:20:03
Well, I had
no pressing engagement...
:20:06
except with those boys
from the finance office...
:20:09
and she'd mentioned
something to drink.
:20:11
Why not?
:20:14
Sometimes it's interesting to see
just how bad writing can be.
:20:19
This promised to go the limit.
:20:22
I wondered what a handwriting expert
would make of her childish scrawl.
:20:29
Max wheeled in some champagne
and some caviar.
:20:33
Later I found out that Max was the only
other person in that grim Sunset castle.
:20:39
And I found out
a few other things about him.
:20:42
As for her, she sat
coiled up like a watch spring...
:20:46
her cigarette clamped
in a curious holder.
:20:49
I could sense her eyes on me
from behind those dark glasses...
:20:53
defying me not to like
what I read.
:20:56
Or maybe begging me
in her own proud way to like it.
:21:00
It meant so much to her.
:21:09
It sure was a cozy setup--
:21:11
that bundle of raw nerves and Max...
:21:15
and a dead monkey upstairs...
:21:17
and the wind wheezing through
that organ once in a while.
:21:28
Later on, just for comedy relief...
:21:32
the real guy arrived
with the baby coffin.
:21:36
It was all done with great dignity.
:21:39
He must have been
a very important chimp.
:21:42
The great-grandson
of King Kong maybe.
:21:49
It got to be 1 1:00.
:21:51
I was feeling
a little sick at my stomach...
:21:54
what with that sweet champagne
and that tripe I'd been reading--
:21:58
that silly hodgepodge
of melodramatic plots.