And While We Were Here Page #2

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I've been coming here every day

and it still gets me.

If only we could kill

off all the tourists.

You're a tourist.

No I'm not.

I came out here a few months ago...

with this volunteer organization

dedicated to studying...

the relic populations of dolphins

and whales in the gulf of Naples.

I can't tell if you're joking.

I'm dead f***in' serious.

No, I just didn't wanna go to college

and they pay for me to come over.

4 connecting flights, a 72 hour plane ride.

But, you know...

it was worth it. It was my

first time out of the U.S.

- How old are you?

- I'm 19.

It's my birthday today.

- Is it really?

- Uh-huh.

- Happy birthday.

- Thank you very much.

Yes, so, I left the program

after like a month.

F*** the relic dolphins!

I'm still on the island

because I have this...

this awesome living situation.

I'll tell you the short version.

Basically, I used to have

ancestors in Ischia.

So when I come over, I Facebooked this

second cousin twice removed.

A second cousin twice removed,

in case you didn't know...

is when one person's great-grandparent

is another person's...

great-great-great grandparent.

I'd love to hear the long version.

Sorry. Anyway...

so this relative gave

me the name of this...

great uncle who lives on the island.

So I show up...

he answers the door and he's like

the oldest f***er I've ever seen...

- easily pushing 100.

- 100?

Yeah, if not older. He's like deaf and blind

and about 4 feet tall.

And he mumbles a couple things to me

in some crazy dialect...

ushers me inside, pours

me a glass of wine...

and leads me to this basement apartment.

And, yeah, I never left.

Love teaches me to feed

on flames and tears.

To turn withered hope

green through desire.

To re-enslave my heart each time...

Love frees his noble face

from that heavy disdain.

Who was that?

Vittoria Colonna.

The woman who lived here.

You read that in your guidebook

this morning, didn't you, Jane?

Sneaky.

Yeah, I've decided to learn Italian

by committing to memory...

all the sonnets she wrote

to Michelangelo...

in English and Italian.

I thought Michelangelo was gay.

Ah, according to history and the...

muscular thighs of his

sculptures, yes...

but that didn't stop

her from loving him.

Let's hear it then.

In Italian.

Let's hear the poem.

- Come on.

- Okay, okay.

- I'm impressed.

- Thank you.

You hungry?

Why? You gonna take me out?

Yeah.

- All right then.

- Okay.

- Red, please.

- White or... Red.

- Uh-huh.

- Thank you.

So you're really not gonna

tell me what you do?

I write freelance articles about parties

and fashion trends...

in Town and Country UK.

There's something else.

I'm writing a book...

about my grandmother's experiences

in rural England...

living through two World Wars.

I recorded her for hours and hours.

But now...

I don't know.

What don't you know?

You wanna listen a little?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

Yeah, no, I'd love to listen.

It's all tangled up.

- Hold on.

- Okay.

Awful as it was, it made you stronger.

These days people whine about

all sorts of things and...

I'm not one of those old people

who think my time...

had the only joy and the only problems.

We all have our own private

wars, every era...

but it was nothing like...

it really brought people

together, the war.

We helped each other during that time...

we had to laugh, we had to smile.

Well, if not for ourselves...

then for the people we'd lost.

Now shut that thing off, would you?

Get it out of my face.

That is like a window in time.

The sort of thing you...

wish you always did before

someone died, you know?

My husband thinks I'm

never gonna finish it.

You shouldn't care what anyone thinks.

We met while I was recording her.

Bonding over Granny, huh?

You make it sound perverse.

That's what it was, right?

I got pregnant so we got married.

I lost the baby.

I'm sorry.

I didn't go back after

that to the States.

Did you ever hear that story

about the red string?

I think I might have. Tell me.

It's like this Asian proverb.

Says that anyone you're

destined to meet, like...

your soul mate or your

family or, you know...

someone you bump into on the street,

we're all connected...

by this red string.

It can be tangled or stretched,

but it can never be broken.

There's this moment in the tape...

I'm sitting, waiting, in the airport bar

for my flight...

and I'm talking into the recorder...

rambling on about how I'm about to embark

on this amazing adventure...

and how I'm gonna show World War ll

from a totally different perspective.

But?

I don't know if it's that interesting.

That's the whole point, isn't it?

Keeping it interesting for yourself.

Maybe.

Maybe I just wanna write about nothing.

Everything is nothing.

All the best.

Make a Wish, huh?

Make it great.

Okay.

Hey!

- Are you ready?

- What do you mean, am I ready?

- You ready?

- What?

- Grab my hand. Go, go, go!

- What? Why? Oh, my God!

- Go!

- Oh, my gosh!

- Why? What do you mean?

- Go!

- Okay!

- Okay!

- Okay!

- What?

- It's the Caribinieri!

- What?

- The police! Come on!

- No! No! No!

Yeah! Yeah, yeah!

We can't go back! If we

go back, we get arrested!

- Okay,

- Run!

We can't pay if we

haven't got any money!

Oh, God. Come here.

Oh, God.

- Hey. Hey.

- What?

Would it make you feel better

if I said I set the whole thing up?

Yes, if it's true.

Is it true?

I paid the check when I

went to the bathroom.

You're horrible.

You're horrible.

- You're a mean. horrible person.

- Come on, let's go.

Come on, come on.

Quick! Let's go!

- Why are we still running?

- I don't know why we're still running.

Oh, my gosh.

It went up my nose.

Will you come back?

Maybe.

"Maybe" is not a "no"...

and since I don't have a phone...

you're gonna have to

give me your number.

- For cheap thrills and future crimes committed.

- No.

Fair enough.

I'd better go...

catch a ferry.

Hey.

Why do violists...

keep their viola cases

on their dashboards?

Why?

So they can park in handicapped spots.

Oh.

Happy birthday.

Thank you.

You're awake.

No, I've got so much of

this stuff to get through.

You bought fruit.

Nice.

These are the great big events...

the things you think you'll always remember,

and you do...

but there are other smaller..

Picking a blackberry that's

been in the sun or...

brushing the fingertip of someone

you didn't know you loved...

until you touched them.

Nellie was this little collie...

who wouldn't go on a leash

so she had to sit on a bicycle seat.

They stay with me, too.

Jane.

Janey?

Got some pastries.

You still asleep?

Jane?

"Jane-Let's get lunch Call me

when you wake up-Leonard"

My friends had lots of

American boyfriends...

and they used to bring us nylon

stockings and chocolates...

and all sorts of things.

And we used to go to London and...

we saw Glen Miller one time.

Oh, we used to go all over the place.

They were wonderful times.

I never had an American boyfriend.

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