"Have this set up in a moment," he said. He carried the screen into the room and placed it almost parallel to me. He struggled with it a moment before it opened.

My drink was still in my hand, almost completely untouched from the first sip. I brought the glass to my lips and swallowed the liquid. It splashed in my stomach in a single gulp, spreading additional warmth against the one that was already growing there.

The projector was assembled in a few more seconds, and Hill removed several rolls of film from a brown paper bag. The reels were numbered, and he stacked them neatly beside the projector.

"All set?" he asked. His voice cracked.

We mumbled that we were.

"Get the light, dear," he said to Yvonne.

She reached behind her and snapped the lamp twice until the light was out. I shut the lamp on my side also. The room was dark.

Hill switched the projector on, and a brilliant square of light cut through the darkness and filled the screen.

"I don't think you'll be able to see from there," Hill said to me. "Perhaps you better move down a bit… closer to my wife."

I lifted my coat and placed it on the other side of me. Then I began to slide across the softness of the couch, moving closer to Yvonne. I stopped when I was almost touching her, and I could feel the billowing presence of her body near me. She shifted slightly, touching me, and I felt a stab of electricity bolt through my body. Her perfume was in my nose and I inhaled it deeply. I sat back in the couch.

Hill thread the machine. It was self-loading so all he had to do was insert the lead of the film, and the projector did the rest. The air was filled with a mechanical clicking noise, and the solid square of light began to dance on and off.