The Normal Heart Page #3

---

My union says I don't gotta risk my life

for some contagious fairy.

If I have to go in there, then I f***ing quit.

So what exactly has your side been doing?

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(DOORBELL RINGING)

- Hi.

- Hey.

Thanks.

- You want some of this? Beer?

- Oh, beer is fine. Thanks.

Oh. Hey, pooch.

- Her name's Sam.

- Hi, Sam.

You know, I really used to like high tech.

I'm tired of it now.

I think I want chintz back again.

- Don't be insulted.

- Uh...

I'm not.

I want chintz back again, too.

- So, here we are.

- Mmm-hmm.

Two fellas who want chintz back again.

I guess this really is a date.

I'm starving.

Are you glad I'm here?

Oh, I'm pleased as punch you're here.

You're very good-looking.

What are you doing here?

- You think you're bad-looking or something?

- Mmm.

- Where you from?

- I'm from Oklahoma.

I left home at 18, put myself through...

What, you want to dance?

Put myself through college.

My dad worked at the refinery in West Tulsa,

and my mom was a waitress

in a luncheonette in Walgreens.

It's amazing, isn't it, how a kid

comes out of all that to wind up on The Times

dictating taste and style to the entire world.

And we were just starting to talk so nicely.

Talking's not my problem.

Shutting up's my problem.

(CHUCKLES)

Why do you write

all that fancy ball-gown bullshit?

I bet you gobble it up every day.

(SIGHS)

I know 10 people who have died.

When I came to you, it was only one.

I'm sorry.

Is that why you agreed to this date?

(SCOFFS)

Fork on the left,

knife on the right.

Did you know that Hitler's final solution

to eliminate the Polish Jews

was first mentioned in The Times?

It was on page 28,

on page six of The Washington Post.

They were both owned by Jews,

their very own people.

Scholars are finally writing honestly about it,

and it's damning to everyone.

Where was the Christian churches?

The Pope? Churchill? Roosevelt?

A few words from any of them

would have put Hitler on notice.

Dachau was open in 1933.

Where the f*** was everybody?

This is turning out to be

a very romantic evening.

You've never had a lover, have you?

I suppose you've had quite a few?

I had a very good one for a number of years,

thank you.

He was older than I was

and he found someone younger.

- You're looking for a father?

- No. I'm not looking for a father.

God. You're relentless.

Okay.

That's yours.

Everybody had a million reasons

for not getting involved.

The American Jews knew

- exactly what was going on.

- (LAUGHS)

Can you imagine if every Jew

had marched on Washington proudly, huh?

Ned.

You don't remember me, do you?

It was at the baths a few years ago.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANNOUNCER:
Come to Man's Country.

See what we're all about

and what we have to offer.

Man's Country is a full facility,

multi-level complex

that's designed

to feature something for everyone.

Come to Man's Country to develop your body

or a friendship with somebody else 's.

Visit us once

and you'll come again and again.

You would have thought I was applying

for the CIA the way you looked at me.

And then what happened?

FELIX:
I followed you into your room.

You couldn't even open your eyes.

You told me your real name was Alexander.

(GROANS)

I asked what you did, and you said

something like you tried a number of things,

and I asked if that included love.

That's when you said,

I have to get up early in the morning." Yeah.

Men do not naturally not love.

They learn not to.

I think you're a bluffer.

How could I not remember you?

(CHUCKLES) I don't know.

It was very dark.

Do you think we could start over?

Yeah.

(GRUNTING)

(PANTING)

(MOANING)

(PANTING)

(MOANING)

NED:
When I was going to Yale,

I thought I was the only gay guy there.

I swear to God.

I went to this shrink who tried to change me.

Now they have Gay Weeks there,

and they throw the best dances of anyone.

(LAUGHING)

Imagine being able to dance

cheek to cheek with your boyfriend

during your bright college days.

Did you ever sleep with a woman?

- Hey.

- Her name was

- Delilah.

- Delilah? (LAUGHING)

She was a stand-in on this movie I wrote.

She was very nice, pretty,

always smiling at me.

So I asked a straight friend to explain it to me.

I thought I knew,

but I just wanted to make sure.

(LAUGHING)

And I had her to dinner

and afterwards,

what I deemed to be a suitable moment,

because I'd been communicating

with it down there,

"Are you ready?

Are you absolutely certain you're ready?"

And when it appeared,

Abercrombie was ready,

I picked her up, very Rhett Butler,

and carried her to my bed.

- Where I couldn't get it up.

- Oh!

- But

- I can certainly relate to that.

In the middle of the night,

I woke up with this gigantic erection.

God knows how.

So I shake her shouting,

"Please, stick it in for me, Delilah." I was...

I was afraid it would go away before I could,

while I was hunting for the right place

to put it.

And she did and I did and Abercrombie did.

(LAUGHING)

Ugh...

The next morning, I woke up

and I, who had been under the spell of this

shrink who was determined to change me,

rushed into his office,

and I, who had been f***ing with fellows

since the seventh grade,

hysterically, at the age of 32 proclaimed,

"Dr. Gillespie, I am no longer a virgin!"

(CHUCKLES)

Aw.

(KISSING)

(DOOR OPENS)

HENRY:
Here's in here. I think we'll catch him.

- Go ahead.

- So I just go over and say hello?

I told him I invited you

and we went to Yale together.

It's my farewell party. What's he gonna do?

Let's go.

(GUARD CLEARS THROAT)

His honor would like you to get lost.

- This is my friend, Ned Weeks.

- Yeah, we know who he is.

Mr. Mayor! We need your help!

There's this new disease.

You must have heard about it.

We need your help badly!

Get off me, you pigs! This is America!

Mr. Mayor! We're dying!

Okay, this is what Ned wrote for us

to send out.

"I am sick of guys moaning that giving up

careless sex until this blows over..."

NED ". "...is worse than death.

"I am sick of guys

that can only think with their c*cks.

"I am sick of closeted gays.

"It's 1982 now, guys.

When you gonna come out?

"By 1983, you could be dead."

(MURMURING)

- That's nice.

- You're crazy.

Am I, Bruce? Do you really think so?

Aren't we supposed to

elect a president tonight?

Yes.

We can't tell people

how to live their lives, Ned.

The entire gay political movement is f***ing.

- Hi.

- Hi.

I'm very interested in starting up

some sort of services for the patients.

We've gotta start talking about them.

Also, there are a lot

of very scared people out there

and they're desperate for information.

- I'd like to start a hotline.

- Oh.

- Who's he?

- Ooh, he does not know who I am yet.

His name is Tommy Boatwright.

In real life, he is a hospital administrator.

Uh, he's here to help,

- and he's a Southern b*tch.

- (ALL LAUGHING)

Mr. Boatwright, Bruce Niles.

- Nice to meet you.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote