Fools Die [antikvár]

'Listen to me. I will tell you the truth about a man's life. I will tell you the truth about his love for women. That he never hates them. Already you think I'm on the wrong track. Stay with me. Really - I'm a master of magic. 'Do you believe a man can truly love a woman and constantly betray her? Never mind physically, but betray her in his mind, in the very "poetry of his sotd". WeU, it's not easy, but men do it all the time. 'Do you want to know how women can love you, feed you that love deliberately to poison your body and mind simply to destroy you? And out of passionate love choose not to love you any more? And at the same time dizzy you with an idiot's ecstasy? Impossible? That's the easy part. 'But don't run away. This is not a love story. 'I will make you feel the painful beauty of a child, the animal hominess of the adolescent male, the yearning suicidal moodiness of the young female. And then (here's the hard part) show you how time turns man and woman around fiill circle, exchanged in body and soul. 'And then of course there is TRUE LOVE. Don't go away! It exists or I will make it exist. I'm not a master of magic for nothing. Is it worth what it costs? And how about sexual fidelity? Does it work? Is it love? Is it even human, that perverse passion to be with only one special person? And if it doesn't work, do you still get a bonus for trying? Can it work both ways? Of course not, that's easy. And yet— 'Life is a comical business, and there is nothing funnier than love travelling through time. But a true master of magic can make his audience laugh and cry at the same time. Death is another story. I wUl never make a joke about death. It is beyond my powers. Parallel to death, love is a tiresome, childish business, though men believe more in love than death. 'I am always alert for death. He doesn't fool me. I spot him right away. He loves to come in his coimtry-bumpkin disguise; a comical wart that suddenly grows and grows; the dark, hairy mole that sends its roots to the very bone; or hiding behind a pretty Little fever blush. Then suddenly that grinning skull app^rs to take the victim by surprise. But never me. I'm waiting for him. I take my precautions. 8