Solitary Man Page #7

trying to stay out of prison?

I didnt say anything. You used to be

someone I could look up

to and now youre just slutting

around Lexington Avenue.

I turn on the news, I

see you in handcuffs.

Well, you, as bad as it

may have been for you,

it was worse for me.

Come on.

I mean, what was it? Was it one

thing? What hit the switch?

Uh, what do you want me to tell you?

Actually, nothing.

Dont tell me anything.

Because youre just gonna say

whatever you think I need to

hear and then youre gonna

do whatever you want anyway.

Suse, come on, Suse.

No. If youre not gonna help

yourself, then just leave me,

my friends and my family alone.

Im sorry to hear that.

But not sorry enough to

do something about it.

Youre really gonna let us

just walk out of your life?

Well, youre making

the choice, not me.

Fine.

If thats the way you

need to hear it

then, yes, Im making it.

Stay away from us.

Ben.

Hey, Jimmy.

Come on in.

Annies sleepin.

I gotta serve breakfast early

in the morning tomorrow, so...

No, go, go.

You can stay in,

in this playroom.

Its got a really good sofa.

And, uh, theres some linens

in the closet and pillows.

Good night.

Good night.

Uh, Jimmy, um

listen, how do you, uh

how are you fixed for help at the deli?

Really?

I dont know

how you get any

work done here with

all these distractions.

I look and go right

back to what Im doing.

Uh-huh.

Youve been married

how many years?

Thirty-four years this April.

And you never once took one of

these girls out for a picnic?

Im married to Annie.

I know, you said that.

But not once, not even once?

Its not like these girls are

throwing themselves at me.

These girls are into

economics, micro, macro.

They are, they dont know

what 58k a year gives ya.

Theyre looking to find

somebody their own age

or some rich a**hole. No offense.

Why would I be offended?

All right. You want me to tell you

why it doesnt bother me?

Yeah.

All right. When my father

gave me this place years ago

I used to dream about these girls.

Every night, dreams, all

kinds of dreams about em.

But then Id see em coming

back after graduation.

Theyd come to homecomings, ballgames.

Theyd sit at the same

tables, eat the same food.

And I look at them and I notice,

they dont stay like this.

None of em.

They put on years and

pounds and wrinkles.

And I got one like that at

home. So. And we can talk to

each other. I know her

and Ill always know her.

There you are.

Five, six, seven.

Cheston.

Mr. Kalmen. Hey.

Great to see you.

Nice to see you.

I heard you were,

uh, working here.

Uh, I wanted to come

bring you your shirt back.

Ah. Even washed it.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Oh. De nada.

Oh. De nada?

Looks like youre doing fine.

Yeah, I told you I was a good student.

Hey, uh, this is, uh, Maureen.

Hey.

Hello, Maureen. How are you?

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

What would you like?

Um, can I have a black

and white shake, please?

You got it.

Uh, actually, uh, make it dos.

Dos?

Yeah.

Dos, huh? These

are on the house.

Hey, uh, Mr. Kalmen, we are

having a, uh, little house party

on Thursday night. We were wondering

if you, would come.

Youre having a party? Dont you have

classes the next day?

Uh, yeah. So I wont sleep

late and miss a class?

That really such a big deal?

Not if youre sleeping late

at Maureen s, its not.

Id love to come.

Yeah, thatd be great.

Um, mucho gracias por la invitacin.

Uh, yeah.

Speaks Spanish.

Okay..

Here you go.

Ben.

This is weird.

I didnt chase you up here. Okay?

I dont, uh,

I dont know what to say.

Well, theres really

nothing to say, you know.

This is weird.

I had to get out of the city.

Jimmy offered me a job and,

uh, thats why Im here.

And this is the best

job you could get.

Its a job.

You had to have other options.

Well, your mom was

pretty effective about

eliminating all of them.

You must be so mad at me.

Not really. No. You know, you had an

opening. You took it.

Got a good clean shot in at your mom.

Boxing glove cant

get mad at the fist.

So, youre okay?

Its what it is, yeah.

Hello?

Gary, I wanna talk to my grandson.

He went, went to sleep,

like, six hours ago.

Ben, do you know what time it is?

I know, I know, its late. Its late.

Just, just wake, wake him.

Hes gonna wanna talk to me.

Your father.

Dad, you cant do this.

I, I gotta talk to him.

Theres things I gotta

tell him, Suse, you know.

No.

I, this is important stuff.

Im not gonna be around

here forever, you know.

And whos gonna show him?

This is hard for me, but

Im hanging up now, dad.

No, no, no, no, no,

okay. I, I, look. Its...

Im sorry I called late.

Past his bed time, but...

Im sitting here on the

bench where I met your mom.

I gotta pass this f***ing bench

three times a day, you know.

Im sorry.

No. Ill call back in the morning.

He wont be available then either.

He thinks youre on a long trip

where there are no phones.

Which you are.

Yeah.

Im going

to speak quickly and clearly

so that we dont misunderstand

one another, Benjamin.

That would be fine.

It has been explained to me that

you are on Allysons campus?

I am at the school.

Yeah. I got a job here.

You are to leave that

campus immediately.

I will not have my daughters

environment threatened. This is

her college experience. I want her to

remember it fondly.

Has she complained to you?

Thats an irrelevant question.

Ive never approached her.

Never tried.

Well, youre mistaking

this for a conversation.

I dont wanna have to tell

Allysons father about

everything thats transpired,

but I will. And as you know,

he has a wide ranging group

of contacts and a far reach.

Im sure he does.

Cant we move on?

I have moved on.

The moment you put your hands on

my daughter, you ceased to exist

to me. It is now as if

you never existed. I believe

Ive shown remarkable restraint

in taking this approach.

I take a great measure of

pride in it, actually

to be able to transcend the

influence of a life form such as

yours. But hear this. It certainly

isnt the only

approach available to me. Tomorrow,

Ben, you get going.

Or this file moves from my

desk to Allysons father s.

So Im thinking, yeah, Allyson

was trying to get a rise from

her mother who was trying to

get my attention to her mother.

Right.

You see, see, see what I mean.

Yeah, yeah, dude. Youre trying to

understand her behavior

through, through Jungian archetypes.

Thats, thats a slippery slope, Ben.

Well, you did some homework

today, didnt you?

I did do some homework.

Yeah. I still have to do well.

Dont worry. I told her

I was, um, crashing out after.

In the morning, wake me.

Yeah. Well played, man.

Well played.

But, anyway, getting

back to Allyson. I think shes,

shes trying to give me some kind of

message, you know?

Yeah. Yeah, I think you,

you got caught up in her.

I did, yeah.

Yeah, you did.

Which is interesting, actually.

Because, um, your

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