[Applause] Mr Murphy drove with the resignation of the already dead he imagined he felt the way Dylan Thomas did heading into the White Horse to take the drink that would kill him he knew what they were and what they were not [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello she said I’m here Alice thought immediately of a slaughtering lamb but she couldn’t be certain which of them was meant for sacrifice he was outside he was inside it excites you doesn’t it the surreptitiousness of it [Music] all Mr Murphy smiled wide the lines
around his mouth deepening into parentheses that framed his perfect lips into a punchline [Music] smoke drifted from her mouth with practice cinematic effort is it more romantic for you that way this is no Romance I’m sorry to disappoint you Alice opened her mouth to say something but the words fell away Mr Murphy loomed over her his catalac eyes hungry and bored I want you to read to me Alice watched in slow motion as Mr Murphy’s tongue undulated when he spoke read it to me the way you read it to
yourself pink tied against the bone shore of his tea Alice took the tattered Henry Miller paper back off the bedside table in spad of open on the comforter of her [Music] bed page 13 He said behind her one hand slid up the front of her cotton dress the other pointed to a sense on the page Big H here [Music]
