"It wasn't for the love of tennis that we explored His
footnotes" Sandy introduced Oscar this way, "It was
rather a cruel joke."
"As I can attest." Oscar flashed a smile of utterly
flattered approval. "Do please go on."
Sandy, never one to wait for permission, stepped on
his last word, conjoining it to her twin speak at
once. She said, "He dragged us through the details
of his murder and not just the events that led up to
the way he hung Him self, but every single clipped
toenail."
Oscar shuddered. "It was positively grisly."
"I believe He wanted us to know... He tried to love
us." Pernille interjected gently.
Oscar laughed in his amused manner. "Alas, My angel,
how you always see the good in men."
Sandy was paused to observe Pernille blush and
glance down under Oscar's not insensitive,
confident stare.
"It is but a reflection of your love, kind Pernille,
lovely sweet Pea, that such a compliment
bestowed upon such a fool, could ever be
imagined true. Ah, but you are the very
essence of Hope herself, that last shard
of beauty, left in the box... and even as the
key has been thrown into the abyss, you
would remain open, every secret airing upon
the wind... how you would set a man free..."
Pernille gasped and clutched her pearls.
Sandy spanked Oscars icy hand away from
Pernille's knee. Pernille shivered and pulled
at her hem.
Oscar laughed, his manner more amused than ever.
"We could never quite picture it though." Sandy
continued, "The way his wife discovered Him.
The way He left her to clean up after Him, for
the last time..."
"I believe it was Grand Pa Pa that might say,
"He died the way He lived." Pernille perked up.
"Indeed He was a messy boy." Oscar championed
Pernille's meek contribution.
"He was a cocktail." Sandy put it bluntly, "Which is
not only the Right Combination, but a bomb. He
bombed Him self. He died Not just, Nor justly
Hung; He died bombed."
"To die as Absurd as Absurd would have Him."
Oscar moved his hands in a gesture of putting
the frosting on a cake. "To Be or Not to Be... That!
Is The Infinite Jest."
"He'd grown weary of carrying Pigeon code, over
the grid, fairground to truck stop to titty bar
and started to believe in killing the messenger."
Sandy explained, "He'd been alarmed by the
narcotics cops that chased Him after curfew... Up
and down the alleyways, His bare feet sliced
on the jagged-mouthed tuna cans, He scattered the
chorus of fish-reeking toms... Barreling into
the trashcans, to lie..."
"Got the wind knocked out of Him!" Pernille startled.
"After all he was a windbag." Oscar encouraged
Pernille teasingly.
Pernille pouted much to the admiration of Oscar who
found her to be complete, if not adorable.
"He was unafraid to make men into a monkeys and
bound to Inherit the Wind." Sandy divulged, "He was
an atheist, crossed his heart for show and sworn to
die for the same, as well as a borderline..."
"Genius?!" Pernille shouted the possibility and
practically jumped out of her seat.
"How very casually the modern reader throws
that word around." Oscar chided Pernille as if
she were more than the child she already was.
Pernille pouted much to the admiration of Oscar who
found her to be complete, if not adorable.