California Suite Page #2

I always wondered how you got

the back of your ears so dark.

You put the top of your car down

and drive away from the sun.

Look, if we're gonna

banter like this,

give me a little time.

After nine years,

I'm a little rusty.

Oh, you'll pick it

right up again.

It's like French.

You see, that's what I'd miss

if I ever left New York...

The bantering.

San Francisco's

only an hour away.

We go up there

and banter in emergencies.

I never liked San Francisco.

I was always afraid

I'd fall out of bed and

roll down one of those hills.

Not you, Hannah.

You roll up hills.

Oh, good.

You're bantering.

The flight out

wasn't a total loss.

I detect a bit of snip

in the air.

Does that mean your conversation with

Jenny wasn't all that successful?

Oh, I don't know. I thought that we

glared at each other rather well.

I ordered a drink before lunch.

I thought one of us

might be a little nervous.

I gave up double scotches

on the rocks six years ago.

I'm big on apple juice

these days.

Well, I guess I'm

the one that's nervous.

It's obvious this place

agrees with you, bill.

Or do they call you Billy?

That's right. Jenny told me.

Everybody calls you Billy.

- That's me, Billy.

- It's just adorable.

Forty-four-year-old Billy

standing there

in his cute little sneakers

and sweater.

Better sit down, Billy.

You're making me feel

like your math teacher.

I promised myself driving

over here I would be pleasant.

I am now being pleasant.

You drive everywhere, do you?

- Everywhere.

- Even to your car?

If we're going,

I think we'd better get started.

You have changed, Billy.

You know, you don't get rattled

as easily as you used to.

Well, they don't have

as many rattlers out here.

Maybe this lunch won't be

as dull as I thought.

Marvin!

Hey, Marvin!

- Harry!

- Hey!

Hey, boy!

Harry.

You-you got so bald.

How did you get so bald?

You don't see your brother in five

years, that's all you gotta say?

I didn't even know it was

you, you got so bald.

- Where's Millie?

- She's coming in on the morning plane.

We don't like to fly together

on account of the kids.

You got so bald!

Hey, Marvin, take a gander.

Hmm? Oh, I'd give up two years of my

life for one hour with each of them.

You still haven't changed,

have you?

Let's say "hello."

Let's see how far we can get.

Hey, don't start in

with me, Harry.

I'm here one night without Millie.

Don't get me into trouble.

Would I do that to you?

You did it to papa when

he was 82 years old.

Don't do it to me.

- Oh, miss? You...

- Stop already with the girls!

Your kid is getting

bar mitzvahed tomorrow.

Hey, stop it. What is this,

a jogging outfit?

That's what we do here.

Jenny tells me you've moved.

You're not in

Hardy canyon anymore.

Laurel.

Laurel canyon.

Laurel, Hardy, what the hell.

She says it's sort of

a small French farmhouse...

With a little water mill

in back...

- And the sweetest little tennis court.

- That's right.

Sounds awfully rugged.

Well, we're from pioneer

stock out here in the west.

There's a glass house

two blocks down the road

if you want to throw

some more stones.

Maybe I'll just drop something

from the plane

when I leave tonight...

With Jenny.

This is very familiar.

Yeah. The house we rented

the year before Jenny was born

is just down the road there.

That wasn't

a bad summer, was it?

I thought it was terrific.

Yes, well, the pacific ocean

was a lot more interesting

in those days.

- No, thank you.

- No cigarettes either?

No, I gave them up

eight years ago.

Don't you miss the coughing

and the hacking in the morning?

It woke the dogs up.

I have dogs now.

Isn't divorce wonderful?

You have changed, Billy.

You've gone clean on me.

Tell me, what else do you do to

keep that winsome adolescent look?

You're just dying to make a

little fun of me, aren't you?

No, I don't mind.

I have an hour to kill.

Would you believe I, uh, I run

five miles every morning?

- After what? Oh.

- After a good night's sleep.

I don't even have a pill in my medicine

cabinet, and I gave up analysis.

- Oh, I heard that. Why did you quit?

- I went sane.

Sane? My god.

How boring.

Tell me something, Billy,

don't you ever get depressed?

- Yes.

- When?

Now.

And I, uh, I hear

you went in for an operation.

A hysterectomy.

It was nothing.

I have them every year.

I understood you had,

uh, prostate trouble.

Small world, isn't it?

Well, our past sins do have a

way of catching up with us.

Jenny tells me

you have a new boyfriend.

No.

- I have a lover. Jenny has boyfriends.

- Oh.

A writer in the

Washington post, I'm told.

Mm-hmm.

He's 54 years old,

he has a heart condition,

asthma, leans toward alcoholism.

He also has the second-best mind

I've met in this country

since Adlai Stevenson.

What's with you mate-wise?

"Mate-wise"?

Mate-wise, I'm seeing

a very nice girl.

Are you? Where are

you seeing her to?

Come on, Hannah.

I beg your pardon.

Have I offended you?

My god, it's a long time

since I've been involved

in a smart-ass conversation.

I'm sorry, but you're the

one that said things like,

"I hear you have a boyfriend,"

and "I'm seeing

a very nice girl."

I'm not the one with

the Bobsey twin haircut

and the Peter Pan phraseology.

I can see you've really come

to hunt bear, haven't you?

Hunt bear?

Is that what you said?

"Hunt bear"?

Is that the kind of nifty

conversation you have

around the campfires out here

in the rugged west?

Can we talk about Jenny?

What's your rush?

She's only 17.

She has her whole life

ahead of her.

If I'm gonna turn my daughter

over to you, which I am not,

at least I wanna know

what you're like.

Jenny is our daughter.

Ours.

Maybe. We'll see.

They've been a little slow

with the blood test.

Christ.

Five million cigarettes...

Are murder on the lungs.

Oh!

When you were younger, you were the

healthiest girl I knew. What happened?

With Nixon in the white house, good

health seemed to be in bad taste.

Your friend's about

a size too small for me.

How does she fit you?

Nicely, thank you.

Is this the neophyte actress

with the golden hair

Jenny's been telling me about?

- Am I being too nosy?

- Not for a Newsweek editor.

Yes, she is, and she's

a damned good actress.

Married before:

Has a nine-year-old boy.

Really? Should make

a nice pet for Jenny.

Is marriage contemplated?

It's contemplated. It's being

discussed and seriously considered.

And we all get along like clams.

Right. And would there be room for all

of you in the little French farmhouse?

Or will you have to take a Moroccan

villa on Wilshire boulevard?

What the hell

are you so bitter about?

You used to be bright and witty,

and now you're just

snide and sarcastic.

It comes with age. When you

don't have a fastball anymore,

you go to

change-ups and sliders.

Can we go? I feel like we're

playing from here to eternity.

- Pretty girl.

- I think so.

I suppose if Jenny stays,

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