“A Thin Silver Line” is“for Harlan Ellison;” silver is the color of death.[That’s too bad for me, because I just bought a new silver car thatwe call “the Silver Bullet.”] “A thin silver line: color of moonlight, or morning fog, the highlight on your grandmother’s lips....
“When I was exposed to the truth by way of a book, I kept the secret, too. I was 13. My parents divorced, and five years later, my mother died. In 1966, I went to live with my father in Hollywood. I was forbidden to talk about our life: ‘Don’t discuss our family business...