Lady in the Water Page #2

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Sorry. Something keeps

setting off the sprinklers.

I'll look around the forest and check

behind the dumpsters and stuff.

An animal that size,

the one you're describing...

...doesn't walk around and not be seen.

There's nowhere for

a dumb big animal to hide.

Cleveland.

Hey.

Got a lot of homework, huh?

University gives many pages of reading.

What they think, I have no social life?

I got more books for you.

Could you look up

the word "narf" for me?

It's an Eastern bedtime story, Mr. Heep.

I do not remember it.

My great-grandmother

used to tell it when she was alive.

A b... B... B...

Bedtime story?

What's the story?

I do not remember.

How about your mother?

Hello, Mrs. Choi. Hello.

She wants to know

who told you this word.

Oh, j... Just a friend. I don't...

I don't... I don't know her very well.

She said that her grandmother...

...used to tell this story like a prayer.

Like it was true.

She said that she knew someone

who knew someone who saw one.

Saw one what?

A narf, the bedtime story says,

is a sea nymph.

I s... What...

What happens in the story, please?

No. Mrs...

In the bedtime story...

...she must be seen

by the one human chosen for her.

This person is called the vessel.

Seeing the narf will awaken something

in the chosen one.

If she's successful in this...

...she will return with the Great Eatlon,

a giant eagle...

...and become free.

She won't tell me more.

She said, why can't I be like

my older sister. She married a dentist.

Story?

Story?

Cleveland.

Story, could you

put something back on, please?

Are you here to meet someone,

see someone in this building?

Is somebody supposed to see you?

Is...?

L...

It is a writer.

Do you know his name?

Do you know what he looks like?

Do you know if it's a...?

A woman or a man?

Is there something

that you wanna tell me?

Is this person

writing something important?

When do you have to leave?

I can leave tonight if I meet this person.

I'm gonna help you get home.

Thank you, Cleveland.

I have to go.

Hello. L... l...

I wanted to ask you

something about your work.

Your c... C... Critic work.

How's it... How's... How's...

How's it going?

I'm seeing a romance film tonight.

Not my cup of tea.

So you... You...

You haven't written anything yet?

Haven't written anything

for some time.

You were right about that one tenant.

I spoke with Mrs. Bell.

We got along.

She's very good with animals.

You know she wrote a book?

Mr. Heep,

I will be taking the cat in directly.

Don't worry, Mrs. Bell.

Lookie here.

My, there's a lot of butterflies

around this building.

Strange behavior for them.

They're not usually so trusting.

I understand that you're a writer,

Mrs. Bell.

Now, where'd you hear such things?

Maybe I read your book.

That'd be quite a trick.

It's been out of print for 20 years.

Twenty years?

So you haven't written anything recently?

Mr. Farber has been speaking

out of turn.

Look at this cereal character's picture,

Dad.

Looks like Aunt Sylvia when she found out

everybody hated her fruit-bowl painting.

I need a nine-letter word

for "in human form."

You'll figure it out, Dad.

I...

You know, the color on this box

look just like the colors of your car, Dad.

Maybe we should take your car

and go visit Aunt Sylvia.

Incarnate.

Well, you're very good

with those word puzzles, Mr. Dury.

He's a grand-master level.

I'm gonna be just like him.

- So you like words a lot, huh?

- I adore them.

Are you... Are you writing anything,

Mr. Dury?

A book, maybe?

No, l...

I'm afraid my skills are limited

to crossword puzzles.

That's some serious reekage, man.

You don't even speak English anymore.

What, reekage? Damn straight

it's English. The state of reek.

There's no "reekage," man.

Some toker just like us made it up

somewhere, and here you are speaking it.

Let's make up a witty phrase.

It'll become famous.

It needs to be on some T-shirt

or something, you ass.

No, it doesn't. It just catches on.

People just start saying it.

Blim-blam.

What? Blim-blam?

Somebody already said that.

Gentlemen, I don't suppose...

...any of you have written

anything lately.

An essay or something?

Something important?

No essays here, my man.

Okay. Stop putting your clothes

in the garbage disposal...

...and stop smoking.

Baby's on the half-tip.

- Snap!

- Yeah.

There you go. There you go.

Mr. Heep.

She told me a little bit more of the story

before she throw cushion at me.

Young-Soon.

You're not writing anything, are you?

A p... P... P... Paper, maybe?

Writing? No, Mr. Heep.

This semester all multiple-choice

courses. Young-Soon is not stupid.

She told me about a bad guy in story.

These creatures are called scrunts.

They are meant to kill a narf

when she is out of the water.

They can lay completely flat.

Their back is covered in grass.

My great-grandmother said

that's why man never sees them.

They will appear

as a bump in the lawns.

Vick. Anna.

Mr. Heep, the light over my desk

is still not working.

I promise I'll get to it.

How's the writing?

- Slow.

- You look tired, Mr. Heep.

How long have you been writing, Vick?

Six months.

What? I should finish, right?

It just... It just sits on his desk.

My brother's scared.

He'll do anything to get out of writing.

See this? It's the third load of laundry

he's done this week.

I can fix that light now, if you want.

A cookbook.

This has gotten s... S...

Silly.

- That's not how you fold.

- Mr. Heep, tell her to stop annoying me.

I fixed the light.

I'll make you dinner, Mr. Heep.

Thank you.

You're both cooks?

Who, him? He can't cook.

He's banned from the kitchen.

Wait a minute,

I don't understand something.

I'm sorry. My... My ladder...

...accidentally bumped into your desk.

I ended up seeing the title

of what it is you're writing.

It said The Cookbook.

I know, it's a bad title, right?

It's actually, you know, just my thoughts

on all our cultural problems...

...and thoughts on leaders and stuff.

I don't know who's gonna

wanna publish the thing.

That is not how you fold.

Your thoughts are very sad.

Most are of one night.

A night a man entered your home

when you were not there.

He stole many things

and killed your wife and children.

That is when you stopped being happy.

You were a doctor.

I am very sorry for you.

You believe you have no purpose.

You help all that live here.

Anybody can do this job, Story.

You have a purpose.

All beings have a purpose.

I know who you are.

And I think that I've found your vessel.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

He's outside.

Do you need to see him alone...

...or does he just need to see you?

Cover yourself up.

Hey.

Mr. Heep, I know I sent in that form.

- I gave it to you on the stairs.

- Okay.

- My sister's all angry at me now.

- Well, I'll check again.

By the way, this is my friend, Story.

Hi.

Yeah, you were right. Here it is.

Great.

You all right? You look a little...

I'm feeling a little funny. It's nothing.

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