American Pastoral Page #8

- [Seymour] I can't.

I need to talk to you.

I hope this is important.

Leaving the Orcutts

to your parents like this...

Look, have you seen where Bill and I

moved the sunroom?

He was so wrong

about the Western light.

It's about Merry.

What about Merry?

All this time, we've had no idea

where she is.

And we aren't going to.

If she'd wanted us to find her,

she would have told us how.

She hasn't wanted to.

We've had to accept that.

- Dawn...

- We've had to accept that and we have.

- But just suppose...

- Suppose what?

What?

Suppose that we knew

where she was.

Go on. What is it now?

Do you have a new lead?

Some hunch?

- Some information?

- More than that.

Why? Did someone call?

Some nut who saw her

at an airport in Phoenix

or at a f***ing Hare Krishna meeting?

Is that what it is, Swede?

Will you listen?

I'm telling you something.

When are you going

to give up on her?

I can't.

I tried so hard, but I can't.

Our old life is gone, Swede.

It's dead.

This.

This is our only future.

Excuse me, we have guests.

[Lou] Nixon.

Watergate. It's all I hear.

Day and night, he goes on...

Von Ehrlichman,

von Haldeman, von Nixon.

They're all mamzers.

I agree with you, Mr. Levov.

They should all go to jail.

- And I'm a Republican!

- Good for you, Mrs. Orcutt.

Are you okay, son?

- Sure I am, Mom.

- Oh, my boy.

Who could want a better son?

[Sylvia] Jesse, don't you think

you've had enough, dear?

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Can I get you something, Dad?

No. Rest,

you don't look so great.

I'll get you another drink.

[Dawn giggling]

[heavy breathing]

[Dawn whispering] Not now.

Not now.

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Seymour?

Don't say anything!

- Swede.

- No.

[young Merry] Why are apes here?

Why are kangaroos here?

Life is just a short space of time

in which you were alive.

[Seymour] Merry.

I have to ask you something.

I have to ask you something

I promised I wouldn't ask,

but I must.

You can ask me anything.

Did you do it?

Do what, Daddy?

Plant the bomb in the post office.

Yes.

Who made you do it?

- Lyndon Johnson.

- No, who talked you into it?

How strongly you still crave the idea

of your innocent child.

Was it Rita?

- Who's Rita?

- Rita, the girl you sent,

the one who came to my office.

I never sent you anyone.

Was this just some kind of game you were

playing with me, the two of you?

I relinquish all cruelty,

I relinquish all control,

all influence over the world.

Do you? Do you?

Well, you have

influence over me, Merry.

I renounce all attachments

whether little or much,

small or great,

living or lifeless.

Were there others?

Did others die?

Were you involved

in other bombings?

Two.

You built the bombs.

I built and planted the bombs.

Was anyone killed?

Yes.

Who?

People.

How many people?

Three.

I'm going in now.

Don't go away from me.

Don't go anywhere.

Daddy, how much suffering

do you want?

Who are you?

Where is my daughter?

My daughter did not kill four people.

Say it isn't you.

Say it isn't you!

Look.

Merry.

Your ballet shoes,

your riding ribbons,

all your things.

My stuttering book.

Why have you

brought these things?

Does it mean that

you aren't coming back?

Because if it does,

maybe that's best.

Merry...

I'm your father.

I made you and I found you.

And there's no way I can ever lose you

or you can ever lose me again.

Let me take you home.

I can't leave you here.

You've seen me.

Please go now.

If you love me,

you'll let me be.

[sobbing]

[Nathan] That was to be

the last time he ever saw her.

He never got over Merry.

He never got over her...

and never gave up on her.

[Jerry] It was good to see you.

Will you excuse me?

- Are you taking off?

- Oh, there you are. Uh...

Yeah. These days I'm asleep

on my feet after 9:00.

Yeah, me too.

Uh, well, it was good

to see you. Really.

Well, night.

Jerry.

The Swede's funeral tomorrow,

do you mind if I come?

No. No, not at all.

I'd be happy to see you.

You remember.

You were there.

He called you "Skip."

[rabbi] As we prepare to recite

the mourner's Kaddish,

we remember the Swede

one last time.

A football hero, a baseball hero,

an officer in the Marines.

[Nathan] What Merry blew up

with that bomb of hers

was nothing less than his life.

He never got past

the Rimrock Bomber,

a girl who perhaps didn't deserve

anything from him,

who wasn't on the same playing field

as him or anybody else.

At this time, please rise

for the mourner's Kaddish.

[speaking Hebrew]

[Nathan] You come at people

with an open mind

and yet you never fail

to get them wrong.

You get them wrong

while you're with them

or you tell someone about them

and get them wrong again.

That's how we know we're alive.

We are wrong.

About the Swede,

how life was going to open its arms

and shower blessings upon him.

I was never more wrong

about anyone in my life.

Thank you. It's nice to see you.

Thanks for coming today.

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[song playing]

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