Sophie's Choice Page #7

With this ring...

I be true myseIf to you.

BeIieve it, it's traditionaI

for the groom to give a gift...

to the best man.

I toId Nathan that you'd have

to put that book away...

for a whiIe to make money

and that made him very said.

Nathan, I can't

possibIy accept this.

Stingo, don't reject this.

Don't waste your taIent.

I don't know how to thank you.

Future Mrs. Landau...

give me the honor of this dance.

It's not reaIIy about Nathan.

What do you mean?

You don't know?

It's supposed to be a secret.

He confided in me that

he and his team...

discovered a cure for poIio...

in my house.

If onIy my SauI couId

have Iived to see the day.

-The car is ready, Mrs. Zimmerman.

-I'II be down.

What did Nathan say

when he saw you?

I haven't seem him.

He and Sophie Ieft here

a coupIe hours ago.

He said he'd Iook for you and

straighten things out once and for aII.

-Wait, what?

-I guess you just missed them.

Sophie said he was imagining

things trying to soothe him...

the way she does

when he gets Iike that.

God knows what was going

through his mind now.

I toId you to watch out.

Next time you'II Iisten to me.

I got better things to do.

-Do you know where he is now?

-I don't know.

-HeIIo.

-God damn you to hell forever.

Nathan?

-Are you aII right?

-Oh, yes. I'm aII right.

-What's wrong with your arm?

-He was breaking my arm.

I gotfrightened and I ran away.

He has a gun, Stingo.

I think he's going to use it.

I shouIdn't have Ieft him there.

We shouId go find...

-Nathan?

-Stingo.

Nowyou listen. Listen to me.

Is he good? Nathan!

-Oh, God!

-Nathan!

My darIing, wiII you forgive me?

-Get offthatphone, you whore!

-You know that I Iove you.

I don't want to speak toyou again!

Nathan, we Iove you

very much, aII right?

We'd do nothing to hurt you.

Now you teII us where you are.

God damn you to hell

forever for betraying me...

behind my back, you whom I trustt

like the best friend I ever had.

and that sh*t-eating grin

ofyours day after day?

Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth when

you gave me your manuscript to read.

''Ah, gee, Nathan. Thank you so much''.

When not 15 minutes earlier...

you'd been in bed with the

woman I was going to marry.

Marry! Marry!

I'd burn in hell before I'd marry

a two-timing Pollack...

who'd spread her legs for a Southern

sh*t-ass betraying me like that.

We're going to come get you.

Where are you?

Don't come. Stay where you

are. I'm going to come getyou.

-Both ofyou.

-Jesus?, Nathan!

Don'tgo away.

You know what am I going to do...

toyou deceitful, unspeakable pigs.

Listen!

-Now I'm going to getyou.

-Oh, God!

I caIIed his brother's office.

Larry is in Toronto.

They're going to try to reach him.

I shouId've stayed there.

Maybe I couId've heIped him.

He's never been this bad before.

I think he couId've kiIIed us.

-I think he couId've kiIIed us both.

-I don't care that I'II die.

I'm afraid that he'II die

without me.

Thank you.

Stingo.

Where are we going?

WeII, I want to take you to

see the Washington sights.

We'II go by the White Hous.

We may get a pick Harry Truman

I mean...

where are we going?

Where are we reaIIy going?

WeII, I'm going to take you

down to thatfarm...

that I toId about,

in South of Virginia.

I think once we get

settIed in there we can...

drive over to Richmond...

get a good phonograph

and buy some records.

What do you mean

''get settIed in there?''

WeII...

I Iove you very much, Sophie.

And I...

I want to marry you.

I want you to Iive

in thatfarm with me.

I want to write my books,

I want you to heIp me...

raise a famiIy...

because I...

I Iove you very, very much.

Is it too much to hope you might...

you might Iove me too?

Listen, Stingo, I'm...

beyond 30 years now, you know?

What are you going to do with

an oId poIish Iady Iike me?

Manage!

Manage.

''OId woman''...

Don't taIk that way. You...

You're aIways going to be...

my number one.

WeII, then yes.

We couId go down there. Sure.

We couId Iive there

for a whiIe and then...

We're not getting married

because we couId decide that Iater.

Sophie...

In that IittIe country pIace

that we'd be Iiving in...

we wouId have to be married.

ItfuII of Christians down there,

you know?

WeII... I don't know, I mean...

Getting married soon,

I Iove you for a very Iong time.

I know you're fond of me.

Give this time.

Just give this time.

We'II be fine.

It's notjust the age

difference, you know?

...between you and me, Stingo.

You shouId have another

mother for your chiIdren.

OnIy you.

It wouId not be fair to your

chiIdren to have me as their mother.

Sophie, that wouId be the

Iuckiest chiIdren in the worId.

I'm going to die of something.

I'm going to teII you something

I never toId anybody.

Never, but I need a drink.

So won't you get me thatfirst?

In the day that we went...

to Auschwitz, it was Spring,

you know, and...

we onIy arrived there at night.

It was a warm night.

It was a beautifuI night.

So...

we'II go to thatfarm tomorrow.

But pIease, Stingo, don't...

taIk about marriage...

and chiIdren.

It's enough that...

we'II go down there to thatfarm...

to Iive...

for a whiIe.

I was 22 and a virgin...

and was clasping in

my arms at last...

the goddess ofmy

unending fantasies.

My lust was inexhaustible.

Sophie's lust was both

a plunge into carnal oblivion...

and a flight from

memory andgrief.

More than that, I now see...

It was a frantic and orgiastic

attempt to beat back death.

''My dearest Stingo...

You are such a beautiful lover.

I had to leave and...

forgive me for not saying goodbye

but I mustgo back to Nathan.

Belive me, you'll fiind

some wonderful woman...

to make you happy on that farm.

But when I woke I was

feeling so terrible and...

in Despair about Nathan.

By that I mean

so fiilled with guilt...

and thoughts ofdeath.

It was like ice...

flowing into my blood.

So... I must be with Nathan again

for whatever that means.

I may not see you again, but...

do believe me how much

knowing you have meant to me.

You are a great lover, Stingo.

Sophie''.

He worked in a pharmaceuticaI Iab.

I think that's how he got

a hoId on the cyanide.

They found it next to

the bed, you know?

-What Iab, you know?

-I'm not sure.

''AmpIe make this bed.

Make this bed with awe.

In it...

I'II wait tiII judgement break.

ExceIIent and fair.

Be its mattress straight.

Be its piIIow round.

Let no sunrise yeIIow noise...

interrupt this ground''.

And so ended my

voyage ofdiscovery...

in a place as strange as Brooklyn.

I letgo the rage and sorrow

for Sophie and Nathan...

and for the many others

who were but a few...

ofthe butchered and betrayed

and martyred children ofthe Earth.

When I could fiinally see again...

I saw the fiirst rays ofdaylight

reflected in the murky river.

This was notjudgement day.

Only morning.

Morning:
excellent and fair.

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