Prologue to FIESTA of SMOKE

         The story I am about to tell you is true. I myself witnessed parts of it, as a participant. Some comes from the accounts of my contemporaries, as alive and vivid as a basket of eels. The rest, rising from the dust of centuries, is open to conjecture only to those among you who lack a certain kind of faith that we, who made this story by our doing, held as our deepest fiber. To participate with us, you must know that illusion is the veriest truth, and reality can play you false in a heartbeat. There is nothing more you need to know except that, in matters of this world -- and, no doubt, the next -- the only real thing is love.