On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Page #5

A buried treasure.

Next to the name

of every child in the school

was the name

of the real, unknown father.

Except mine, of course.

It was lord this and the duke

of that and the earl of whatnot.

And as I turned the pages,

suddenly, through the dank

mustiness of the room,

I realized that I had in my hands

the sort of stuff

that sent the flower

of English manhood

out into the world to create

an empire

and might very well

create a little empire for me.

My letters were simple and honest:

"Dear lord so-and-so, if you do not

wish your child to know who you are,

please send 1 pound a month.

Sincerely..."

He sent 1, and he sent 1.

And so did lots of others.

In fact, business was marvellous.

Until one day,

a nasty, dishonest child

stole my letters.

To my joy and happiness,

I was expelled.

When I saw the glow

those pound notes brought

to my dear mother's eyes,

I made a firm resolution.

"Melinda," I said,

"let this be a lesson to you.

Never, never do anything

except for money."

But what about Robert Tentrees?

He had no money

and you married him, didn't you?

True, he had

not a penny to his name.

But love is the exception

to every rule, is it not?

You're crying.

Why?

I should have known

that one day he would desert me.

Desert you?

He was too weak to be faithful.

Why didn't I see that?

Is love so blind?

No.

But mistrust is so exhausting.

It's not easy to be

a strong woman, Melinda.

A man must be strong

for you to respect him,

but weak for you to love him.

And love makes the choice.

That's very clever of you.

Very clever.

Who are you, exactly?

I could ask the same of you.

But you seem to know me

better than I know myself.

That's because

I may have invented you.

Now, what does that mean?

Or don't you know either?

Oh, dear.

I'm suddenly a little...

A little...

Oh, boy, am I beat.

You must be.

What's the matter with me?

There was never Melinda.

Robert never existed.

How could someone who never existed

desert someone who never lived?

And when I heard it,

why did it make me so sad?

No.

None of this is true.

None of it happened.

It's nothing but shadows and

echoes of things that never were.

This is a dream, Melinda

Just a mirage, so they say

This whole affair

They all declare

Was dreamed each step of the way

You're a mere dream, Melinda

Out for a gay little spin

Dealing me lies before my eyes

Of days that never have been

There's no Melinda

They say for sure

But don't go, Melinda

I know and you know

That you're no mere dream, Melinda

Gone when the dawn

Glimmers through

You and I know that long ago

Before the dream there was you

There

Once

Was you

Damn you, Melinda.

If I'm not on guard every moment,

you steal across the border into reality.

There have been thousands

of cases like yours.

And every one, without exception,

has been traced

to something in the person's life.

This life.

Daisy Gamble, somewhere

in some closet of your mind

is the key to all this.

And I intend to find it.

If I have to squeeze out of you every

moment of your whole boring little life.

So en garde.

One, two, three.

Hi.

How do you feel?

Fine. Did I do all right?

I think so.

How was the smoking

last night and today?

Oh, much better. If the phone

hadn't rung this morning,

I wouldn't have smoked

until breakfast.

Do you always smoke

on the telephone?

Well, you've got to.

I mean, you just got to.

I mean, you got this hand

left over doing nothing.

Of course, I usually hear it before

it rings and light up ahead of time.

Of course.

Where are you meeting Warren?

At the Americana.

Can I give you a lift?

- Oh, thanks.

- Good.

You know?

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You sure I'm not gonna

take you out of your way?

No, you're not. Not at all.

I'm going to the Metropolitan Museum.

It's open tonight

and there's an exhibition

of English painters

that I want to see.

Oh, that's nice.

England's had

some very good painters.

I don't know much about it, really.

I mean, anything.

Don't you like painting?

I don't know.

I've gotten so used to wallpaper.

But it's still much easier driving

over here than in England.

In England, they drive on the left.

Boy, those English sure have

a lot of guts.

No, it's the law.

- Haven't you ever been to England?

- Oh, no.

The sea makes me seasick

and I'm afraid of flying.

I mean, not really flying,

I'm afraid of the "no smoking" sign.

- But maybe I can do it now, huh?

- I'm sure.

Wouldn't you like a quick drink?

You have time.

Oh, no, no. Thank you.

I don't think so.

I'm supposed to be

at the Americana at...

- A short one.

- Fine.

And what are you studying?

Well, let's see.

Oh, I'm taking domestic science

at Laura Bates Greeley

and budget-making

at Mary Hope Curtis

and child care at the Sarah Plaut

Gromberg Clinic,

you know, here

at the medical school.

And 20 lectures on planned

parenthood, ten on how to

and ten on how not to.

What size family do you

come from?

Well, my father's pretty fat,

but the rest of us is...

Oh, you mean how many

brothers and sisters.

None.

I had this great stepbrother for a while,

but it didn't last very long.

I mean, there was, you know,

trouble in the front office.

You lived with your mother?

Yeah. In Mahwah, New Jersey.

- Where?

- Mahwah. M-A-H-W-A-H.

That's where...

That's where she lives.

- Fascinating.

- It is?

- Another drink?

- Oh, no, no, no. Thank you, really.

- I've gotta run.

- A short one.

Oh, fine.

- Muriel, have you seen Daisy?

- I thought she was with you.

Oh, I goofed. Chemical Foods called

this afternoon and postponed

and I forgot to call

and tell her.

- Warren.

- Daisy, Daisy, I'm sorry.

It was called off

and I forgot to tell you.

- Did you wait too long?

- Oh, no.

- But you got something to eat?

- Yeah.

- Will you forgive me?

- Sure.

- Thattagirl.

- I forgot too.

- What?

- I didn't go,

you know, to the Americana.

I forgot too.

- You didn't go?

- No.

Isn't that a funny coincidence?

Yes, it certainly is. It's amazing.

You didn't go either.

You... Didn't you really?

No, I didn't. And I'm not just saying

that to make you feel good.

Oh, I believe you. I believe you.

It's just that, well,

Daisy, this was an important night,

and what the hell were you doing?

What's the matter, Warren?

Everything worked out fine.

- Aren't you happy?

- Yeah, I'm very happy.

- Why don't you smile?

- I am.

I like your smile, Warren. Super.

See you tomorrow.

Look...

- Daisy...

- Good night, Warren.

Now, that's what I call a man.

What are you gonna do

about Warren?

That's the first time in my life

I felt like the opposite sex.

What are you gonna do

about Warren?

I wonder if he'll ask me

out tomorrow night.

What are you gonna do

about Warren?

What am I gonna do about Warren?

Oh, Warren doesn't care.

- Warren cares.

- Warren cares.

But I don't care.

You have to care because

you're engaged to him.

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