Rage Page #3

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You know, it's an interesting fact,

Michelangelo,

but I've never been interviewed before.

Nope.

I mean sometimes I'm standing outside

of Mr Diamond's door at night...

I'm just standing there

staring at nothing.

I don't know,

I start thinking about things.

A lot of things.

I don't know,

it's probably the coffee.

Probably the coffee

gets me all stirred up.

You drink coffee?

Do you know there are

every single one of them is.

That's right.

I got it like a map in my head now.

I carry a little flask with me,

just in case,

but for a quick fix,

I drop in for two triple shots,

three to four times a day minimum.

Minimum.

Michelangelo,

the thoughts that I have.

Oh, the thoughts that I have,

I could fill a book.

Oh, yeah, if I had the time.

But, you know, I'm not paid

for my opinions, I'm paid for my eye.

It's not that

I don't have any either.

Right.

What are my opinions?

Yeah, you're asking for trouble now!

Son of a f***ing b*tch!

Listen, kid.

I gotta get these pictures in.

Take it from me,

you missed the action out there.

What are you doing back here

with this frigging blue screen?

When you get a situation like this,

you gotta concentrate on getting

the best angle of the real thing.

And you gotta make choices.

I mean, let's say, for example,

you're in a war zone,

and you see a little old lady lying

screaming on the side of the road.

Do you give her a hand or do you take

her picture and get it in the papers?

Which is gonna do more good

in the long run?

See, you get to think about

things like that in my vocation.

You have to because

you're right there and you're in it.

Did you see what happened at all?

To Dorothy?

I just can't... I just can't

quite believe it, actually.

I just can't.

I mean, Dorothy always had,

like, bad things happening to her,

but this is like the worst.

Like, you can't get much worse.

You know, I've seen a lot of movies

so I know how people die.

Blood. Violence.

You see it a lot, you know?

But, actually, this is the first time

that I saw it happen in real life,

you know?

And it's a little...

Oh, my God.

It's upsetting, actually.

It's... very upsetting.

But the weird thing is, is that...

...it's also kind of inspiring.

Yeah.

You know, I was ready. You know,

on the bike, with the smiling.

And they told me,

"Vijay, don't smile."

So I am very serious, very serious,

and I rev the bike.

It's a good model,

They push me out and...

You know for... for one,

maybe two seconds,

it feels like the most incredible

moments in my life.

You know, the flash, flash,

the flash, the pictures of me!

This is rocking!

Actually, they didn't tell me

the lights, they blind you, actually.

Did you know that?

Anyway, the...

The incredible moment is finished,

because there is something stuck

in my back wheel.

Why did they last minute put

this long scarf round her neck, hmm?

And why did this thing happen to her?

And to me, also?

I must wait to speak

to the police detective.

It's not good. It's not good at all.

Actually, right now,

I think my life is finished.

It's finished now.

Completely.

This interview is over.

Over. Thank you.

Listen, Michelangelo, this is for your

school project, only, is this so?

Good, OK. But listen, I don't think

you need to talk to the bike boy.

Is it Vijay? Yeah.

You can erase that interview, OK?

Good.

This is a tragic moment, Michelangelo.

Very tragic.

But an artist must be detached,

even from death.

What is death, anyway, for an artist?

He lives through his work, and his work

lives on after him, if it's good enough.

So what is there to be afraid of?

Nothing.

I say... my prayers for Dorothy.

Poor Dorothy.

Poor Dorothy.

I light candle for Dorothy

so her soul can rest in peace.

Let's put a check

on this little project now cos...

There's gonna be

a press conference tomorrow

to make a statement of sorrow

and bring closure,

and you can come to that

but no more now, OK?

Michelangelo, off!

Homer. That's my name.

Detective. That's my occupation.

And to be or not to be,

that is the only meaningful question,

Michelangelo.

Except by the time I'm on the scene,

it's usually been answered.

In the negative.

So what do I do?

I look around.

I observe.

And what do I see?

That clothes proclaimeth the man.

Except in this specific situation,

a man designed the clothes

that proclaimeth the woman.

If you can call them women,

Michelangelo.

Minx is ready.

She's always ready for a camera,

even... a little one like yours.

A lens is a lens. As long

as there is light she is happy.

Let me tell you,

today she is not happy.

Not happy at all.

I tell you, Michelangelo,

my agency got very excited

about my pictures yesterday.

You see, experience

does count for something,

you know, when it comes

to shooting a stiff.

These others, these fashion types

with their long lenses on tripods,

no mobility, Michelangelo,

no mobility.

They don't have

the stomach for it, either,

throwing up like that

all over their camera bags.

You gotta be able

to get in there, close-up...

...and look death in the face.

Reality, Michelangelo.

This is the first piece of real sh*t

that these people have seen.

You can count on that.

Hey, did you see my picture

in "The Post" this morning?

"The Post", Michelangelo,

it's a newspaper.

No?

Well, my agency offered it

to "The Times",

but they said their readership don't have

the appetite for this kind of detail.

So they used some earlier photo

of the model

looking, you know, nice and alive.

You know, the clean sh*t.

Then my agency says,

"You're doing a great job, Frank.

"Now you gotta get some pictures

of the press conference."

But I am not a press conference

type of a guy. You understand me?

An accident, especially

of a young and beautiful model,

terrible though it is,

attracts awareness, focus.

And you have to rise

above your own tendency

to have emotional reactions and

go with the flow of the situation.

Now, the show is there

to generate awareness.

Right? The show goes wrong.

But sometimes wrong can be right.

Guess what? Another chapter heading.

You see, I think this can be

an opportunity for M.

And M is for mystery.

The mystery of what?

The mystery of mortality.

I thought that up last night when I was

rising above the emotional tendency.

And I have decided that

that is going to be the new tag line

that we will present

at the press conference today.

Otto is very busy,

Michelangelo, very.

We have never ever

had this much interest.

It's, er...

It's a buzz, really.

I could not sleep last night.

I just have to make sure

about something.

This is not to control you,

cos I would never do that, would I?

I have much more important things

to think about.

I have ABC, NBC, FOX,

all the cable channels coming.

But my sister tells me

that her little girl

has seen me talking on the web.

Now, I know only one camera

that's pointed in my direction.

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