Harvey Page #9

I'm not dancing with you

to humor Mr. Dowd, Ruth.

We shouldn't

have left him alone!

Where are you goin',

Mr. Dowd?

I was just looking

for someone.

Why don't you come back inside?

All right, if you want me to.

It seemed to be so pleasant

out here.

You know, you two look

very nice dancing together.

I used to know

a whole lot of dances.

The Flea Hop.

And what's the...

The Black Bottom.

The Varsity Drag.

I don't know. I just don't

seem to have any time anymore.

I have so many things

to do.

What is it you do,

Mr. Dowd?

Harvey and I

sit in the bars...

and have a drink or two,

play the jukebox.

And soon the faces

of all the other people,

they turn toward mine

and they smile.

They're saying, "We don't know your name,

mister, but you're a very nice fellow."

Harvey and I...

warm ourselves

in all these golden moments.

We've entered as strangers.

Soon we have friends.

And they come over

and they sit with us,

they drink with us

they talk to us.

And they tell about the big,

terrible things they've done...

and the big, wonderful things

they'll do.

Their hopes

and their regrets,

and their loves and their

hates, all very large...

because nobody ever brings

anything small into a bar.

And then...

I introduce them

to Harvey.

And he's bigger and grander

than anything they offer me.

And...

and when they leave,

they leave impressed.

The same people

seldom come back,

but that's...

that's envy, my dear.

There's a little bit of envy

in the best of us.

And that's too bad,

isn't it?

How did you happen

to call him Harvey?

Well, Harvey's

his name.

How do you

know that?

There was a rather interesting

coincidence on that, Doctor.

One night several years ago I was walking

early in the evening along Fairfax Street.

It was between 18th and 19th.

Do you know the block?

Yes, yes.

I'd just put Ed Hickey

into a taxi.

Ed had been mixing his

rye with his gin, and he...

I just felt that

he needed conveying.

Anyway, I was walking along the

street and I heard this voice saying,

"Good evening, Mr. Dowd."

Well, I turned around...

and here was this big six-foot

rabbit leaning up against a lamppost.

I thought nothing of that because

when you've lived in a town...

as long as I've lived in this one, you get

used to the fact that everybody knows your name.

Naturally, I went over

to chat with him.

And he said to me,

he said,

"Ed Hickey was a little spiffed this

evening. Or could I be mistaken?"

Of course

he was not mistaken.

I think the world and all

of Ed, but he was spiffed.

We talked like that for a

while and then I said to him,

"You have the advantage

on me.

You know my name

and I don't know yours."

And right back at me

he said,

"What name do you like?"

Well, I didn't even have

to think twice about that.

Harvey's always been

my favorite name.

So I said to him,

I said, "Harvey."

And, uh...

Th-This is the interesting thing

about the whole thing.

He said,

"What a coincidence.

My name happens

to be Harvey."

Dowd,

what was

your father's name?

John.

John Stuyvesant.

Tell me, Dowd,

when you were a child,

didn't you have a playmate?

Someone with whom

you spent many happy hours?

Yes. Yes,

I did, Doctor.

Didn't you?

Yes.

What was his name?

Vern.

Vern McElhinney.

You ever know the McElhinneys, Doctor? No.

That's too bad. There were a

lot of them and they circulated.

Very nice people.

Just wonderful people.

Think carefully,

Dowd.

Didn't you know somebody sometime,

someplace by the name of Harvey?

Didn't you ever know anybody

by that name?

No. No,

not one, Doctor.

Maybe that's why I always

had such hopes for it.

We looked in both of those joints, and

Dr. Chumley ain't in either one of'em.

I brought help.

What're you doin' out here?

Come on. We're going back

to the sanitarium. Wh...

Come, Elwood. Very well, Lyman.

I'm afraid I won't be able to

stay very long. I must find Harvey.

Which one is Dowd? My

name's Dowd, Elwood P.

Here, let me give you one of

my cards. Never mind the card!

Wilson,

what did I tell you?

Coming, coming.

Who is it? It's me. Open the gates quickly.

Oh, it's you, Doctor!

I thought you'd gone for the

night. I thought you'd gone.

Close them, Herman.

Close the gates.

Are you all right,

Doctor? I'm being followed.

Who's following you? None of your business.

Ahh! Ahh!

You called me,

Doctor?

No. No, I didn't.

No.

Everything's fine.

What's wrong? What happened,

Herman? What's goin' on?

The alarm went off. Somebody

must've come through a window.

Yes, Doctor. Sanderson, he's after me.

Who's after you, Doctor?

I don't see anyone.

I saw him. He came through

the window. Who was it?

Who came through

the window, Doctor?

I won't tell you. What's he talkin' about?

Forget it.

I'm going to my office and

I don't wish to be disturbed.

Forget it, he says.

Not me.

I'm takin' a look around this

joint. I'm gonna see what's goin' on.

It's locked.

Locked?

Have you any

extra keys, Miss?

Yes, we have.

I'll get them.

Dr. Chumley, I went around the

house and climbed through the window.

I didn't see anybody. Thank you,

Wilson. It's quite all right.

Everything's in order,

thank you. I'll be all right.

Dr. Chumley,

if you need me, I'll...

Holy smoke! We forgot about that crackpot.

He's probably roamin' around loose.

Excuse me.

I got 'im, Doctor.

Let's go upstairs.

I wanna do your fingernails for

you. That's thoughtful of you.

Just a second. I'll take

him. Thank you, Doctor.

Oh, Miss Kelly.

Perhaps you'd like this flower. I

seem to have misplaced my buttonhole.

Thank you, Mr. Dowd. Okay, let's go.

One moment, please.

Ah, Dr. Chumley. How nice

to run into you again.

How are you getting along

with Harvey? Oh, well, uh...

Mr. Dowd, I'd like to speak to

you in my office alone, please.

I'd like that, too, but I just promised

this gentleman he could give me a manicure.

Of course, if you wouldn't mind waiting

a few minutes. Not at all, Mr. Dowd.

Oh, excuse me.

You first. Go ahead. Oh...

Mr. Dowd, won't you have a seat? Thank you.

Will you have a cigar?

No, thank you, Doctor.

Is there anything

I can do for you?

What did you

have in mind?

Mr. Dowd, what kind

of a man are you?

Where do you

come from?

Why, didn't l... Didn't

I give you one of my cards?

And where on the face of this tired

old earth did you find a thing like him?

You mean, Harvey the Pooka? Yes, it's

true, the things you told me tonight.

I know it now.

Yes, yes.

Yes, Harvey has several

very interesting facets.

Did I tell you about Mrs. McElhinney? No.

She lives right next door

to us. Wonderful woman.

Harvey told me last night that

Mrs. McElhinney's Aunt Rose...

was going to drop in

on her unexpectedly...

this morning from Cleveland. And did she?

Did she what?

Aunt Rose. Did she come,

just as Harvey said she would?

Oh, yes, yes.

These things always work out just

the way Harvey says they will.

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