Indignation Page #3

never seen them served or eaten before.

You want to try one?

No.

Not really.

So Marcus Messner decided

to take Olivia Hutton

to the only fancy French restaurant

in all of Franklin County.

I'm so sorry. Do you want to leave?

Is this alright?

May I please speak

to Miss Olivia Hutton?

Who?

Oh, Marcus Messner.

Yeah. Yeah sure, I'll wait.

Can I leave a message?

Well, yeah, another message.

(Olivia) I don't mind talking about it.

They got divorced.

Irreconcilable differences.

I suppose that's why I left Mt. Holyoke

and transferred here closer to Cleveland.

My mother kept the house,

but she changed all the furnishings.

Even my room.

It now looks like

Marie Antoinette's boudoir,

if Marie Antoinette were a slightly crazed suburban

woman who wished she were still a teenager.

Oh.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey...

Relax.

You're so intense.

Trust me,

I'm trying.

Tell me more.

Not about your classes,

or why General MacArthur

is insubordinate,

or why you're an atheist.

Though you have to admit I got all of

that out of you in a mere 20 minutes.

Pretty good seeing as I don't

believe you've spoken to anyone

for more than 40 seconds since you

got to Winesburg, am I right?

Yeah. Yeah,

you're right.

I want to hear

all about your mother,

and your father the butcher,

and what it's like working

in a butcher shop,

and what the girls

were like in Newark.

Okay. But first, you're going to

have to eat all those snails.

Oh, you think I ordered

these just to spite you?

I actually love escargot.

Alright... [clears

throat] let me try one.

How do you do this?

This one here.

[giggles]

This big guy.

Oooh, okay.

And?

It's chewy.

But good.

Very good.

You grew up

eating these at home?

No, just at places like these.

My mother insisted;

part of my education.

So what'd

your father think?

He's a steak and potatoes man.

He never approved.

Maybe being a doctor, he thought

that snails were unclean.

Or simply un-American.

But perhaps

you're onto something, Marcus.

My father

washes his hands.

He's always washing his hands.

He washes them all the time.

Why?

Well, because they're dirty,

of course.

[orchestra music playing]

[music playing

on the car radio]

It's 55 minutes to curfew.

In case you were wondering.

Make a left at the next street.

[radio clicks off]

(Marcus, off)

What happened next

I puzzled over

for weeks afterwards.

Trying to reconstruct the morals

that reigned over Winesburg College,

and I wonder how my own sorry

efforts to overcome those morals

may have fostered so much

misunderstanding, even grief.

Ahhh!

[heavy breathing]

[sound of zipper]

Even now I continue

to puzzle over Olivia's actions.

Hers, and maybe

even more so, mine.

I told myself, "It's because

her parents are divorced."

I could think of no other explanation

for a mystery so profound.

Because in Newark,

it was inconceivable that girls like

Olivia Hutton could do such a thing,

but then again,

there were no girls

like Olivia Hutton in Newark.

Thanks for the loan.

How'd she run?

Hm?

Oh. Oh, yeah, great.

Thank you.

She should of.

Next I'm going to be working

on the suspension.

It's pretty good, though, huh?

Yeah.

She blew me.

She what?

Oh.

I didn't even ask her for it.

She just did it.

Did you ever hear of anything

like that ever happening?

Nope.

Huh. I think it's because

her parents are divorced.

Did she tell you that?

No.

I'm just guessing.

She just did it.

We parked

near the cemetery...

Okay. Okay. Well,

I'm very happy for you.

But if you don't mind,

I've got some work to do here.

Oh, yeah sure. Sure.

Just thank you for the car. It wouldn't

have happened without the car.

Yeah. You're welcome.

She must have done it before,

don't you think?

Could be.

Huh. I really don't know

what to make of it.

That's clear.

You think I should

see her again?

[inhales]

Up to you.

(Max) So we understand

you met the Cottler boy.

Esther, what's his name?

(Mom)

Sonny.

Donald Cottler, Donald Cottler,

but they call him Sonny.

His aunt lives

here in Newark.

When we said where you were, she told

us that her maiden name was Cottler,

and her brother's family

lives in Cleveland,

and her nephew goes

to the same college

and is president

of the Jewish Fraternity

and captain

of the basketball team.

And something else.

What else?

President of the Greeks...

the Greek system council.

Right, right, right.

President of the council.

Imagine that, a Jew,

president of the Greeks.

Oh, yeah. Sonny. Yeah, right.

He came around.

So what did he tell you?

He made a pitch

for his fraternity.

(Dad) And? I said I

wasn't interested.

But his aunt says

he's a wonderful boy.

All A's like you.

And a very handsome boy,

I understand.

Extremely handsome.

A dreamboat.

What's that

supposed to mean?

Dad, please stop sending

people to visit me.

But you're there

all by yourself.

Dad, I can't take

any more of this.

But how do I know what's

going on with you?

You could be doing anything.

I do one thing.

I go to classes and I study.

And I make 18 bucks

a week at the library.

And what's wrong with

making some friends?

Some Jewish friends?

I... [clears throat] I gotta go.

Marcus!

I'm hanging up...

Marcus!

[loud orchestra music]

(Olivia)

Hello, Marc.

Oh...

Olivia.

Hi.

I did that because

I liked you so much.

Um, um, um, pardon?

I said I did that

because I liked you.

I know

you can't figure it out.

I know it's why

I haven't heard from you

and why you ignored

me in class.

So I'm figuring it

out for you.

Any other mysteries?

No, no, that's okay.

No. It's not okay.

It's not okay with you.

You know,

I liked your seriousness,

I liked your maturity at dinner

or what I took

to be maturity.

I made a joke about it,

but I liked your intensity.

I never met anyone

so intense before.

I liked your looks,

Marcus, I still do.

It's just that I've um...

Never...

Did you ever do that

with somebody else?

I did.

So no one's

ever done it with you.

Not even close.

So now you think

I'm a slut.

I... No. Absolutely not.

You're lying.

That's why you won't speak to me.

Because I'm a slut.

But you did

do it before...

This was the second time. But

that doesn't make you a slut.

I was at Mt. Holyoke.

I was at a party at Amherst.

I was drunk.

The whole thing was awful.

I didn't know anything.

And I was drinking all the time.

It's why I transferred.

They suspended me.

I spent three months

at a clinic drying out.

I don't drink anymore.

I don't drink anything alcoholic

and I won't ever again.

This time with you

I wasn't drunk.

I wasn't drunk

and I wasn't crazy.

I wanted to do it to you

not because I'm a slut

but because I wanted

to do it to you.

Can't you understand that I

wanted to give you that?

I think so.

I'm trying. Really.

But you can't.

God, what is wrong

with you?

I used the razor

when I was drunk.

If I had been sober

I would have succeeded.

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