The Belly of an Architect Page #5

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When I first saw you, Stourley...

at the Pantheon dinner eight months ago...

you reminded me of this painting.

Andrea Doria.

He had a belly, | and wasn't shy about showing it.

He always fascinated me.

And you, Stourley, | have proved to be just as fascinating.

I can't paint.

But I can take a photograph.

Well.

You have now made it plain...

that what is good for the goose, | is good for the philanderer.

An English proverb?

Philanderer? That's very funny | coming from you.

Your wife is very beautiful, | Signor Kracklite...

especially when she is pregnant.

Yes, that's right. She is pregnant. | But not with your child, Speckler.

True. I'm very grateful to you for that.

Your child, shall we say...

is the most perfect contraceptive.

Don't get your blood on my white towel.

I take it that you will now give Louisa...

as much freedom as you've taken yourself.

One hardly can give | what has already been taken.

Nonetheless, I'm sure | you don't want her to know.

There are enough stomachs here | to have many illnesses.

What about the ones in the camera?

Well?

So how is the exhibition progressing?

Are you still in full control of things?

Don't you think you should | hand over the reins to somebody else?

Is that what this is?

This is a setup? | You're trying to blackmail me?

You think I would turn over | the exhibition to you...

just to keep my wife from knowing | I tried to screw your sister?

Thank you, Stourley, for the compliment.

But don't worry. | Caspasian is always overreaching himself.

If you want a really serious quarrel...

I'm sorry, but there is no film in the camera.

Well, we've done it. Kracklite is finished.

He's looking a mess. He's grotesque.

Trettorio says he won't last till August.

And I've got another 16 million | from the publicity account.

And the cupola will never be finished...

because Kracklite says | he wants the olden color.

"My architect Boulle | knew more about color...

"than Leonardo da Vinci.

"And more about publicity | than Michelangelo Buonarroti.

"And more about making love | than Casanova."

Kracklite, we've got to see you.

The bank has stopped the cash flow.

It looks as though | the bankers have found out...

that you are a sick man.

They want you | to have a medical examination.

I'm not a sick man!

I just had one.

Caspetti has asked...

that Caspasian should be made | the director of the exhibition.

He what?

He thinks that the exhibition | is too academic.

He thinks you've got | too many domestic problems.

What the hell | has that got to do with anything?

He thinks that Caspasian | will give the exhibition...

a more Roman and optimistic bias.

Optimistic. Is that | what the laser beams are for?

Caspasian's optimism?

Over my dead body!

Not a bad prognosis.

What was that? What?

-I'm just as healthy as you are. | -Stourley, you know that's not true.

Are you going to punch me | on the nose again?

Your friend, Caspetti...

he was against Boulle right from the start.

Said he reminded him of Hell. | I'll give him hell.

Kracklite, I'm afraid | that they've put up an ultimatum.

We need another 300 million lire.

But the bank thinks you are unreliable.

You have to resign | if you want the exhibition to go on.

We can't let it collapse now.

You're damn right we can't.

Let Caspetti believe Caspasian is in charge.

No!

-No, I can't do that. | -Stourley, I don't think we have a choice.

Look, I'll think of something.

Don't be absurd. We open in 1 2 days.

Where the hell is Caspasian anyway?

He should be here to deal with this.

He's the one who's been spending | all the goddamn money.

Yeah, he's been behind this all along. | That bastard son of yours.

He's determined to get his hands on | this exhibition right from the start.

-Where is he? | -He's not here. He's out.

He's out? He's out where?

Raising funds.

I'll bet he's not raising funds for Boulle.

-You're right. | -Then what for?

-Some restoration work. | -Where? Doing what?

Restoring Mussolini's Foro ltalica.

So that's where all the money | has been going?

I've been subsidizing | that goddamn fascist playground!

Kracklite, you can't say that.

And you certainly couldn't prove it.

Don't you think Boulle | would have applauded...

such a visionary piece | of architectural theater?

Why isn't Caspasian | raising money for Boulle?

Look. Take a look.

If they could do it to Battistino, | one of their own, they could do it to me.

And I'm not faking.

-So you admit you're ill? | -lll?

Christ, I'm sick as a dog.

But I'm still tough enough to take you on.

And Pastarri! And Caspetti!

And Caspasian, and all the rest of you.

I'll get that money.

I'll get that goddamn money, | if I have to steal it.

-Where the hell have you been? | -Wouldn't you like to know?

As if you cared.

That's all right, we'll keep it all in the family.

What is that supposed to mean?

It means that we've seen the same doctor...

and the same photographer, haven't we?

And not with the same complaint.

Though you might as well. | Your stomach's almost as big as mine.

I made some decisions.

I'm gonna mortgage the house in Chicago.

Oh, really? What for?

It's my house.

You built it for me, don't you remember?

With its wide-open, drafty spaces...

and its rounded corners | where you can't fit any furniture.

I'm gonna change the beneficiaries | of the trust fund.

-Oh, no, you don't. | -I need $200,000 right away.

Caspasian could get that sort of money | by snapping his fingers.

Snapping his fingers?

I'd like to snap his neck.

He's snapped you up very quickly, | hasn't he?

Well, he's not gonna snap up my exhibition.

I'll tell you something else.

-I'm gonna change my will. | -What will?

I refuse to let my exhibition | slip through my fingers...

if it's the last thing I ever do.

And it will be, the way that you're going.

You're not gonna ruin my child's future...

for the sake of | another unfinished Kracklite fiasco.

Our child!

Or do you even care who the father is?

-No! | -No, of course not!

I'll tell you something else. | Our child is gonna be born in America.

He is?

As soon as this exhibition is opened...

-we're going home. | -We are?

I like the idea of him being born in ltaly.

I think I'll call him Luigi.

I was sure | you were gonna call him Caspasian.

What makes you think it's a boy?

By the shape of my stomach...

that you haven't even looked at | in the last four months.

And who told you that? | Let me see if I can guess.

That great medical architect, | Caspasian Speckler.

As a matter of fact, his sister.

His sister? | All the Specklers have studied gynecology?

You're the one | with the obsessional interest in stomachs.

Masculine stomachs.

Are you going off women completely?

Well, if you have, here's something | to remind you what they look like!

This is awful.

-These are obscene! | -Are they?

Jesus, displaying yourself like this!

It's for art, Kracklite.

Everything's permissible for art.

Look at our marriage:

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