The Last Flight Page #4

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I know.

But why doesn't he go home?

Well, he's not ready to go home.

What could he do

if he went home?

Have people cry

over his hands?

Well, it seems

- a pity to go on like this.

He's such a sweet soul.

One of the best.

Isn't he just sort of

wasting himself?

On the contrary.

He's trying awfully hard

to get hold of himself.

Now, listen.

If you tag along, for heaven's sake,

be careful what you say.

Don't start getting sorry for him

and don't cry over him.

And, above all, don't make any

unfortunate remarks, hear?

Oh, I won't. Why, who ever heard of

such a thing?

Cary?! Cary?

I'm coming with you.

Oooh!

Ooh, wait for Nikki!

Wait for Nikki!

What are you changing

your shoes for?

On account of I can walk faster

in red shoes.

Restez ici.

Perhaps we'd better stay here

a while till it clears up.

Could we sit down here,

do you suppose?

I think so.

Would you like something

to drink?

What should I drink now,

do you suppose?

Deux picon citrons.

Picon citrons?

Very refreshing.

Make you laugh and play.

That's what you always promise.

Cary, why does Shep Lambert

go on drinking so desperately?

Don't we all?

- Not like Shep.

Well, Shep has that tic

under his eye, you know.

Takes a lot of drinks

to keep that quiet.

But isn't there some kind of

treatment or something?

Shep could never stand a long

course of treatment.

Drinking's the only corrective

so far as he's concerned.

He's found out the tic doesn't work

when he's tight.

So he stays tight.

Seems such a pity.

How did he get the tic?

In the war.

I know. But how?

Well, it's not very romantic.

Well, don't tell me

if you don't want to.

You see,

a tic is a nervous habit.

Yes?

Lice under his bandages.

Oh.

He had the devil of a time.

He nearly lost his mind.

So you'll have to

excuse him a little.

I'm so sorry for Shep.

Well, don't let him know it.

Well, isn't he going home?

Not ever?

Not ever.

Not in his dark glasses

anyway.

Can't something be done for him?

He'll have to be - reborn.

How's he going to end?

Well, how are you going to end?

How am I going to end?

How is ANYONE going to end?

How's your picon citron go?

It goes fine.

But doesn't ANYTHING

make any difference to you?

Not now.

A long time ago, perhaps,

when I was a little boy

Tell me, where were you little?

In Minnesota.

On a farm.

Were you happy then, Cary?

I think so.

Tell me, what WAS there to be happy

about on a farm in Minnesota?

Ohhh, thorn-apple trees

in blossom.

The smell of burning leaves

in the fall.

The sound of horses' hoofs

on the road.

Did you ever dig up an Indian mound

or uncover a nest of baby field mice?

Or explore old trunks

in an attic?

Listen to the moaning of the

telephone wires in the winter wind?

See a gypsy caravan?

So THAT'S why you were happy.

On account of apple blossoms

and field mice and telephone wires

and gypsy caravans

and old trunks and things?

That's right.

But aren't you going back?

Not ever?

Would you like another

picon citron before you go?

The rain is lifting.

No.

I'm ready now.

Who all is buried here?

Oh, poets, painters, philosophers,

- Cocoanut?

No cocoanut. Poets, painters,

philosophers, musicians.

There's Chopin.

Oh, I practiced him.

And there's Balzac.

And there's Heloise and Abelard.

Oh, tell me about Abelise and

Eloard.

No, Nikki. Not Abelise and Eloard.

Heloise and Abelard.

I'm sorry.

I really didn't do it on purpose.

It was on account of the

picon citron.

Tell me about Heloise

and Abelard.

Well, they're buried here in the

same sepulchre side by side.

Why are they buried side by side?

They were the world's

most famous lovers.

There's the tomb.

Tell me about the world's

most famous lovers.

Well, Abelard was a scholastic

philosopher -

Whatever that is.

- Whatever that is.

He gained a footing in a certain household

as tutor to a maiden called Heloise.

And employed his unlimited opportunities

for the purpose of -

Well, betrayal.

Not, however,

unmixed with real love.

He carried

her off to Brittany.

Tell me more.

Well, her uncle was furious.

He blamed Abelard

for the whole thing.

He conceived a terrible revenge.

I'm afraid for Abelard.

He broke into Abelard's

apartment one night

and perpetrated upon him

the most brutal punishment.

Oh, dear.

The lovers were forced to

live their lives apart.

But when they died,

they were buried here side by side.

There's a story that

little heart-shaped stones

are supposed to grow

around the tomb.

Heart-shaped stones?

And lovers come and find them and

exchange them with each other.

And, so long as you keep the stone

from the tomb of Heloise and Abelard,

no harm can come to your true love.

How perfectly beautiful.

Isn't that a quaint legend?

Do you think I might find

a heart-shaped stone?

You help me, Cary.

All right, Nikki.

Only we have to leave soon.

They close up the place.

Just as soon as we find our stones.

I found one!

Where's yours?

And, now, you take mine.

And I'll take yours.

Isn't that the way the story goes?

That's right, Nikki.

And, now, no harm can come

to our true love.

And, now, we'll have to go.

You were so nice to let me

come with you.

And I spoiled your whole day.

You were going to do something else,

weren't you?

Doesn't matter.

Well, what was it, Cary?

Why did you come here today?

To pay my respects

to an old comrade.

Oh. And you wanted to be alone.

I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Don't pay any attention to me, Cary.

I can't help it.

You MAKE me cry.

Oh, don't look so troubled, Cary.

I'm all right.

I just want to cry for a minute.

On account of you're so nice.

You're so clean, Cary.

And your teeth are so white.

You're so civilized.

You don't care about anything any more,

nor anybody.

Nothing makes any difference to you.

Nothing can touch you.

Why, you're lost.

You're ALL lost.

You and Shep and the rest of you.

Oh, I want to do something for you.

I want to help you.

Let me wash your bracelet, Cary.

Why, see?

The silver's all tarnished.

The silver's all tarnished.

I'll take it with me and scrub it

when I get home.

I'll polish it

with my nail-brush.

It's getting dark.

Well...

Anyway, we found a name

for my turtles!

Heloise and Abelard?

A name for your turtles?

So that's what you

were looking for.

I might have known

how it would end.

Hi, Nik.

Hello.

Cary's in a state.

Says he's going away.

Can't stand it any longer

and all that sort of thing.

What happened

between you two, anyway?

Cary seemed so sad

and everything -

on account of I'd taken up

his whole afternoon.

So little Nikki said,

all merry and bright,

"Well, anyway, we'd found

a name for my turtles".

Found a name for the turtles

That's funny!

Name for the turtles!

That's so funny, all right!

Why do you always HAVE to be funny

at the wrong time?

Didn't I tell you

Cary was brittle?

How did he respond

to THAT line?

Pulled down the iron curtain.

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