In explaining his growing weakness, Plymell finds it easier to accept death, considering he is still able to exist in society. Unlike his friend, MacNeil, who is cataleptic and lethargic in the General by the Bay, Charles can still accept his demise because he is weak, but not as sickly as Bill, who seems to be on his death bed. The author s reference to covering, or wrapping, the stars seems to be his take on famous individuals who have suffered from this disease. They are smothered or suffocated until they die a slow death and their light is extinguished, therefore, stardom is theirs no more along with life. To conclude, Plymell feels that life is a distasteful host who pulls in it s selected guests and bestows upon them diseases and suffering up until their final ride in a hearse.
Life leaves a path of destruction that bleeds down to it s final victim, or party goer.
AIDS does not discriminate, but takes anyone who succumbs. A great pleated sheet or a star holds the meaning that your everyday John Doe is the sheet, while your Hollywood performer could be the smothered star. In either case, both classes of individuals will cease to exist when the time comes to take their place on twilight s twisted cane.