:11:06
By the way...
:11:08
which of your parents is it
who won't allow you to watch television?
:11:14
Mother?
:11:15
Father?
:11:18
Or is it both?
:11:22
Come in, David.
:11:25
Take Strang, here, on a tour
of the hospital, before lunch.
:11:29
You'll find it quite pleasant.
There's a piano room...
:11:32
a darkroom for photographers...
:11:35
even a television room.
:11:43
Three nights later,
l had this very specific dream.
:11:46
ln it, l am a chief priest in Homeric Greece.
:11:50
l'm wearing a wide gold mask,
all noble and bearded...
:11:54
like the so-called Mask of Agamemnon,
found at Mycenae.
:11:57
l'm standing by a thick, round stone,
holding a sharp knife.
:12:01
/n fact, /'m officiating some
immense/y important ritua/ sacrifice...
:12:05
on which depends the fate of the crops,
or of a mi/itary expedition.
:12:10
The sacrifice is a herd of chi/dren...
:12:13
about 500 boys and gir/s stretching
in a /ong queue, across the p/ain of Argos.
:12:17
/ know it's Argos, because of the red soi/.
:12:20
On either side of me stand two
assistant priests, wearing masks as well...
:12:25
lumpy, pop-eyed masks...
:12:27
such as were a/so found at Mycenae.
:12:29
Enormous/y strong, these priests,
and abso/ute/y tire/ess.
:12:33
As each chi/d steps forward, they grab it
from behind and throw it over the stone.
:12:37
Then, with a surgica/ ski// that
amazes even me, / fit in the knife...
:12:41
and slice elegantly down to the navel,
just like a seamstress following a pattern.
:12:47
l part the flaps, sever the inner tubes...
:12:50
yank them out and throw them,
hot and steaming, on the floor.
:12:54
The other two then study the patterns,
as if they're reading hierog/yphics.
:12:58
/t's obvious to me
that /'m tops as chief priest.