“You do know you could fight me, don’t you? It’s been years - I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now. It has been, in the past, with others.” The man in the mirror doesn’t say anything. This could be a much less pleasant arrangement, Basil. I could make you watch as I chopped off bits that I don’t really need. It’s always ‘please go away’ and ‘please let me die’ or ‘when will this be over?’ You do know that I could torment you if I wanted to, don’t you? I could spend all day shoving needles under my fingernails. “You are such a fucking drama queen, do you know that? Live a little, why don’t you? I feed you the most exquisite foods imaginable, find the most gorgeous examples of humanity to share your bed, and do you ever thank me? Of course not. Will that make you happy, Basil?” “As long as it means that it’s over.” Basil rolls his eyes at his reflection. I expect that with a little help I could squeeze another seventy or eighty years out of your mortal frame, and then it’s on to new digs for me and down into oblivion for you. “Well, Basil, you are young and relatively healthy. “Christ almighty, Basil, why are you such a drag? If I’d known you would be so painfully dull, I’d have just let you die.” “I wish you had.” Basil, choosing to ignore his reflection, continues. “When will this be over?” the man in the mirror asks. Basil’s image in the glass has barely touched his food, only picked at it and moved it around his plate. He is Caucasian, tall and slim, with sandy blond hair and green eyes. “You aren’t enjoying the meal?” Basil asks his reflection around a mouthful of delicately braised, pale ivory flesh. He devours mousse de foie gras, steak of bob veal, caramelized pears, and spinach salad, occasionally pausing to pat his face with a silk napkin or sip deep red wine from a crystal glass. On one side - the real side - a man is having dinner facing the mirror. A mirror runs right down the middle of it, presenting reality with an illusion of itself. PIEDMONT, CALIFORNIA, 2010 The table is only half a table, and the dining room is only half a room. Dymphna Coy, Jesse Heinig, David A Hill Jr, Cassandra Khaw, Danielle Lauzon, Anna K Loy, Hayley Margules, Stuart Martyn, Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Michael Murray, Marianne Pease, Renee Ritchie, Malcolm Sheppard, John Snead, Mark Stone, Monica Valentinelli, Audrey Whitman, Filamena Young, Eric Zawadzki Chris Allen, Cam Banks, Russell Collins, J.
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