“For years, all I’ve wanted is to play Hamlet. Not as a seventy-year-old but as a kid. That is what I’m going to do,” he said. “At drama school, first. It’s already been cast and I’ve got the part. I’ve known the lines for years. In my various factories, I’d walk about, speaking the verse, to keep sane.”

“I hope you don’t mind me pointing this out, but what’s wrong with Lear or Prospero?”

“I will approach those pinnacles eventually. Adam, I can do anything now, anything!”

I said, “Is that what you are intending to do after you’ve played Hamlet?”

“I will continue as an actor, which I love. Adam, I have money, experience, health, and some intelligence. I’ve got the friends I want. The young people at the school, they’re full of enthusiasm and ardor. Something you wrote influenced me. You said that unlike films, plays don’t take place in the past. The fear, anxiety, and skill of the actors is happening now, in front of you. If performing is risky, we identify with the possibility of grandeur and disaster. I want that. I can tell you that what has happened to me is an innovation in the history of humankind. How about joining me?”

I was giggling. “I’m no saint, only a scribbler with an interest, sometimes, in how people use one another. I don’t feel entitled to another go at life on the basis of my ‘nobility.’”

“You’re creative, contrary, and articulate,” he said. “And, in my opinion, you’ve only just started to develop as an artist.”

“Jesus, and I thought I’d had my say.”

“You deserve to evolve. Meet me tomorrow morning.” As he picked up his plate and glass from the floor, the two observing women, who had not lost patience, began to flutter. “We’ll take it further then.”

He touched me on the arm, named a place, and got up.

“What’s the rush?” I said. “Can’t we meet in a few days?”

“There is the security aspect,” he said. “But I also believe the best decisions are taken immediately.”

“I believe that too,” I said. “But I don’t know about this.”

“Dream on it,” he said. “You’ve heard enough for one evening. It would be too much for anyone to take in. See you tomorrow. It’s getting late. I really want to dance. I can dance all night, without stimulants.”

He pressed my hand, looked into my eyes as if we already had an understanding, and walked away.