Stanley & Iris Page #4

Very, very pretty.

How did you find out about all that?

I asked.

I took the leaves to a Japanese nursery,

said I liked trees.

They said, "We like trees too."

So we sat on a manure sack

and talked about it for a couple of hours.

This is a red oak.

Latin name, Quercus rubra.

- It'll outlive us both.

- That one?

- How old do you think it is?

- I'd say it's about...

300 years old.

Let's go sit down over here.

I lost my dad too, not too long ago.

My dad was sick for a long time.

The thing of it is, see, I...

I had to put him in a home.

I couldn't read, so I couldn't hold down

a job. I couldn't take care of him.

If I'd been able to read,

he might still be alive.

I'm afraid of the dark.

My dad let me leave the light on all night.

My dad was the light.

We have to leave it on

about another 15 minutes.

I don't know what I'm doing this for.

So you'll look pretty.

Nothing in a bottle's gonna do that.

You're not so bad-Iooking

if you'd use a little more eye make-up.

This is as far as I go.

I wish this baby was born already.

- It will be.

- I don't want it.

I didn't want you either.

You were an accident.

Your daddy and me were cleaning the car,

the old blue Pontiac.

And he squirted me,

and I took my shirt off, and...

we got playful.

We didn't even make it up the stairs.

When they brought you in to me,

I almost said, "Take it away. It's not mine."

That's how I felt about you.

You'd nuzzle me, and I'd stare at you.

How was I gonna take care of you?

I didn't feel anything for you.

Then one day

I was changing your diapers,

and I found blood on the cloth,

and I knew in my heart

that you had a terrible disease,

that I was being punished.

I showed the nurse, and she said,

"It's nothing.

"It's just your hormones

getting across to her."

I said, "It's nothing to worry about?"

And she said, "No, it's nothing."

And I held you in my arms,

and at that very minute,

you belonged to me. My daughter.

Am I your daughter?

Yes.

"Don says..."

Dan.

Dan.

"Dan says, 'Thank you for the..."'

- Dish.

- Dish.

Go on.

- Ed.

- "Ed...

"Ed says, 'Thank you for the..."'

Fffffff...

Fish. Fish. Put it together.

"Ed says, 'Thank you for the fish."'

Go on.

Ffffffff...

- "Fred..."

- Fran.

"Fran says, 'Thank you for the eeee..."'

- You didn't do your homework, did you?

- No.

- I watched the welterweight fights.

- Terrific.

Either you're serious or you're not.

- I'm a fight fan.

- You're gonna have one with me

because I don't like to waste my time.

I'll just come back when you cool off.

It may be a while. I'm in a bad mood.

Maybe you ate something

that didn't agree with you.

My whole life doesn't agree with me.

I'm gaining weight. I yell at my kids.

I need a sex life.

I've wanted to go to bed with you

since I first saw you.

A - I don't know why.

- And B - forget it.

- Take a wild guess.

You don't?

- No.

- It's gonna happen.

Listen, you, I don't just

hop in bed with strangers.

I ask a lot of questions.

I do a lot of talking.

I gotta know about a guy.

Ask.

- You might not be healthy.

- I'll get a blood test.

I'd want one. Excuse me.

You're tough.

Well, this has not been a perfect day.

I got a back-tax bill.

I ran into a girl I went to high school with.

She said she wouldn't have recognised me.

That was food for thought.

Also my feet hurt.

Sit down. I'll iron.

- You'll iron.

- I do it all the time. Sit down.

Sit down.

"Fran says, 'Thank you for the...

"'egg!"' God damn it. Egg.

Right.

Don't scorch the shirts.

Coming right up.

Guh.

G. Girl.

OK, down.

All the way down below the guideline.

Up, and...

around and then down. That's right.

That's right. Don't ever

pick your pencil up when you're doing Ps.

- Down. Up.

- No, I forgot...

Yeah. Keep your pencil on the paper.

Up and around.

OK. You're here at Ash and Tyler.

Meet me at Washington and Post Road.

Give me 15 minutes.

Find me.

- Can you tell me how to get to, er...?

- Where do you want to go?

Forget it. Thanks, anyway.

- Where's Washington and Post?

- You're not even close.

- You've got to go down to Morrison.

- Yeah.

- Then left to Grand.

- Uh-huh.

Then right to Comstock.

Are there any tall buildings or bridges,

churches, anything?

You'll see the street signs.

All right. Thanks.

Where the hell have you been?

I said 15 minutes.

I thought you'd been hit by a car.

Are you listening to me?

I haven't seen you.

No.

- Am I gonna see you?

- No.

Can I come in?

- You're a hard man to find.

- I moved.

I've only got one seat.

So I see.

- No dishes in the sink.

- I eat mostly take-out.

- Where are you working now?

- Same place.

Maybe it was... it was me.

You know, maybe I blew it.

They've got a programme

at the high school.

Maybe you could try that.

It came too hard. I'm not a kid any more.

- So that's it?

- That's it.

God, I hate to bomb out.

It took two years to toilet-train Richard

but he finally went to the bathroom.

That's not my problem.

What is this?

It's what I do from midnight till four

in the morning, sometimes till five or six.

What does it do?

Cools cakes fast.

Does a good job.

Stanley.

- You should show this to somebody.

- I have.

Some guys

from the tool and die plant came.

They offered me a job.

How can you make something like this

when you can't read?

When you put a man in jail

or you put him in solitary,

sometimes he'll draw pictures

on the wall with a spoon,

sometimes he'll train cockroaches.

This is what I made in my prison.

You sure kept it quiet.

Hmm.

Everybody here just gets up

and goes to work and eats and sleeps

and gets up the next day

and just works and eats and sleeps.

I'd like to see somebody go past that.

- Hello, Richard.

- Mr Cox.

- Is your mother home?

- She's in the kitchen.

- What have you been up to?

- Oh, reading.

- What are you reading?

- Comics.

Who are you talking to?

It's me.

Come on out in the kitchen.

It's still your seat.

Your hair looks different.

Yeah.

I liked it better the other way.

It's too late now.

You been keeping up?

Trying to.

- You had your dinner?

- I ate.

- You want to get at it?

- That's what I'm here for.

Let's see. We can review.

- Those are new.

- You begin to admit you need things.

Page 13.

- "This is..."

- "A river."

- "This is..."

- "A...

"snake".

Mm-hm. This is...

"A...

- "tent."

- Good. This is...

"A...

"woman."

What are you doing here?

I thought I'd sit with you,

if you want me to.

I was feeling pretty much

on my own tonight.

- How's she doing?

- It's going to be any minute.

She almost had it on the way here.

How do you feel about

being a grandmother?

Calm.

You don't look like a grandmother.

That's why I'm calm.

It was nice of you to come.

Not much of a favour.

- You know what I think?

- What?

I think you and me

are getting to be friends.

We are.

- Do you want me to call her Iris?

- No!

I never liked my name.

- How about your middle name?

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