He looks up and sees a light on
in the apartment above the store.
He rings the bell for apartment 3, which has the name, Gibson..
After a couple of rings, a voice comes over the intercom.
GIBSON
Yes, what is it?
BILL talks to the TV security camera.
BILL
Mister Gibson?
GIBSON
What do you want?
BILL
Mister Gibson, I'm very
sorry to disturb
you at this hour. I'm a Doctor.
My
name is Harford. I need
to see you. It's
important.
Bill holds up his New York State Medical Board card to the doorway
won't take long.
Silence.
Then the door buzzer sounds.
BILL pushes open the door and goes upstairs two at a time.
A door opens on the chain and a man in his fifties, wearing flannel
pyjamas and a heavy bathrobe,
who has the looks and manner of a
road-company ham actor peers out.
BILL
Mr. Gibson?
GIBSON
Yes.
BILL holds up his New York State medical card again.
BILL
Good evening, Mister Gibson.
This is
my New York State Medical Board
card,
just so you know who I
am.
Gibson looks at the card and at BILL.
GIBSON
Okay, so you're Doctor Harford.
What's this all about?
BILL
Mister Gibson, you may
not find it that
easy to understand the
urgency of this,
but basically, uhm... I need...a
costume and a tux..
Gibson stares at him in disbelief.
GIBSON
Okay, you're the doctor.
GIBSON chuckles at his own witticism.
GIBSON
Now, let me get this straight.
You want
a tuxedo, a monks cassock and
a mask
that completely covers your
face?
BILL
That's it.
Suddenly BILL hears the clink of glasses from somewhere ahead
of
him.
GIBSON flips a light switch.
A light come on in a little office at the end of the passage.
The desk is covered with plates, glasses and bottles.
Two JAPANESE MEN, wearing blonde female wigs, naked except for
Japanese kimonos, spring up from
their chairs besides the desk.
At the same moment, the semi-naked figure of a graceful GIRL
disappears under the desk.
GIBSON rushes forward with long strides, reaches across the desk
and grabs one of the blond wigs.
Simultaneously, the young GIRL, maybe fourteen, wriggles out from
under the desk and runs along
the passage to BILL who catches her in
his arms.
GIBSON drops the wig and grabs the two kimono garbed men.
At the same time he calls out to BILL.
GIBSON
Thank you, sir.
One of them takes his coat, while the other opens a door.
BILL enters a long room, dimly lit with candles, with high ceilings
and
walls covered with black silk.
A line of mirrored doors on each side run the length of the room.
There are about fifty men and women dressed as monks and nuns,
their faces completely covered
by masks.
Gently swelling strains of Italian liturgical music comes from
an organ
playing somewhere.
As his eyes become accustomed to the dim light, BILL sees that
the
women are naked beneath the full-length,
black veils that flow down
from their head bands.
His eyes wander from voluptuous bodies to slender bodies, from
delicate to richly developed figures,
and he is filled with inexpressible
desire.
Occasionally, eyes turn towards him but immediately look away
as
soon as he notices them.
A monk brushes against him and nods a greeting, but from behind
the mask BILL sense a searching
and penetrating glance.
A strange, heavy perfume, as of southern gardens, pervades the
room.
Again an arm brushes against him, but this time it is that of
a nun.
Her face is fully masked, and
like the others, naked under the black