Friday, 11 April

Amantillado:

Depression squats upon me like a leprous goat. Have I ever been so bleak? Perhaps not since the bus strike when deprivation of their heavenly fumes drove me into a funk so blue as to be black.

What is it that drives me to such depths this time? A film that I saw last night at the Cinema Aperitif on Nortal Street. (Surely you remember that place with the green screen? "Only one of its kind" the sign brags.) The piece of cinema that so leveled me is called "La Padrina." It involves the church, a woman, a priest, some loaves and a sub-plot about a missing plant. Such pathos. I wept like humid day. No, let me tell the whole truth: I wailed like a careening ambulance and got louder with each passing moment. Management was called. Water was thrown on my person. A brickbat was engaged as was an angry dog -- nothing could quiet my cries. If you value your cheerfulness, do not see this film.

As for your latest I am afraid my tears have stained the better part of the text. I can make out your query regarding the yeti, however. As I recall, we got sick of his drooling and need for walks and left him at a municipal pound. That was the end of that.

I am quite taken aback to learn your tidbit about Cumbersly. Now that you have mentioned the facts, many things are coming clear to me. For instance, do you remember the horse costume he wore to the Halloween Masqued Ball in '47? We all wondered which half was Cumbersly. Now we must realize that he was both the front, back and middle! Recall this image as well: Cumbersly grooming himself in that big mirror in the club's foyer and his bow tie not matching the one in reflection! At last this anomaly is explained.

Would that all life's mysteries were so easily defined.

Yours in hindsight,

Rhode Service