Over our wine

 


Over our wine


     This was inspired by a mutual love for the Basil Rathbone spoken word performance of Edgar Allen Poe's "the Cask of  Amontillado." The tale has so many quotable lines and dramatic expostulations that we used them repeatedly to delight each other when visiting. It became a tradition in the time frame of 1996 to Covid that I would visit Francis for an evening where we would listen to my Ipod song lists and drink red wine. It was referred to as "the Mat" as in he was putting out the welcome mat at this home.  In the beginning I would arrive around 8 and stay to 11 pm with many a hard laugh put into the vaults. Greg was always superior in catching the perfect timbre of Rathbone and this was one of his best. The moment in the story when Fortunato is lured into the damp catacombs where he will be entombed by Montressor is the circumstance of the lines “Ha! ha! ha!–he! he!–a very good joke indeed–an excellent jest. We shall have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo–he! he! he!–over our wine–he! he! he!” Montressor is about to brick up his former tormentor where he will die slowly for his transgressions. Fortunato's pomposity about judging wines like the Amontillado is his weak point. Montressor has many a wry comeback to the imperious Fortunato who at one point bellows in despair which Greg performed pitch perfect. The transcript reads "ugh ugh ugh" but it is more a primal scream of despair after damp coughing. In giving and accepting the offering of "the mat" the phrase "...we shall have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo (the house on Francis)...over our wine." was used as an affirmation of the invitation. Laugh is what we did as therapy for the hard world outside and the demons that tormented us inside.



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