“Harold Pinter is dead.”

“His plays were hard to understand.”

“Yes, but he's dead.”

“The characters seemed like they came from different plays.”

“Cancer.”

“What?”

“He died of cancer.”

“Cancer?”

“Yes, it killed him.”

Pause.

“So . . . Harold Pinter is dead.”

“Dead as a doornail.  Of cancer.”

“Ah.”