You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger Page #7

driving to the poker game.

Head-on collision with another car.

Two girls dead. Henry's dead.

Mike's in a coma.

Even a pedestrian on the pavement

is on the critical list.

It's just unbelievable.

Two teenage drunks nicked the car...

Bam! Unbelievable.

He couldn't get his mind around it.

Mike Prince in a coma? A vegetable?

Henry Strangler gone.

He wasn't even that close with them,

but it made him feel

how quick and fragile is existence.

And that's when he had his crazy thought.

Strangler lived alone.

He had no family,

no time for a woman in his life,

and was obsessively private

about his first novel.

Roy was the only one he'd trusted

to read it, this Roy knew for sure.

Strangler had just finished tweaking it

and had not shown it to Malcolm Dodds yet

because Roy was to arrange that.

Strangler had no agent

and none of the other poker players

were writers,

and so had no particular interest in

or knowledge of his progress.

The man was a drone,

a perfectionist, a workaholic.

Possibly a genius

who'd written a terrific first book,

but tragically and most conveniently,

he was dead.

I'm not familiar with your shop,

but I'll make it my business

to tell Cristal all about it.

Well, it's only small, but I think we carry

most of the important occult books.

Do you have any literature

on reincarnation?

Yes.

You know, sometimes I get a clear flash

that I've visited a place before.

Perhaps ancient Egypt.

My son-in-law pooh-poohs it,

but if I didn't think there was more

to life, I couldn't go on.

You'd have got on well

with my dear, departed Claire.

I've tried unsuccessfully to contact her

so far, but I won't give up.

You obviously cared for her very deeply.

Yes, it's been very lonely without her.

It's got quite a bit of a kick to it.

It's got some chili oil in it.

Hey, come on, get dressed.

We're meeting the Hoveys in 45 minutes.

What are you doing?

Come on. Get dressed.

We're meeting the Hoveys.

I don't feel like seeing

one of them boring plays again.

Well, this'll be great. Come on.

That's what you said about the one Friday

and it was so boring.

It was! Weren't even scary.

Well, the ghosts were meant to be symbolic.

It wasn't intended to be a scary play,

you know?

Come on, look, it's not that I don't like

being at home with you, believe me.

It's too quiet in this house.

It's like a freaking echo.

You never like watching

any of the telly I like.

Okay, well, I don't know.

What the hell are we talking about here?

What?

I'd like to do more things I like

once in a while.

Okay, all right. The rest of the week,

we'll do what you want.

Is that okay? Okay?

Come to the show tonight, and we'll do...

You call the shots the rest of the week.

How about that?

This is banging, isn't it?

I love this tune.

- Alfie, can I have a dance with him?

- What?

Can I dance with him?

It's boring just sitting.

Yes?

- Okay. Don't stay out there too long.

- I won't.

Sally announced to Roy

she was starting her own gallery

and the time had come for a divorce.

By now, Dia had strong romantic ideas

about sharing her life with a writer.

- Your book is really riveting.

- Thank you.

You obviously must have spent

a lot of time in Ireland and Scotland.

Some. I did a lot of research.

A lot of research.

I thought you told me

you've never been to Ireland.

Northern Ireland.

But I've been to other places.

I've been to Connemara.

That's one of the places I've been.

I loved so much the style of your writing,

you know?

Each word clicks along the page,

and your characters are so rich

and almost startling.

Wow. Thank you.

That's a huge compliment, coming from you.

- Thank you so much.

- No, no. It's all right.

It is. He hardly likes anything, believe me.

How's Alan, sweetheart?

- He's good, Mom.

- Is he coming this weekend?

Your father is very encouraging.

And he's a lovely guy.

Well, he's not that lovely

when he doesn't like something.

No?

He's written a lot of criticism

for small literary magazines

and nothing much impresses him.

Well, what can I say? You're my muse.

You popped into my life

just when I needed divine inspiration.

It's amazing.

- Well, that's what a muse does, right?

- I guess so.

- I love it here.

- It's lovely weather.

I don't even wanna think

what I'm thinking.

I can think of nothing else.

What am I going to do?

What I want you to do?

I want you as my forever muse.

Here, or in Paris. I write,

we open wine bottles, we make love.

They're all en route

for the wedding.

Alan's family, his relatives

and our friends.

Alan's going to be devastated.

That's okay.

It's so wrong.

Look, I've told you before

not to make any large purchase

without consulting me first.

But you said I could have them both.

That was a while ago.

The picture's changed now.

Did you go bust or something?

God, I've tried to explain to you,

at this point in time, cash is tight.

I lost a lot in the stock market

and Helena won't budge on the alimony.

We have to be more budget conscious,

that's all I'm saying.

Hey, come here.

You know how much I like to pamper you

and get you nice things.

But just ask me

before you spend this kind of money,

until I catch up on some expenditure, okay?

- I'm sorry.

- Yeah, I am, too, if I yelled.

Your face is all red.

You've got to watch your blood pressure.

Remember what the doctor said.

He says I've got

the arteries of a man half my age.

You know, I just have to get

to the gym more often to exercise.

I'm just working so hard. Yeah.

Hey, coat looks beautiful.

Fantastic.

The truth was that business reverses

and Alfie's extravagance

had led him into serious financial trouble.

And while he tried to keep up appearances,

he had become over his head in debt.

Your back any better?

What?

I said, your back any better?

Yeah. I've done my leg in now.

I think I overdid the pedaling

when you weren't around.

Well, I should come around more often.

Let me have a look.

You probably sprained it or something.

Come on.

You do have the touch.

I should be paying you,

not the other way around.

I'm very expensive.

You know, there's a rumor

that before you married Alfie Shepridge

that you worked in Las Vegas.

- Is that so?

- Yeah.

Were you in a show there?

Someone said a cocktail waitress.

But I reckon you were a model.

Whatever it was I did,

you can bet I was pretty good.

You must have enjoyed your work.

Well, why wouldn't I?

On the other hand, if you liked it so much,

maybe you wouldn't have retired

and married Alfie Shepridge.

Well, if I said with some,

it wasn't always great.

But with most of the men I met,

it was very stimulating.

In what way was it stimulating?

I learned a lot of things.

I met some very handsome actors

who liked to party.

Some footballers who were pretty athletic.

What'd they teach you?

Let's say we taught each other.

You want to teach me?

Not here.

I'm not yelling!

Christ, can you blame me for being upset?

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