The Family Fang Page #6

to bed early.

We're getting up early.

We're putting

our heads together

and we're going

to search for them.

And we're not going

to stop until we find them.

[dramatic music]

I can't think of anyone.

They didn't have any friends.

We're their only relatives.

Well, somebody's helping them.

- What are you doing?

What is that?

This is a corkboard.

I can't conduct an investigation

without a corkboard.

And I am pinning

all this stuff to it.

Been through

their address books,

through their e-mails.

And I haven't really found

anything that jumps out.

Don't you think we should let

the sheriff do all this?

- No, no. The sheriff isn't

looking for them.

The sheriff is looking

for murderers.

Yeah, and if we do

find them and they're alive,

what then?

What do we do?

Do we punish them?

This isn't about

punishment, Baxter.

This is about honesty.

This is about saying, "Enough.

We're done. Cut the crap.

"No more pretending.

You're not dead.

"We're not in mourning.

We're not going

to play anymore."

We're going to get on

with our lives.

We're going to be a real family

for once.

Live a real life.

- And rent a Winnebago.

You know?

Are you making fun of me?

No.

I'm doing this for us.

For all of us.

You understand that, right?

Okay.

Are you hungry?

- No. I have to stay focused.

Watch a few of these.

Stay focused.

[moans]

I do not feel comfortable

doing this.

- And it's just a bad idea.

- Have you heard,

"The show must go on"?

Well, that is what happens

when the leading man

crashes his car into a tree

on opening night.

- I have to stage manage.

- Baxter.

Coby is in the hospital

with a broken collarbone.

This is my final performance

of my senior year.

There are kissing scenes.

- I'm an actor.

I won't be kissing you.

- Yes, you will.

- I'll be kissing Romeo.

Played by your brother.

I just heard about

what happened to Coby Reed.

- We got a packed auditorium.

- It's okay.

Baxter's going

to step in.

[sighs]

Miss Delano, are you familiar

with the plot of this play?

- Baxter knows the lines, Joe.

Without him,

we don't have a play.

- Yeah, well,

with him we have incest.

All right, very well.

We will do this play.

There will be no kissing.

It's "Romeo and Juliet."

That's the deal,

Miss Fang.

- You're going to be great.

Go get dressed.

Though grant

for prayers' sake.

Then move not,

while my prayer's effect I take.

Thus from my lips, by thine,

my sin is purged.

[smooches]

[audience laughs]

Then have my lips the sin

that they have took.

Sin from thy lips?

Give me my sin again.

[audience chuckles]

You kiss by the book.

[audience laughs]

People are laughing

because of you.

You are ruining...

Good evening

to my ghostly confessor.

Romeo will thank thee,

daughter,

for us both.

[smooches]

[audience laughs]

[audience gasps]

[applause]

- No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

Bravo!

Bravo!

- You know what?

- I really appreciate that.

Best Shakespeare

I've ever seen.

B, I'm telling you,

so good.

- It was so good.

- Miss Delano.

- Get in the car.

Come on.

Quite a night, right?

I was just fired,

actually.

What?

Oh, it was worth it.

Tonight we did

what theater should do.

But it wasn't your fault.

Oh, I knew what I was

getting into.

I told your parents when

we were preparing this thing

that the best art

always leaves scorched earth

in its wake.

Scorched earth.

What do you mean?

When we were

preparing this thing?

Your parents didn't tell you?

It was their idea.

But I was honored

to be a part of it.

You might not believe it,

but I studied at my university.

I studied in the experimental

theater wing.

So your parents are just

two of the most important

avant-garde artists

of our time.

Of course,

I helped them.

Well, what about Coby Reed?

How'd you know he'd just

crash his car?

Oh, your parents

took care of him.

No, no, no, no.

Goodness, no.

They paid him $500

to drop out of the play.

The crash was just

bad luck.

Why would they

do all that?

For art, darling.

[laughs]

For art.

We're such cattle,

you know?

People need to be shaken up,

snapped out of it,

look around,

see things in a new way.

That's what we try

to do in our work,

because if you shake

something up hard enough,

it gets transformed.

It's not really about

what we do.

It's what they do.

- Yeah.

- The people watching.

Our work has an effect on them,

because we wake them up.

We bring them back to life.

- Mm-hmm.

It's a resurrection.

And not a reflection

of the human condition?

- No. You know it's not.

Who wants to see a reflection

of the human condition?

I suppose that happens

when our pieces

are shown in galleries.

"Oh, look what they did.

Look how people responded.

It's so human

and wonderful."

But that's not the art.

To me, by then,

you know, it's over.

Yeah, we really only do

gallery shows to get grants.

Mm-hmm.

The art is in the actual moment,

as it's happening.

Real people really responding.

The actual human condition,

not some artist's

version of it.

But isn't that just life?

Yes, exactly.

Not a reflection of life,

but life itself.

Art and life, life and art.

We make them interchangeable.

And both are enriched

because of it.

Do you think other art

can do that?

- No. What, painting?

Photography?

That's the opposite.

That's death.

Art happens when things

move around,

not when you freeze them

in a block of ice.

[glass shatters]

That was art.

- [laughs]

You're crazy.

This is not.

See?

- [laughs]

- Cheers.

- Right?

- That's right.

[laughs]

- Did I surprise you?

- You surprised me.

You always do, don't you?

[both laugh]

Anyway, that's what I mean.

- Hey, Baxter?

- Yeah?

The "Romeo and Juliet" thing.

That was when it all stopped

being simple, isn't it?

Well, isn't that

when you left?

- No. I left because I went

to college.

Hey, why are you getting

dressed up?

I want to look the part.

What part?

The part of someone

who gets up in front of a class

and isn't completely

petrified by it.

- You're going?

- Yeah. Is that wrong?

I just think

it's a little strange.

I mean, come on.

Making public appearances

when your parents

are missing?

Well, I need

the distraction.

Oh, Baxter.

Well, then I want to go.

I want to hear you speak.

I'm not really going

to be speaking.

I'm just going to be

answering their questions.

- I don't care.

I want to go.

All right.

I don't want you

jumping in, though, okay?

They just... they want

to hear from me.

I won't say a word.

- Good. What do you think?

What do I think?

I don't know.

Lose the ear thing.

Well, it's there

for medical reasons, but...

I think it looks

a bit...

Like I've been hurt.

Distracting.

They won't listen to your...

It's not working with this

or this, right?

- Because this is pretty tight.

- Just lose the ear thing.

So, this is Baxter Fang,

author of "House of Swans,"

which was nominated for the

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