The Family Fang Page #8

Just my finger.

- Oh.

- Bang, bang.

[laughs]

You got me.

Annie, I haven't seen you

since you were a little thing.

I watched all your movies,

though.

And you too, Baxter.

Those books are terrific.

Thank you.

Well, not that second one.

That was...

- Not for you?

But the first one,

that was very good.

- Thank you.

Yeah, the second one...

The second one was...

that was a challenge.

Third one's going

to be good, though.

[laughs]

So I read about

your parents.

Awful story.

Think they're really dead?

- I think it's very possible.

- No, no, no. I don't.

I think you're helping them.

Is that why you're here?

You're the only one

who believes in them enough

to not tell anyone else, so...

They love you.

[laughs]

They most certainly do not.

We had a falling out

years ago.

- Really?

- Is that right?

Mm-hmm.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Well, what was it about?

[sighs]

It's not my place to say.

Can I offer you

a little advice?

Sure.

Stop looking for them.

It was a bad idea,

tangling up family and art.

It...

But maybe you're free

of that now.

You need to stop

thinking of this as a slight

and start thinking of it

as a gift.

Yeah.

A gift.

[brakes squeal]

I know I shouldn't.

What is this?

They were lost

after you left.

The work suffered terribly.

So a few years back,

I offered to finance

a documentary on them,

to celebrate

what you'd all done.

But also to close

that chapter

so they could move on

to something new.

A documentary.

- Yeah. It was a...

it was a terrible idea.

We never released it,

obviously.

But you asked about

the falling out.

Tell me, did you ever think

that what you were doing

might have an adverse affect

on the children?

- No. Children are

amazingly resilient.

When my cousin Jeffrey was 2,

he got stuck in a well

for three days.

And now he's got a family

and he sells vinyl siding.

So there you go.

And when did you decide

that you wanted to use them

in the work?

"A" was a baby.

And, to be honest,

after she was born I was...

Well, I was miserable.

I thought, "This is the end

of our life."

- As artists.

- Obviously as artists,

because... and I've heard this

over again,

children kill art.

They just do.

You have them,

and the passion you had

for creative expression

becomes secondary.

Some people believe that.

I went into

a terrible funk,

but then the most wonderful

thing happened.

Near Christmas, we took the baby

to see Santa at the mall.

- It was my idea.

I thought it'd be cute.

- We grabbed the camera.

We go down there.

And I put A

on this rancid hobo's lap.

And she, of course, screams,

but in a way I'd never heard.

It was like something conjured

by the dark arts,

like a horde of demons were

going to fly out of her mouth.

And poor Santa's

trying to shake her loose.

The elves go running

for the break room.

Families grab their children,

run from the line.

It was pandemonium,

and an epiphany for me.

I thought, children don't have

to kill art.

Not if they are the art.

[no audio]

For the first time

I thought,

"Hey...

I think I want kids."

- [laughs]

Jesus.

Don't say that.

- It's true.

Um, you know,

I don't want that in there.

- Why?

- I want that whole

last section cut.

- Why? That was great.

- What he said about the kids.

- That was great stuff.

No, Hobart, no.

- What? But...

- No, if you put that in there,

I swear I'm not coming back.

- Come on, where are you going?

- I'm done with this.

No, not unless

you promise me.

If we're going

to tell the story

don't we have to tell

the real story?

- Baxter.

- Hmm?

I know how to find them.

- Annie, it's late.

Go to bed.

- No, no, no, no.

Mom's paintings.

We do this gallery show.

We call it "The Hidden Art

of Camille Fang,"

and we promote it

like a memorial,

and then Caleb

will come out of hiding.

He will be incensed.

He will rail against it.

What do you think of that?

What do you think?

- Please, come on.

I think you're drunk. Come on.

- I'm not drunk.

- I can smell it.

- No, I've had a drink.

I'm not drunk.

Turn off that goddamn light

right now and go to bed, Annie.

Stop watching that

f***ing documentary.

I have a friend

who has a gallery.

- You sound like an idiot.

I'm finished with this.

I'm all done.

I'm done helping you

with this search.

I'm done with the road trips

and the corkboard.

I'm doing all this

because I'm your brother, Annie,

and I love you, and I think that

you might need all this stuff

to help you get through

all this stuff with Mom and Dad.

But I'm starting to think

that you're just avoiding it.

- Avoiding what?

- I think you're just

avoiding the truth.

Come on.

[sighs]

And if they're not dead,

they want everyone

to think that they are,

including their own kids.

So if we find them,

what difference does it make?

You can't say

anything to them

to make them change

who they are.

You don't know that.

- Yes, I do.

And for some reason,

you've got some crazy idea

in your head

that suddenly they're going

to stop being who they are.

And they're going to stop

doing the things that they do,

and being the people

that they are, Annie.

That they're going to suddenly

become these normal parents,

and it's going to help you fix

all of your... stuff.

It's just not

going to happen.

We can't fix them.

We can only

fix ourselves.

Can we, though?

Yeah.

I think we can.

And moving on

is the start.

You think they're dead,

don't you?

You thought it

the whole time.

I don't know.

If they're dead,

it's horrible.

But if they're not dead...

it's kind of worse.

In a lot of different ways.

[sighs]

So either way,

I just think they're gone,

you know?

[somber piano music]

[no audio]

[classical piano music]

Hi.

Find anything

you like yet?

I got my eye

on a couple of things.

Yeah?

What's this music?

Oh, this is...

I don't know.

Something from my parents'

collection.

If you like it,

I can get you a deal.

What about...

what about this?

What about this instead?

That you can have.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Annie won't mind?

No, it's mine.

I won that.

- Even better. Even better.

- I'm giving it to you.

- How do I look?

- You look good.

- [laughs]

- Try it on. I bet it fits you.

- Yeah.

- Come on.

- Through here.

- Hang on a second.

- Hang on a second.

- Kill, kill

Kill all parents

kill all parents

Kill all parents

Kill all parents,

kill all parents

Hey, Annie?

Kill all parents

so you can keep living

Kill all parents

- Kill all parents

- Do you hear that?

Kill all parents,

kill, kill

- That sound familiar?

- Yeah.

Kill all parents,

kill all parents

Sure is.

Kill all parents,

kill, kill

[music stops]

- "The Vengeful Virgins"?

What...

Song four.

"K.A.P. Kill All Parents."

- Is everything okay?

- Let me see that.

"Kill All Parents"

is a Fang song.

Annie and I sang this

in a piece as kids.

Annie wrote this song.

Didn't see sing this

at Central Park?

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