Montgomery Clift is sitting in a rowboat watching Shelley Winters drown. Hazel hears Shelley's cry for help and is sure it's Muriel. Poor Hazel woke up early and on the wrong side of the bed. The flies were making too much noise so she herded them in the direction of the Heckle and Jeckle Fan Club in the palm tree out her window. As the grackles ate, Hazel played a tape that Elephant Gerald made for her. Grackles squawking, volume cranked as high as it can go. Hazel is trying to rid herself of pests without destroying them--a victim of both Pandora's Syndrome and an Albert Schweitzer Complex. Flies and birds are her personal cross to bear.

But this is the poop on Dudley Finds: Dudley stares at the poster crucified to the ceiling, one of two items from his childhood. Soon only Marilyn's lips will remain--a Man Ray mouth floating in empty space. When Dudley met Marilyn she acted as familiar as a new teacher on the opening day of school. She opened the door for herself. No carpet rolled out for her to walk on. No rose petals strewn at her feet. She came out of the drugstore and smiled, sadly sweet, cupping his chin in her hand as if holding a fishbowl, and placing one small kiss on Dudley's forehead--a scarlet M over his third eye. That kiss turned Dudley into a necromantic who makes Edgar Allen Poe appear a piker by comparison.



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