Message From my Father

I received the following:

I am directing a staged reading of a play...[dealing] with Sir Thomas More, who had many daughters and adopted more...as viewed by the women in his life. I take pride in having paralleled him, with three daughters plus two more acquired later in life. Of course I didn't serve as Chancellor under King Henry VIII...but then again, I was not beheaded for treason [ed: yet]. One thing that comes out in the play is that his oldest daughter...pulled his head off the pike where it was displayed after his beheading. Would you have done this for me?

My Dear Adored and Adoring Father,

If you were ever beheaded for treason (or any other infraction) I would be devastated. Not quite as devastated as you, obviously, but sufficiently so. I would most certainly pluck your detached head from its display pike, gently clutching you by the ears (since you don't have enough hair to get much of a grip) and surreptitiously spirit it away to be laid to rest with the rest of you. Most likely I would accomplish this task in the dead of night, because if I did it when someone could espy me, the overwhelming likelihood is that I would quickly share your fate, which I wouldn't want, and would hope you wouldn't want for me (despite the fact that you wouldn't care, what with already being dead and all).

I hope this answers your question.

Regarding the play: Break a leg.