Submission Page #2

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Hi.

- Hi.

- Hi. I'm so sorry I'm late.

- Oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it.

- [chuckles]

I was kinda liking it,

actually.

You know,

sitting here, hiding out.

When I was a kid, I'd sit

and read under the porch

when I was supposed

to be at school.

[chuckles]

Oh. Good.

- You're a reader, huh?

- Yeah.

Good.

- Come on in. I won't bite.

- [chuckles]

You're reading Jane Eyre?

You liking it?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I love it. It's cool.

I love that she's in this

mad rage the whole time.

Then she finally gets to marry the blind guy

who's just toasted his wife in the attic.

- It's wild.

- Yeah.

The trouble is, I'm reading it for Professor

Healy's class, Text Studies in Gender Warfare.

And it just kinda feels like everything

that we read is the same thing. You know?

Like the male patriarchy

sticking it to women.

And I understand that you can say that, but I

also think that not everything is the same.

True.

Please, have a seat.

Um, anyway, it is...

It's, like,

my favorite book.

- Good.

- Except for yours.

Phoenix Time is, like, my

favorite book in the universe.

Oh.

Well, I'm very flattered.

- Thanks. [chuckles]

- Yeah.

It saved my life,

actually.

How do you mean?

Well, my therapist gave it to me

after my father killed himself.

And I won't bore you with the details of

the whole story or anything, but, um,

it just really showed me

that people can get through

stuff like that.

I read it, like,

a million times.

And also, it's just

a really great book.

It's up there

with Bront and Stendhal.

- Stendhal?

- The Red and the Black?

It's another favorite

of mine.

- Really?

- Mm-hmm.

I'm actually working on a

postmodern retelling of that story.

It's my new novel.

- Oh, my God.

- [chuckles] Yeah.

That's amazing.

Huh.

- Can I ask you something?

- Sure.

Um, what happened

in your novel...

Did...

Did that really happen?

Well, I thought

we had, um, discussed in class

that we wouldn't ask writers

questions like that.

This isn't class.

[chuckles]

Um... yes.

That is

how my father died.

And my mother and I

watched it on television.

He was protesting

the Vietnam War.

It was a celebrity death

for about 15 minutes.

So...

[chuckles]

Wow.

[murmurs]

Yeah.

- I'm writing a novel too.

- Oh. Great.

Oh, God, not that I'm comparing

it to yours or anything.

I shouldn't even

call it that.

It's not a novel.

It's just pages.

It's, um... It's like chapters

in search of a novel.

[laughs]

That's good. Well put.

And what's it called,

your novel?

Eggs.

Eggs?

Eggs.

It's very evocative.

[laughs] Thanks.

And what is Eggs about?

Um, well,

actually, I'd...

I'd like to just show it

to you, if that's okay.

I brought, um,

the first chapter here.

I thought I could give

you the first chapter,

you could read it, let

me know what you think,

and we could go chapter

by chapter, or not.

It's about halfway done.

I started last summer.

Why don't I read

the first chapter,

and then maybe we can put it up and take

a look at it in next week's workshop.

- Whatever. You decide.

- Okay.

I just can't believe Theodore Swenson's

gonna read something I've written.

- [laughs]

- I should just take it back and start over

and throw it away,

probably.

I think...

my writing sucks.

No. That's what every

first-time writer thinks.

And, actually, quite a few

second-time writers.

- [nervous chuckle]

- So just take a deep breath.

Just breathe.

It's all right.

Right. Breathe.

Okay, um, I will.

And also I know there are, like,

four or five typos in there,

and I was gonna fix them,

but I didn't have time.

- But I know that...

- Don't worry about it.

Just...

- Just breathe.

- Yes. Yes. There you go.

And I'm really sorry before, when I

called you, if I interrupted something,

if you were writing

or something.

- Oh, no. Not at all. Not at all. Not at all.

- I'm sorry.

- Sorry I was late.

- Oh, don't worry about it. Thank you so much.

I really appreciate you reading my b...

Okay, bye.

Okay.

[Ted's voice]

The Black and the Black,

inspired, of course, by

Stendhal's The Red and the Black.

[phone buzzing]

Only now the character

of Julien Sorel

was a young sculptor with a Black

Panther dad and a social climbing mom,

a guy who uses everyone he meets in his

ferocious scramble up the art world ladder.

Race. Art. Ambition.

[phone buzzes]

Hey, buddy, it's Len, your editor.

Remember me?

So when am I gonna

see something?

You were supposed to send me a

draft three months ago. Call me!

Give my love to...

[Angela's voice]

Every night after dinner,

I went out

and sat with the eggs.

This was after my mother and I washed

the dishes and loaded the washer,

after my father dozed off

over his medical journals.

It was then that I slipped out the kitchen

door and crossed the chilly backyard,

dark and loamy with the yeasty smell

of leaves just beginning to change,

noisy with the rustle of them

turning colors in the dark.

For a moment I looked back

at the black frame of our house,

the whole place jumping and

vibrating with the dishwasher hum.

Then I entered the toolshed,

lit only

by the incubator bulbs,

silent but for the whirring hearts

inside the fertilized eggs.

This was my 11th-grade

biology project.

Officially, that is.

But underneath those charts,

those notebooks,

the racks of fertilized eggs,

my real project

was black magic...

casting spells for things

I shouldn't have wanted,

and longed for,

and finally got.

Like Mr. Reynaud,

my science teacher.

Angela.

Angela. Hi.

- Hi.

- I read your chapter.

Oh, sh*t.

You hated it.

I could tell by the way you

were looking at me in class.

Not that you were looking at me, but I

could feel it. You thought it sucked.

No.

Actually, the opposite.

I think

it's quite accomplished.

- Really?

- Yeah, I do. Yeah.

You're not just saying that because you're

afraid if you tell me what you really think,

I'm gonna go kill myself

in my dorm room?

[laughs] No. No, that's

not why I'm saying it.

I'm telling you the truth. I

really, really, really enjoyed it.

- Ted. Hi!

- Hey! How are you?

- I'm good.

- Good. Good.

We're on a break. I left some

papers in the office as usual.

- You know Angela.

- I do know Angela.

- It's nice to see you again.

- You too, Professor.

Um, we're just talking

about Angela's novel.

- Her novel?

- Yeah.

- Wow. That's impressive.

- Yeah.

- He's just being nice.

- [laughs] No.

- Okay. Well, please call me. Let's have lunch.

- Okay. I will, I will.

I found the typos.

I made corrections.

Just... keep writing.

- Do you want to discuss it in class?

- Oh, God, no. No.

You have to be very careful

to whom you show this now.

Don't listen to what anyone says.

I mean it.

Not even me.

Especially me.

Wow. Um...

Oh, my God,

that makes me so...

happy.

Just...

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Good job.

- [chuckles]

- Can I give you another couple of pages?

I'm sorry?

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