoland, manifests  introduce hus:

    quot;My name is ido; ternly adjure t;Smile ;

    Because twankey rh -- pardon me, vicar; and,

    Once upon a distant time,

    talked in Pantoland in rhyme. . .

    but noalk in double entendre, ed, not e or grave, but endre. t is, everyday discourse we ricy mind.

    Sars as Mot ters. If tepmots a bonanza, ts talk y rams ;p; aspect of ts (arts). Granny in Red Riding ;Ooooer!quot; -- gobbles oland, tittering and squealing: quot;Look out, girls! t; whe Principal Boy (q.v.) appears.

    Big s of rouge on eit dip and s a mass of crispy petticoats out of ly, from t.

    quot;Better out t;

    rides tage. steps resonate ique past. Serror in in tars suc god Sy of t ;.

    to mood.

    One pair of bloomers is made out of triotism.

    tered red and black, in memory of Utopia.

    test pair of bloomers is scarlet, arget on t, centred on ted to obscenity.

    Roars. Screams. s.

    Surns and curtsies. And w do you know, sruncrousers,  she?

    In Burgundy, in t of Fools t lasted all t vacant lapse of time during e up time t up again, a person or persons unknoletoe in ts. Filt somebody o do it. By teentury, tten all about t ten tic non-time of tice, ime of turnalia, topsy-turvy time, quot;ties of Decemberquot;, hing could happen?

    ter carnival in Old Burgundy, kno of Fools, yle by a man dressed as a her.

    Crazy Moturns round and curtsies. Srunc of errified deligurn a o look again, ter only runcurned into a magic wand.

    s/Motaps Daisy t ;Do;.

 In Pantoland-2

    tS

    1  t of animal roles, introspective and moody as only a costive bird straining over its egg mig of emotion in ty and devotion to  at ernity; break at loss of egg; fear and trembling at ty of gruesome possibilities e intercouplings of possible texts y of Pantoland, one story effortlessly segues into anotory, so t Motalk, involving an egg-ing a goose-tinge t t al t represent ted and parodic femininity of idoy is real. Sness trality of terpreter icated teca, tors of tre,  in tion at a .

    Because of ttention, than. . .

    2  Dick tingtons Cat: Dick tingtons cat is toland, limber, agile, and going on ten to stress atus as intermediary bety of all dark messengers bet modes of being, nevert valet to er and  Dicks bidding. arring role t-catcivities are central to tion and it is a difficult to imagine Dick   as Morecambe  ise.

    Note t t is male almost to a fault, unquestionably a tom-cat, and personated by a man; some t, even in Pantoland. A tom-cat is maleness personified, whereas. . .

    3  Daisy t takes t  . tomime quadruped are traditionally a task, but t end gets to indulge in all manner of antics, flirting, flattering, fluttering times, if tion beteats dip and s salacious manner, bringing back ion of a basic crudely reproductive female sexuality of ate often do not like to be reminded. (tation, generation all time in mind in Pantoland.)

    to mimic it, as Ive said; therefore you could call Daisy a Dame, squared.

    toland, alting Dame urn up in any text, alen t, Cs in on t  count. Pantomime s are not confined to Dick tington but in Cinderellas kitcoo. Birds. You need robins to cover up t sometimes. Ducks. You name it.

    oland  got stage-struck, in time of tility festivals filled up t, dark, solstitial days, o see no difference bet alked amongst us. e lived y and t). t and Daisy to us out of t little c alk to to remind us  t as  made us more oo.

    thE PRINCIPAL BOY

    an armful! S toland.

    Look at t tree trunks, but like sexy tree trunks. s are tle knicks are made of satin and trimmed able spectacle of pure glamour altume migart off a touc and, as Dick, so look like a London apprentice for a o try on t Lord Mayor scter. For Robin  is signified by urban.

    You can tell so be a man not by ional  by ial a stride as it is possible to aciletto  riarcures, as if sique coucful Ed it; no Principal Boy   to personate a Neer all. So turning o a Principal Boy to get a place.

    In spite of , unlike t Dame, to as a quot;s;,  a Principal Boy of tary parade and rendition of, say, quot;;

    Come to t, o slap. Girls, nos, but not deep-ced any more. Principal Boys used to sone bonment-store Fatmases but quot;; is imes, your average Principal Boy looks more like a Peter Pan, and pre-pubescence isnt  a fertility festival, altual c numbers, laug t , is indispensable as ablisility festivals.

    t sure, ter innumerable adventures, sogetingly erotic climactic aria of Monteverdis LIncoronazione di Poppaea, performed as it is in t day alo male castrati being te of tion explosion. And, as Principal Boy and Principal Girl duet, ts in tages jostle one anot  make babies unless t and borrourkey-baster from tmas-dinner kitc in tomime.

    But tion of gender remains vague because you o o t t time, a door t opens bot as t open bot, te ture, and, by rig ambivalent and t v. in tty prop, even we.

    ido of retirement and, gorged on antage in Pantoland.

    quot;I o eart;

    S o say a terance and all teboard everywhere shuddered.

    toget in er about smalls and dra time, for t time since censors will change.

    quot;I feel randy,quot; said idowankey.

    is a fertility festival  a ritual copulation?

    But it isnt as simple as t. For no. ted Boy must take second place in temporary cast-list to some cricketer ure , since, in te tietury, t is over-populated and four breasts in  op bot.

    Do people still believe in Pantoland?

    If you believe in Pantoland, put your palms togeto. . .

    If you really believe in Pantoland, put your -- pardon me, vicar --

    A fertility festival  a ritual copulation is. . . not a pantomime.

    idoo restore tomime to its original condition.

    But, before scarlet drain knicks could  t of truck idoin bustier; sing and screaming,  display of scras, and deposited back amongst tars, leaving t a loss for o do except to briskly imitate George Formby and start to sing quot;Oelling you. . .quot;

    As Umberto Eco once said, quot;An everlasting carnival does not ; You cant keep it up, you knoival, t of Fools, is transience. It is oday and gone tomorroension not a reconstitution of order, a refres. . . after hing had happened.

    t cs on trousers or a cers ers again ter Saturnalia ended; after t o the old grind. . .

    Besides, all t  elevision.

 Ashputtle or The Mothers Ghost-1

    tORY

    I   tILAtED GIRLS

    But altake tory ale and centre it on tilated sisters -- indeed, it o t as a story about cutting bits off  t in, some sort of circumcision-like ritual cory al tle or epsisters but tles mot is really alory of  tory, t about to exit tive because s deat;A ric er to ;

    Note tion to ;a ric;) ter is unambiguously ire drama concerns only akes place almost exclusively among -tle and -epmoters, of ed by botextual and biological necessity.

    In tion to one anotims of t te because it is (quot;a ric;, quot;a kings sonquot;) economic.

    Astles fat object of tepmotcential bridegroom, tical son-in-laers as instruments of es in ting.

    If tand, are tims of ted solely by ttles mot tory, atus as one of tion more autative. t dominates tive and is, in a real sense, tive centre, t t makes all ts happen.

    On er: quot;I ser you and al; tory tells you .

    At t,  is all  is tepmottle, as a joke, and, in doing so,  ever t is, banisable to tingent but atus as daugead, tingent but disreputable status of servant.

    old Astle ser  ttle an imitation moters of tles motill, post.

    ition: epmots ter Astle to sers lie betles bed. Astle, no longer knoer of y, cindery nickname for everyturned to dust and ashes.

    Mean for  told ic or marital function, but ion t epmot is w married people do.

    And  it? Burn as s h love, anger and jealousy, she is dead and buried.

    tory, is a mystery to me. Is ted   see er is soiled c  to leave tire production to t as  be, al it is in tle sleeps on t binds bots of moters in t equation. o introduce tial plot device.

    Besides,  t fatory because t.

    If to put aside to expel t in one bed. If t the housework.

    tial plot device introduced by t;I am about to take a business trip.  presents o bring back for t;

    Note t: hree girls.

    It occurs to me t perepmoters ime, ers, just as mucers as Astle, ;naturalquot; daugly unnatural about legitimacy. t ory. It epmotility, more probable.

    But it ransform tory into somet ivation, and so on; it  for all t I astes and memories, and I o eat and  ransform quot;Astlequot; from ty of fairy tale, s ceristic copula formula, quot;and t;, to tional and tecy of bourgeois realism. to learn to thing would change.

    I ick  I know.

    presents do ?

    quot;Bring me a silk dress,quot; said  girl. quot;Bring me a string of pearls,quot; said t about tten one, called out of tcable impulse and drying he smell of old fire?

    quot;Bring me t branc knocks against your  on t; said Astle.

    ? Did s tle old o use to allolessly looking for a o t for her.

    on ered it ears. It greo a ree. tle came out to le dove crooned: quot;Ill never leave you, Ill alect you.quot;

    ttle kne turtle dove  and o  sank a little to find out t  do hers bidding.

 Ashputtle or The Mothers Ghost -2

    Came time for t curious fair to  country,  to dance in front of t  ted to marry.

    turtle dove , for er to marry t   augo be  no, needs must, o do? turtle dove o marry so s to t doo Astle. Sring of pearls. Astle  on olen finery and crept out tly, to t tepsisters o stay o wear.

    turtle dove stayed close to Astle, pecking o make  t t ory is not complete  tual ion of tilation of ers.

    t t fits tial to tment of tual ion.

    ts t young man desperately. So catc losing a daug gaining a son. Ss a son so badly so cripple ers. Sakes up a carving knife and cers big toe, so t   ttle shoe.

    Imagine.

    Brandisraug been a girl but a boy and ter a more essential portion toe. quot;No!quot; s;Mot t; But off it comes, all t in ttle finds it,  it, and feels bot ther love.

    Mot ters like a shroud.

    tearful young ed so I ; and together.

    turtle dove came flying round and did not croon or coo to t sang a ;Look! Look! t;

    turned tz ex-fiancee at once, angry at trick, but tepmotily lopped off ers  poor foot into t  so, not, a man of he new girl and once again he rode away.

    Back came turtle dove: quot;Look!quot; And, sure enoughe shoe was full of blood again.

    quot;Let Astle try,quot; said turtle dove.

    So nole must put  into tacle, till slick and  is, for notexts of tale suggests t bettings. It self to put a naked foot into t urtle dove, urged o do so in a soft, cooing croon t could not be denied.

    If s plunge  revulsion into t be fit to marry. t is turtle dove, ently by.

    Astles foot, t of a Cump. Almost an amputee already, s iny foot in it.

    quot;Look! Look!quot; cried turtle dove in triumprayed its gly nature by becoming progressively more and more immaterial as Astle stood up in to ump of t in t;Look!quot; sang out turtle dove. quot; fits ts the coffin!

    quot;See er you, my darling!quot;

    2   thE BURNED ChILD

    A burned c really burned -- more ctle bit cick  asill mourning.

    After  t to rake t uck out like a mat, nor to  off  to do it for  s beside ttle cat and got ts from ttom of t to eat, scraping t, squatting on t of t as if sill mourning.

    felt perfect exquisite pain of love whe burned child covered in ashes.

    quot;Milk t; said tepmoto rake time, but t, now.

    t of t into the cow.

    quot;Drink milk, gro,quot; said t.

    took t back and nobody saime passed, s, ss, she grew up.

    tepmoted and so tco get  s, altepmoter tepmot o milk the cow.

    quot;I  t man for myself,quot; said to the cow.

    t do all, but ty.

    quot;Give your o time,quot; said t of t;Youve milked me dry.quot;

    ttle cat came by. t of t into t.

    quot;Your s doing,quot; said t. quot;Lie do;

    ttle cat unpicked s clever pail t it angled t ts cla before it was finished.

    quot;Comb your oime,quot; said t. quot;Youve maimed me.quot;

    t stark naked.

    tting in tree. t of t t and  into truck its o s beak. Blood poured doo tree. It ran over  and covered  a red silk dress.

    quot;Make your o time,quot; said t;Iquot;m t bloody business.quot;

    t into tco so t burned any more, but lovely. t off looking at tepmot the girl.

    quot;Come  your stepmotay and rake t; o . .

    quot;Noo sleep,quot; said t of t;No.quot;

    3   tRAVELLING CLOthES

    tepmotook t poker and burned t because s raked t to ;It must be raining. Or else it is snoonig;

    quot;It isnt raining, it isnt snos too early for tears are falling on your grave, mot;

    ted until nig and  to tepmot on a feat t on the dead woman gave her a red dress.

    quot;I  w;

    t took urned into je on a diamond ring.

    quot;I  w;

    t togeto the grave.

    quot;Step into my coffin.quot;

    quot;No,quot; said the girl. She shuddered.

    quot;I stepped into my mot;

    tepped into t it  turned into a coacamped, eager to be gone.

    quot;Go and seek your fortune, darling.quot;

 Alice in Prague or The Curious Room-1

    tten in praise of Jan Svankmayer,

    tor of Prague, and his film of Alice

    In ty of Prague, once, it er.

    Outside t;Forbiddenquot;. Inside, inside, oed DR DEE.

    ted Dr Dee, looking for all ta Claus on account of e beard and apple cemplating al, t contains everyt is, or was, or ever shall be.

    It is a round ball of solid glass and gives a deceptive impression of  and ion bet  s be t ors crystal ball is o inflict a substantial injury and tors assistant, Ned Kelly, ten  back and forto ty of ters skull, as it pores ome.

    Ned Kelly  of there.

    tal resembles: an aqueous humour, frozen:

    a glass eye, alt any iris or

    pupil -- just t of transparent eye, in

    fact,

    to see the invisible;

    a tear, round, as it forms he eye, for

    a tear acquires its ceristic shape of a

    pear, ;tearquot; shape, only

    in t of falling;

    t trembles, sometimes, on the

    tip of tors ending

    to nevertainable

    and discernible morning erection, and

    always reminds him of

    a drop of dew,

    a drop of deremulously about to fall

    from tals of a rose and, therefore,

    like tear, retaining tion of its

    circumference only by refusing to sustain free fall,

    remaining  is, because it refuses to become

    migitamorphosis;

    and yet, in old England, far ahe

    Do Drop Inn  jovial pun, show an

    oblate spinselled, because the

    sign-painter, in order to demonstrate the idea of

    quot;dropquot;, needs must represent t of

    falling and this

    comparison, not resembling the numinous ball

    stretched

    palm.

    For Dr Dee, try, a brave new world.

    teentury, eentury, is as creaky and judders open as reluctantly as ted  door, in tance, ant lig precious little of t is about to fall on Prague, tal of paranoia, ellers live on Golden Alley in cottages so small, a good-sized doll self cramped, and tain s Street t only becomes visible during a tone.) But, even in the house anyway.

    Like a lamp guttering out in a recently vacated room, tinguisself. tself as bee, but since tion remained, for after all it is only e, our imaginations took some time to catcyr to experimental science, racted a c stuffing a dead e o see if t  fresus once lodged in Criate alc, as tation of till fumbling our oury.

    tion of treasures in tor amongst treasures and is to number tors assistant, too.

    the mirrors of his soul.

    It is very cold ternoon, t makes a person piss. t conies on, te, more cold, il, er in t the aqueous humour.

    Metamorphosis.

    In trees outside tc you only see o t. A  umbled roofs and turrets. In the snow, a raven: caw!

    Dr Dee knoimes speaks it, but ly banal; all t;Poor toms a-cold!quot;

    Above tors urtle, stuffed. In t, amongst mucaposition of an umbrella, a seable; a raven and a ing desk; an aged mermaid, poor ure, cramped in a foetal position in ajar,  in t preserves ures rendered greenis distorted by the glass.

    Dr Dee e to to keep in a cage, if alive, or, if dead, in a stoppered bottle, an angel.

    It h wonders.

    Dr Dees assistant, Ned Kelly, t tive screen of  ly tor, but, for some reason, Dr Dee cannot see Kellys guests, alt in te. It is a great sadness to him.

    Kelly, ed in tion and notes doonations of t understand it or excitedly makes sense of.

    But, today, no go.

    Kelly yacher on his bladder.

    t top of touated above anotil your excreta at last les into t far belohank God.

    Dr Dee, ever ter knoy of a flying turd.

    Alt, securing t to to let gravity break  stool or making er, never alloo remind ;long dropquot; nor even, rument for fear t;ive England for fraud, once, in Lancaster; for forgery, once, in Rutlandsrick in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

    But  alton-le-Dale, after o conceal tation, er t  does not yet exist, an iron mask like an upturned bucket  cut for his eyes.

    Kelly, unbuttoning, oday, it is cold enougo let him piss an arc of ice.

    No.

    tons up again.

    omen loature o to;, ;cabinet de curiositesquot;, t curious room of which we speak.

    t t for kno bottom, to tion: quot;;

    In t?

    Per contains are forbidden you, alt  for you, ime began, and you rying to remember it.

    Kelly once took t a price, a little piece of t of tree of tself,  Ararat, gro ime and looked very muced ear.

    t  Kelly  gullible. Rato knoional generosity of belief. At nigands on top of tocars in tyc by day,  before s trologers in ts and yet, in trologer or an astronomer o it to describe their disciplines.

    gullible. But ies.

    tc a member of t guard-cat. For fear of teet t cannot c subsist on slop. t, you  teak.

    Meanwained privacy of .

    ever it is,   tated due to ting and r the sides.

    ting-a-ling!

    t out of electrum magicum. Paracelsus said t a bell cast out of electrum magicum s. If a rat gnaoe during t, ary start ate tely so ts can come and c a, is not sufficiently a cat in spirit to perform tic functions of a common mouser, not like ttle calico beastie en, out of pure affection, brings ributes of those she has slain.

    tly at first, and ts come. But ts either.

    A split fig falls out of to t, exed plop, follo and go limp, as if in submission.

    quot; , like ot; whe hungry lion.

    Can ting intercourse  salad?

    Or ?

    orse.

    tes treet in Prague called quot;Ne; (Novy Svei). t icular ents, and every o converse y, ss t originate (to t it) in ter spilled by a hanged man.

    t ease in a special cabinet. It falls to Ned Kellys reluctant duty to bats once a goantly, since ts, s and all, resemble so many virile members, and  like to ends they unman him.

    tion also boasts some magnificent specimens of t, ly t long,  and clefted, I kid you not. to effect a vegetable marriage and he Archduke himself is a confirmed bachelor.)

 Alice in Prague or The Curious Room-2

    t;No;

    tains, on eito pour a veritable torrent t quickly forms into dark, viscous, livid puddles on the floor.

    But, before you accuse t.

    Delicious!

    For ticky puddles of fresra, red. . . t of summer pudding, even tside, on toill creaks out his melancholy call:

    quot;Poor toms a-cold!quot;

    And it is mider.

    Nig, an old ing against t  h lamps and candles.

    back into tory, Ned Kelly found t Dr Dee o sleep as ten did nooal ball o lap as ed at t rolled again off o t landed  ttle calico cat disabled it at once  bloo play , batting it t ered the coup de grace.

    ity sigoday  barren of invention. ed ironically t, if just so mucime, ster into tory, t  it.

    Not, Kelly kne suching was possible.

    If you could see inside Kellys brain, you ing machine.

    idohe windows black.

    t once, t made a noise like s? Kelly turned to look. t, ensity t its prickled ears met at tips, sometal ball, so t at first it looked as if tear.

    But look again.

    Kelly looked again and began to sob and gibber.

    t rose up and backed aion, s bristling tail stuck straigiff as a broom oo scared to permit even ttack upon ture, about ttle finger, t popped out of tal ball as if the ball had been a bubble.

    But its passage  cracked or fissured t is still ly after ture of tesimal c, noally stretc iny limbs to test t of the new invisible circumference around her.

    Kelly stammered: quot;t be some rational explanation!quot;

    Altoo small for o see teetill ransparency and notc stage of t; raig in a stern fringe; s uprig  disapproval.

    t, coatically, noity of elixir vitae ran a tor  astoniso see her.

    a.

    there?

    Selpiece of tting room of t il it clouded over and ter a brief moments confusing fis, gloomy ced by five candles in one brancick and filled ter in terated by t cat extended ready to strike,  approac! s out of quot;time ; into quot;time ;, for transparent substance ender ancient e beard and a man tle on his head.

    no sound came out; s o a tantrum and beat or, ime past, raised c il, , sed on to t of it a strawberry.

    ted tra  large, t, turned it round and round, and t one little bite out of it, leaving beiny ring of eet.

    At t bite, stle.

    Kelly continued to mumble: quot;t be some rational explanation.quot;

    took a second, less tentative bite, and gretle more. te nigo mutter among themselves.

    Reassured at last, sra sly against ters, out of tick so t see  a gigantic tear splasallic clang upon Ned Kellys , tor, o ruct an Ark, pressed a pae into , sil soon so sit on aring  e as ice-cream and as long as Sunday.

    But she had no wings.

    Kelly, t be a rational explanation but  think of one.

    S last.

    quot;tell me,quot; s;to ts to give a very small dinner party, and invites s.quot;1

    At t, looked as if it ed on gauze, like a trical effect, and mig lig. Dr Dee stroked ively. o many questions, or knearre -- didnt a piece of it lie beside tuffed dodo? to impregnate ts masculinity to ts name, ask erica, migo t ainable, surely, termediary of the angels, if only one scried long enough.

    ruly believed t not is w makes him modern.

    But, to tion, he can imagine no answer.

    Kelly, forced against ure to suspect t roy ricks, is sunk in introspection, and  even heard her.

    o t can be made out of dictionaries, can only be real ificial and Dr Dee  a member of tlig university, before e or long, directed a famous production of Aristop trinity College, in o make deliveries, on t beetle.

    Arcas made a flying dove of  Nuremberg, according to Boterus, an adept constructed bot to flutter and flap across ory, to tonis of all. In olden times, tatues t Daedalus built raised to tion of s of mercury. Albertus Magnus, t Sage, cast a  spoke.

    Are te or not, t jerk and so sucures believe to be   migue of tensity of their belief, become so?

    (In Prague, ty of to life.)

    tor t t deal and t tants of anot be a little automaton popped up from God knows where.

    Mean; opened up again.

    It came in.

    It rolled on little oppling progress, a clockall as a mast, advancing at a stately if erratic pace, nodding and becking and sial fragments of its surface as it came, its foliage rustling, nouck and perilously rocking at a crack in tone floor s er, almost out of control,  evidently almost on t of collapse; it ernoon.

    But, alt looked as if eccentrically self-propelled, Arcimboldo t, picking up bits of tut-tutting at its ruination, pus, s, occasionally picking it up bodily and carrying it. s secretions and looked foro a good o t came. tor and ant ake it apart until t time.

    t is not,  and never e again, but, at t, not, for noer one final s stuck stock-still, tering one last, gross, mechanical sigh.

    A nipple dropped off. tor picked it up and offered it to trawberry! She shook her head.

    teristics indicate ture is, like t bo stra of  from t time according to oday,  grapes,  nuts, c apples some for older   on ;.

    But noation! ion est interest. Sly:

    quot;If 70 per cent  an eye, 75 per cent an ear, 80 per cent an arm, 85 per cent a leg: age, at least, must  all four?quot;2

    Once again, sumped t last slo stra;Summerquot; noegrated -- subsided, slito  bo cegrate.

    It is not so muc to pretend trous being is alive, for noto  care o do is to plunge o ificial strangeness, pero t fles fles, ; -- explains Arcimboldo, displaying tercourse ify ry outside ts t her.

    quot;Reason becomes ties of pleasure,quot; said Freud.

    One day, o a  festival!

    So  t no better.

    Peckisly demolis in t iced ttle cat played croquet one he girls flaxen hair.

    quot; t; he asked her.

    tion stirred o speech.

    quot;A and B began t; sly.

    turned to look at  to pronounce some piece of oracular wisdom. Sossed  on.

    quot;t; tole noug Ne?quot;3

    t tinued to stare at urning to dust in ths.

    quot;?quot; sed, no ion, as if, if tumble on t reply, sated back, diminutive, stern, rational, al ball and tossed back to quot;time ;, or, even better, to the book from which she had sprung.

    quot;Poor toms a-cold,quot; offered ter t, came silence.

    NOtE:

    to Alices conundrums:

    1  One.

    2  ten.

    3  t t day to tood in front of it, ood be.

    Problems and ansangled tale, Lewis Carroll, London, 1885.

    Alice ed by a logician and t is, from te of common sense; tricted by logical deduction and is created by language, alto abstractions .

 Impressions: The Wrightsman Magdalene

    For a o be a virgin and a mot a virgin, nor a motalks about miracles. Mary, toget Joant ,  doo tima, a servant,  epped into a boat, tted to take t ed. It beachem near Marseilles.

    Dont run aion compared to ts of Syria, or Egypt, or tes of Cappadocia, ude, found arid, inable crevices in emplate te, Roman cities all along terranean coast every. t  pleasant. t would hy.

    But tern motima -- dont forget Fatima -- set up a c tes-Maries-de-la-Mer. tayed. But t-mot stop. Impelled by t off on one er limestone s cut , sun burned e fruit t ree of its o Manice dropped berries. tinian  as famine, hairy as a dog.

    Sil so t of te-Baume. Sil so test part of t. topped. t speak to anot see anoty-then, she was old.

    Mary Magdalene, tours picture does not s o be a penitential garment, or, at least, t t s t  on. Even t does not seem to disclose fles a fles o to ted by its o, from t up, to penitence, but, from t do, tion of .

    Left-over finery? as it t  sail in? Did so te-Baume in t? It doesnt look travel-stained or orn. It is a luxurious, even scandalous skirt. A scarlet dress for a scarlet woman.

    tified t;; blue. But Mary Magdalene  e  contain a specific o describe a  a moty as her profession.

    Because Mary Magdalene is a o tay and make a church, where people come.

    But , lying in front of t beautifully brus, fully repentant?

    In Georges de La tours painting, times tafarians. Sometimes ricably mixed up o read o t t torments , repentant flesh.

    Sometimes s never sated, unkempt, o s  , sunic of it. On transformation from tuous Mary Magdalene, ty girl, taken in adultery -- on transformation is complete. Surned into sometrange, into a female version of Joist, a , as good as naked, transcending gender, sex obliterated, nakedness irrelevant.

    Noers as Simeon Stylites, and otary cave-d Jerome. Ss er from to resemble an even earlier incarnation of t;; tist. Noo an existential situation in , enlig animality, sion but virtue.

    But t it. tellos Magdalene, in Florence -- stered by ootirely annied by t smell tity t reeks from s rank, its ras icism of penitence, you can tell ed ;pleasurequot;. tification of turally to  Donatello intended to be not black but gilded, t does not ligs mood.

    Nevert t some anonymous Man of tenment on tour made ted encequot;.

    Penitence becomes sado-masoc is its own reward.

    But it can also become kitscory of Mary of Egypt. iful prostitute until sed and spent ty-seven years of ent in t, clotook e a mouted . Mary of Egypt is clean and fresays miraculously unlined. Soucime as oucite. Ss on a rock in t, combing out er urned to sand. e can imagine tle song.

    Georges de La tours Mary Magdalene  yet arrived at an ecstasy of repentance, evidently. Perured  about to repent -- before , alto t t of  till taking care of  of a Japanese ed scroll -- s just , reminding us t sron saint of  of culture, not left as nature intended.  used trument of y. , even as sates upon till has a claim upon her.

    Unless ually c into the candle flame.

    e meet Mary Magdalene in traordinary er s  of precious ointment, sonisically precise it is surprising it is represented so rarely in art, especially t of teentury,  so often toget beautiful net o snare men as --  it, too. All in all, ture a repentant prostitute would make.

    S time, and taken off  time. Noself in time, t mirror ool of rade; it  ss of ty s toget noead of reflecting  duplicates the pure flame.

    of a candle flame. I een  first tively lig o ride t ense, to concentrate my mind upon an imaginary candle flame.

    Look at t is te and steady it is. At te flame is a cone of blue, transparent air; t is to look at, t is to concentrate on. , I fixed all my attention on t t of t  of trated enoug, it , too.

    Soon time to tirely subsumed by t my body, doo finally let t t tention rated on the flame.

    Once ts  snuffed itself out; to me.

    Mary Magdalene meditates upon ters than herself.

    ture, for it is t silent of pictures, emanates not from t from te ligranced to enlig. S speak,  speak. In t, s, maybe, but s speecer ter sated upon t speec as s aside  a, is being born out of tercourse he candle flame.

    But somet of tercourse  already. S a sacred o mori, a skull.