The Center of the World Page #2

That's cold.

Oh, my God.

Oooh!

Aaah!

Aah!

Do you want me to stop?

I'm okay.

No, stop, stop, stop, stop.

Six days away from the I.P.O.,

okay? Mm-Hmm.

You gotta keep it together. I know.

This is what we talked about a year ago.

You're a rock star.

You raised this money. You had the best

"B" to "B" concept in the world. All right?

Okay. This is serious cash.

Right. Don't burn yourself out

on quake and playing stocks.

Okay. I need you to be

together for Tuesday.

Okay. Come in early.

How early?

Like before lunch.

Thank you.

Florence, you up?

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Why? What time is it?

I ordered up some coffee. You want some?

Um, yeah.

Just - just give me five minutes, okay?

Okay.

I worked parttime at Wal-Mart.

Went to college.

Mm. What'd you study?

Quantum physics.

Wow. Really?

Yeah.

You know, black holes and big bangs.

Yeah, I know. Seriously?

No.

Come on. What'd you really study?

Doesn't matter. I didn't finish.

- You know what I studied?

- What?

Computer science.

Really?

No.

I did work as a locksmith...

When I first came to L.A.

What do you mean, cutting keys and installing

locks? I was a locked car specialist.

Can't you just use a coat hanger for that?

Yeah, you can.

But only if the car was built before 1982.

Some of these new lock systems are so complicated

I had to take a special training course.

They have all these tools,

like the swan key. It's like a bird.

That's a pretty strange job

for a girl, isn't it?

Actually, it's mostly women that do it.

I mean, the company likes to hire women

because they don't panic the way men do.

They can handle the pressure.

What pressure?

Think about it. No,

usually there's nobody in the car.

But sometimes people get locked

in their cars,

And people get really freaked out

when they're locked in a small space.

Okay, but can't you just

open the lock from the inside?

Well, what about a dog?

Can a dog unlock a door?

One time I had to get

this poodle out of a Mercedes.

And it was during this heat

wave a couple years ago.

And this woman kept screaming

at me that Winston was gonna die.

The dog's name was Winston Churchill.

It was a really tricky lock,

and I was working on it.

And she - She kept grabbing on to

my arm and telling me to hurry up.

I wanted to punch her.

One time... I arrived

at this car early in the morning,

And there was a man trapped inside-

An old man.

He'd been in there all night.

He had Alzheimer's.

He thought it was Chicago

and it was 1932. God.

When I finally got him out, he was so

dehydrated he had to drink six glasses of water.

The scariest one

- There was this time I was driving...

Home, actually.

I don't think I was working. And I came

across this accident that had just happened.

There was nobody there.

So I called 911,

And I went over to the car wreck...

And there was this woman

trapped in the car.

But I didn't wanna leave her in the car,

you know. She was unconscious.

I couldn't tell... if she was really

badly hurt or what was going on.

And I started to work on the lock

to try and get her out.

It was just her and I, and I kept

looking at her through the glass thinking,

I could save her life.

You have the bad gun again.

Just keep moving. No.

Keep going. Okay. Okay.

Don't back away. But if you die,

aren't you just dead?

I mean, how can you keep going

if you can die?

Just try and pick up

that big gun because-

- I didn't know that.

- You've got it again.

But I didn't pick it up.

It just - Aaah!

Oh, my God! I killed him!

No, that was you.

No, no, no, I was doing so good.

Hold on, hold on.

You were doing okay. You're pretty good,

actually. Seriously, you're pretty good.

No, I know. I'm really good. No,

for a beginner you're pretty good.

For like the first time - here,

you should let me help you.

You should let me help you.

You should let me help you. No. No.

Let me take - let me-

Come in.

Hey. Hey.

I'm going out for a couple of hours,

so I'll see you later, all right?

Where you going? I'm going to

visit an old friend of mine, Jerri.

I didn't know you had a friend here.

Mm-Hmm.

What does he do? She -

She's a dealer at Caesar's Palace.

Oh.

Wait.

Can I come?

Check out my little guy, right?

Oh, my god!

That's my son Jacob.

Oh.

He's so big. He's almost five.

Can you believe it?

No.

I'm telling you, he is so smart.

Let me see. Yeah, he's brilliant.

Know all the moms say that and everything

but I'm telling you he is.

Is he still with your mom?

Yeah, I - I'm gonna go

see him the day after tomorrow.

So, I saw this movie the other night

on cable -This black and white movie.

I'm telling you, it totally got me.

There's this guy, he's in a

hospital during, like, some war.

And he can't remember who he is.

And he meets this girl and they fall in

love and it's all really great, right?

They get married.

Everything is fabulous.

He has to go to this other town

for a job interview. Mmm!

And he's walking across the street,

he gets hit by a car.

And he's a lord. Yeah, he- Yeah-

He wakes up the person he was, which is,

like, a lord or something.

And he can't remember

who he is now. Ronald Coleman and...

Greer Garson.

Um, she's his secretary? And-and-

And she never tells him! Exactly.

For 15 years- for 15 f***ing years

she never says anything.

No, it's unbelievable. You

feel like maybe- I don't know-

Maybe love never dies.

Maybe love never does.

Ring, ring.

Oh, should you get it?

Maybe you should get it. Shh.

Ring, ring.

She doesn't know you're here.

- Hello?

- Hello, Richard?

Oh, hang on one second. I'll get him.

Uh, hey, how's it goin'?

Richard, is that you?

Can I conference in?

I feel left out. Yes, it is.

I have a banana and everything. Yes,

it is, Florence.

What are you doing?

I don't know. I'm just hanging out with my friend here.

Who are you with?

No one.

Um-Who are you with?

Do you wanna come over and play?

You've gotta go eat.

You've gotta go eat?

Eat everything.

This is the only town in the world where...

The breakfast get bigger billing

than the entertainers.

Down the strip a little bit you're gonna

see "steak and eggs," eight-Foot letters.

And underneath,

"in the lounge, I'm really hungry.

Frank Sinatra, jr.

And his orchestra. "

Little tiny letters.

You gotta have glasses to read 'em.

Richard?

Brian. I heard you went AWOL on Pete.

Yeah, I know. I know. Um-

This is Florence.

Um, Brian.

Brian. Pivano.

Pleased to meet you, mr. Pivano.

It's nice to meet you, miss-

Tremain.

Florence Abigail Tremain.

- My friends call me Abby.

- I guess he's not a friend, huh?

Richard is a man of discretion.

We are business partners, after all.

He would never presume to take liberties.

You wanna have a seat?

Yeah.

Yeah, we've been working together

for- What is it-

Like... eight months or something?

Nine months, Richard.

Nine months.

Brian and I went to college together.

Where you working now?

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