American Pastoral Page #5

Look, the bombs they were building

in the townhouse,

they were pipes filled with dynamite.

Well, the bomb that blew up Hamlins,

that's what it was.

It was a pipe

filled with dynamite.

One of the missing women,

we know who she is.

Her parents own the building.

They're down in the Caribbean

growing a tan

while their rich-f*** daughter's making

bombs to blow people up with.

But the other girl, you don't know

the identity of the other girl.

And therefore it's Merry?

Go home, Mr. Levov.

This is my daughter.

We'll tell you.

All right, Mr. Levov?

No, you won't.

You're not telling us anything.

And for Christ's sake,

stop tapping our phone.

There's... there's nothing.

All right? There's one thing.

It was nothing.

What?

Someone said they saw her

at the train station.

- Here in Newark?

- It didn't make any sense.

We thought she'd be

halfway across the country.

We worked it.

It went nowhere.

This was months ago.

[announcer on PA] Main line going

to Pittsburgh arriving from New York,

the 5:
30 Express on track two,

5:
30 Express from New York

arriving on track two.

[train bell ringing]

[]

"Rita Cohen."

[Rita]

From the Wharton School of Business.

I'm doing my thesis on the leather glove

industry here in Newark.

I'd be grateful for anything

you could teach me.

Mm-hmm.

Go ahead, feel it.

[Seymour] It's sheepskin.

Cabretta.

It's lovely.

They've been shipped from the same ports

in Africa for hundreds of years.

You want to learn about gloves?

We'll make you up a pair.

Here? Now?

Here.

I'm guessing you're a four.

Let me see what kind of guesser I am.

Four it is.

That's as small as ladies' come.

Any smaller is a child's.

Harry, make up a four

for this young lady, British tan.

You're witnessing a dying business,

Miss Cohen.

- Am I? I'm sorry, I didn't realize.

- Oh, not us. Knock wood.

No, we've still got the big accounts,

Bendel's, Macy's.

No, I meant the whole industry.

Everyone's moving to Hong Kong,

Puerto Rico.

To cut labor costs.

Exactly. Precisely.

Everybody's hurting.

It used to be that a woman owned ten,

12 pairs of gloves.

- Imagine that.

- [knock on door]

[door opens]

These are for you, Miss.

Slowly.

Always slowly the first time.

Feel how it expands

when you make a fist.

Thank you.

She wants

her Audrey Hepburn scrapbook.

- [Dawn] Talk to me.

- [Seymour] Not near the house.

Swede, what is it?

Somebody came to me from Merry.

She's all right?

Where is she?

I don't know. I don't know where she is,

but this person,

this little person,

she looked younger than Merry.

She wants to meet me tomorrow.

- Merry?

- No, this Rita person.

She wants me to meet her

in a parking lot downtown.

She gave me all these instructions.

"Drive through the park.

Make sure you're not followed."

The agents.

Are you going to tell the agents?

I don't know.

I don't know what to do, Dawn.

She knew about

the Audrey Hepburn pictures.

She knew about the stuttering books,

the ballet classes, the cows.

This girl, she could lead us to Merry.

Where are the cows?

- What?

- The cows, where are they?

I sold them.

I'm selling them.

Why would you sell your cows?

You can't tell the agents... Swede.

This girl,

just do whatever she says.

Please.

[vehicle approaches]

[lighter clicks]

[Seymour]

Why are you wearing Merry's coat?

[Rita] She gave it to me.

Surely, you can...

Surely, you can now tell me something

about Merry.

- I surely cannot.

- I would like to speak with her.

Well, she wouldn't like to speak with you.

She hates you.

Does she?

Thinks you ought to be shot.

Yes? That, too?

Swede Levov.

How much do you pay the workers

in your factory in Puerto Rico?

I don't have a factory in Puerto Rico.

I stayed right here.

How much do you pay

the women going blind

stitching gloves for the ladies

at Bendel's and Macy's?

You've seen how unhappy

my employees are.

That's why they've worked for me

for 40 years,

because they're so exploited.

Who are you? You don't even know

what you're talking about.

You own your people.

You own them, you use them,

you sleep with them,

and then when you're done...

Please, Rita. I haven't two minutes'

interest in your cliches.

I want you to tell me

where my daughter is.

- That's all I want to hear from you.

- Your daughter never wants

to see you again.

Or that mother.

You don't know anything

about her mother.

Lady Dawn?

Lady Dawn of the manor?

I know all there is to know

about Lady f***ing Dawn.

So ashamed of her class origins,

she had to become lady

of the f***ing manor

and turn her daughter

into a debutante.

"A debutante"? Merry shoveled cow sh*t

since the age of six.

- She rode tractors, she's 4-H.

- Fake. All fake.

The daughter of the beauty queen

and the captain of the football team?

What kind of nightmare

is that for a girl with a soul?

Dawn is not a beauty queen.

She works a farm all day.

Fake, fake. She works a farm

like a f***ing upper-class landowner.

"Upper class"?

Her father was a plumber!

Her grandfather was

an Irish milk farmer!

This is crazy!

Where's my daughter?

Somebody is dead.

My daughter is accused of murder!

You're really hung up

on that, aren't you?

Do you know how many Vietnamese have

died in the time we've been talking here?

You give her back to me!

She's not a possession.

You don't own her anymore,

the way you own your factory

and your Buick f***ing Electra.

Where is she, Miss Cohen?

[Jerry] So, where is she?

The girl's our link,

our only one.

You let her go? Why?

Why did you let her go?

Well, she's just a kid. I know I can work

around her to get to Merry.

That's nonsense.

That's crazy.

You go to the cops.

You go to... what's it, the FBI.

- You tell them everything.

- No. No.

No? Did you get the infant's

phone number, at least?

That's not the plan.

She makes contact with me.

If she feels like it.

If she feels like it. You've got nothing.

- Dr. Levov?

- What? I don't need you.

- But, doctor...

- Just go jump in a lake, nurse, please.

I've got to do this, Jerry.

You should see Dawn these days.

I'm worried about Dawn.

This has to work.

Rita has to take us to Merry.

This Rita and the others.

What others?

The ones that have her.

They're controlling her.

If she did this,

if she blew up Hamlins

then these are the people

that made her do it. Don't you see?

"If"? If she blew up Hamlins?

That's what you're asking yourself?

What kind of man are you?

You go to the FBI.

Do you hear me?

No.

And you can't tell

anyone what I told you.

Promise me.

[quietly] All right.

[]

[sighs]

Good morning, boy.

[knocking]

Do come in.

Make yourself at home.

I brought the money, Miss Cohen.

I brought the $10,000 in small bills.

Now, where's my daughter?

Come off it, Swede.

You came here to f*** me.

What?

Please, Miss, if you have any feeling

for what everyone is going through...

Ask anybody.

Why does

a middle-aged capitalist

come to a hotel room

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