[00:00.300]And now for the third part of four-part Late Night Tales story
[00:03.550]"Flat of Angles"
[00:04.840]Written by Simon Cleary
[00:06.020]And read by me Benendict Cumberbatch
[00:10.300]I just can't access my thoughts
[00:11.550]Or put them into words
[00:13.930]I think now my brain recycle been awaiting deletion
[00:17.590]Still no reply to my text, I send to its ...
[00:19.600]Oh, let me see
[00:20.960]9:48, and it's now 10 o'clock
[00:25.220]She hasn't texted to me in response
[00:26.990]To my imploring, longing, yearning message
[00:29.370]full of wiring sudden grief
[00:31.310]Thus, morning!
[00:32.450]How are you
[00:34.910]I enjoyed our journey in the dark so can't wait this night!
[00:39.170]Back at my place, looking forward to the gig tonight
[00:42.020]what time can you get there?
[00:43.300]Where is Rhythm Factory?
[00:44.940]Have a great day!
[00:47.380]Kiss.
[00:50.100]As many questions as possible all crying out for response
[00:52.840]surface lightness, reflective even
[00:55.270]Asking after, referring to events our showing her I'm thinking of her
[00:58.710]The kiss bow
[01:01.380]That was contemplative for a good five minutes although we held hands briefly
[01:05.170]Near McDonald's on the Earl's Court Road last night
[01:07.200]I don't know that was to forward the kiss, too presumptuous now
[01:10.330]But, her touch, sent a clean electric impulse  through me
[01:17.270]up my arm, into my brain
[01:21.140]It cuts through the K, the sodium light
[01:25.100]the rain I longed to protect her from my arms
[01:30.310]Now he's check of the message this phone results
[01:33.130]a little clutch of pain somewhere of the sanity is heart
[01:35.740]The snails are climbing all over the wall in my bathroom
[01:43.460]There is a bush outside the window
[01:45.550]when it rains if I've left the window open
[01:47.160]which I need to, sometimes
[01:50.130]They crawl in
[01:53.120]The iridescent tracery they leave on
[01:54.660]Unknown journey sparkles in the bob light
[01:58.460]I take a Tesco-bag glove and gather them,
[02:01.660]bundle them out the window.
[02:08.230]My time spend with you before the war.
[02:14.570]She said she was going to Spain, hoped it wouldn’t rain,
[02:16.890]heard it wouldn’t rain. I wanted to go too,
[02:18.830]she said she was a solo traveler,
[02:20.770]But it was her rule,
[02:21.840]she goes on journeys alone.
[02:22.780]With plenty to read.
[02:24.930]I recommend some books, so that perhaps a thought of me would go with her.
[02:27.690]Perhaps I am the only thought she had.
[02:29.360]Or more probably, she never thought of me, as I did of her.
[02:33.400]I wanted to say these things,
[02:35.850]but there was always a wall around me,
[02:37.960]I could never tell people how much they meant to me.
[02:40.000]I could tell others how much I hated some people,
[02:42.020]but could never even tell a friend I appreciated their company
[02:44.920]until I’d had 10 cans, then it would descend into a stereotypical drunken
[02:49.330]“You’re my best mate, you are.”
[02:54.220]So we opened that bottle of absinthe, and sat on the couch.
[02:58.720]I knocked a copy of The Face onto the floor,
[03:01.010]and cleared away a few cans with my boots.
[03:02.950]We turned to face each other there,
[03:04.250]an my knee touched hers.
[03:10.180]I looked at our knees together,
[03:12.430]hers at the top of the black leather boots, hidden in grey woollen tights,
[03:16.700]with little bobbles on them.
[03:20.820]Her knee moved imperceptibly away,
[03:24.160]but I felt it.
[03:27.000]I looked up to her face
[03:28.350]as she said “Drink a shot with me, and look me in the eye as you do.”
[03:33.300]We did.
[03:35.890]I didn’t feel the effect of the alcohol,
[03:38.510]but her eyes gave me a warm glow,
[03:42.940]I was swallowed by them,
[03:45.410]as she swallowed the green liquid.
[03:48.550]I couldn’t get enough.
[03:50.870]We did it again and again.
[03:54.920]Rinse, then repeat.
[03:58.420]As needed.
[04:02.970]Well, we were fabric for a drama bass night
[04:05.870]we were about to bow about four
[04:07.730]Just getting our coats, when we were
[04:09.190]Tim getting some sorts of trouble
[04:10.370]with the coat room attendant, he lost his ticket
[04:11.680]She said "we'd have to wait until the end to get the coat
[04:15.590]So we had to sit outside
[04:17.220]by the meat market, in the freezing cold
[04:19.770]At least wear our coats
[04:21.570]Until 8, when it was finally over
[04:23.800]Tim's was only coat hanging around in the middle of this desert
[04:27.960]And then Tim, put his hand, in his jeans' pocket
[04:31.770]and pulls out a sweat rubbish ruffled ticket
[04:34.690]saying "I had it all along"
[04:37.790]Doug, saw this, he just screws his hands up into his face
[04:42.110]forces them to his side
[04:43.900]shaking, grating his teeth, groaning
[04:47.270]moving off slowly, muttering "fuuuuuuuu(ck)"
[04:53.810]Oh no, my number will be on her phone.
[04:58.130]They’ll know.
[05:00.900]I need to get round there and delete the calls.
[05:03.700]So it
[05:11.050]Out of the strong, came forth sweetness.
[05:16.640]It says that on the tins of Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
[05:18.590]Have you ever noticed that?
[05:20.350]It has a picture of a lion, dead,
[05:21.860]surrounded by bees, buzzing around,
[05:23.450]and feasting on the lion’s innards.
[05:25.100]It is from a Biblical story,
[05:26.360]someone was going somewhere,
[05:27.350]saw the lion dead in the sunshine,
[05:28.280]and carried on.
[05:30.100]On his way back,
[05:31.210]the bees had started to form a hive within the lion,
[05:32.810]and were creating honey.
[05:37.250]Hence out of the strong...
[05:41.800]I have enough here to join her, to join the lion.
[05:45.160]I can’t walk around the block once more, again.
[05:50.050]I’ve been doing that for years, and I have never escaped.
[05:57.820]I don’t even know why I’m doing it.
[06:01.430]I’m going nowhere, like those snails, except out the window.
[06:09.890]The streets are full of mercenary eyes.
[06:12.360]Veins full of evil serum.
[06:15.870]90 degrees from window.
[06:18.810]Right down to its gables.
[06:26.740]You've been listening to Late Night Tales
[06:29.310]Music and stories worth staying up for.
[06:32.020]