Exitus

“Drink, Rik?”

“What?”

“Will you have a drink?”

Wallace turned red with the effort of trying to remember whether or not he was supposed to drink. He had a sudden raging desire to guzzle the entire bottle of wine that Lambe was holding towards him. After a long pause, in which he was being scrutinized with what he imagined was a professional psychological gaze, he said as casually as he could muster to disguise his enthusiasm, “I don’t drink but I’ll have just a small one to celebrate being here.”