Perfectly Painted

It is Valentine’s night and Harland awaits the arrival of his drunken wife. While he waits he watches his favourite film – ‘Perfectly Painted’; reality and fantasy combine, and ‘Lilith’, the character in the film, beckons him. Harland’s wife arrives, and he tries to placate her with a rose, but she shoves him away, just as, on screen, Lilith kills her lover ‘Spencer’, taking the money he has on his person. When his wife falls asleep on the chair, Lilith beckons Harland to her. It’s a tough decision: wife or Lilith? One is dishevelled, the other is perfectly painted... They both have perfectly painted fingernails. Decision made, he gets to his feet. He stands over his wife, seemingly about to kill her; but then he reaches behind the seat and pulls out a suitcase. Tapping on the screen. Harland goes to Lilith they have a ‘screen kiss’; but then Harland pulls away from her and leaves with his suitcase. As the credits roll on the film, Lilith stares out incredulously.