The following is a work of fiction.

Not Nick Nolte's Diary, Malibu, California
May 25, 2005

Felt Admiral

Billiards night was a blast. I don't know if Constance and her friends had much fun, but we had more than one felt admiral on the table. "Felt admiral" is another one of Terry Stamp's phrases. He won the night, taking six games of nine ball in a row. I'm not an expert at the game but it's a bit more fun to watch because there are fewer balls on the table. It's like straight billiards in medias res. I didn't think that example up, David Puttnam did. He was there and I asked him if he had thought about remaking Local Hero. He told me Burt Lancaster was unavailable and then I got pulled away into some other conversation before I could tell if he was joking. I hadn't had that many people in the place for several years. I think we used just about every room. Manolo was careful to comb the bookshelves for any embarrassing novels.