-5-
"If this is the afterlife,
there is no need to conform to former assumed requirements of making
things . . . interesting to an essentially disinterested human audience!"
"You can say that again!"
"Meanwhile over to the Tavern
of Historical Personages--we find many former agitators. Staying up
all night, though it isn't night for that only happens on earth, as
they strive to rig up a morning landscape --like a memory of life.
Ah, life--what was it?"
"Ah, life--what was it?"
"For awhile I thought I would
know what it was before it ended, and then I thought at least for
certain I would know afterwards. Who would have thought that, looking
back I still don't know what it was!"
"Who strives? What are you
talking about?"
"Over at this table, three
famed literary giants, who are little guys, from the 1840's. That
would be Edgar Allen Poe, Soren Kierkegaard, and Thomas DeQuincey."
"Meeting now for the first
time. Though they were all in a soldiers' row on someone's prize bookshelf."
"What's the name of the woman
running the brothel? Where the gunslinger finds brief solace before
the final shoot-out in the morning . . ."
"Kitty. Always, Kitty."
"I have the feeling I've
been here before."
"There was a ferment, the
oldest, the most remarkable of all,
that was known to be an organic
being--beer yeast."
"That's Louie! Frock-coated
Louie. Treat him to a frosty mug!"
"I can't believe I don't
have to worry about my car anymore."
"I'm going back."
"You get this far and you
want to go back?
"I can't even think without
music playing."
"I can't believe I am aware
of the fact that three checks are going to bounce. Like I could do
something about it now!"
"Why did we always have to
hear the President's reaction to everything."
"Especially when we knew
exactly what it is going to be."
"I always like the parts
about the President. The President is a real comic character; we just
roll him out and put a microphone in front of him, and he gives the
official emotion everytime."
"That is because is he is
so thoroughly deluded that he is President."
"A real President would be
able to divorce himself from the fact, I agree."
"My plan is to hire the hecklers,
and the insane flattering fans, to get rid of them in the audience.
It's the only way. Make them ushers, who aren't allowed to express
themselves."
"And who exactly are these
hecklers and insane fans?"
"How great is their number?"
"Don't they have any rights?"
