Against The Current Page #2

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so tuck your cock in your ass

and get moving.

(ENGINE STARTING)

(SALVADOR SANCHEZ PLAYING)

Salvador Sanchez

Arrived and vanished

Only 23

With so much speed

Owning the highway

Mexico City

Bred so many

But none quite like him

Sweet warrior

Pure magic matador

Pancho Villa

Would never rest

Till 1925

He closed his eyes

Till Manila stars would rise

(PANTING)

Maybe you should stop for the day.

You think so?

Yes.

Okay.

Thanks.

How much ground do you think we covered?

Maybe three miles.

lt's not enough.

lt's only the first day.

Plus we got a late start, so...

Gotta do better tomorrow.

Maybe you could smoke in the water.

Save time on the smoking breaks.

The cigarettes would get wet.

Not if you smoke the waterproof cigarettes.

They're all the rage with the kids today.

You guys are weird.

What do you mean ''you guys''?

He's the one that wants to swim all day.

PAUL:
l don't want to swim all day.

l want to swim the Hudson.

There's a difference.

lt's not like l'm going back and forth

in a pool all day, like Stevie Brennan.

(CHUCKLING)

He was a mentally retarded boy

we went to school with.

Autistic.

Whatever.

That young man gave one hell of a blowj*b.

-Mmm...

-You guys are truly demented.

l don't know what you mean by that.

Now, let's head back to shore

so l can get a high colonic and a bite to eat.

(SOFTLY) It's okay.

lt's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

(EXHALES) It's okay.

l haven't had sex in a year.

No?

You should get married then.

l have sex like, God, almost six times a year.

It's hard to keep up.

What's that about?

l don't know. Marriage, l guess.

Lots of little resentments.

You're single.

You ought to be having sex all the time.

Get it while you can. You know?

l guess.

So what's this

haven't-had-sex-for-a-year business?

A girl like you should be getting

some serious dick action.

Yeah, l don't know.

l think l've had too many lovers already.

-Too many lovers?

-LIZ:
Yeah.

Not too much sex. But too many lovers.

Paul! Hey, Paul!

You think you've slept with

too many women in your life?

Too many?

JEFF:
Yeah. Think you had too many lovers?

Oh, yeah. Way too many.

Wish l could turn back the clock.

Where do l sign up for

the too-many-lovers program?

-You don't understand.

-Yeah, apparently.

(SIGHS) l haven't slept in a sleeping bag

since camp. Inside a teepee.

JEFF:
The famous camp.

Waterskiing. Teepees.

(SIGHING) l wish l could go to camp now.

lt was fun.

lt had all sorts of old-school activities.

Archery, water polo, capture the flag.

Oh! l would love to play water polo.

Paul, how much would you pay

to play a real game of water polo?

-Ten bucks?

-Wrong! Fifty bucks.

Wow. Water polo. (CHUCKLES)

What didn't they have at that camp?

Adequate adult supervision. It was great.

Any lesbian experimentation going on?

(CHUCKLES) A little.

Why are you swimming down the river, Paul?

lt's a charity stunt.

Why is it so important to get there

by August 28th?

He has Yankee tickets that night.

You don't remember what the 28th is?

lf you're talking about the day

you came out to me,

l'm pretty sure that, that was

the spring of senior year...

And we never really celebrate that.

This stuff never stops, does it?

JEFF:
Nope.

The older l get, the more immature l get.

lt's an odd phenomenon.

It's not one l claim to understand.

Enough about me.

What's the deal with the 28th?

Amy's anniversary.

August 28th is the fifth anniversary

of her death.

To prepare for the occasion,

l thought l'd do something interesting,

something unique,

to distinguish myself in some small way

before l go.

Go where?

lt's been five years.

Motherf***er!

LIZ:
What?

What?

Jeff!

What's happening?

What... What was that about?

He's gonna kill himself

when we finish the swim.

What's going on here? What...

When Amy was killed, Paul was a wreck.

He was completely destroyed.

Um... One night, after not being able

to reach him for a couple days,

l went over to their apartment

to see how he was.

And when l got there, the door was open

and there was a suicide note on the desk.

And l remember

we hung out on his roof sometimes,

so l run up there.

And there he was on the edge of the roof,

-about to iump.

-Jesus.

Yeah. But l start talking to him.

We start talking

and l'm trying to convince him

that he will feel better sometime.

Amy had iust died three months earlier

and he just had to give it some time.

And l told him to think about

the people that care about him.

And what about our friendship?

That kind of thing.

And l give him reason after reason

not to do it,

not the least of which

is my car's parked below,

l don't want him to land on it.

Really?

No, but l did say that at one point

and he actually laughed.

l got a laugh out of him,

in spite of everything, and, uh,

just kept him talking.

Finally, after what seems like an hour,

l say, ''l'll tell you what.

''You absolutely have to give this more time.

''Give it five years,

''and if at the end of those five years

you still want to die,

''l promise not only not to interfere,

''l'll kick in for a pack of razor blades,

''and l'll give a eulogy at your funeral,

telling 'em you did the right thing for you,

''and l'll defend your decision

to anybody who has a problem with it.''

But he didn't want to wait five years.

He didn't want to wait five minutes.

Thing is, he would've asked for

the exact same thing

if the situation was reversed,

to give it more time.

And when he realized that, l knew l had him.

l knew he wasn't going to jump.

We actually shook hands on it,

and he seemed to gradually get better.

And after a couple years,

l put it in the back of my mind,

and, uh, kind of forgot about it,

until about two minutes ago.

So, it's five years later and, uh...

The time is actually here,

and he still wants to die.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

(MOANS)

Hi.

Hi.

Good morning.

Where'd you get that?

LIZ:
A little store up there.

l got one for Jeff, too, and a Coke for you.

Oh, perfect. Thank you.

l also found out

we're camping on private property.

Well, we're private people.

Rise and shine, captain.

We got swimming to do.

The missus brought you some coffee.

Really?

Fantastic.

Need to do six miles today, at least.

You guys up for that?

Considering all we have to do is

sit in the boat drinking Mai Tais

while you do the actual swimming,

l'd say, yeah, l think we can swing it.

l can't believe we're iust...

We're just gonna go along like this?

What would you prefer we do?

Stop the trip. Take him to a hospital.

Get him committed or something.

lf we stop the trip and say,

''No, we're not going along with this,''

what's that going to accomplish?

He wants to kill himself, he'll find a way.

Maybe sooner rather than later.

PAUL:
You guys talking about me?

-Yeah.

-JEFF:
Yeah.

Please don't.

JEFF:
Okay.

We'll chat about the weather instead.

PAUL:
Pretty nice day, huh?

JEFF:
Yeah. How's the water?

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