:09:00
( applause)
:09:01
""Yourfriend Richie.""
End ofletter.
:09:03
NARRATOR:
Forthepastyear,
he had been traveling alone
:09:06
on an ocean liner
called the Cote d"lvoire
:09:08
and hadseen both poles,
five oceans
:09:11
theAmazon and the Nile.
:09:13
""The crickets
and the rust beetles scuttled
:09:16
""among the nettles
ofthe sage thicket.
:09:18
"""Vamanos, amigos,"
hewhispered
:09:20
""and threw
the busted-leatherflint craw
:09:23
""over the looseweave
ofthe saddle cock
:09:25
and they rode on
in thefriscalating dusk light.""
:09:28
( applause)
:09:30
NARRATOR:
Eli was an assistantprofessor
:09:32
ofEnglish literature
atBrooks College.
:09:34
The recentpublication
ofhissecond novel...
:09:37
( horses galloping,
gunfire, shouting )
:09:41
...had earned him asudden,
unexpectedliterarycelebrity.
:09:44
Well, everyone knows Custer
died at Little Bighorn.
:09:48
What this book presupposes is...
maybe he didn"t.
:09:52
Let me askyou something.
:09:53
Whywould a review
make the point ofsaying
:09:55
someone"s nota genius?
:09:56
You think l"m especially
nota genius?
:09:59
l knoww...
:10:02
You didn"t even have
to think about it, did you?
:10:05
Well, l just don"t use
thatword lightly.
:10:08
( knocking on door)
:10:11
l have to go, Eli.
:10:14
( knocking on door)
:10:16
MAN:
Margot?
:10:17
Uh-huh.
:10:18
May l come in, please?
:10:21
( waterrunning )
:10:28
(squeaking )
:10:35
How areyou, my darling?
:10:36
NARRATOR:
Margo was married
to the writerand neurologist
:10:40
Raleigh St. Clair.
:10:42
( gulls cawing )
:10:44
l"m fine, thankyou.
:10:47
You need to eat something.
:10:49
May l makeyou dinner?
:10:50
No, thankyou.
:10:51
( tapping prosthetic finger)