The Devil's Playground (57 page)

of the CD, staring transfixed at the black-and-white images

that poured from the screen, the swift and jerky movements

of a lost time, another world. Outside, it went strangely quiet,

as if the earth’s very atmosphere had sagged. The film began,

the first reel unfolded. They heard the countdown from the

street below as all around them rose the voices of happiness

and jubilation. A rising scream that came from everywhere

and everything.

This is how it begins.

The End.