Evening Page #2

it's time to shut up and dance.

All right.

If fistfights break out during the reception,

it won't be because no one worried

about the seating arrangements.

Great.

You will turn down that a little bit,

won't you, dear?

Is your suit pressed for this evening?

Mmm-hmm.

And you need a haircut.

What a world, what a life

I'm in love

We'll just feed them and get them to bed

and I'll be back later.

Mommy, Ethan's farting! He's farting!

Chloe, sit down, baby.

Bye.

Get your seatbelts on, kids.

Sobering, isn't it?

Didn't you say something a while ago

about wanting one?

Well, after a bottle of champagne, as I recall.

And in answer to a question from you,

as I recall.

I mean it.

Darling, could we discuss this some time

when my mother isn't dying?

Yeah. Sorry.

It just seems like maybe...

Maybe this is a good time

to talk about some new life.

I know.

Listen. What if I didn't really want to?

I don't mean just for now. I mean

ever.

Honey, it's time to shut up and dance.

How's she doing?

I don't know. Not so good.

We just want to keep her out of pain now.

As much as we can.

She keeps saying strange things.

They do, sometimes, in end stage.

The medication can make them very dreamy.

She's been talking about people

from her past, I guess.

People my sister and I have never heard of.

Well, they might be real people

and they might not be.

You never really know.

So, Mom,

this is all just a dream you're having?

Hello, Harris. How are you?

Hello, Mrs. Wittenborn.

Seriously, Lila is making a big mistake,

don't you think?

It's a little hard to say.

All right, what do you like best about Carl?

Go on, go on. Yeah, go on.

Carl is...

Tall.

But you know, Buddy,

if this is what Lila wants...

No, no, no. This is what Lila thinks

that she's supposed to want.

There's a difference.

Well, maybe not for Lila.

I think...

I think that she should marry Harris.

Do you?

He's the one she's really in love with.

Has been, like,

ever since we were kids, you know?

Is Harris in love with her?

Everyone's in love with Lila,

I'm in love with Lila. Aren't you?

She is one of my best friends.

Right.

So talk to her.

Let's sit the next one out.

What? No, no...

Yeah.

I'm on fire here.

My point exactly.

Hi, Ann.

Hi.

Sis, you know you got the looks

and the brains.

I mean, probably the talent, too.

I don't mind. I'm just mentioning it.

Buddy, why don't you sit down?

There are plenty of virtues left

for the little brother.

You know, stalwart, cheerful,

good in emergencies.

Carl, man, you're so tall.

Thanks.

Oh, yeah.

Hmm.

Ann,

did Lila tell you that Harris was

the first guy that she ever kissed?

I was 15.

I guess I had a thing for older men then.

And Harris has shrapnel from Korea,

right here.

Wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm not a hero or anything like that.

Of course you're a hero.

So Buddy tells me you're a singer.

I sing. I try to sing.

No, no. She's great. She's great.

She's going to sing

at Carnegie Hall one day.

I'll be glad if I can pay my light bill one day.

As I recall, I lured you down to the beach.

You'd gotten into your father's Scotch.

Well, I had to. I mean, I was leaving

for school the next day.

Drunken abandon was my last hope.

You passed out.

Oh, well, all right.

It's time for a full confession.

When you wouldn't kiss me back,

I pretended to pass out.

It was the only thing I could think of to do.

Well, you were very convincing.

And you carried me back up to the house.

And I'm not going to humiliate myself

any further by telling you

how deeply I believed that I was Catherine

and you were Heathcliff.

Harris is a doctor of medicine.

He told me that.

In Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.

Which is where he grew up. He went back

to practice medicine among his own people.

That's very impressive.

Only to Buddy.

Harris, would you consider dancing

with the bride-to-be?

My pleasure.

Ann, Buddy, come on. Let's dance.

I think I'm gonna sit this one out.

Harris served in Korea,

and came back here to practice medicine

in this dying little mill town

where he grew up.

He's like a goddamn knight or something.

He's Lila's only love.

She is about to wreck her goddamn life.

That's enough.

It never seems like enough.

It's enough, trust me.

She keeps talking

about somebody named Harris.

He might have been the love of her life

or might just be a fantasy.

Now, at the very end,

that's who she's talking about.

Nina.

Mmm-hmm?

You seem to be...

Okay.

The love of my life.

I don't know why, you're a mess, but I...

I seem to love you.

Luc, that's so sweet.

Sweet?

I didn't mean it like that.

I love you, too.

I just...

I still need some more time.

Nina, I...

I can't do this much longer.

You know, I can't be

hanging around your mother's deathbed,

wondering if I should even be here or not.

There's something I have to tell you.

I have to tell you, this may be it.

I mean, this may be just me,

all unsure and confused

and messed up.

So if you're hanging in,

waiting for me to metamorphose

into the woman you want,

I've got to tell you,

you might be waiting a long, long time.

Lila, is that you?

I'm fine, Ann.

Open the door, okay?

Honey, what is it?

Nothing. It's nothing.

It can't be nothing.

Just jitters.

Lila, are you sure

you want to go through with this?

So Carl announces, quite proudly

that when he grows up,

he's not going to marry Mum after all.

He's going to marry Jean Harlow.

Well, he's done a lot better

than Jean Harlow, in my humble opinion.

Welcome to the family, Lila.

Thank you.

I hope you know

what you're getting yourself into.

Hear, hear, hear.

Well, I am the very proud father of...

Hey, Sis! Hey, Sis!

You know what you've got, Sis?

You have got a talent for love.

You're like a love genius.

And there's too many statues of generals

and politicians,

and there's not enough statues

of someone like you.

You know.

But in this world, in this world

there's so much of what looks like love,

and sounds like love, and it calls itself love

but it isn't.

It's just people saying and doing

what they think

that they ought to say and do.

And you...

You're the greatest.

You're the greatest.

So here's to love.

And here's to you.

Buddy, how about we put you to bed?

Party's not over is it?

Come on, son.

We were just gonna go

for a little walk, weren't we?

Buddy and me.

A walk would be just exhilarating

right about now.

Excuse me, sir.

...Lila listens to reason.

We've got to talk her out of it.

I guess we would be the ones.

Ann, come here.

Oh!

Buddy, Buddy. How about sitting down?

Yeah. Maybe that's a good idea.

No, no, no.

Hey, beauties.

Buddy.

Why do I feel like he's been this way

since he was about 10?

He didn't actually start drinking

until he was 12.

He's a total disaster, really.

And yet, I seem to love him.

Yeah, I love him, too.

Okay, he's all tucked in.

You've been doing this a long time,

haven't you?

Before he settled down he showed me

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