The Arrangement Page #5

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Zephyr, Zephyr, Zephyr, Zephyr.

Zephyr, Zephyr, Zephyr, clean.

You know that's really awfully good.

I wish you'd both

get the hell out of here.

- Is that a baby?

- Yeah.

What about it?

I wanna finish my drink.

Charles, will you get him out of here?

I'm gonna drive you home.

Oh, Charles, I'd like to be by

myself tonight. Don't come back.

You know, that last crack of hers.

Once upon a time, that'd be a way of

telling me to come back after I'd lost you.

I don't think she meant that tonight.

Whose kid is that?

If she'd wanted me to know,

she would've told me.

Good luck.

Mr. Anderson.

I don't believe in luck.

I believe in patience.

When I first met Gwen, I had

to watch the knives and the windows.

I mean, she was on the edge.

Do you have any idea

what you did to her?

Please don't see her again.

I can't promise that.

Okay.

Fix yourself a drink.

You don't look so good.

- Whose kid is it?

- Mine.

What does that mean?

It means I don't want anything

from his father.

He sure looks like me.

Oval chin...

...noble brow.

Didn't have when he was born.

He looked like one of those greeting-card

jokes, awful pointy above the ears.

I used to be pointy above the ears.

Honestly.

You haven't lost your figure.

You begin to lose it after the second one.

- What's he glaring about?

- He's very arrogant.

He doesn't like it when

he can't have his way on everything.

He knows that turns me on.

But in a little while, you'll see,

he'll get tired...

...lay his head over and go to sleep.

- Look. See?

- Oh, Gwen. Gwen.

Eddie, don't do that.

Gwen.

Gwen?

Don't say anything.

Anything you say will be wrong.

You don't have to say a word.

But they think I'm crazy.

I mean, literally nuts.

- What time is it?

- Five-thirty.

Hey, "Let me out of here. "

Eddie, shut up.

Hello.

Yes, Charles. Yes.

Yes, thank you, Charles.

He calls me up sometimes to remind me

that it's time to feed His Majesty.

You know, Ellen was adopted.

He saved my life, Eddie.

I met Charles.

And one night I called him over

just to pass the time.

Then it got late and he stayed.

- But he didn't come on with me.

- I can't figure him out.

Three or four times a week

he'd stay here, sleep on that sofa.

- He never-?

- Not once.

Then one day, I said to myself-

Big discovery.

- "Gwen, you've got half

of something that works. "

- He knew you were seeing other men?

- I used to tell him who, when.

What happens when you have a date?

He stays here, minds the kid.

He's crazy about the kid.

- If you stay out all night?

- He knows what to do.

- What if you wanna bring someone here?

- You saw.

- What's the matter with him?

- Nothing.

What's he figure?

That he'll end up with me and he's right.

I need someone like him,

someone who's there.

And I need someone else

from time to time.

The way a man does.

A girl isn't supposed

to think that way, I know.

And I'd like to find it all in one person.

There's no such animal.

The fact is, there's something

about a bastard.

Like they say,

it's always the trombone player.

The one who turns you on

is the one who does you in.

But I'll never risk everything again...

...on somebody like you.

Charles?

I'm in here, Charles.

But, Charles...

...I'm with someone and I wish

you wouldn't come in here now.

All right, Gwen.

I'm going.

I'll call you later.

Calling Dr. Shapiro. Calling Dr. Shapiro.

Pick up, please.

- What are you whispering about?

- Looks like you've been up all night.

You hit it right on the head.

Aren't you a long ways from home?

If you insist on putting a match

to all I've built for 20 years...

...I'm damn well gonna be here too.

- Brought him some cigars.

- Cigars?

What he needs

is a good swift kick in the ass.

When I came in this morning,

he was all dressed and ready to go.

Little bag all packed.

Said you were coming in a taxi.

When I told him he couldn't go, he took

exception. I had to give him a shot.

- I'll show it to him.

- No, we'll tell him.

- You get him.

- Okay.

My mother and father,

after all these years...

Well, that's the way life ends sometimes.

All the hostilities and suspicions

we feel every day, we hold them down.

But they always come out.

Forgot my keys.

Here. That's all right, Mom.

I'll get in through the cellar.

Eddie, look, you can see that they can't

ever live together in this house again.

You don't agree?

Appreciate your check by return mail.

Yours truly, Sam Arness.

Oh, is that all you got? That's all?

Evangelos!

Evangelos!

Go down delicatessen.

Bring half-pound ham, half-pound tongue,

half-pound Swiss cheese.

He's gone to sleep, Sam.

For the last two years while he's been

hitting and cursing her, where were you?

Every time I look at this house,

I could kill him. I could kill Michael.

Four spades, double.

Do you realize your mother spent 40 years

in that house slaving for that monster?

- Shut up! I tell you-

- Hey. Hey.

She's your wife, now keep her mouth-

I just have to get a few things.

Come here.

Why do you make me do that?

Why did you do that?

I was about to hit her with my fist.

Look, darling, Gloria realizes that you're

not exactly rational at the moment.

Eddie, darling.

Let's go in there where it's quiet.

Remember, Eddie? In there?

It was the first time, wasn't it?

Remember?

There's only one thing

I ever wanted, Florence.

I wanna be a writer.

Oh, baby, you can be anything.

Anything you choose to be.

Well, when I told Dr. Leibman that you

didn't like the person you were...

...he said that was the cause

of most of the unhappiness in the world.

And that you were right, it was time for

you to accept that you are what you are.

Eddie, look.

- What are you thinking?

- Don't you think my father...

...has a right to live the rest of his life

as irrational as he wants?

- On his own terms.

- Yes, but, Eddie...

...you cannot put your father

and your mother in the same house again.

- So, what are your plans?

- I want you to come home...

...with me on the next plane

and I want you to work with Dr. Leibman.

You know what you can do

with Dr. Leibman.

Thanks a lot, but no, thanks.

Baby, you need help

and I need your help.

- I haven't said anything yet about Ellen.

- Changing the subject.

She's in New York.

She hasn't gone back to school.

She needs a father, Eddie.

And Dr. Leibman, he's pretty smart.

He says you can adopt a child but there's

a time when the child has to adopt you.

What are you and Gloria

planning about my father?

We have no plans. Have you?

Yes.

Florence, I'm gonna have him

live with me.

- Eddie, it- It just wouldn't work.

- Why not?

- If you were yourself, you'd see that.

- Obviously, I'm not myself.

- He needs constant care.

- I'll give it to him.

Oh, Eddie, let's face it. He's a different

kind of person than we are.

Florence.

He's my father.

What the hell is all this sudden pretense

that you care about him?

- You'd like to kill him.

- Dr. Leibman speaking.

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