Los Angeles, 4am

If you want something from me
You better get it
Before the sun comes up

I'm nocturnal, Detective
Or didn't you know that?

You want a drink?

You can drink so long as it's dark out
But once you see sunlight
You're drinking in the morning
And that's a problem

That's a real problem

Not that I'd tell anybody

Oh no, I'm good at keeping secrets

Now, my wife
She's the one with the big mouth

She's the one
Who can't keep a secret

Loves to sit out by the pool
And tell stories to strangers
Like she's a regular Dr. Seuss

Don't you want to sit down, Detective?

You're making me nervous

Don't you know it's rude to make a man nervous
In his own house?

So tell me
What is it you came here looking for?

A story by the pool maybe?

Well, unfortunately
My wife is...indisposed
At the moment

She went out for ice
And forgot to come back

Maybe she forgot where she was from
She always was--oh what's the expression?
Oh right--a moron

I have to say
I don't mind being single again

I used to have so much fun
Back when it was just me

An empty house
Broken clocks
All saying it's 4am

The noise of the city waiting to walk in
Until after I'd closed the blinds

Have you ever wanted to live in a place without time, Detective?

It's possible, you know

They do it in casinos

Do away with the windows
And flood the place with florescent light
And remove any timepieces
So that you never know up from down
As far as time is concerned

My good Paul's interested in casinos

Maybe you've heard of him?
Paul Sirotte?

He's got three casinos out in Vegas
And another one opening up this spring

He let me name the fourth one
So I named it The Royal Ocean

He laughed and said 'What ocean? It's going to be in Vegas.'
And I said 'All the more reason people will want to stay at a place called The Royal Ocean.'

And that's what he's going to call it
Once it's finished

Oh, it must be time for bed
I can hear the clinking of the ice
In my glass

Are you sure you don't want anything?

I think I'm going to give myself something
To help me sleep

Just a little something
And a little something else
To wash it down with

You'll forgive me, won't you?
You seem like a forgiving sort of man

Paul says once The Royal Ocean is finished
I can help him run it

He's so busy with the other three
That he needs someone to keep an eye on the place

So he's going to let me run The Royal Ocean
And he says I can have an apartment on the top floor of the hotel part of it
And I can have thick, black curtains to close whenever I want
So that even when I'm in the apartment
I won't know what time it is

Between there and the casino
I'll never know the time

I'll never know what day it is
Or what year
Or if it's a holiday
Or my birthday
Or how old I'm supposed to be

And one day I'll just die
Just like that
Never even knowing it was close
Never knowing that my time had come

My wife didn't like the idea of me moving to Vegas, obviously
She's never liked Paul, and he never liked her

And she liked having the blinds up

She loved the sun, the heat
Sitting out by that pool
While I sat in here
Shaking, praying
That the light would go out

That it would just--go out

One day Paul found me in my bedroom
Hiding under the covers
While my wife was outside
Laughing with one of her boyfriends
About how silly I was being

'What is he,' I heard the young man ask, 'Some sort of vampire?'

I wish, I thought
I wish I was
Then I'd have an excuse

Paul found me and sat on the bed
And promised me
That he could stop it for me
That he could stop me from worrying
That he could slow down time
That he could cool it

Because movement generates heat
And time moves so quickly
That it must be hot, mustn't it?

If you think about it

If you were to touch it
If you were able to touch it
I bet it would be scorching

That must be why I hate it here so much

Because here it's always hot

Here I'm always aware of the presence
Of time

When I told my wife I was leaving
She was upset, of course

Not because she loved me
But because of what I provided for her

My family was big money, back East
Back where I should have stayed
But even there during the summers
It gets too hot

She thought I was going back there
And then I told her about Vegas
And she laughed at me

She laughed, Detective

And then she dove right into the pool

'Are you looking for ice,' I asked her

But she couldn't hear me, because she was underneath the water
But that's what I decided
I decided that she had gone looking for ice

So when she started to come up
To come up to breathe
I was waiting for her

I put her head back under the water

'No, no, no' I said, 'You haven't found it yet. It's down there. I can see it. Keep looking.'

And every time she'd come up
I'd push down again
I'd push down
And again
And again

Until she stopped coming up

Then I called Paul and told him I'd be by next week
Once I got everything settled here

And that's the plan, Detective

If you're looking for my wife
She might still be out in the pool
Although I don't know if you'll be getting a story tonight
She's been awfully quiet since she left

Here, not here, here, not here
Everything's become so wonderfully flexible now

So, would you care for that drink?
Or are you ready to go out back
And say hello?

Please choose quickly
I have to get to packing
Paul will be expecting me
At The Royal Ocean

You look a little like him, Detective
Do you know that?

Maybe that's how you got me to tell you
All my secrets