In a Lonely Place

And he says: “Don’t move. There’s a pudgy little man hunched in the shadows just behind you.” She’s amused by Bogie’s naivete. She’s gotten used to it, the destruction she trails in her wake.

Reading Muriel Spark’s Loitering with Intent, and she has something to say to the artist in us all about this 1/24th of a second: “When people say that nothing happens in their lives, I believe them. But you must understand…

I’m going to call the man in the background Rocco. We’ll get to Rocco. But zooming in today, I understood that Rocco’s eye, his left, has moved to set itself in Bogie’s ring, and stares at Gloria’s hand, seeing for…

Kierkegaard says, “The most painful state of being is remembering the future,” so I’m choosing to forget whether Bogie will eventually kiss her on the cheek.⠀⠀

Bogie has made a faint sound. A “wuh”? Not even. More the sound of lips gathering in preparation for a W, less a sound than the slightest change in vibration. “What?” “What is?” “What are?” “What will?” It’s too early…

She looks as if she’s still anticipating his voice. I’m tempted to start the conversation. I’ll have endless stories to tell once I’ve become Humphrey Bogart. But once the conversation is started, it will go on long enough. Silence is…

Sometimes, I’ll confess, I consult yesterday hoping to better see today, but that trick never works, and what I see ends up being neither yesterday nor today. Today: Gloria’s lemon seems to be encasing itself in a dark cocoon, or…

For those of you riveted by the plot here, some important updates: Bogart’s secret message to Gloria has revealed a new character with a rumpled suit sleeve. A companion to the murderess Britt, who’s now disappeared? I’m not ready draw…