Glengarry Glen Ross Page #8

AARONOW:

I do?

MOSS:

Yes.

33.

Pause.

AARONOW:

And why is that?

MOSS:

Because you listened.

SCENE THREE:

The restaurant. Roma is seated alone at the booth. Lingk

is at the booth next to him. Roma is talking to him.

ROMA:

...all train compartments smell

vaguely of sh*t. It gets so you

don't mind it. That's the worst

thing that I can confess. You know

how long it took me to get there?

A long time. When you die you're

going to regret the things you

don't do. You think you're queer...?

I'm going to tell you something:

we're all queer. You think that

you're a thief? So what? You get

befuddled by a middle-class

morality...? Get shut of it. Shut

it out. You cheated on your

wife...? You did it, live with it.

(pause)

You f*** little girls, so be it.

There's an absolute morality? May

be. And then what? If you think

there is, then be that thing. Bad

people go to hell? I don't think

so. If you think that, act that

way. A hell exists on earth? Yes.

I won't live in it. That's me.

You ever take a dump made you feel

you'd just slept for twelve hours...?

LINGK:

Did I...?

ROMA:

Yes.

LINGK:

I don't know.

34.

ROMA:

Or a piss...? A great meal fades

in reflection. Everything else

gains. You know why? 'Cause it's

only food. This sh*t we eat, it

keeps us going. But it's only food.

The great fucks that you may have

had. What do you remember about

them?

LINGK:

What do I...?

ROMA:

Yes.

LINGK:

Mmmm...

ROMA:

I don't know. For me, I'm saying,

what is is, it's probably not the

orgasm. Some broads, forearms on

your neck, something her eyes did.

There was a sound she made...or,

me, lying, in the, I'll tell you:

me lying in bed; the next day she

brought me café au lait. She gives

me a cigarette, my balls feel like

concrete. Eh? What I'm saying,

what is our life?

(pause)

It's looking forward or it's

looking back. And that's our life.

That's it. Where is the moment?

(pause)

And what is it that we're afraid of?

Loss. What else?

(pause)

The bank closes. We get sick, my

wife died on a plane, the stock

market collapsed...the house burnt

down...what of these happen...?

None on 'em. We worry anyway.

What does this mean? I'm not

secure. How can I be secure?

(pause)

Through amassing wealth beyond all

measure? No. And what's beyond

all measure? That's a sickness.

That's a trap. There is no measure.

Only greed. How can we act?

(MORE)

35.

ROMA (CONT'D)

The right way, we would say, to

deal with this:
"There is a one-in-

a-million chance that so and so

will happen...F*** it, it won't

happen to me..." No. We know

that's not the right way I think.

(pause)

We say the correct way to deal with

this is "There is a one-in-so-and-

so chance this will happen...God

protect me. I am powerless, let it

not happen to me..." But no to that.

I say. There's something else.

What is it? "If it happens, AS IT

MAY for that is not within our

powers, I will deal with it, just

as I do today with what draws my

concern today." I say this is how

we must act. I do those things

which seem correct to me today. I

trust myself. And if security

concerns me, I do that which today

I think will make me secure. And

every day I do that, when that day

arrives that I need a reserve, [a]

odds are that I have it, and [b]

the true reserve that I have is the

strength that I have of acting each

day without fear.

(pause)

According to the dictates of my

mind.

(pause)

Stocks, bonds, objects of art, real

estate. Now:
what are they?

(pause)

An opportunity. To what? To make

money? Perhaps. To lose money?

Perhaps. To "indulge" and to

"learn" about ourselves? Perhaps.

So f***ing what? What isn't?

They're an opportunity. That's all.

They're an event. A guy comes up

to you, you make a call, you send

in a brochure, it doesn't matter,

"There're these properties I'd like

for you to see." What does it mean?

What you want it to mean.

(MORE)

36.

ROMA (CONT'D)

(pause)

Money?

(pause)

If that's what it signifies to you.

Security?

(pause)

Comfort?

(pause)

All it is is THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO

YOU.

(pause)

That's all it is. How are they

different?

(pause)

Some poor newly married guy gets

run down by a cab. Some busboy

wins the lottery.

(pause)

All it is, it's a carnival. What's

special...what draws us?

(pause)

We're all different.

(pause)

We're not the same.

(pause)

We are not the same.

(pause)

Hmmm.

(pause, sighs)

It's been a long day.

(pause)

What are you drinking?

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