Before Midnight Page #9

nine-year-old boy, right? He's

suddenly old, he's got a beard, his

eyes are watery, and he's still -

CELINE:

Oh, this one seems sad. At first I

thought you were going to tell me

the story about the guy that has an

imaginary friend.

JESSE:

Which one?

CELINE:

And when he's in his fifties the

imaginary friend shows up again,

right?

JESSE:

With the hummingbird?

57.

CELINE:

Yes, that's the one.

JESE:

Yeah. Oh, you like that one?

CELINE:

It's funny.

JESSE:

Oh.

CELINE:

Remember that letter that you let me

read that you wrote when you were

twenty, to yourself at forty?

JESSE:

Yeah, I remember the first sentence:

Dear Forty-Year-Old Jesse, I hope

you're not divorced.

CELINE:

No, I didn't even remember that part.

I meant all the other things in that

letter...you were the same guy.

JESSE:

Yeah...

CELINE:

I mean, we always think we're

evolving, but maybe we can't change

that much.

JESSE:

You know how I think I've changed

the most?

CELINE:

How?

JESSE:

When I was younger I just wanted

time to speed up. You know?

CELINE:

Why?

JESSE:

Well. So I could be on my own. So

I could be free from my parents and

school and all that sh*t. You know?

(MORE)

58.

JESSE (CONT'D)

I just wanted to close my eyes and

wake up and be an adult. And then I

kind of feel like that all happened

and I just want everything to slow

down.

CELINE:

Hm... it's strange - I've always had

this feeling, no matter where I am

in my life, that it's either a memory

or a dream.

JESSE:

I know, you've always thought that.

And me too, it's like, is this really

my life? Like, is it happening right

now?

CELINE:

It is.

JESSE:

I know.

Celine and Jesse laugh.

JESSE (CONT'D)

Every year I just seem to get a little

bit more humbled and more overwhelmed

about all the things I'm never going

to know or understand.

CELINE:

That's what I keep telling you. You

know nothing!

JESSE:

I know, I know! I'm coming around!

Celine and Jesse laugh.

CELINE:

But not knowing is not so bad. I

mean, the point is to be looking,

searching. To stay hungry, right?

JESSE:

I know, it's true. I just wish it

was a little easier.

CELINE:

How do you mean?

59.

JESSE:

Well, just to maintain a certain

level of passion, you know? I mean

it used to come so naturally. I

remember when I was younger, me and

all my writer friends, we just felt

like we were doing something

important, you know? Like this was

our time.

CELINE:

But you were all a bunch of arrogant

little pricks, right?

JESSE:

No, we

CELINE:

Sounds like.

(Laugh)

JESSE:

All right, maybe. I don't know, it

just grew out of all this energy you

know, this creativity or whatever

ambitions people had. You know, I

think you gotta be a little deluded

to stay motivated.

CELINE:

Young men have this thing about

comparing themselves all the time.

They have all these signposts they

judge themselves by. You used to do

that all the time.

JESSE:

Do what? What do you mean?

CELINE:

With like:
Rimbaud read this by

seventeen, F. Scott Fitzgerald did

this by thirty...

JESSE:

And Balzac wrote a book before

breakfast every day, so what the

hell am I doing?

CELINE:

Yeah. But women don't think that

way as much.

JESSE:

You don't think so?

60.

CELINE:

No. We have much less to compare

ourselves to maybe. Most women who

achieve anything in life, the first

time you hear about them, they're in

their 50's, because it was so hard

for them to get any recognition before

then. They struggle for 30 years or

they raise kids and were stranded at

home before they could finally do

what they want. Actually, you know

what? It's kind of freeing. We

don't have to spend our lives

comparing ourselves to Martin Luther

King, Gandhi, Tolstoy...

JESSE:

(Laughing)

Well, what about Joan of Arc, right?

I mean, she was a teenager and she

saved France. So...

CELINE:

Who wants to be Joan of Arc, okay?

JESSE:

No?

CELINE:

Forget France. She was burned at

the stake and a virgin! Okay?

Nothing I aspire to. What a great

achievement!

JESSE:

(Laughing)

Okay! All right, all right, all

right. Whatever.

CELINE:

(Laughs)

Oh, god.

JESSE:

What?

CELINE:

No, nothing.

JESSE:

What?

CELINE:

It's just so weird.

61.

JESSE:

What do you mean?

CELINE:

Oh, just this. Us. Walking, having

a conversation...

JESSE:

Oh, I know.

CELINE:

... About something else than

scheduling, food, work.

JESSE:

Yeah, I mean, how long's it been

since we just wandered around

bullshitting?

CELINE:

Do you hear what I hear?

JESSE:

The sea?

CELINE:

No.

JESSE:

What, oh! No small feet. Nothing

being knocked over, nothing we have

to clean up, no injustices being

done.

CELINE:

Yeah. So when was the last time?

JESSE:

When we had nowhere we had to be?

CELINE:

Yeah.

JESSE:

You remember walking around Luxembourg

Gardens?

CELINE:

Yeah.

JESSE:

Do you? I used to kick your ass at

ping pong on those concrete tables.

62.

CELINE:

Hey, congratulations! You beat a

woman pregnant with twins!

JESSE:

Well, it's better than losing to a

pregnant woman with twins.

CELINE:

Such a gentleman! Yeah.

JESSE:

(a beat)

Hah-ha! You know what I think? I

think its from the time we leave our

parents house until we have kids that's

the only time your life is

completely your own. You know I

think I had about a decade of that.

It was great. It was just like one

long, flowing... a day, a week, a

year, there wasn't much difference.

CELINE:

No, I used to keep track of time

through jobs and boyfriends and stuff

like that. Now I can tell you every

detail of the past seven years based

on what was happening in the girls'

lives.

JESSE:

Yeah, right. Totally.

CELINE:

You do that too?

JESSE:

Yeah, I mean time's demarcated now...

CELINE:

Really?

JESSE:

Why?

CELINE:

No, no, I'm just surprised. I'm

surprised you do that too. No but,

okay - quick test.

JESSE:

Oh, no...

63.

CELINE:

August 2009. Come on, it's a quick

one. What was happening?

JESSE:

August 2009 - we were on vacation

with your parents. Nina got the

chicken pox first, quickly followed

by Ella.

CELINE:

I'm so impressed.

JESSE:

Yeah. So do I get a gold star?

CELINE:

Maybe. Hey. Can I ask you a

question?

JESSE:

Sure.

CELINE:

If we were meeting for the first

time today on a train, would you

find me attractive?

JESSE:

Of course.

CELINE:

No, but really, right now as I am?

Would you start talking to me? Would

you ask me to get off the train with

you?

CELINE/JESSE

(Laugh)

JESSE:

Well, I mean, you're asking a

theoretical question. I mean, what

would my life situation be? I mean

technically, wouldn't I be cheating

on you?

CELINE:

Okay. Why can't you just say "yes"?

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