Game-Show

AT times it all seems to be one big game of musical chairs. They get up and they talk for a while. Smiles abound, cigarettes are passed around amidst cheerful laughter, to the disapproving looks of wives and certain daughters. But a thought hangs inthe back of the mind of each person, looking like a guillotine blade, poised and ready to fall, elucidating the execution - the execution of the action that will win them the game. For the secret was no longer how to die. It was how to fool and pretend and keep the smile on your face throughout the pleasure of it all.
You can never know how many faces are just masks ready to be discarded after the performance.