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  • Baghdad Towers West

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    Nate Rankin
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    Short story by Don DeLillo

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    Short story by Don DeLillo

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    721 visualizzazioni12 pagine

    Baghdad Towers West

    Caricato da

    Nate Rankin
    Short story by Don DeLillo

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Scarica in formato PDF o leggi online su Scribd
    Segnala contenuti inappropriati
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    CONTRIBUTORS Bi kaoping an oe on th dally ila of manors aeticlaly on ‘hoa tha havent ated the stoton ofa tall one ence tha ve, aed prom ther Ierary maze, ure bel bombarded by, [Sew save a wir te generation clamoring be bard, Tho ind af ‘ekg they are doing repraet no aulden tangs departs buh hates ‘hangs. Tere is razon (odosbt that tho wat and our promt ebony tne have anokig realy Yo do with although th change ay ret ‘ailens youth nvetent or widening chm baneen te yours ead {hold Moe drei oe shoul tee increace sty of ALFA, de {Bes pronrmainwrsagin seerl ofthe avadann school ofthe oostry: ‘Steal ofthe writers hee age youn, ow fs staring te carcrs JOUN ALLMAN fa oe of tse, Tip" bs fst pushed soy. He has meted an MCA. in weting ot Syeactne Unverty uoder Philip Boa, a tacng ot Canova alge Father DANIEL BERRIGAN has pub [Bed tv bea of pantry: bef so an infor ae of remenste Coleman's Weng Seminary at Johns Hopkine and corcenty teachieg at ‘Mary Wasting Cllge fn Freercaarg, Visas, hes boa pub ing poy in the yoga SHERRILL, FONTENO, who hat own = tremor of te Felon Worksop a the Univenty of Towa ada pl Teed poem iy Nearo Digs Bode, and Poi, wo tvs in Lato. DORIANNE GOETZ, 2, e's juniog at. W. Pou Colle, Long sland, ‘chee she has won pony pine DAVID GiESTAM, 25, Nas fom {he Unie of foe, now tachng at Minot Sate College Noth Data, 1s soother neyeome, *Ancioae Duelo hs et paid sory DAVID MCALEAVEY, x aenor at Corll University from Wit Kava, a lane of thie Seas Class of 1916 Honor Holle Essay brie, ns Ethers publsiel poetry only losaly, LEONARD NATHAN, wellSzo¥e to rer of ech, hay fet to Bakley frm India; the Galas raw har fecetypublaed e bonk of hie penmsy The Matchnahere Lament he working on teslition of anit Taian pty. JOYCE ESROL; OATES" Garden o) Earthly Delgo oft nee no {nated the yar forthe National Book Avatds, DAVID PERKINS,» wa eof « Hopwood Prize poetry a the Unley of Michizn, teaches {'sthoolrft College ia Miniann RALPH SALISBURY, ceanly ae ened om a yeae Sn Enaland dit the Nordest Kev ad ited Creative Wein Division oft Unter of Oregons HERBERT SCOTT lives n Cape Grardans, Miwa, NANCY WILLARD, who tao in the Tingish Depertment a Vater, hn blind Te Hus County (Uasves ff Michigan New Foat eres) sad Stin of Grave (Univesity of Minar Prose. to oy Wi Han With the Dow wil he pan ofa cllacion af nates, The Lively ncomy af God, toe published this eat by {kine Pres. CHARLES WYATT, «Young oraersontbutse nw iver BAGHDAD TOWERS WEST By Don Delillo. ‘This in being writen in one of my thee beds. To be presse, itis being written in the middle hed, which belonged to Caroline of blesed memory, and if any part of this acount seems to you ‘confused, unsequential,somewhet lax in manne, lame it on Caro- Tine ‘She isa junk sulptrese, Her theory i that everything is ar, ‘or non-ar, depending on your viewpoint, end she never got any a. tzument from me Carolise was one of the pacestirs in junk. She ‘vas able to find an entire apstem of galseic beauty in a simple tiresron, « ange, the sprocket wheel of « bicycle, Her exroom- ‘mate Mind Bird (the he to my left) told me that Careline once ‘offered a small oy ten dollars for his rasty skate key. This seemed charming then, a fey bit of dedication to one's erat, something old Duchamp might have done filly years ago—if you substitute Pais for New York, a concierge fr the hoy, a urinal for th skate key. Caroline left the ety some timo ago on an extended junk-tour of the hemisphere, She anounced tut small junk had served is pur- ‘oso, thatthe boundaries of her art (or nonart) were now ready to ‘encompass bigger and more demonic forms. Since then T have n ‘ceived poscars showing the smelting furnaces of Pitsburgh and the industiial dregs of the Mesabi iron range. She isan intelligent sin, Caroline, and an expert welder, and far be it from me to sug gest that her life joke heard nce too often. ‘Bat where ie Melinda Biel? Whereis tbe golden hope of the Sunshine Sute, the sweetheart of Tallahassee and environs who 16 ‘wore to make it big on D'vay? Melinda Bied is tho tiny enthusi atic type of giel who speaks in awed shivers about New York and fonsiders every inane remark of her gentlemen friends a luminous txample of Easton Seaboard wit and sophistication. Although I did not know Melinds Bird aswell at I eat to know Caroline and Robin (the hel to my right), Tas happy to show her some ofthe literary and theatrical landmarks of the city. We sav au old man, looping in Shubort Alloy. We read the plague in fant ofthe shoo- Store whore Eugone O'Neill was boen. We went to the Algongaia Hotel heeause she wanted to see the famous round table, bat all we saw were advertising men eating cocktail peanuts,’ Whore is Melinda Bird now? Is sho living withthe oropomicssadent from ‘Ghana? Is she walking the stets of the ety with er aatogzaph ok ying od some mame oho of Allen Fun nd Hck Graziano? Is she back in Tallahassee, helping her mother bake ‘whito Protestant dumplings while trying vainly to rcaptaze the ate rmorphere of those pungent bantering kosher nights atthe Stage Delicateson? Her bed i less soft than Caroline's, and some dit sont of citrus stil lingers. Robin has returned to England. In e way she loved Now York more than her Americen roommates did, It was the impossible Vision, vertical and etheriaed and akylest, a dream assembled on fan operating table, and yet not so very different from her native London. On our walks about the city she often commented favor- ably on « brownstone or ehusch or fraudulent pub that reminded hher of home. Robin is tll and faie, and her wove is «clog bril Tiant bel. She eamse to Amorics to model high fashion clothing and Decome rich and famous. But after a year and a half of typing shipping orders for w freight-forwarding compeny, she went back to England. Her last eter said that she was about to manry her third cousin Charles, who may oF may not be « homosexl, 1 play no favorites among the three beds. Each has its own special incantation, But sinee Caroline was the most mature and creative of the thee gies, I decided to write this commentary from her bed, amid th lyric souvenirs of her wonderfully litered life. [My head rests on » red white nd blue pillowcase —the fag of the ‘original 13 colonies Pinned tothe bedboard bebind me ate photor raphe of Bogie, Marilyn, Ringo, Ike, Lutleen, Stokely, Marion, 16 [Ravi and Papas theee axe also newspaper clippings, hockey pro trams, ads forthe Rosierucans, Surrounding me on the bed and floor are « camel whip, a Navy surplus rat (deflated), « steering ‘wheel belonging «Hudson Hornet, and a crankcase which Caro line found by « roadside in Connecsiet, the Nutmeg State, Caro- Tine liked to say that in unearthing, a it were, these eontempora artful, she was merely anticipating the Martian archaeolog ‘who, eons hence, would rummage among the bombedaut cities of thie planet and discover a teuth which no philosopher ofthe 20th ‘century has thought to suggest; namely, that evilization is nothing ‘more than the gears that drive it That was Carolin, and this is her Tied, and in my deep regard for the girl, who may nov, forall now, bo en route tothe Washoe Copper Smelter to check out the ‘world's largest smokestack, [cannot help imagining whimsically thats I write thse words [am reclining upon the earth itself, the 20th century which ie surely no more of less than « surplus raft. Tam aakiog myself now how T came to this phase of my life, ‘4 man with Uhep beds and a memory of the gies who slept in thom, Te was one year ago, in an auturnn of smoke and fet afternoons, that T first saw this bedroom. Setting out every weekend from my terrace apartment in Gramerey Park, I bad beon seaking a new place to live fora longtime, m place to sleep realy, to deft, to find thew meanings within the circle we are all pursuing, Luck bad not ‘een with me und Twas becoming tense and dieouraged. For there is something tragic about looking for an apartment. Granted, i is tragedy of the smallest kind, druing room stuffy the work and rmeasure of not very dark minds. But still tis there, Think of the landlord, interrupted at dinner, who leads you to the stairs, sil hitching an embossed paper napkin. He mounts the stepson slip: pered feet. You hear the twitching sound his tongue makes as it elves between his teeth for captive morsels, The house Ins boen Advertned ns a charming old browastone and you have to elimb five fights. Ho shows you the room, Tt wears all the shabby romance of «quick getaway. Tho bed remains, unmade, a blanket heaped on top of it wadling a whisky hote, A chair ad a table, A print of marigolds. A nylon stocking wrapped around the door keno, wrapped tightly, as f meant to strangle. You imagine that ‘he woman seho lived bere had a job in small gren ofice on the : westside, She left work promptly at five every evening and eame hhome and drank. Her hushand shot himself in 1957, the year the Brooklyn Dodgers movod to Los Angeles. ‘Or itis a new building in th east eighties, still incomplete, cfloring rent-free occupancy forthe fist three months, Inthe lobby there are murals depicting Versilles, Miami Beach and Mount Fajiyama. The agent escorts you to the elevator and you soar 31 stories in padded coll. You walkthrough corsidors which are not yet carpeted. Several people have already moved in and you see them sepping over the rubble, dwellers in some futuristic ghetto, ‘women in raspberry eulotes, men wearing trousers endorsed by th National Poutall League, ‘he apartment he shows you is bare ‘and white. It is hd to tell where ome room ends and another Dogs. The agent speaks of ait conditioning, dish washers, a 24 hour doorman, a package room, a garage, a sundeck, basernent {all of washers and dryers, a view of «view of the river. Plaster ‘ast hangs in the ait. Through the wall you hear bear two elets- ans inthe next apartment discussing outlets, fuses and Swedish films about les ‘That's how it went for months, The sense of minor tragedy ‘was becoming vivid. Teanted « place to rest my jangling head, & chamber dedicated to cleop and magic, But Y did nat kaow pre ‘sey what I vas looking for until hit me betwen the eyes ‘To Central Park West I came, whore thove fll all around me the Jeavee of an ambiguous autumn. Tt was a Dright day, chill and ‘generously blue. I checked the ad Id lipped from the Times fand ened down 72nd Steet, Thea I saw it, Baghdad Towers West, a d0-sory orgone box of glass and stel. I stood there a ‘moment and gazed up atthe building, aware of the flzelip unreel- ing in my mind, But [knew L was not the young Jimmy Stewart (Tie you yet, New York") fresh from the midwest, not the urbane Cary Grunt about to ade quips with Rosalind Rosell in Ihr penthouse oie. T vas, in fae, nobody. Eventually, Une, the unoonscions world would claim me, and I was eager forthe voy ‘age, sharper in its way then the slap of sale during storm at sen, ‘or the smell of tides in a juak-port ofthe Orient, Baghlad Towers West. Tt promised a ney kind of mystery, electronic and ultre- modern, in whic the angel of death pushes vacuum cleaner and 108 all the werewolves ar schnauzer. T went inside, Seversl uniformed doormen stood Icind a vast control panel which was equipped with a shortrave radio « Television cteen, four pastel telephones, and a series of buttons, dials and other indicators, ‘The scene was familiar; we have all witnetsed it on TV—tho blockhouse near the launch site during ‘ountdown—an I wondered if somewhere on that glittering panel there was a button marked abort. I showed one of the men the ad [was eazzying and he phoned on abead to announoe my arrival, (On the lobvy walls were murals of what appeared tobe a suburban Casha, complete with lave, and T would not have oon surprised to see Sabu himsely, ina Dior loineloth, come leaping from a mina- ret and then dash out the door, pussued by thieves and eyphilitcs. got off the elevator and walked down a corridor which seemed ‘enlese ike the corridors in our dreams, and there was no smell ‘of cooking, no loud arguments, no obscenities sratched on the ‘wally no sign at all that men lived here in vctory and defeat, which nay be jast aswell, for we have seen the signs in other places and Tearned no more from them than we have earned from dieams, 7 found the apartwent and knocked, The door was opened by ety girl in blue jeans, This waa Robin and sho led me inside. Since i was a Saturday, all throe girl wero home, doing those legendary things which single girls do on Saturday; washing, rin ing, drying: looking for items misplaced during the week; ws letters to all the eaptals ofthe world. We tok tums introducing fourselves and then, although it was only three in th afternoon, Melinda Bied excused herself in order to start geting ready for & date that evening. Tat down and listened to Caroline explain that they had placed the ad inthe Times because thet lease ail had a year to run and the management had threatened lawsuits unless the {irl found someone, on their own time and at their own expense, ‘who was willing to take over the apartment “We're leaving in tvo months.” Caroline said. “T am going to tour the hemisphere, thanks tothe Ford Foundation, Rebis returning to England. Melinda Bird wants to look for a cheaper ‘partment, The rent isthe hundred fish, Thope you oan sing it ciently this building i goddamn nightmare” “Ito unattractive," Robin aid. “Really i's the worst sox of re uatteative spectacle one ears is rampant in Americ before one ‘cual comes bore. Dut T suppose we wally ought be telling yom this actualy.” “Where did you get Une ean” Isai “Do you think they're to sug?” ‘We spot a good part of the afternoon talking abot Baghdad ‘Towers West. As they gave me their summaries of th bulding’ inhumanity nnd plas errors, I hesame more ineiguod. A sauna Jah. A'socurty system. The arial wee inthe lobby. The ati fal poo. The antfiilSsh, Robinmad te and broaght out sme Finland cookies, and our certo begun to veer toward the fies themselves. Thon Melina Died joined us, in pigtails and fingham, andthe thee of them pecformed «Kind of fague which texpresel their hopes and fear their Greta al ambitions. They Spoke wo me as if vere interviing them for « probe in Look ‘agar, «tory onthe Reson Goneation, They yoke in tales ‘lovely vilt hase hungover Ctrl Park a ened wo hen imeoly able to shake the felng that they hal been waiting for tne all afongy «man who woud listen, wating t tell me Hse moist secret and ga ta wall aso of tcumph whichis tensed inthe mere telling. “Taeulp Caroine sad, “I ave always sculpted. Whoa 1 vaso ite gil in PiladlphiaT made a mole out of «clothes Hanger. In & seme Tented Calder, Marble is dead. Bronze is dead, The Greeks are det 1f junk dies, Tay as well go with it-Tam commited to junk. Give mo aparkplugs, Maytag washers jet engine the teth of combs Today all beauty i poral an Adem new forms for its expression. T would ike to work in cobalt and stconiuns, I would like to make fantastic signoads for te superhighays. This is the ago ofthe onital bomb, the Irandnumey the neon pista juin. Doom, Doom. Doom is my seu.” ‘wont to model,” Robin said. “It would be super to be « model. It would be killing to see oneself on the cover of Vogue. Thore is nothing like Vogue in England. ‘hie i nothing tke Bazaar. I want to wear long veious boots. I want to wear harem pants, I want to wear paper minis and vinyl macks and tomboy blazes, I want tobe high fashiony. But its 90 expensive on my salary Pve teed to find work as « model bat they say Pim not the tmodely type, But Tam the modely type. Uknow I am, Tmagine, Caroline, Imagine, Molina Bid. To wear Pucei and he paid for itl To wear Balenciaga! To wear St, Laurent! To wear Courréges! To wear Mary Quant! ‘To wear Givenchy!” “want to act,” Melinda Bied sid, “All my life ve wanted toact, My mother hus encouraged me. When I was litle she used to dress me up like a leading lady, with lipstick and all. Sho worked hard and saved up to send me to New York. New York is the theater. IVs fabulous. I like to walk up end down Broedway and Took at the Tights and atthe fabulous people. Once I saw Jinx Falkenburg. Once I saw Hugh Downs, Pm studying drama with « :man who used to coach alot of big ames. He's very tough and de sanding but I respect him tremendously. The boy I'm going out with tonights the nephew of a theatrical press agent. We're going to Sardis. Sordi’! How do look?” ‘Later they showed me around the apartment, The kitehen Jhummed with power and a Kind of stains steel lst, Inthe bath- zoom, banging above the tub, was a dense rainforest of stockings fand tindergarments, Then I sae the bedroom, with its three sub- Time beds, end I knew I had finally found what Thad hoen seeking those many month, en oof myn al A ny ir of dpc tell you, there are two levels to ular form of endeavor “There i the deep black plunge into te pool ofthe unooraciouy, 4 stupendous place full of angel, orgies ad monsters. And there ix the twilight one, a region of pale modes and mild erotica, an en clave where beneficent gauze seems to soften every impression, 0 Duthe the halfsleeping mind in serene aquelight The twilight ‘one, of cours, isthe nesting place ofthe nap, « Continental teadi- tion which has not caught on too well in this peppy republic. Sounds from the pysical word sometimes iatrade onthe twilight zone telephone harking dog the sirens of» nclesr holocast Gril. These reminders of a civilization out there make your nap ‘even more splendid, for they confirm that you are difting beyond time and the misdemeanors of time-hound men. And yo, a much 4s Tenjoy the semicoblivion ofthe twilight zone, so muck more do Terave the plunge the alLout effort, the big daddy, the angel- monster domain, that I often sleep right through my naps. T can sleep for twelve hours straight. Fourteen hours [ightom, Inthe ten monthe T have been Living hee, tho undertow ‘of drowsiness has hevome ineeasingly strong. My jb, as vce-pres: dentin charge of research for Lithic Industries, is an extremely ‘prestigious one, with all the customary fringe benefits, T ge tomy desk at 10:30 in the morning. T take two and a half hours for lunch, T eave early. Those citeumstances allow me to devote an extraordinary amount of time to my horizontal quest. The only thing that troubles me these days isthe extent to which I miss the tile, When I first met Caroline and Molinde Bird and Robin, 1 liked them well enough but felt no special affetion. However, in the two mouths between our fst meeting and the day they made their departures, F saw thom often and found myself developing & {genuine fondes for them. They, in tur, became fond of me. Tis ‘only a guess but I think Caroline liked me because I was the only pereon in the immediate vicinity who was older than she, and be- fuse Twas most petient in listening to thories which are not lways listened wo without some touch of condescension, if not out right hilarity. Robin found me stimulating because I wa, like New York City ieelf, American but not too American. And Melinda Bird considered me «prize tophy of fathert and polish because Thad once spoken to Jason Robards J. ata cocktail party. ‘As the gels straightened out their affairs end prepared to leave the city I continued living in my Gramerey Park apartnet ‘My neighbors could not understand why T wanted to leave this h lowed plot of ground to move to a plac called Baghdad Towers West. Gramercy Park is hstorial, they said. Iti graceful, ele- gant, old, exclusive. I suppose they are right. Gramercy Park is fe ofthe last preserves of civilization in New York, and it needs its champions, But T have bovome bored with civilization, Like Caroline, T want to he swept along in the neon tide, Tt appeals to ‘what is most hase in me and I suggest, without to mach original- that this appeal to baseness i universal, Let the Grameroy crowd rally around their gatamps and fireplaces, Let thom erect, plagues and declare the atea «national landmark. This is what i Aleverves for it has become too self-aware, too stagy and nostalgic land frightened, an old actress in father boa standing before her ‘mjrtor. Besides id not sleep well in Gramerey Park. Daring my second vist to Baghdad Towers West, the girls and I sat around discussing the amazing Redgeave family, Too [Namath knee, and the seven new Anthony Quinn movies. I had {gone over thereto help Caroline haul some Allstate Rugged Lug. ‘ek tres up to the apartment. After leaving the ties in the ath zoom, we joined Robin and Melinda Bird, who were having a as- ‘ual dinner of popeorn and Moselle; and the, over Turkish coffee land Sara Leo AI|Butter Cinnamon Nut Coffee Cake, we talkod for the next two hours oF so, Suddenly Rabin ean ito the bedroom, r= turing minutes Inter in what appeared to he « modified Gestapo uniform, blazing with eagles eostes and a sor of pink inoffensive saat “Let's all go to Moloch!” she screamed, “What on eath ie Moloch?” 1 “Isa fabulous discotheque in the Village. Let’ go, Catone. Let's go, Melinda Bied. Tl be bolutely killing.” ‘So we took a cab down to Moloch. Three nights later, we took 1.cab over to Arthur. Tho night after that, we took a eab down to ‘Teude Heller's, Forty-ight hour Iter, we were back in Moloch, and this was the night Melinda Bird met the economies student from Chan ‘We entored in twos. Robin and Melinda Bird van ahead to secure a table, Caroline and T hovered in the doorway a moment, Before us lay « lendzeape of mythologieal proportions. The floor ‘was covered with dancers who wore clothing of every color and de ‘eription, Musie pounded the walls, On the Irae splitrern eval ing over the dance flor there were images of Iyrieal hieracial nud- fam and the runs of Nagasaki. Lights leamed aero the walls in prismatic medleys which suggested that Disneyland was under air fttack, The dancers ticked and tooked ike metronomes, It was fer ity, psychodvams, volley ball, elienaion, the mating of lamboy- ant insects the demanology of the Congo. In the mile of i all stood the jukebor, f bles watched the dencers watching the spectators watching the dancers, ‘They were all very squirmy and amuck, these dancing me ‘ophidians crawling out of thee pubescent skin, but T decided to approve of them. Being childless made it easy. (Caroline and T joined the hers and as soon a8 we woe seated a lanky Negro approached te table and asked Melinda Bird if she veanted to donee, She stared at my left lapel for @ moment. Then the popped up owt of her chair, « command decision of no small ‘magnitude, and immediately hegan Hailing her arms and twitching hiplsily ay fa tiny burst of solar energy had just hoen cet off in her forebrain, Lordored around of drinks and while wo waited for them to arrive Caroline sadied the danoe floor, measuring it for {ature demolition and the ultimate avails of at “What's this dance called?” she said. “Doos it have @ name?” ‘You're so appallingly behind the times,” Robin said. “T should have thought you'd know by this late date that i’ sheer pro- inca to bother with names, Oue simply does what one does. It's 20 sort of foe that way.” “Everybody in thie goddam place Caroline said, Caroline, twentyseven atthe ime, was five years older than Doth Melinds Bird and Robin, and although she accopod thee sor- ties into the midst of the Pepsi Generation with the characters cally open spirit ofthe arts, thro was more than one wrinkle of Devrilderment across her marvelous brow. ‘To be twentysoven ina place like Moloch, after all, sto be in the ruck of one's declining years, We watshod Melinda Bird skip back to the table. ‘Did you woe who I danced with?” ako said. “That's the frst time ever danced with one. And guess what? Ho's an Afvican.” “Aren't they all2” Robin ead “No, T mean he's « eal African, He's from Ghana and he's studying economics at Columbia, He's wich a groovy dance Robin. Oh, if my mother ever saw mo. But he's so nice. He's wf spoken and culticed. He read Ison in the original Dutch. Look, Dore he comes again. What should I do?” Since that night, while sleeping in Robin's bed, 1 have roamed of Moloch, In tho dream I am dressed lke Laverence of ‘Arabia. Ivear a buroose, pair of sunglasses and English desert boots. Althought Teannot sce my face Tam abeolutly certain, by the strange calculus of thse dreams in which one is both object 0 goddamn young,” 20 and observe, thatthe person is me. I am dancing gracefully be- teath the revolving screen. Flashbulbs are popping everywhere Dut there are no men behind the lights, 1 soem to be dancing with imyelfs atleast my partner is dressed identically. ‘Then I realize Tam not dancing ot all. 1am merely striking poses Tam modeling. ‘The fashbnlbs hiss and explode and then Micholangelo Antonioni ‘emerges from the darkness and kisses my hand, ‘There isa booms ing te of applause and I wake up. Sleep has latiides and longitudes, end they encompass vester distances thon the cites of men, (Remember please, Tamm ‘writing this on Caroline's hed: so do not look for Aristotelian Togs expect, instead, the chaos of junkyard.) My footsteps have snot been loud enough. Thave walked on sand and velvet, afraid to ‘sk tho splendid pain of ground glass. My sole achievements were ‘my possessions. {was a man with ate Mr, VioPresident. Then, slowly, Thegan to disappear. I heeame no more than my’ ti, no ‘more than my Mercedes 220 SE sedan, no more than my Uber. Tingen-Sasaki wlidstateveceiver FMLstereo component system, 0 ‘more than my key tothe Playboy Club. My disappearance as helped along by the departure of my wife, a former chocus git] who studied philocophy’on three continents, who had once almost married Tommy Manville, and eho sometimes lnughed aloud while engaged in sexual congress. She left me to run of with an enforcer for the Mafia, Her farewell note (typed, not writen —a tactic of tru bitch genius) said that sho preferred the smell of ‘ood and garlic to that of timidity. Finally, about threo yen ogo, daring the annaal ompany gathering ofits far-fung executive of {ices traditionally held at ovr chairman's Iodge in the Ike region ‘of Minnsots, the Gopher State, somebody got up and started talk ing abont slumimom stockpiles. 1 fll aslo halfway through his speech, I had disappeared almost completely and it was yonder fl, Within the darkness I found something, new, which was my- self, or at least the beginnings of myself, tho roots and mangled

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