Issue 2
This issue is 50 pages.

Page 1
A black page.
Caption #1: “Think not of the target.”
Caption #2: “The only target is yourself.”
Caption #3: “Let yourself feel the target, the wind, the whole all around.”
Caption #4: “Do not let go of the arrow until you let go of yourself.”

Page 2
1.A shot of two arrows in a small target. It hangs from cords, cropped by the panel edges.
2.Here we’ve pulled back to show the target’s seclusion. It hangs between tree branches.
3.Here we’ve pulled back further. We see a wall of the compound on the right. The trees are within the wall. Mostly open space separates the camera from the target.
4.Here we’ve pulled back further. We see a long stretch of wall. The target’s very small now.
5.Here we’ve pulled back further and are looking over the shoulder of Irene. We see the bow still in her hand. We see the blindfold running around her shaven head. The target is so distant as to be faded into the trees, themselves small. The wall runs long along the right side of the panel.

Page 3
1.A shot of Irene, taking off her blindfold.
2.A shot of Irene looking up at the sky.
3.A shot of the sky.

Page 4
A vertical reverse of the previous page.
1.A shot of the sky in Athens.
2.A shot of Irene in the car, in which he left her at the end of the last issue, looking up at the sky. Caption: “The sky looked different.”
3.A close-up on Irene. Caption: “I don’t know what it was. Whether it was the rocking of the car, or the look in their [21 | 22] eyes when they died, that human dying with all the sound and smell and shake, or just that those eyes hadn’t closed by themselves and kept staring like someone was still there.”

Page 5
1.A shot of Irene vomiting in the car. Caption: “But I vomited.”
2.Irene handing the driver money. Caption #1: “I paid the driver handsomely. I wanted to tell him to forget this, in case the thugs or cops questioned him, but didn’t know if that would just help him remember.” Caption #2: “Like the vomit hadn’t already done that.”
3.A large shot of Irene stepping out of the car in front of her parents’ house. Caption: “But here I was, at sanctuary, my parents’ house, my port in the storm of rape and death and husband-absence that had so suddenly engulfed my life.”

Page 6
1.A shot of Irene’s hand knocking on the door and the door swinging open. Caption: “When I knocked, the door swung open.”
2.A shot of Irene stepping inside, looking around. Irene: “Dad? Mom? Hello?”
3.A shot of Irene stepping into the next room. We do not see past the doorframe into the room.
4.A close-up on Irene’s eyes, wide.

Page 7
A full page shot of her family, slaughtered. Her father has both hands tied to a lamp fixture on the wall. He’s been knifed in the chest. His eyes are still open and wide, looking out into the room. Her brother, about 15, has been shot in the chest and the head. Her mother is naked on the floor, in front of her father but far enough away from him that he couldn’t reach her. She has been beaten severely and has been shot in the head. A Japanese print is hung on the wall away from the bodies.

Page 8
A full page shot of Irene standing in the doorway. She is not crying, just staring in silent, subsumed shock, without melodrama, realizing her life is that much more over. Caption #1: “It was strange. I hadn’t cried then. I would later, but it [22 | 23] was like ...”. Caption #2: “… my parents, with all their faults, didn’t affect me as much as what had come before. As much as losing my home, my life.” Caption #3: “This had ceased to be my home. This house had never been my home. Maybe I was just out of grief for the time being.” Caption #4: “Staring at my dead family, I thought of Tommy.”

Page 9
1.A shot of Irene in the foreground, looking at the Japanese print on the wall. We see blood and dead family members. Caption: “It was the print that got me.”
2.A large shot but similar in what it contains, only here all has faded except for Irene and the Japanese print, which appears now to be abnormally or unrealistically large.

Page 10
1.A shot of Tommy looking at Irene and gesturing to a wrapped painting. Caption: “Tommy had gotten it for me to give them as a gift.”
2.A shot of Irene in the back seat of Tommy’s car, driven by their driver. The print sits beside her. Caption: “He didn’t tell me what it was. Let me be surprised along with them.”
3.A shot of Irene at the door of her parents’ house, carrying the wrapped print. Caption: “One of many gifts I had brought them, appeasements from the man who had taken me away from them.”
4.A shot of Irene’s family unwrapping the print inside the house and in Irene’s presence. Caption: “A reminder of his foreignness.”
5.A close-up on a corner of the print, barely revealed -- tan wrapping paper, edges torn around it. Caption: “And of mine.”

Page 11
1.Another large shot of Irene looking at the print. Caption: “The surprise of it.”
2.A close-up on Irene’s eye, ready to tear. Caption: “The beauty of it.”
3.An extreme close-up on the phone as Irene picks it up. Caption: “And so I called another cab.” [23 | 24]
4.Irene leaving her parents’ house. Caption: “I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Except that I had to find Tommy.”
5.Irene getting into a cab in front of her parents’ house. Caption: “Only Tommy could help. Only Tommy could explain.”
6.A shot of Irene looking through the window at her parents’ house as she leaves. Caption: “Only Tommy, with his money. Only Tommy, with all the answers.”

Page 12
1.A shot of the cabbie sitting in the front. Not looking at her. From Irene’s P.O.V. Cabbie: “Where to?”
2.A shot of Irene sitting there, looking very European. That combination of confusion and secretly being on top of things. Irene: “I don’t know. I have to find my husband.”
3.A shot of the cabbie sitting in the front. Not looking at her. From Irene’s P.O.V. Cabbie: “Ran out on you?”
4.A shot of Irene sitting there, still with that look. Irene: “I don’t know. I think so.”
5.A shot of the cabbie sitting in the front, looking back at her in the rear view mirror. Cabbie: “I have to know where to go.”
6.A shot of Irene looking down. Irene: “Home. Athens. 263 Nikkios.”

Page 13
Very European cinema, this conversation, improbable yet honest and infinitely probable.
1.A shot of Irene in the back, looking trepidatious. Irene: “Where do they go, when they run out?”
2.A shot of the cabbie, not looking at her. Cabbie: “Depends.”
3.A shot of Irene, silent in the back, thinking.
4.A shot of the cabbie, looking at her in the rear view mirror. Cabbie: “You think he’s got another woman?”
5.A shot of Irene in the back. Irene: “I don’t think that’s it.”
6.A shot of the cabbie. Cabbie: “Glad to hear it. You’re a sexy woman.”
7.A close-up of the cabbie’s eyes in the rear view mirror, looking at her, gazing. I’m thinking Bill Sienkiewicz here, with his [24 | 25] odd panel placements and subjective depictions. Cabbie: “Very sexy.”
8.A shot of Irene being raped. A flashback shot. Cabbie (in a balloon without a tail): “You don’t have to put up with this from him. You shouldn’t. It’s terrible.”
9.A shot of Irene in the back seat, demurring. Irene: “I don’t think it’s that. He’s a good man. I think he’s in some kind of trouble.”

Page 14
1.A shot of the cabbie, looking out at traffic. There’s a fire in the distance and smoke is coming up. Cabbie: “Looks like a fire up ahead.”
2.A shot of Irene in the back seat. Caption: “Even then I knew.”
3.A shot of the cabbie, not looking at her. Cabbie: “Where could he have gone? Does he have any friends you could call?”
4.A shot of Irene in the back. Irene: “No. None at all. Just … business associates.”
5.A shot of the cabbie, not looking at her, watching traffic. Cabbie: “Any family?”
6.A shot of Irene in the back seat, staring off into space. Irene: “In Japan.”
7.A shot of the Japanese print. Cabbie (in a balloon without a tail): “That’s a shame. Could be the problem right there. A beautiful Greek girl like you?”
8.A shot of Irene in the back seat. Caption: “Shut up.” Cabbie: “Could be it. What a shame. Such a beautiful Greek girl.”

Page 15
1.A shot of the bodies in Irene’s house. Caption: “The cops are looking for me.”
2.A shot of the bodies in her parents’ house. Caption: “In my youth, there was a woman who left her husband. Big scandal. Man known for too much drunkenness.”
3.A shot of Irene begging on the street. We get a good shot of the street, of the neighborhood here. Caption: “She went home to her mother. When I was little and a nobody.”
4.A shot of the cabbie looking at the blocked street up ahead. There’s smoke rising from the buildings up ahead. [25 | 26] Cabbie: “Street’s blocked. Could be a while. You want to get out and walk?”
5.Irene looking out of the cab at the street. Irene: “What street is this?”
6.A shot of the number on a house, seen through the cab window. The number is 237. Cabbie (in a balloon without a tail): “Nikkios.”
7.A shot of the cabbie looking back at her, turning his head for the first time. Cabbie: “What number did you say your house was?”
8.A shot of Irene’s eyes, wide open, rings of shock around them. Caption: “If I went up to see, the cops would question me. Maybe arrest me.”
9.A shot of the name “Nakiotomo” on her house, engulfed in flame, as imagined by Irene. Caption: “No home. No family. All I had left was my name. A missing husband who could set things right.”

Page 16
A full page shot of the crowded streets of Athens, a burning building up ahead on the same side of the street as the cab, which is now turning off in bottom of the panel, nearest to us. Irene (in a balloon without a tail): “The airport. Take me to the airport.”

Page 17
1.Irene paying the cabbie at the airport.
2.Irene purchasing a ticket at the ticket counter. The lady at the counter: “No baggage?” Irene: “None.” Caption: “I have nothing to declare but that I will not beg on the streets ever again.”
3.Irene sitting in an airport terminal, waiting. Caption: “Six hours ‘till the flight. Nothing to do but think.”
4.A shot of Irene’s family dead. Caption: “Their cold bodies. The feel. The smell.”
5.A shot of those dead in Irene’s house. Caption: “Tommy had always come home before. Whatever’s happened, I can’t stay here. Whatever’s happened, only he can get me out of it.”
6.A shot from Irene’s P.O.V., looking down from the glass table to the floor as she’s being raped. Caption: “Can’t afford to cry. Can’t afford to beg. No reason to stay. If he’s not in [26 | 27] Japan, I’ll find his family. His rich family would have to provide for me. Can’t stay. Got to get out.”
7.A shot of Irene waiting. Through the windows of the airport, we see that it’s now dark out. Caption: “Got enough money for a return ticket. Maybe. I think. Don’t want to have to use it that way.”
8.A shot from Irene’s P.O.V. as the plane takes off. It’s now dark out and she sees the airstrip starting to recede at an angle. Caption: “Thrown into the sky. I’ll fly away. No other way.”
9.A shot form Irene’s P.O.V., looking down on Athens. Caption: “Leave the bodies behind, none less than my own.”

Page 18
1.A shot of Irene, barely awake on the plane.
2.A larger shot of Irene in line to exit the plane. Others have their heavy bags, are talking to each other.
3.A close-up of one person’s bags. He has two large ones.
4.A close-up of a Japanese husband and wife talking in line, simply gabbing, waiting to exit.
5.A larger shot of Irene entering the terminal, everything in Japanese and English.

Page 19
1.Irene looking around in the terminal, lost.
2.A close-up on some Japanese lettering.
3.A similar shot.
4.A similar shot. Ringo (in a balloon without a tail): “Mrs. Nakiotomo.”
5.Irene’s head spinning around, shocked.
6.Irene standing beside Ringo. Ringo: “My humble apologies. I will take you to your husband.”
7.A similar shot, only Ringo is walking off.
8.A larger shot of Irene following, the two dwarfed by the crowds.

Page 20
1.Ringo holding the back door of a limousine for Irene. They’re outside the airport, obviously. It’s dark out.
2.Irene looking at Ringo in puzzlement.
3.Irene stepping into the limo. [27 | 28]
4.Ringo getting into the front with the driver.
5.The car pulling away from the airport. Very Sanctuary or Crying Freeman.

Page 21
1.Irene in the back seat of the limo, Ringo and the driver in the front seat. Caption: “I’m almost asleep at this point.” Irene: “Where is my husband.”
2.A close-up of the back of Ringo’s head and shoulders as he replies. Ringo: “I am taking you to him, Mrs. Nakiotomo.”
3.Irene leaning back and to the side.
4.A large shot of Irene laying down in the back seat, asleep.

Page 22
1.A black panel. Caption: “Wake up, Mrs. Nakiotomo.”
2.A shot from Irene’s P.O.V. We see grass and Japanese trees. It’s morning.
3.A large shot of Irene subsumed within this environment. It’s like a Japanese print. There’s a small mountain nearby. Ringo is standing near to her. Her purse is gone. Ringo: “I regret that we had to drug you, Mrs. Nakiotomo. We did not want you to remember the way to get here.”
4.Ringo helping Irene stand up.
5.Irene, half-asleep, looking at Ringo in this setting. Irene: “Where are we?”
6.Ringo talking to Irene. Ringo: “We are where others will not disturb us.”

Page 23
1.Ringo walking away from Irene in this setting. There is a hill that he is heading over.
2.Irene following Ringo. Irene: “Where is my husband?”
3.Ringo standing on the top of the hill. Irene is following.
4.A large shot of Irene standing next to Ringo, looking slightly down at a distant ninja camp, surrounded by high bamboo walls over which we cannot see. We can, however, see occupied guard towers and a double doorway, also made of bamboo. Ringo is pointing at it. It seems nestled into the side of the small mountain. To the right is the mountain. To the left the land begins to drop off and head down towards the sea. Ringo: “There, Mrs. Nakiotomo.” [28 | 29]

Page 24
1.Ringo walking ahead of Irene toward the ninja camp. She’s following, but not keeping pace.
2.Ringo, still quite a ways distant, headed for the door. She is following.
3.A similar shot as they get closer.

Page 25
1.A similar shot as they get closer.
2.A similar shot as they get quite close.
3.A shot of Ringo stopping Irene some twenty feet or so from the door.

Page 26
1.The two standing in this spot, some twenty feet or so from the door, seen from nearby. Ringo: “If you want to see your husband, you must wait here and he will come out.”
2.A shot of them talking. Ringo: “I do not know how long he will take.”
3.A shot of Ringo pointing up the mountain. We see, quite a ways up but along a surmountable path, a station made of bamboo. Ringo: “If you grow tired of waiting, climb to that station and ring the bell there.”
4.The same shot from Irene’s P.O.V., with emphasis on Ringo’s face. Ringo: “That will summon men who will take you back to the airport and give you a ticket home.”
5.A shot of Ringo speaking very sincerely to Irene. Ringo: “On your husband’s honor, will you wait as long as he takes?”
6.Irene looking at Ringo. Irene: “Tell him I’ll be here.”

Page 27
1.Ringo looking back at her. Ringo: “You did not answer my question. Do you pledge, on your honor and your husband’s, that you will wait here as long as he takes?”
2.Irene looking at him seriously. Irene: “Yes. Of course.”
3.Ringo walking away, towards the building. Ringo: “Then I will tell him you are here.”
4.The doors swing open for Ringo as Irene watches.

Page 28 [29 | 30]
A full-page shot from Irene’s P.O.V., looking inside the ninja camp as Ringo strolls inside. We see a large Japanese garden immediately past the door. We see bamboo rods highly elevated on either end by crosses of bamboo. We see a main building, in traditional Japanese style, past this. And we see men moving around.

Page 29
1.The doors shutting.
2.The doors closed.
3.A large shot of Irene alone in this setting.

Page 30
1.A black panel. Caption: “I cannot reconstruct with exact certainty the time that followed.”
2.A shot of Irene sitting before the gate, looking down and to the left.
3.A shot of Irene sitting before the gate, looking down and to the right.
4.An angled overhead shot, from not that much higher than Irene, of Irene sitting, looking at the grass immediately before her.
5.A worm’s eye view of Irene sitting before the gate, looking up at the sky. The sun is high and looks hot. She shields her eyes from its glare. Caption: “I no longer recall what I must have observed: the marking of twenty-four hours from when three men had entered my house, from when our servant had been killed, from when I had been raped, and from when I had killed three men.”
6.A close-up on the sun beating down. Caption: “Nor twenty-four hours from when I saw my parents and only sibling dead.”

Page 31
1.A close-up on the moon, high in the sky. Caption: “Nor from when I had gotten on the plane.
2.A close-up on the sky, the moon in a corner of the panel. It’s raining hard. Caption: “Nor do I recall when the rain began.”
3.Irene pounding on the gate, drenched and screaming. Irene: “Tommy! Tommy, come out!” [30 | 31]
4.A side view of the same. Irene: “Tommy! I love you! Tommy!”
5.A close-up on Irene’s face, drenched, crying though we can’t tell. Irene: “I’m freezing, Tommy! I’m dying, Tommy!”
6.Irene sliding down the gate, collapsing in the pouring rain. Irene: “I dying for you, Tommy.”
7.Irene lying down against the gate in the pouring rain, which splashes violently on the drenched soil all around. She is wet and muddy. Irene: “Tommy.”

Page 32
1.The sun on Irene’s sleeping, mud-splattered face.
2.From Irene’s P.O.V., looking out at the surroundings away from the gate. The ground is moist in the sun.
3.Irene sitting up against the gate, her body and clothes muddy and still damp.
4.Irene sneezing.
5.Irene sitting there, not knowing what to do.

Page 33
1-5.Shots of Irene stripping, very un-sexily, discarding her soiled clothes on the ground nearby. Caption: “My clothes were still damp and I had a terrible cold. After a few hours, I realized I had to get them off, that they’d kill me if I didn’t and that he wasn’t coming out immediately to save me.”

Page 34
1.Irene, near-naked, squatting away from the gates. Caption: “I gave up trying not to urinate and defecate.”
2.Irene lying in the sun, near naked.
3.Irene sneezing.
4.Irene laughing. Caption: “It was mad. I was mad.”
5.Irene sitting before the gate, still near naked. It’s now dark out. Caption: “But I had nothing else to do.”

Page 35
1.Irene sleeping, near naked, in the dark by the gate. Beautiful in her slumber.
2-3.Two shots of Irene putting on her mud-caked, now-dry clothes.
4.Irene looking pale and near death, lying by the gate in the dark. Caption: “They fed me nothing.” [31 | 32]
5.A shot, from Irene’s P.O.V., looking up at the night sky, almost black. Caption #1: “Looking up at the night sky, almost black.” Caption #2: “I wept in hunger and cold abandonment.”

Page 36
1.A large shot of Irene sitting outside the ninja compound, looking at it. Her back is to us and we see the compound stretched out before her contemplative gaze. Caption: “The days stretched into each other with still no food or drink.”
2.A close-up of Irene in the dawn, licking a blade of grass among many. Caption: “I learned to lick the morning dew from the grass around.”
3.A closer closer-up on Irene’s face licking a blade of grass. Caption: “You have to be delicate so that the delicately clinging dew doesn’t slide down into the earth.”
4.A further close-up, mostly just with Irene’s tongue. Caption: “I felt the texture of the grass, knew their water-holding ridges, came to know different kinds by the feel on my tongue.”

Page 37
1.A large shot of Irene standing in the landscape near the ninja compound, seen partially from the air, though not far past the gates. The point is to show her subsumed within the landscape. Caption: “I began to walk around. I believed I was starving. I thought I might die.”
2.A shot of Irene in the foreground, looking up at the bell station. Caption: “I felt abandoned.”
3.A wide shot of Irene collapsed in the dark outside the wall. Caption: “I believed my husband would come for me.”

Page 38
1.A shot from Irene’s P.O.V., looking up at the bright sky. Caption: “I grew weak. The sun seemed to be draining me into death.”
2.A close-up on Irene, half-lying and half-sitting, collapsed, leaning against the wall. Irene: “Tommy.”
3.A wide shot of Irene lying in the night near the wall, her eyes open but dead.
4.A wide similar shot, only here an eaten cob of corn lands in front of her. [32 | 33]
5.A close-up on Irene’s face, looking dead, near expressionless.
6.A shot of Irene looking up from an extreme worm’s eye view. We see the top of the wall. The implication is that this eaten cob of corn has been thrown over the wall.

Page 39
1.A shot of Irene looking at the eaten cob of corn, which lies not too far from her, as seen from the side, Irene to the left, the cob of corn to the right.
2.Irene trepidatiously moving her hand, ready to reach for the eaten cob of corn.
3.Irene reaching for the eaten cob of corn, half out of curiosity. She’s about to touch it.
4.Irene holding the eaten cob of corn before her eyes. She still hasn’t moved; only her arm and hand have.
5.The eaten cob of corn, dirty, with a few kernels yet uneaten, in the foreground. Just past it is Irene’s face in close-up, her eyes staring at it.
6.A similar shot, only here Irene has rotated the cob of corn, looking at its dirtiness, a very few kernels available.
7.Irene biting into this rind of a cob of corn.
8.A similar shot, her eyes staring off, her mouth working to locate the uneaten kernels.

Page 40
1.A shot of the sun from Irene’s P.O.V., now looking slightly distorted, warped, a heat mist over the whole shot. Caption: “During the day the sun baked me relentlessly.”
2.A shot of Irene by the gate, lying in the sun. She’s waiting to die. Her eyes and posture are dead. Caption: “I waiting by the gate for the sun to pass overhead and begin to cast a shadow.”
3.A shot of Irene by the gate, the shadow from the gate half over her. Caption: “Its coolness came slowly, torturously, until I stopped really caring.”
4.A wide shot of Irene lying in the night by the gate.
5.A similar shot, only here an eaten cob of corn lands near her, though in a different location than before.
6.A shot of Irene, unmoving, looking uncaringly at the eaten cob of corn. Caption: “A cob of corn appeared each night and landed in the dirt. I ate it dry, finding each uneaten [33 | 34] kernel, sucking off the split shell of every kernel, each strand of fiber I could.”

Page 41
1.A close-up on Irene’s emaciated stomach.
2.A shot of Irene eating a small and muddy scrap of bread. Caption: “Four weeks like this.”
3.A shot of Irene lying, unmoving, emaciated, and emotionless, the wall of the compound behind her.
4.A similar shot, only here a newspaper is landing near her.
5.Irene sitting, unmoved, in response to the newspaper. Caption: “No point in even looking up at this point.”
6.Irene reaching for the newspaper.

Page 42
1.A large panel showing Irene reading. Caption: “I made it page after page. It was the Athenian newspaper from the day after I died.”
2-5.These panels comprise a tier. They are each equal in size. They move from a distant shot of Irene, her front facing the camera, to a close-up of Irene’s face in shock. Over the panels run words in newspaper type on slightly frayed, slightly aged cheap paper: “MURDER” (from the headline) and “burned to the ground” and “found dead” and “the bodies were identified as belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Nakiotomo and their servant” and “married in” and “Japanese” and “apparently arson” and “parents’ house” and “mysterious” and “Mrs. Nakiotomo’s parents and brother” and “same perpetrators as those who killed the Nakiotomos by arson” and “revenge plot” and “no suspects found”.

Page 43
1.A black panel. Caption: “The Athens newspaper said that I had literally died. In the fire that consumed our home, they’d found my body along with my husband. No bodies of intruders were mentioned.”
2.A large shot of Irene, standing, facing away from us, submerged in the landscape around the ninja compound. The colors are distorted like an impressionist painting. Caption: “I remember that the landscape became even more surreal after that.” [34 | 35]

Page 44
1.Irene in close-up as she staggers against a tree, touching it to reaffirm physical reality. Caption: “I felt that I was in some kind of purgatory, that I’d died in Athens and was just denying it to myself like some ghost who still believed it was alive.”
2.Irene wandering through the landscape, now in reds. Caption: “If I concentrated, I could remember the flames consuming my body.”
3.Irene naked and in flames. “This wasn’t Japan at all.”
4.Irene looking up the mountain at the bell station.

Page 45
Various shots of Irene climbing the mountain. She’s emaciated, exhausted, and in shock. Caption #1: “I climbed. Caption #2: “I was so hungry that it hurt to walk, and it seemed every few paces that I started to laugh at my paralysis, at how ridiculously slow I was going.” Caption #3: “And how much it hurt.”

Page 46
1.Irene standing before the bell station, high on the mountain. It’s a fairly small bamboo structure, very Lone Wolf and Cub, housing a large bell. She stands still, tired but suddenly reverent.
2.Irene standing near the bell station, as seen from the side. Caption: “I didn’t know why I was there.”
3.Irene’s feet, stepping forward. Caption: “I thought, perhaps, that if this was Hell, the bell was my ticket out. That it would summon the angels and ... .”
4.Irene in the bell station, standing beside the bell. Caption: “And then, I thought, I just want to hold it.”
5.Irene’s finger, outstretched, reaching toward the bell in extreme close-up. Caption: “I don’t need to ring it.”
6.Irene’s hand stretched around the surface of the bell, her arm extended. She feels its texture. Caption: “I just want to hold it.”
7.An extreme close-up on the bell’s surface, showing its texture as her hand arcs along it. Caption: “But touching it, I realized.”

Page 47 [35 | 36]
1.A close-up of Irene’s hand snapping away from the bell. Caption: “What if he had died? What if his body had been in that house?”
2.Irene kneeling near the bell, holding her hand as if it’s been burned. Caption: “My hand snapped back, unconsciously, like a lizard from poison. It wasn’t my death at all that I was afraid of.”
3.Irene looking at the bell. Caption: “I ring that and I’m free.”
4.A similar shot, only here Irene’s getting up. Caption: “Free from hunger but free to return to a family of corpses.”
5.A shot of a silk sheet, slightly rumpled in the bluish moonlight. Caption #1: “And a cold bed.” Caption #2: “No, it’s not freedom we want.”
6.Irene walking, less tired than before, down the mountainside. Caption: “My husband’s not getting off that easily. He is my life, whether he wants me or not.”
7.Irene’s defiant face, her matted hair blowing over her eyes in the breeze. Caption: “And if he’s dead, I’ll make someone answer.”

Page 48
1.The newspaper, muddy and lying near the fence / wall of the compound. Caption: “The newspaper didn’t mean I needed to go back. If it was real and this was real, it meant I could never go back, even if they’d let me.”
2.A large shot, consuming the rest of the tier, of Irene meditating outside the doors to the compound. Caption #1: “To Athens, I was dead. More importantly, and finally, I became dead to Athens.” Caption #2: “I was already free. Free to die this way. Or to live like a beggar, starving, kept alive by their whims and dirty bread.”
3.A large black panel. Caption: “It didn’t matter anymore. I stopped caring.”

Page 49
A full-page shot of Irene walking down the mountain. Beautiful in its dejectedness and simple acceptance thereof. Caption #1: “Coming down from the mountain, I gave up.” Caption #2: “I had a simple goal, yet unattainable. I would die pursuing it, but I stopped caring whether I got it or not.” Caption #3: “I came down from the mountain, saw my [36 | 37] dejection, and cared not.” Caption #4: “I would starve to death before those gates, but I would do so contentedly. I’d play this role to the hilt, but I’d let go of the character. Her tragedy would not be mine.” Caption #5: “I came down from my mountain.”

Page 50
1.A shot of Irene before the door, meditating, looking down in deep contemplation. She is starving but content. Caption: “Four days later, they invited me in.”
2.A close-up on the gate where it opens. It’s still utterly closed.
3.The same shot, only here the gate is cracking in extreme close-up, the light playing like chiaroscuro across its bamboo reeds. It’s hesitant here, barely open.
4.A similar shot, only here the gate is clearly opening.
5.A shot of Irene before the door, much like the first shot, only here the gate is further opened and Ringo is emerging. Irene is still looking downward.
6.A similar shot, only here Ringo is waving her in.
7.Irene’s face looking down, fully aware what’s going on but not acknowledging it, in meditation. The camera’s now in front of her, looking at her in close-up.
8.The same camera angle, only here Irene’s looking up with utter disinterest, as if she’s merely being distracted from her meditation. Is she bitter? Does she even care to go inside? These are the questions we should ask when looking at this panel.

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