Topical Guide 488
Mark Dorset
Reality: Real and Fictional
Reservations Recommended, Chapter 4:
Matthew notices, sitting at a tiny table beside them, a gaunt man who is clipping something from a newspaper. A mirror fills the wall on the man’s left. He is duplicated there, and beyond the image of the man, Matthew sees himself observing the man, frozen for an instant with his bag of tequila and limes, staring. Opposite the man, on the table, where his companion’s food would be if he had a companion, is a stack of newspapers and magazines. The man has a stubble of beard, evenly dark. His hair is cut short. The temperature outside must be below twenty, but he’s wearing nylon jogging shorts, yellow, and a matching nylon jacket, zipped and snapped right up around his neck. He’s cutting one frame from a comic strip in the paper, muttering to himself while he works. Matthew can’t make out what he’s saying, but it’s clear that he disapproves of something. It might be a line in the comic strip, the whole comic strip, the concept of comic strips, anything. He puts the single frame onto a stack of clippings to his right and tosses the paper onto the opposite chair. Still muttering, he eats some curry, directly from the boat-shaped metal dish in which it is served. He mutters as he chews and swallows. He puts a couple of spoonfuls of basmati rice in his mouth and chews that while he chooses another section of newspaper from the pile. Instantly, outrage registers on his face, but he doesn’t mutter any louder for it. He picks up his scissors and begins clipping the headline from an article in the middle of the page.
I happen to know that this is drawn from life. MD
See also:
Reality, Real and Fictional TG 27, TG 62, TG 64, TG 76, TG 78, TG 85, TG 127, TG 147, TG 155
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