The Keeping Hours Page #4

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You're chopped

monkey guts.

You're chopped

mealy worms.

You're chopped

orc brains.

She has the other kids now.

Yeah, she does.

But she loves you.

Very much.

She loves you, too.

She just forgot.

[thunder rumbling]

[Emma] Elizabeth?

I can't sleep.

Let's get you in here.

Is Daddy home?

He'll be home soon.

OK?

You wanna see

what I was looking at?

Yes.

Ready?

Here it is.

Here.

[Emma] Is this from

your other wedding?

[Elizabeth]

Mm-hmm. There's me.

That's the decoration.

- Is that the man who came to the house?

- Mm-hmm.

He was my husband.

I know.

- [Emma] Is that your son?

- Yeah, that's Jacob.

- He's cute.

- [chuckles] Yeah, he is cute.

- He looks like you.

- He does, doesn't he?

- Yeah.

- Mm.

- I look like my mom, too.

- Yes, you do.

Is that good?

[door opens]

It won't happen again,

cross my heart,

'cause I'm gonna

set two alarms now.

Stop worrying about it, Smith.

It's not a big deal.

OK, I'll talk to you later.

I love you, too. Bye.

- [drill whirs]

- Where've you been?

The paint store.

Oh, first, I slept

through the alarm

and then I took the girls to

get doughnuts and then school.

Obviously, they were late,

but, like, by a half an hour,

- so what's the big deal?

- You usually come earlier.

I got stuff, Mark,

responsibilities.

Not everybody's

blissfully unattached.

I'm sorry,

that was unnecessary.

I get it.

You have a life.

[sighs]

Sometimes I think you had

the right idea...

to just forget everything.

Seems like you got everything

you wanted, Elizabeth.

Reliable husband, two cute kids,

house that doesn't need fixing up.

You let all the cold,

hard grief pass through you

and leave space for

the happiness to grow.

So you read my book?

Yeah.

I read it.

I used to read

everything you wrote.

I remember. I just didn't think

you'd wanna read it.

Yeah, I wanted to know.

Know what?

How you got through it.

Well... [chuckles]

Don't believe

everything you read.

Any part in particular?

I don't know.

All of it, maybe.

I thought I had

gotten through it, but...

[laughs awkwardly]

That book is just a lie

that I told myself,

and I wrote it down,

and I told it to everybody else.

That's disappointing.

Here I thought

you had everything figured out.

[laughs] Well...

No. [laughs]

Nope.

You deserve to be happy.

- [thud]

- [Jacob] Mom!

He hit his head on the window.

He's broken.

Do you think it hurt?

No. I think it happened

really fast.

What do you think?

It didn't hurt.

We have to have

a funeral.

God bless this bird.

She was so good

at flying...

except for today.

- [both chuckle softly]

- She'll miss migrating south

and laying eggs.

We're really sad to see her go.

Thanks for everything.

Um...

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

[Amy] Mark?

- Hey.

- Hi.

Hi, I'm Amy.

We haven't officially met.

- Hi.

- Um, I know this is a total imposition,

but is there any way

you can watch Dash?

My sitter just called and

she's got food poisoning,

and I tried to find somebody at

the hospital to cover my shift,

but I couldn't.

Um... I promise,

I will make it up to you.

- Yeah, sure.

- Thank you!

- [Dash] I'm coming over.

- [Amy] Thank you so much.

- [Mark] What's up, buddy?

- Well, my pole broke

when I was trying to

use it as a catapult.

- Yeah, I see that.

- [Amy] You got him?

- Come here, chief. Hey.

- Yeah.

Fixed it pretty good with super

glue and duct tape, though.

Yeah, it's all right.

[Elizabeth] Do you think

he's a crust or a no-crust guy?

- No crust.

- Yeah.

I want-I want to play.

I'll play with you.

Do you wanna go upstairs

and play in your fort?

I wanna play outside

with Daddy... and Dash.

[Mark] When you're fishing

you just gotta go like this.

- Kind of shoot it like that.

- [reel buzzing]

[whimpers]

[exhales] Jacob.

Jacob.

- [Jacob, muffled] I don't wanna go yet.

- Jacob?

I wanna play with Daddy, too.

- [buzzes]

- Ow.

Jacob.

Jacob, what's happening?

Jacob,

who are you talking to?

Her.

- [Elizabeth screams]

- [Jacob] Daddy!

Liz?

Jake, what happened?

- Mommy fell.

- Hey.

Hey, are you OK?

Are you all right?

- Someone was here.

- What?

Someone was here.

- I don't see anything.

- She was right...

It was...

It was right there.

You all right?

Liz, look at me.

- Hmm.

- Are you OK?

- [mellow music playing]

- [dishes clinking]

- [sighs]

- Beat it.

- Let me do the rest.

- I can do it.

No. Go sit down.

I'll dry.

[radio station changes]

["The First Time Ever I Saw Your

Face" by Roberta Flack playing]

I thought the sun

Rose in your eyes

- And the moon

- [laughs]

And the stars

What? I'm so good.

I'm good.

Yeah.

Yeah, you still got it.

[laughs]

[song continues]

And the endless skies

And the first time

Ever I kissed

your mouth

I felt the earth

Move in my hands

- [door opens]

- [Amy] Knock, knock.

- Hi, sorry, I, um...

- Hi.

I tried the front door,

no one answered, so I just...

That's OK.

That's good.

I'm really sorry.

You know, oh, Dash is, he's

sleeping on the couch in here.

Oh, OK. Thanks.

Sorry. I owe you one.

It's fine.

At my command

Whoooo.

Hey, buddy,

can I ask you something?

Your mom saw someone

in the house today.

Did you see it, too?

Monkey, was someone

in the house today?

Not just today.

I don't know what

you want from me.

I told you

to send him back.

But did you do that?

No.

Instead,

you're playing house with him.

No, I did what

you told me to do.

I asked him why he was here,

I asked him what he wanted.

- He won't answer me.

- I don't wanna hand out parenting tips,

but even I know you gotta ask

a five-year-old, like, 15 times

before you get an answer. How hard are you

really trying to send him on his way?

What if he wants to stay?

You want him to stay.

Is it possible to close

whatever door he's opened?

Yeah.

Let him go.

Send him back.

That's how you

close the door.

Mark, why are there two dogs

tied up on the porch?

- You must be the ex. I'm Janice.

- Hi.

She lives in the neighborhood.

She's a dog walker.

- [Elizabeth] Oh.

- I'm more of a medium, actually.

Spiritual advisement and such, the

dog walking thing is on the side.

Mark told me about your visitor.

No offense, but that's really

none of your business.

I'm so sorry about

your little boy.

And I know it must feel like a miracle

just to lay eyes on him again,

but just so you know,

you can't keep him here.

- Please leave.

- This world is for the living...

Get out of my house now!

Uh, you know

where to find me.

- You wanna send him away?

- No, I don't.

- I'm just...

- Where is he?

Jacob!

Jacob.

Jacob! Answer me!

Look, Mommy.

I have my sand castle bucket.

I see that.

Can we go to the beach?

I don't know if you can.

Last one to the car

is a rotten egg!

What are we waiting for?

Let's go.

Yay! We're at the beach!

I wanna build

a giant sand castle,

as tall as the sky!

[Elizabeth laughs]

[indistinct chatter]

[laughing]

[shrieks]

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