The Normal Heart Page #6

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and the ice skating.

He was a beautiful skater.

(TEARFULLY) I'm a klutz, but he didn't care.

We had so much fun.

(WHIMPERS)

Damn it, I want to do something,

even though all my lesbian friends say,

"What have you guys ever done for us?"

But I don't care.

This is for Harvey.

(SOBBING) Please.

Tell me you can use me for something.

- (SOBBING)

- Oh.

I need a hotline director.

Do you think you can do that?

- I don't know how.

- I don't either.

Hey.

Let me buy you a cup of coffee

and we'll figure this out, okay?

Okay.

(SNIFFLES)

- So, you want to set up here?

- Yeah, this is good, let's do it.

What are you doing?

- MAN:
We're from the NBC affiliate.

- So?

This is the new

Gay Men's Health Crisis office?

- Who are you?

- I'm Bruce Niles. I'm the president.

I didn't sign any consent form

for you to film me or this establishment.

Please turn it off immediately.

BRUCE:
Right now.

MAN:
Don't touch my camera.

BRUCE:
Who sent you here?

MAN:
Somebody named Ned.

Weeks.

- Oh, great, you're here.

- (KNOCKING AT DOOR)

- Anybody homo?

- Son of a b*tch.

Hello, is this thing rolling?

Look at this!

We're in both of them the same week!

Every major network,

and now finally, our very first office.

I want to introduce you to our gay president

who's in the closet,

and he's so handsome, don't you think?

Such a very handsome cover boy

going to waste.

(GRUNTS)

Oh, great. Now you fight. Great! Fight, Bruce!

You make me sound like a coward

and I'm not a coward.

You know what? You have nothing to lose.

Your brother invested for you

so you have income.

You can be gay 24/7, Ned, but I can't. I can't.

So f*** you!

No, f*** you, Bruce.

- Man!

- MAN:
Oh, oh, oh! Jesus!

(SIGHS)

When I look at you, I am filled with despair.

When I look at you,

I worry we're not gonna win.

How do you think this country was founded?

I thought I was getting started

with Paul Revere, not some coward.

(GRUNTING)

Ned, look at me! Look at me! Look at me!

We are doomed if we do it your way. Doomed!

How are they gonna help us

if they don't know who we are?

They won't help us, Ned, if they do.

(PANTING)

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

(MUTTERING)

MAN:
Hey, hey, hey. Hey, wait.

Come on! Come on!

MAN:
Sh*t.

MAN:
Sh*t!

(TELEPHONE CONTINUES RINGING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Okay, I'll get it. Sure.

Hello? Yeah, you are our very first call.

How can I help you?

I'm sorry. You have the wrong number.

You two gotta

pull your sh*t together now, okay?

And you need to stop being

such a f***ing drama queen.

God damn.

This is Estelle.

Hey.

How's it going?

Welcome.

(MORE THAN THIS PLAYING)

Well, we have four hands and two incomes.

You're not getting any younger, you know.

All right. Let's leave my age out of this.

- Very beautiful in the country.

- Very quiet in the country.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

- No, no. Don't you dare.

- I have to.

You didn't leave this number

on your machine...

- You promised.

- Hello?

I do think we should picket the Mayor.

Yes, I said that and I stand by that. Thank you.

- You promised.

- (TELEPHONE RINGS)

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Wait.

(FELIX CLEARS THROAT)

"And every gay man who is unable

to come forward and fight to save his own life

"is truly helping to kill the rest of us."

How many of us have to die before

you get scared off your ass and into action?

Thank you.

(SLAMS RECEIVER)

Who was that?

I hear it's being called

the Ned Weeks School of Outrage.

I did speak to one of our science reporters.

- What'd he say?

- It turns out he's gay and he won't...

Don't yell at me.

All those shrinks,

they must have done something right.

- Dr. Ritvo, Dr. Malev.

- Malev.

Dr. Gillespie.

Dr. Patti, Dr. Maxine, Dr. Laverne.

Why does it have to take so long?

All you ever eat is desserts.

Sugar is the most important thing in life.

All the rest is just to stay alive.

Mmm.

Argh!

(SCOFFS)

- Sh*t.

- What?

The f***ing board! They say I'm causing

a panic, that I'm making myself a celebrity.

Not one of them will be interviewed or appear

on TV, so I do it all by default.

And you're becoming a leader.

And you love to fight.

- I like to fight? Moi?

- Who, you? Yeah.

And you're having a great time.

I am.

It's funny, I never wanted to be a leader.

I'm not doing very well.

It's sad how much time we lost.

We just weren't ready then.

(SIGHS)

If I had it, would you leave me?

I don't know.

Would you if I did?

No.

How do you know?

Because my mother ran the local chapter of

the Red Cross, and she put me to work

in the blood mobile when I was eight.

I'm not programmed for anything else.

Ned, I have something to tell you.

You're finally pregnant?

(CHUCKLES)

I was married once.

You never told me that.

Yeah, I...

She said I had been unfair to her,

which I had been.

I have a son.

You have a son?

She won't let me see him.

You can't see your own son?

But didn't you fight?

That means you're ashamed,

so he will be, too.

This is why I didn't tell you.

Who says I didn't fight, Ned?

Well, what happens to people who can't be

as strong as you want them to be?

Weakness scares the sh*t out of me.

My father was weak

and I'm afraid I'll be like him.

His life didn't stand for anything

and then it was over!

So I fight constantly, and if I can do it,

I can't understand why everybody else

can't do it too, okay?

Where are you going?

Felix, where are you going?

(DOOR SLAMS)

(BANGS ON TABLE)

(SIGHS)

Felix, I didn't mean anything by that, Felix.

I'm scared of lots of things, really.

Heights. I never told you I'm terrified of...

What?

It's... it keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It doesn't go away.

(THUDDING)

BROOKNER:
Felix.

Who, may I ask, is Felix?

I've never been so in love in my life.

I've never been in love in my life.

Tell him to come see me

first thing tomorrow, 7:30.

Ned, God damn it.

What am I supposed to do,

not be with anybody ever?

It's not as easy as you might think.

- Oh, Emma, I'm sorry.

- Don't be.

How'd you get it?

I was five years old.

A woman from the Bahamas came to our town

carrying the polio virus.

She stayed with friends.

Their kid was in my kindergarten class.

Four of us in that class got polio.

I was all dressed up in my Halloween

costume to go trick or treating,

and my mother felt my forehead,

put me to bed.

In the middle of the night,

I realized my whole body

except my arms and my hands were paralyzed.

I was crying out for my mother,

"I can't move. I can't move."

They rushed me to the hospital,

were told I'd be dead in 24 hours.

I fought. I lived.

Were you in an iron lung?

- I was.

- (EXHALES SHARPLY)

Then I was in bed at home.

I was connected to my class with this little,

little loud speaker.

All the children were required to visit me.

We would say, "Hello,"

and then not know what to say next.

They were all terrified of me. Still are.

I scare the sh*t out of people.

The holy terror in a wheelchair.

I'm scaring people, too.

Learn how to use it.

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