YOu have this amazing talent to write that astounds me. This particular story reminded me of some of the stories done by Jean-Paul Sartre. This is just amazing. I love the tone, it's not exactly monotone and it isn't two-toned either. It's stuck somewhere in a rut between the two, and that's exactly where it should be for this story. All I can say is wow.

You are a natural writer or you have worked at it, I loved the telephnone call, and the gift quote.

Big mistake in Point of View in the last paragraph you swap from He to I - maybe you shoudl fix that, it reads better as he...

Bit dark in places, and it needs a lot of cutting, but all in all very interesting.

This was awesome. I wondered when you were going to post the final peice... Loved the connective metaphore with the lamp.