Sunshine State Page #5

-That's impressive.

You go back that far, your people were

planters, slaves or fugitives.

Yours were...?

I don't know what they were running

from, but this is where they stopped.

-I'm from Newport, Rhode Island.

-With the yachts and big estates?

My dad took care of the lawns.

-So you've never left the island?

-Sure, I left all right.

-You're looking at a Weeki Wachee girl.

-What?

It's a show.

It's been running since the late '40s.

-You acted?

-Performed. You do it underwater.

Let's have a contest.

You do it to me.

This isn't the guy I meant.

You win.

I could hold it twice as long

if I hadn't been drinking.

The important thing is to keep a smile,

even with water down your nose.

-How long did you work there?

-Three years.

And then I met my ex.

-He had this band. Skeeter Meter.

-Like a rock band?

They were big around Tampa.

You listen to the Allman Brothers?

Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Then you've heard Skeeter Meter.

He was Greek and good-looking.

His daddy was a sponge diver

before they died out.

-What did they die of?

-Boredom.

Hanging on to some rock,

soaking up whatever rolls over you.

-Almost as bad as Delrona Beach.

-There's a lot of changes happening.

Things might pick up.

Don't hold your breath.

They used to say folks around here

only worshipped three people:

The father, the son

and the Florida Flash.

The day he got hurt, I must have

run the replay 100 times.

He stopped coming up here.

Left school.

So you were

one of the adoring masses?

I was in high school, he was on

national TV. What do you think?

That's some heavy story about Terrell.

A big responsibility she's taken on,

a kid like that.

-So can you help him?

-Me?

-What am I, a shrink?

-I mean help him build this thing.

Carpentry and adolescent psychology,

two things I know nothing about.

Try, okay? For me.

I'll do what I can.

-Maybe we'll head back on Monday.

-We just got here.

I don't want to get sucked in to any

of this. I don't like who I am down here.

And I don't trust my mother.

Is that you, Elton?

I'm amazed at how little sleep

I need these days.

You've got restless feet.

Always have.

Sorry I couldn't be there

for you at the meeting.

You had your emergency.

How'd the hearing go?

He's still on probation.

He has to do community service.

Could have been much worse.

We can fall so quickly.

It's just a stumble, not a fall.

If you could just go and get it

and hand it to them.

-Nobody handed us anything.

-Of course they did.

People fought their whole lives

to keep their heads above water.

We got to start on dry land.

-So Desiree's back?

-Visiting. She's not back.

Hurricane Desiree.

The nights I sat here wondering

where that girl could be.

We used to come out here and neck

when I was in high school.

Then they had these lights in.

Security.

It's more like birth control.

-You do golf courses?

-Design them? No, that's a specialty.

-Do you play it?

-Golf? No.

I gotta tell you...

...sex with me when I'm this drunk

is like being at the dentist.

-The dentist?

-When they shoot you up with Novocain.

You can tell something's going on

in there but you don't know what it is.

-I understand.

-So forget it.

It wouldn't cross my mind.

Tomorrow I won't even remember

I kissed you.

I'll come by and remind you.

Do that.

-You honestly don't golf?

-Never took it up.

Good.

The important thing is

to keep that smile on your face...

...even if you're drowning.

-The polar icecap is melting.

-This is news?

They say with this global warming,

the icecap, Antarctica could melt.

-And the oceans get 20 feet higher.

-It's good we live on the 2nd floor.

Here it will be a wading pool

all the way to Orlando.

The problem started with the invention

of the internal combustion engine.

That and air conditioning.

They say every day another species

goes extinct. It's tragic.

Who needs a lizard the size of a van?

If those things came back today...

...people wouldn't be so thrilled.

-Sam! What are we playing for?

-$10.00 a side...

...fifty dollars for the match,

and throw away your worst hole.

-This might be the one.

-My grandparents were peasants.

They came from a country where

they used Jews for target practice.

They only ever ate beets or turnips.

We brought my tante over here.

She wouldn't go to the park.

She said:

"Next time I look at grass,

it should be growing over my body."

-I like to watch that Jungle Channel.

-Animals eating animals.

-It's educational.

-For a wolverine, possibly.

"How to hibernate in three easy lessons."

For human beings, what good is that?

When was the last time

you stalked a creature?

-I go duck-hunting with my son.

-I forgot. You people shoot birds.

Shooting is not the point.

You're out there when the sun comes up,

surrounded by nature.

Nature is overrated.

But we'll miss it when it's gone.

Scotty?

-Sorry to distract you.

-No, I need it.

Come closer.

Come on down into the trap.

Where I'm headed, you don't play

in a vacuum. TV camera, a gallery.

Everybody's right on top of you.

Try to keep that distance.

Are you okay?

Yes. I thought we should,

like, make it official.

What?

Breaking up.

You're going off on your tour and all.

Yeah.

Win one tournament, you make more

than a year working here.

-It's not the money.

-It's not?

It's this thing that I do. Better than

almost anybody else on earth.

If I don't take another whack

at the highest level....

It's the purest thing that--

Pretty stupid, huh? Talking

about golf like it's important.

It isn't stupid at all,

you really love it.

You just don't love me.

Buster's Place.

-How long's it been like this?

-All messed up? Couple of years.

-There was a fire.

-Nobody's fixed it up?

The people it belonged to

didn't come back.

-So you have, like, a crew?

-On a boat?

-Guys you hang with.

-No.

So what are you into?

Interested in.

Stuff.

Like sports? Music?

I guess.

You think we got enough?

Never built a coffin before.

It used to be five yards

in a cloud of dust.

No mouth guards,

no face guards.

The helmet was a leather strap

to hold the brain in...

...in case you got cracked

on the skull. What is it now?

Technology? Hormones?

Bunch of coloured boys flipping

a ball around the field.

Women in the locker room?

That ain't gridiron.

-What are they doing?

-Did you say something?

-What are women doing in the locker room?

-Talking to the players.

They must find it very distracting.

They're too worried about

their stock portfolios to notice.

It's a wonder they know what

a handoff is.

-How do you know they're coloured?

-Who?

The boys flipping the ball.

You can't see the TV.

When do you hear of a white boy

called Deshon?

Carlotta will be here for dinner.

I have rehearsal...

...and then an Audubon meeting.

You and your birds.

They start clearing the Plantation

Estates expansion next week...

-...at the old Exley property.

-Lincoln Beach?

Not anymore.

There's a bird colony

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