Dear James,

M: OK, here we are, where are we?
J: I know where I am, where are you? (looks out toward the gardens, disdainful)
M: I'm trying to put my notes together (shuffles paper like a disorganized grad student who partied last night).
J: You have memory problems? I'm the one who should have memory problems, not you!
M: Bear with me, I'm gonna go through this.
J: Oh, christ. (exhales loudly)
M: I'm gonna review the "exercises" you and I did at the retreat.
J: (stares). O-kay?
M: Well here's what I remember. There was the one HOW DID YOU GET CAUGHT UP WITH THESE BUDDIES?
J: And... any gleanings of wisdom?
M: (fumbling) Let me see. (Reads). Nothing really new. Only more of the same, except maybe unlike the protagonist in THE SEA, THE SEA
J: Oh, that old toff!
M: he's more of a serious hermit who gets invaded by old friends. you're more a guy who likes to think of himself as a loner but actually
J: Needs followers. Me and Jim Jones. Whiskey flavored coolaid. (smiles to his own joke).
M: WHY IS IT GOOD THAT YOU'RE THE MAIN CHARACTER? this one yielded the answer that there's a connection to "the author's" passion and curiosity.
J: a great goopy dollop of fuck-you as they say. I think you downplayed the fuck-you part. did you, oh i mean "he" (the author) find it unpleasant? embarrassing?
M: (thinks). Probably. it's hard to admit that anger is a motivation.
J: Revenge is...
M: the best revenge.
J: Gerald Murphy.
M: Yeah, can you believe it. Now they're explaining him as a closet gay.
J: The damn gays. they claim every eccentric, every hermit, every artist. Now they even want the cowboys.
M: They're an oppressed minority
J: Then blow me. Let's get on with it.
M: WHY JAMES TURNED INTO THE MAIN CHARACTER. I see wanting a complex voice that was easy to write. Oh, that's unfashionable. Easy.
J: For once, you anticipate me. (laughs). I'm curious. Rumors are you want to convert to Catholicism, again. That's not convert, is it?
M: If you don't mind, I'd like to keep...
J: Yah, yah, rightfully so. The focus on moi.
M: There as the one HOW TO GET BACK TO THE VOICE WHEN IT'S DIFFICULT.
J: We're all waiting. Me and all the fairies. Garden dwarf type, that is.
M: Let's see: cocktail party, you said I could interrupt you as long as I treat you with respect.
J: Like the cub reporter for TIKKUN who comes across a bleary-eyed Timothy Leary.
M: Cub, I like that. Jimmy Olsen. (laughs).
J: (doesn't laugh with him).
M: Let's go over the others quickly, shall we.
J: Shall, fer-shure.
M: there's TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN, there's WHAT'S THE MOST YOU WOULD DO TO HAVE YOUR PRINCELY ACT...
J: That's a mouthful. We might want to come back to that monstrosity.
M: THE THING YOU DESIRE MOST. YOUR TRAGIC HISTORY, WHAT IS THE STORY YOU WANT TO TELL THE MOST (two versions). one being, WHAT PART OF THE STORY DO I WANT TO TELL THE MOST. Oh, and KAMALA'S DESIRE TO KEEP THE JEWEL.
J: You tell me where you want to go.