Indignation Page #8

Oh, I never doubted that.

For better or worse

that's what I was.

Am. Are.

You had humble origins.

Like Abe Lincoln.

Honest Marcus. Working side by

side, every day with your father.

He was, mm, he used to be,

something great. That's true.

Used to be?

He is.

So what about your father?

He's a doctor.

What kind of medicine?

You ever see him

working, at his office?

My father?

There's nothing to tell.

Nothing?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Surely there's something.

Marcus... practice tact.

You know, I can give

you a recommendation.

For what?

A summer job.

At Anker's Flower Shop.

You're a natural.

[knocking at door]

Hm?

You have a guest.

Markie!

I don't know what it is.

Is he sick?

Does he have something?

Markie, I think

he's losing his mind.

You know how he was with you on

the phone about the operation?

That's how he is with everyone,

about everything, all the time!

At the store, he's yelling

at the customers.

And my God, in the car,

in the truck,

he's been driving around

Essex County all his life

and suddenly everyone on the

road is a maniac except for him.

The horn, he honks the horn from

the second we leave the driveway.

We're losing customers, Markie.

They all go to the supermarket now,

and who can blame them.

People call, I take their

orders, make some conversation.

He used to like that I

talked to the customers.

Now he grabs the phone

from my hand,

"You want to talk to my wife,

you call at night,

not during business hours,"

and he hangs up.

What's happened, Markie?

Have I been living all these

years with a time bomb?

All I know is that...

something has made my husband into a

different person, into a monster.

You should have told me, Mom.

You should have told me how bad

it was getting. I'm sorry.

Why should I bother you?

At school, with your studies?

Take him to a doctor.

Take him to Dr. Shildkret.

Maybe he can give him

something to calm down.

He won't go.

He refuses to go.

There's nothing wrong with him. It's the

rest of the world that's in the wrong.

Then you see Shildkret.

Mom, you're as strong

as a person can be

and you've become a wreck.

He's killing you.

Oh, Markie. Darling.

Should I?

Can I possibly?

I came all this way

to ask you.

You're the only one

I can ask about this.

Could you possibly what?

What?

I can't say the word.

What word?

Divorce.

Oh, Ma.

You're in a state of shock.

You don't know

what you're saying.

You've been married

to him for 25 years.

You love him.

I don't!

I hate him!

I sit in the car as he's

driving and screaming at me

and I hate him and loathe him

from the bottom of my heart!

That is not true.

Even if it seems so,

it's not a permanent condition.

Just see Dr. Shildkret, please,

at least as a start.

Do it for me.

I'm seeing a lawyer.

What?

Yes.

I've already seen him.

I have an attorney.

So you met in American,

you said.

American History to 1865.

I'm also taking Principles

of American Government,

but Olivia is

just in American History.

That's why she brought the textbook.

So I could study.

Your son, Mrs. Messner,

is a star student.

He always asks the most

interesting questions in class.

I wouldn't be surprised

if Professor Sundquist

weren't a bit intimidated

by Marcus.

Marcus has always been

a straight-A student.

It's because of that he has

been awarded the scholarship.

And you, Miss Hutton,

do you...

are you enjoying

your studies?

I enjoy the books, yes.

I'm going to be

a French Literature major.

French literature?

Is this something of which

your parents approve?

Well, my father is

a very practical man.

But he hasn't suggested any alternative,

so I have to assume that he believes,

from a practical perspective, that it would

be a waste of his time to think about it.

And your mother,

Miss Hutton.

Oh. My mother

isn't very practical at all.

But she has visited Paris,

and loved it,

so I think I should have her

vote if it should come to it.

It sounds like you have a very democratic

household. That's very American.

Yes we are - American.

Though as a student

of American civilization, Marcus,

you must remember how Benjamin

Franklin once defined democracy?

Democracy, he said, is two wolves and a

lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

[bell tinkles]

Ma.

Marcus, I won't divorce him.

I'll bear him.

I'll do all I can to help him.

I'm sorry I even allowed myself

to have such thoughts.

I'm sorry I told them to you.

The way that I did it, here at this

hospital, with you just out of bed

and starting to walk around on your

own, that wasn't right. I apologize.

I wasn't thinking of you.

Marcus, you appear so strong,

you are in so many ways,

that I forget you are a boy,

a very sensitive boy.

A boy who loves

and honors his father.

You can cry, Markie.

I've seen you cry before.

I know I can.

I know...

I just don't want to.

Thank you. Thank you, Ma.

This is a great relief to me.

I couldn't imagine him

living all alone...

it was unimaginable.

Don't imagine it.

But now I must ask

for something in return.

Because something

is unimaginable to me.

I never asked

anything of you before.

I never asked

because I never had to.

Because you are perfect

where sons are concerned.

All you've ever wanted to be

is a boy who does well.

You have been the best son

a mother could have.

But I am going to ask you to have

nothing more to do with Miss Hutton.

Because for you to be with

her is unimaginable for me.

[clears throat]

Ma... Markie, you are

here to be a student

and to study the Supreme Court

and to prepare to go to law school.

You are here so someday

you will become

a person in the community

that other people look up to

and that they come to for help.

You are here so you don't

have to be a Messner

and work in a butcher shop

for the rest of your life.

You are not here

to look for trouble

with a girl who has taken a

razor and slit her wrists.

Wrist. She slit one wrist.

One is enough.

We have only two,

and one is too much.

Ma, you don't understand...

You think I don't understand?

You don't.

You don't understand. Markie,

I will stay with your father

But for this

I am offering a deal.

Markie, the world is full of young

women who have not slit any wrists -

who have slit nothing.

They exist by the millions.

Find one of them.

She can be a Gentile,

she can be anything.

This is 1951. You don't live in

the old world. Why should you.

Date anyone you want,

marry anyone you want,

do whatever you want

with whoever you choose...

as long as she's never put

a razor to herself.

A girl so wounded

as to do such a thing

will wipe out everything before

your life has even begun.

Ma, you don't understand.

It's not as serious

a relationship as you think.

Serious?

She is serious for you,

because she is suffering,

she is weak.

And weak people, Markie,

weak people are not harmless.

Their weakness

is their strength.

A person so unstable

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