Secret Ceremony Page #4

Will you hurry up?

I'm coming.

Two lumps?

Help yourselves.

- Thanks.

- Excuse me.

Yes? May I help you?

Miss Engelhard?

Yes.

Thank you.

- Hello?

- Hello.

What do you want?

Who's she?

None of your business.

Persistent, isn't he?

Hello?

Not much of a conversationalist, are you?

- Good afternoon, Mrs Engelhard.

- Oh, hello.

Miss Engelhard.

This way, please.

Your room, Miss Engelhard.

This way, Mrs Engelhard.

Thank you.

- Oh...

- That's terribly sweet. Thank you.

Oh, look, Mummy.

- I trust everything is to your satisfaction?

- Super. Thanks so much.

Are you dressed?

Yes.

Isn't the sea lovely, Mummy?

Are you happy?

Mmm. What have you decided to wear?

Er... the... the green chiffon.

There's a little boy out there

building a sand castle.

- Oh, darling, we'll be late for dinner.

- You go ahead, Mummy.

I want to make an entrance

with my daughter.

No, really, Mummy. You go ahead.

I have a surprise for you. Please?

- Are you all right?

- Yes.

Please?

Who is this wonderful woman?

She is too beautiful for words.

She is so beautiful.

- Who is she?

- Yes, she's very beautiful.

You should try to find out if she's...

You're too loud.

Sorry to have kept you waiting.

I didn't think I could make it.

The usual thing?

Yes, the usual thing.

Did...?

Did you actually throw up, darling?

I, um...

I'm famished now.

Well, shall we, er...? Shall we order?

I think I'd like

an enormous piece of red meat.

Good.

Er... We'd like to order now.

- Yes, madame.

- For three.

Very good, madame.

Thank you.

You don't look like my late wife at all.

She was well-bred and rather frail,

except for her famous mammalia.

Oh, excuse me. That's a private

joke in questionable taste.

Still, sometimes, one has to choose

between good taste

and being a human being.

You look more like a cow than my late wife.

Oh, no offence. I'm very fond of cows.

Moo... Also, she had no cousins.

I beg your pardon. She had one, James.

Obviously, you're not James.

What do you want with my daughter?

- You have no right to ask me any questions.

- No right? You must be out of your mind.

- I'm her legal guardian.

- No, you're not.

Very well, I'm not. Not yet, not legally.

I've had no time to make the arrangements.

I've been away.

But I assure you, I intend to take

every step to ensure my rights.

Warner and Swayze are my attorneys.

Who are yours?

You have cause to fight me?

On what grounds?

I'll hit you with everything in the book.

Cenci.

Cenci, at 15,

chewing the edge of her blanket,

lifting up her skirts at the slightest

provocation, like me.

You dirty bastard! You raped her!

I couldn't rape a randy elephant.

I'm much too... tentative.

I need encouragement, and I love her.

I've always loved her.

I make her feel like a woman.

I've always made her feel like a woman,

even when she was 16.

What do you make her feel like?

A retarded zombie?

- I try to protect her from...

- Listen, you mysterious b*tch,

you fluff, you cow...

I don't need any instructions

in fatherhood from you.

When she was small,

I used to take her ice-skating.

You try ice-skating with varicose veins.

I'd hold her hands at the dentist's,

get up in the night and put her back

to bed when she was sleepwalking.

I'd drive her to school in all sorts

of weather and comb her long hair.

Admittedly,

I might take her face in my hands...

but only with the utmost delicacy.

You stay away from her.

I don't care what she's told you.

I'm excruciatingly shy.

She was always a great one

for encouraging... sin.

- I... I don't...

- Blue sin...

- I don't want to hear.

- .. red sin, fabulous purple sin.

I never could resist those freckles,

that skin, that fish mouth.

She used to come to my room

with a bottle of baby oil.

If you don't shut your foul mouth...

She'd ask me to lie with my face down.

She'd straddle me like a horse,

her long silk hair falling in a wave

and swishing against my back...

while she started to rub me down.

She manipulated my toes so cleverly,

my hair stood on end,

and always, she'd ask me to turn over,

still in the saddle,

and her long hair falling in a wave

to cover my embarrassment.

- But I never touched her.

- You lying bastard!

Let her go.

She needs me.

The best thing

her mother ever did for her was to die.

If you don't let her go,

she'll just keep getting smaller,

until, finally, at about 25 or 30, you'll

find her in a corner with a baby bottle.

I'm sorry.

I had a daughter once.

She was a very unusual child.

What happened to her?

She vanished.

You missed

a fabulous dinner, Mummy.

You bet your skinny ass.

The beach hasn't changed a bit

since the last time.

Nothing ever changes here.

Yeah. It's a real swinging joint.

I think I'd like to go for a walk now.

Why don't you just do that, sweetie?

What's the matter, Mummy?

My goddamn back is killing me.

Ah... All that bending in the woods.

You wouldn't like to massage it for me,

would you?

Oh, yes, please. I'd love to.

Oh, poor Mummy,

stiff as a rod.

You just relax and be a perfect child of God.

Am I doing all right?

Am I the perfect masseuse?

Yes. In which newspaper

did you last advertise?

Enjoy.

Enjoy.

Get off my back, you little b*tch!

Why is your pillow wet?

None of your frigging business.

I'd... better go to bed now.

I'm simply exhausted.

What in hell do you have to be exhausted

about at your age?

Well, you know, in my condition...

Condition?!

- What condition?!

- One gets easily tired.

Bullshit!

I believe that, tonight, for

the first time, it kicked me!

There's nothing there to kick!

As I was leaving the dining room,

I could distinctly feel it kick me!

- Cenci, this has got to stop!

- I've missed the birth twice!

Don't! Don't! Don't!

Twice!

No! No!

My baby! My baby!

Why are you in my mother's clothes?

Get out!

Hush, little baby

Cry no more

Father's gone fishing

Mother's a whore

Back in the morning

To guard your life

With two short prayers

And a carving knife

Oh that I were

Where I would be...

Then would I be

Where I am not

But where I am

There must I be

And where I would be

I cannot...

Who is it?

Hello.

I'm sorry to disturb you, miss.

Good evening, Leonora.

I've been meaning to return your key.

Are you all right?

What are you talking about?

I telephoned every day.

In reference to what?

I thought you might need...

something.

Need something? Need what for instance?

It's such a big house.

Thank you, but I've... all the help I need.

I wouldn't ask for much.

Are you applying for a position?

In a manner of speaking.

Do you have references?

- I've had lots of experience dealing with...

- What?

Children.

With suicides?

Well, I've only tried it once.

Explain yourself.

After the... funeral.

My baby.

- Oh, I thought I'd show him.

- What... what funeral? What baby?

Show him? Show whom?

You'll have to be a great deal more precise.

Oh, have a heart!

I...

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