Ripley Bogle : a novel by Wilson Robert McLiam 1964-

Author:Wilson, Robert McLiam, 1964-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary, Fiction / Literary, Reading Group Guide, Fiction - General, Fiction, Irish fiction, Rogues and vagabonds, Tramps
Publisher: New York : Ballantine Pub. Group
Published: 2000-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

There they queue in happy ranks Their faces dark with hope. It's hard for reasoned judgement Discernment cannot cope.

I do my best for tactful maths I try to keep it fair. The figures are imponderables The outcomes debonair/

The Ghosts of his Former Loves begin to sing a complicated Broadway showtune called 'Hear us, Hear us, He never in his life got near us'.

Bogle is calm and professional.

'How can you say that? I loved you all. Each of you girls drew stars on my heart.'

The pub explodes to laughter. Great crowlike screeches of mockery and abuse. The Ghosts of his Former Loves totter off, giggling madly. Malone and his acolytes circulate rapidly, dispensing alcohol to all (though not free), the Drinkers sup, mock and jeer. They await the second act. The habitues of nightmare.

Enter Maurice Kelly, hobbling grotesquely towards Ripley. Sudden silence. Bogle stands rigid in the centre of the room, paralysed, terrified. The Ghost of Maurice is repulsive to behold. Gaping, blackened goreholes litter his temple and neck. One festering eye hangs from its mutilated socket by a slimy string of nerve and tendon. His spectre clothes are stiff and black with blood wet and blood dry. He drips dark scarlet mess in his wake. He weaves his way through the happy, appreciative Drinkers, his hanging eye implacable and stern. His eyes hard with grief and accusation, he speaks to Ripley.

'You!'

Bogle is terrified but he attempts to bluff his way through.

'Yes, that's right - me. So what?'

Maurice's deathly anger is dreadful.

T died for you, proselyte! You led me dead and slimy. You left me to rot in death and ignorance. Just how much do you think you'd like a touch of that yourself? Not a lot, I'd bet.'

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