Cardinals

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1

[wind whistling]

[woman]

I'll only be about an hour.

It shifted about

an eighth of an inch.

- Which?

- One of the 12s.

Hm, it's not as bad

as I thought, okay.

Hey, Jim owes me $40.

I need a pair of boots.

[man and woman speaking

indistinctly in background]

[door opens]

[door closes]

[engine idling]

[dog barking in distance]

[train horn blares,

signal bell clanging]

You okay?

I got this, yeah.

Just... [chuckles]

you do it.

I'm useless.

[woman] Okay.

- [thump]

- F***.

[man] She explicitly asked me

not to be there today.

I'll see you Saturday.

[woman]

What's Saturday?

The Swan Parade.

Have you gone through

the house recently?

[man] Why?

Alcohol.

Your mother

is not an alcoholic.

She made a mistake.

She paid the price for it-

I was talking

about her parole conditions.

But... thank you.

Have you spoken to her

about selling the house?

[man] Of course I have.

[woman] Do you want me

to not ask you

how that conversation went?

[man] If you'd be so kind.

Did Mark move?

[sighs]

Not as far as I know.

[woman] Hmm.

[buzzer buzzes]

[gate rumbles]

Hi, Mama.

- [buzzer buzzes, gate rumbles]

- Hi.

[sighs]

Yo, how's it going?

- Oh, fantastic.

- Okay.

Uh...

[chuckles] You think about what

you're gonna order for years,

and then, um, wow, you...

It just looks really different

when you see the menu.

Yeah. Did you just

come from Glassmore?

- Yeah.

- Right on.

You must get

a lot of people...

Yeah.

I mean... don't worry.

I won't... won't ask you

what you did or anything.

I'll run you through

the options, though.

We'll get you set up.

We'll get you set up.

Well, all that's missing

is a banner.

[chuckles]

- Thirsty?

- I'd kill for a glass of wine.

It's pretty soon, Mom.

[water running in sink]

Hey, don't sit down.

We're celebrating.

[sighs deeply]

I know you're

probably gonna want

to have a talk with me

at some point.

I'm prepared for that.

I want to as well.

Well, not tonight.

We're celebrating.

Does she know?

We're a little bit

light on glassware.

[chuckles]

Um...

okay, um...

good to have me back.

[chuckles]

Mmm. [chuckles]

This can all just go

in the trash.

I don't even want to donate it.

Why not donate?

I just don't want to be

walking down the street

and see somebody

else wearing that

and hate it all over again.

Speaking of florals,

Wendy called

like three weeks ago.

She wondered when you

were getting out.

What did she say, exactly?

Um, she wants to see you.

Did you ask her,

or did she bring it up

unprompted?

Um, she called and asked

when you were getting released.

So I told her, and then

I asked her if she wanted

to hang out with you,

and she said yes.

So she didn't suggest it.

Can you pass me that basket,

El? Thank you.

Well, what does it matter

if she suggested it?

I'm not gonna apologize

for being curious.

[woman] No one's asking you

to apologize, Mom.

[mother] Yeah, I would have to

guess you're wrong about that.

[woman] Well, I don't think

that she would call

if she didn't want

to hang out with you.

You're assuming

that I want to see her.

Yeah, and why wouldn't I

assume that?

[mother]

Is her husband still sick?

He died.

Blood disease.

[mother]

Well, there you go.

I don't want to be associated

with that kind of sadness.

[scoffs] Okay.

Well, I'm not gonna

force to have friends.

Keep that.

That's nice.

[dog barks in distance]

[trampoline squeaking gently]

[knock on door]

Yeah.

Um, is now a good time?

How do you mean?

Sorry, uh, is now

a good time to talk?

I mean, I don't want to

interrupt your, uh, family time,

but, uh...

it's kind of hard to wait.

I'll understand if you want

to give it more time, for sure.

No. No, no.

Sorry, come in.

[mother] Um, can you take

your boots off?

- [man] Yeah, no problem.

- [mother] Thanks.

- Yep.

- Come on in.

Um... you're not gonna

believe who's here.

Hey, Zoe.

- Eleanor.

- Hi.

- Is it okay if I sit here?

- Oh, of course.

As you can see, everything's

pretty much the same.

It's kind of like

a time capsule.

[chuckles]

Do you want

to talk privately?

No, this is okay,

as long as you guys

are okay with it.

- [Zoe] Sure.

- [Eleanor] Yeah.

Cool.

So you're still

in the neighborhood.

- How's that?

- Oh, you know, same.

- Kind of a time capsule.

- [laughs]

Except for

the new subdivision.

- I don't know if you've seen that.

- No.

Anyway, what I wanted

to say was...

I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt.

But here we are, eating.

Just...

[Zoe] So did they legally have to

tell you she was on the loose?

Oh, I don't know what

their obligations were,

- but they did tell me.

- Who told you?

Someone came by.

What have you been doing?

Not a lot.

It's probably all a bit cold.

- Here.

- Thank you.

Um, there's toast.

[chuckles]

I didn't ask about your mother.

How is she?

She, um...

she's not with us anymore.

Oh.

I didn't get

all the neighborhood

news updates, I guess.

What I was gonna say before

is that you shouldn't feel,

um, obligated to move out

of the neighborhood

or anything like that.

Oh, I hadn't even thought

about that.

I don't know

if you remember this

but I tried to visit you

in prison a couple of times,

and they told me that you

weren't feeling well.

Yeah, well, I wasn't

feeling well most days.

But I'm really sorry

I didn't get a chance

- to apologize to you.

- Oh.

I didn't know

how to even go about it.

I mean, what do you say

about a thing like that?

But, you know, you had

every right to an apology,

for wanting that apology...

Actually, I didn't come here

looking for an apology.

But thank you, though,

for saying that I deserved one.

Um... I guess I was

just hoping to hear

your account of what happened.

I read everything in the papers,

and the lawyers talked to me,

but everything

happened pretty fast.

And, uh, yeah, I would

just love to hear from you,

in your words,

in the interests of...

closure.

Oh, okay, I don't know

what else I could tell you

that you didn't already read,

but, um...

uh...

I drank and drove.

I was driving too fast

and not paying attention,

and a German Shepherd

bounded out into the street

chasing God only knows what,

and, um...

I made a big mistake.

I panicked and swerved,

and instead of hitting

the dog, I hit...

something else,

as you know.

Yeah, that's pretty much

what I remember.

Okay.

The German shepherd,

I guess that's why the...

the angle of impact

was so extreme.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

[man] Was it the Axels'

German shepherd?

- Sorry?

- The Axels' German shepherd?

From the corner at Radcliffe.

They have the garden gnomes

on the lawn.

Oh, yes, yeah.

Yeah, that's the only big dog

that I can remember.

Sorry, I'm not

trying to be hostile.

No, I'm not either,

and if it's any comfort to you,

I'm... I'm pretty sure

that old dog

would be a pile of dust now

in some landfill

or maybe in their backyard.

- The Axels?

- Yeah, in the Axels' backyard.

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