The Man from Earth Page #5

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Yes, uh, well.

People do go around armed these days.

If I shot you, John--

You're immortal?

Would you survive this?

I never said I was immortal, just old.

I might die.

And then you could wonder

The rest of your incarcerated

life what you shot.

Well, uh, may I?

( Sighs )

Preferable to a gun.

Will, that was a bit much.

Ooh. Books.

Doctorates.

Yes, you have grown and changed.

But there is always innate nature.

Wouldn't you be more comfortable

Squatting in the backyard?

Sometimes I do, will.

Look up at the stars.

Wonder.

And what did primitive man make of them?

A great mystery.

There were gods up there then.

Shamans who knew about them told us.

They still do.

Have you ever wished it would end?

No.

Fourteen thousand years.

Injuries, illness, disasters.

You've survived them all.

You're a very lucky man.

( Knocks )

Come in.

John Oldman?

Yes.

Charity now. We're here

to pick up the furniture.

It's all yours.

Here, take this chair.

I'm gonna go drink in the corner.

You're, uh... you're donating it?

Everything?

I'll get more.

Do you always travel this light?

It's the only way to move.

Oh, you--

You've talked a good deal

About your extraordinary

amount of living.

What do you think of dying, John?

Do you fear death?

Who wouldn't?

How did primitive man regard death?

Well, we had the practical concept.

You know, we stopped,

Fell down, didn't get up,

Started to smell bad, come apart.

Injuries we

could understand--

If someone's insides

were all over the ground.

Infections...

they were, uh, mysterious.

Aging...

the biggest mystery of all.

You realized you were different.

Longer to realize how I was different,

To find a way to synthesize

My experience into a view of myself.

At first, I thought everybody had

Something wrong with them.

They got old and they

died, animals, too...

but not me.

( Coughs pointedly )

Oh, forgive me, my dear.

You live simply.

I've owned castles, but why leave a lot

If you're always leaving?

I have money.

What, you get into

at&t at 50 cents, John?

As one grows older,

The days, weeks, months

go by more quickly.

What does a day or a year

Or a century mean to you?

The birth-death cycle?

Turbulence.

I meet someone,

Learn their name, say

a word, they're gone.

Others come like waves. Rise, fall.

Ripples in a wheat

field, blown by the wind.

Do you ever get tired of it all?

I get bored now and then.

They keep making the same

stupid mistakes over and over.

Hey.

Then you see yourself

As separate from the rest of humanity.

I didn't mean it that way.

But of course...

I am.

( Chuckles )

Are you comfortable

knowing that you have lived

While everyone you knew--

Everyone you knew, John!--

Has died?

I've regretted losing people...

often.

Have you ever felt

guilt about that--

Something akin to survivor's guilt?

In the strict psychological sense?

I suppose I have.

Yeah.

But what can I do about it?

Indeed.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

Gentlemen,

I'm--

I'm gonna keep the couch.

Thanks.

Ladies? Will? Oh, no...

you've got a heart condition.

Don't grump about it.

Hey, how about changing

the subject, will?

Enough with the--

With the dying.

But this is the flip

side of his coin, Harry.

I'm very curious to know his feelings.

Would you prefer I asked

him about his father?

I thought you always started with

"Tell me about your mother."

Yes, but prehistory was

strongly patriarchal.

Surely you remember your father.

I seem to remember a figure,

Perhaps an older brother,

a social father, maybe.

Well, no matter.

I can scarcely remember mine.

Do you feel a vacancy

In your life about that, John,

Something you wish could be filled

By a face, a voice, an image?

Not at this late date.

There must be someone--

Probably many--

That you valued intensely.

Loved.

You saw them

age and die--

A friend, a colleague, a wife.

Certainly you've had wives and children?

I'd move on.

I had to move on.

Making him history's biggest bigamist.

( Chuckles softly )

Have you ever in your life thought

"It should have been me"?

Maybe.

Yeah, Art has told me

That some of your early fellows

Feared you were stealing their lives.

Have you thought that perhaps you were?

Perhaps you are!

There have always been

legends of such a thing,

A creature not quite human

Taking not the blood,

but the life force itself?

My god, will.

Unconsciously, perhaps,

By some biological or psychic mechanism

That we can only guess at.

I'm not saying you would do

such a thing deliberately.

I'm not saying that you

would even know how to...

would you?

But would such a thing be fair?

So you believe me now?

I'm only exploring what you have said.

Whether I believe it or

not is of no importance.

We will die...

you will live.

Will you come to my funeral, John?

Hey, will...

you've gone too far.

John didn't ask to be what he is.

And we did not ask to hear about it.

But if it were true,

Is there one among us

who would not feel envy,

Even perhaps a touch of hatred?

You told us of yourself, John.

Can you imagine how we feel?

I never thought of that.

Since you may not die,

While we most assuredly will...

there must be a reason for that, no?

Perhaps you are an expert.

Uh, that's it, Mr.

Oldman. Have a good one.

Thank you. You too.

Or are you a vampire, John?

Even an unknowing one.

Do you stand alive and tall

In a graveyard that you helped to fill?

That's going too far.

Bored, perhaps lonely,

because your heart

Cannot keep its treasures.

Is that what you're doing?

Have you led a wrongful life?

Well, then, perhaps...

it is time to die.

Wait a minute, now.

Look, I don't know what John is doing,

But I sure as hell don't

like what you're doing.

Give me that gun or I'm

gonna break your goddamn arm.

You sound like our football coach, Dan.

What do you think, John?

A shot to the arm?

Perhaps we could watch it heal.

A bullet in

the head--

What exactly will happen?

I have papers to correct.

As much as I dislike that job,

It'll be preferable to this.

I leave you with it.

Jesus Christ.

What the hell was that all about?

Where'd he get a gun?

He had you on the ropes, John.

Are you really so damn smart?

It's not like will.

Mary passed away yesterday.

Who?

His wife.

She had, uh, pancreatic cancer.

Will!

I didn't know about mary.

I'm sorry. I can see how

this might have hit you.

Please, permit me to

be infantile by myself.

Will, please.

( Starts car )

What the hell were you thinking, Art?

Oh, come on. Something had to be done.

I have to say I agree.

And he's our friend.

Whatever else on earth is going on,

He's our friend!

You sure about that?

Why are you being so hard on him?

One of my favorite

people has disappeared.

Can you get alzheimer's at 35?

Maybe I'm trying to wake him up.

Maybe I'm too sad to cry.

What I said about myself hurt him.

He struck

back expertly--

That stuff about stealing life forces?

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