Ghost Time

store. So it’s all about this guy fighting with his demons, because what could top burning down Madame Tussauds? I said, It’s such a perfect crime, he almost wants to get caught, so people will know, you know? So it’s all that, watching this woman from afar, and then Knox goes, Do they have a gift shop at Madame Tussauds? I said, Of course they do. I mean, how could they nothave a gift shop? He goes, Just asking. To be honest, I don’t know if they do, so I said, Well, maybe that will be fictional; we’ll figure it out. That’s why we’re going to go and research the place, and Knox goes, London?
    He didn’t believe me, I could tell by the look on his face. I said, As my graduation gift, then Knox goes, But that’s more than two years away, and I go, What’s your point? Knox could tell he’d hit a sore spot, because he goes, So what happens to the arsonist? Honestly, I was so relieved to be able to talk about something besides sex videos of me and my boyfriend, I told him the whole story. I go, Keep in mind, this guy isn’t just any old arsonist. We’re talking totally sexy, totally hot arsonist—. Knox goes, A hot arsonist? trying not to laugh at me, and I go, You know what I mean. Stylin’, wearing Savile Row suits, like James Bond. Like, imagine Daniel Craig as the greatest pyromaniac in history. Imagine that he’s an arsonist for hire, instead of an assassin for hire, right? Knox goes, Daniel Craig, huh? I shrugged and said, The role calls for a sex symbol, what can I say? After all, Knox, arson is a sexual crime. Where’d you hear that? he asked, looking like this was news to him. I go, I don’t know, Law & Order , maybe? And he goes, Well, in that case, it must be true, raising his eyebrows, and I said, Isn’t that strange, though? That they say rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power, but arson isn’t about power, it’s about sex? Very strange, he said, as in, no further comment.
    He goes, Okay, so the Daniel Craig arsonist character falls in love with the girl in the gift shop, and then he kills her? I go, Yes, but it’s an accident, and Knox goes, But he sets the museumon fire on purpose? And I go, Yes, but Daniel Craig doesn’t know she’s in the building when he sets it on fire, see? And Knox goes, So she dies? The girl dies, he says, looking at me, making sure he’s got the story right. I go, Of course: it’s a love story. Somebody has to die in a good love story. Then he goes, Well, it sounds very interesting, and he sounded like such a dad, saying that, I was just like, Gee, thanks. Sometimes, the way Knox looks at me and the questions he asks, it’s like he’s never talked to a teenage girl before. Seriously, Knox looks at me like I’m from a distant galaxy, and here he is, the very first earthling to ask me questions about where I came from, what our planet looks like, what food we eat. And maybe all old men are like that; I don’t know. Fortunately or unfortunately, I don’t know many old men.
    Then he said, The arson story, do you have a title for it? I said, Yes. It’s called “Pyroglyphics,” and he raises his eyebrows, and he goes, Catchy. Can I read it sometime? he said, and for once, I was the one who was surprised. It was sweet of him to ask, you know, and I said, Sure. Then I thought it over for a second, and I said, But I’ll have to ask Cam, first. It’s his script, too, and Knox looked at me: Of course, he said, sitting upright again.
    He sighed again, still staring straight ahead. Honestly, Knox has about as many varieties of sighs as Eskimos have for the word for snow. And then, completely out of the blue, Knox goes, Thea, tell me about your dad. I was like, What? And he goes, I asked about your father, and I said, Speaking of love stories that end in death, you mean? No, he said. No, because you never mention him. Yeah, well, what was your first clue? I said. Go on, he said, tell me what happened. Okay, well… I sighed. Let’s see, I said.Once upon a time, he was a prick, and that’s it in a nutshell, pretty much. I shrugged, nothing else to add, and Knox goes, Yes? He wasn’t asking for his job, he was asking because he truly wanted to know, and no one besides Cam ever really asked me anything genuine anymore, so I told him.
    He left my mom for his secretary, I said, feeling angry all over again. Seriously, Knox, who does that? Men who buy sports cars and have comb-overs, that’s who, and Knox goes, Does he have a comb-over? I go, No, he