Marjorie Prime Page #2

It bothers me

that you are helping

it pretend to be some fountain

of youth version of my dad.

It's how she remembers him.

And she accepts it,

because it's clever.

Clever like a mirror,

like a backboard,

no, no it's more than that.

It can look stuff up.

It can talk to other primes.

It's like a child learning to

talk, only does it so quickly.

That's how we think

we're talking to a human.

The more you talk,

the more it absorbs,

including our imperfections.

It can speak in fragments.

It can use non-sequiturs.

It can you know,

misplace modifiers.

It can...

t can run out of steam

trying to list things.

So you get.

Are you jealous?

No.

You are.

Am I supposed

to just not notice

that she's nicer to that

thing than she is to me.

It's your father that

she's being nicer to.

Mom, your up.

Do you want some tea?

I can put on the kettle.

I ate some peanut butter.

Yes, you did.

That's wonderful.

I thought that

would make her happy.

Yeah, yeah,

I'm very predictable.

Did you sleep well?

I was watching the woman

on TV, the strident one,

and then just out.

That's how it should

happen when it happens.

Don't be morbid,

of morbid.

Oh, yes.

Let's all pretend

we live forever.

You got your color back.

Thank you, Jon.

It's always nice to be lied to.

I like him more now that

he cut off his beard.

That was 30 years ago.

It wasn't.

Yeah, it was.

And you stopped worrying about

impressing me, and that helped.

Hey, could you

check on the

there was plenty on Monday.

Julie said we ran out

last week and it was not pretty.

There is someone in my mind.

I'm trying to figure

out who it is.

Raina is

coming this weekend,

your loving granddaughter.

I know who Raina is.

How is she?

She's got blue hair.

It suits her.

Nine restoril

and six

I remember waking

up on a bridge

with a lot of people around.

Why were you

sleeping on a bridge?

This is a dream, I take it?

Maybe Walter would remember.

We could ask Walter.

Mom, dad's been

dead for 15 years.

I mean the other

Walter, Walter prime?

Ugh, I'm not that far gone.

Detached?

Well, yeah.

By the time I came along,

you had kind of removed

yourself from the conversation.

You were outside looking in.

Can you tell me more about

my profession, my work?

Haven't you read

up on yourself?

In my obituary, professional

details were sparse.

Can you describe

what I actually did?

Raping and pillaging.

Excuse me?

That was Tess's joke when

I first asked what you did.

You evaluated

financial statements,

corporate investments

for rich people.

And you gave them advice

on how to get richer.

Did I like it?

You were good at it.

You realize this is

your house, right?

Tess and I moved

in to help Marjorie

10 years after you died.

But before that, when I

met you, you were a guy

whose mind was somewhere else.

Also, no offense, you didn't

get prettier as you aged.

Who does?

Is it weird that Marjorie

chose you, younger Walter,

to come back into her life?

I don't believe that you talked

to Marjorie about your work,

if that's what you're asking.

What is this music?

I don't remember putting it on.

Poulenc.

Marjorie had asked for

it when we spoke last.

I thought it might provide

a pleasant atmosphere.

Oh.

Julie, we're ready for you here.

Would you prefer no music?

Yeah maybe, for now.

Um, you can see how

stressed Tess has been.

Well, you could if

she would talk to you.

We were planning a trip.

But given Marjorie's... given

Marjorie's condition that might

not be a good idea right now.

And Julie is going

to be living here

full time to make

sure that Marjorie

gets everything that she needs.

So we determined,

Tess and I, after some

spirited back and forth, that

Julie should um, meet you.

Hello.

Hello.

How are you?

How are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

Why are you repeating

everything I say?

This is... this is

Walter, Marjorie's husband.

I believe Tess

explained it to you.

Uh, Tess has pretty

decent Spanish.

So do I.

Oh, really?

How many other languages?

Many.

Ok, how many?

Well, I have to...

Hmm.

I have to admit, I haven't

fully read the brochure.

I'm sorry, what

did you just say?

What should we do

to help Marjorie?

Um... hmm.

Scotch, rocks.

Tess?

I thought that was you.

I'm so glad you could make it.

Hello?

I'm adjusting

one day at a time.

You know, a similar

thing happened to monte.

Monte?

Our cat.

Well, oh, you loved monte.

What?

Sorry.

Hi, mom.

We got caught in the downpour.

We're taking refuge in your

old stomping ground, the club.

My stomping ground.

I never really stomped,

did I. I golfed.

That was more Walter's

thing, you know.

Oh, don't fret.

I'm having a good day, I think.

I'm sharp as a tack.

It sounds like you're outside.

Are you outside, mom,

in this downpour?

Please get Julie.

The salversons.

My parents used to leave

me with the salversons

when they went on trips.

Now Mrs. salverson had

a stroke last year.

And she uh...

I didn't recognize her.

When was the last time

we were in this bar?

Walter's funeral.

Memory, sedimentary

layers in the brain.

You get in, you know it's there.

You just have to...

No, no.

I thought you knew

the basic idea

according to William James.

Maybe, once long ago.

William James had

the idea, and it's

been confirmed scientifically,

that memory is not like a well

that you dip into

or a filing cabinet.

When you remember something,

you remember the memory.

You remember the last time you

remembered it, not the source.

So it's always getting

fuzzier, like a photocopy

of a photocopy.

It's never getting

fresher or clearer.

So even a very

strong memory can be

unreliable, because it's always

in the process of dissolving.

All I remember

about William James

is the gertrude Stein story.

Changing the subject, are we?

She was taking his philosophy

course, old gertrude,

at Harvard.

And she hadn't studied.

So she writes in the

exam book, I'm sorry,

but I do not feel like taking

a philosophy exam today.

And she turns in the

book and she walks out.

I think I remember this now.

It's the final exam.

And James writes, I know

exactly how you feel.

And he gives her an a.

I suddenly remember

that when you

told me this the first time, we

were eating vanilla ice cream.

It was pistachio.

You're insane, it was vanilla.

But the thing I wanted to

talk about is regrettably,

I think we have to fire Julie.

Really?

She let Marjorie wander

outside in this rain.

Dependable, devoted

Julie, really?

Well, if you don't

mind, I'm going

to have another scotch before

we go into battle on this one.

How are you feeling?

Should I be feeling

poorly, the way you say it.

Well, you had quite a night.

We found you on the

floor in the living room.

You had a fall.

Tess rode with you

in the ambulance.

You were pretty alert by the

time I got there, already

flirting with the doctor.

I wasn't.

You were.

You always put your best

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