The Savages Page #6

Thursday is Jimmy's night off.

Well, then...

I better get going, so, good night, Dad.

Good night.

Good night, Mr. Sperry.

- Leave it on.

- Are you sure?

- Worth keep you up?

- Yes, I'm sure.

Here you go. Good night, Mr. Savage.

Good night.

Ihr saht den weisen Salomon

Ihr wisst, was aus ihm wurde

Dem Mann war alles sonnenklar

Er verfluchte

die Stunde seiner Geburt

Und sah da alles eitel war

Hey, Wen!

- Hi.

- Hi.

Hi, baby. Hello. Where's the beast?

- Here.

- Oh, hello, beast.

Hello!

- Did you remember her papers?

- Yeah.

- Thanks.

- Yeah.

- How's Marley?

- She, you know... she's hanging in there.

Her hind legs are really bothering her...

but I found this great vet over at the

animal hospital... that place on the East Side.

They have her in physical therapy.

Do you believe it?

She's hanging out twice a week

in the whirlpool.

Get in. Come on. We'll take a ride.

I've never been to Buffalo.

Let's have some fun! I've missed you!

Jon?

Jon!

- What?

- I'm gonna go out for a minute.

- Okay.

- Um, this is my friend Larry.

- This is Jon.

- Hi, Jon.

- Hi, Larry.

- Wendy's told me a lot about you.

I loved your essay

on Mother Courage, by the way.

Wendy showed it to me. I did

a production of it. It was a huge help.

Okay.

- He seems really nice.

- Yeah.

Is that my ficus?

Just sitting down

By the riverside

Spreading my arms

To the open wide

Now I'm free

and the world's at my feet

I can close my eyes

Oh, love, keep me warm

Keep me satisfied

- Sitting by the riverside with you

- Come on, come on, come on.

Yeah! Yeah, good dog, good d...

Come on. Go get it.

- Ooh.

- Ow!

- Oh. Oh.

- God!

Sorry. I'm sorry. Come on.

I love sitting down

- By the riverside

- What?

- I don't know.

- What?

I don't know.

You killed my plant.

- No, I didn't.

- Well, it's not thriving.

- It was thriving when I left.

- I'm sorry.

It's not the plant.

The plant is symbolic.

- Of what?

- What do you think?

- I know this isn't perfect.

- It's not perfect? I mean, come on, Larry.

I mean, for Christ's sake,

I have an MFA.

I mean, look at this.

We're in a motel room in Buffalo.

- I mean, it's embarrassing. It's a clich!

- Shh.

- What clich?

- The midlife crisis clich.

- Whose?

- Yours!

You are married. You are cheating.

You are sleeping with a younger woman.

Uh, Wendy...

You're-You're not exactly

a younger woman.

- What's that supposed to mean?

- You're 39.

- You're 52.

- So?

- That makes you older.

- Yeah, technically.

But this is not exactly the paradigm...

of a prototypical winter-spring romance.

Annie's 46.

I mean, you're not my little student.

It's not like we got

The Blue Angel going on here.

- You know, the professor character in The Blue Angel?

- Yeah, Larry, I know the film.

Well, yeah, so the poor slob

has an affair with his student...

and his life is destroyed by it.

- Von Stroheim.

- Von Sternberg.

- Whatever.

- Von Sternberg.

- You know what I mean. Marlene Dietrich.

- It's-

She was a nightclub singer.

She was not a student.

But there... there is... there's a

Francine Prose novel by the same name...

about a professor-student relationship.

- Why do you do this?

- What?

You do this all the time, and on top of that,

you insult me by telling me that I'm the one...

that's having a midlife crisis here, when you're

the one having an affair with a married guy...

instead of seeking real intimacy...

with someone who is available

for real commitment.

And you know, it's all about your father.

Oh, hey!

Hey.

I'm just trying to have

a healthy, normal sex life here.

Look, I'm not betraying anyone.

Only yourself.

- What?

- Nothing.

Wait. Wendy.

Wendy.

You don't have... Oh, for...

Don't do this.

Come on, Wen, don't...

Hey, do you want me to help? Oh.

Are you okay?

Look, I'll call you.

You double-crosser! You Judas!

Harry! Harry, go back!

Turn me in.

Cut my throat for a thousand quid

Go, back, Harry I'll get help

Oh, Harry

All right, go to Kristo.

There you are, Kristol

Give her the blood money

she cut my throat for.

Can we please not use

this horrible light?

It's depressing.

I bought you this one, Dad.

Remember?

See how nice this is?

Wendy?

What's... what's going on with that?

It's not gonna affect you in any way.

They said it was fine for her to stay here

as long as I could prove she's had all her shots.

I still don't think it's a good idea.

Well, they like animals here, Jon.

Apparently, it's good

for the residents' well-being.

They reduce stress, so if you just

f***ing calm down about it.

Hey, hey, hey!

Dad?

I want to introduce you to someone.

- I don't see anything.

- Well, here, let me prop you up.

- Where's your pillow?

- What?

- Where's Dad's pillow?

- All right, what pillow?

The big red one, the one I bought him.

The one from Urban Outfitters.

You saw it!

Jesus, Jon!

- Excuse me.

- Hold on a second. Yeah.

My father has a big red pillow

that I bought for him...

and it's missing from his room.

I just started my shift.

Try Simone in the lounge.

- Are you Simone?

- I am.

I'm Lenny Savage's daughter in B-26.

He has a big red pillow I bought him.

It's missing.

- Did he have his name on it?

- And his room number.

What's it look like?

Big... red... pillow.

Excuse me. Ma'am?

That belongs to my father.

The pillow.

It doesn't belong to you,

it belongs to my father.

Huh?

I'm so sorry.

It doesn't belong to you.

No!

You all right?

Here you go, Dad.

Dad, I thought you might like this

to help prop you up.

Lean forward.

There. Dad!

- Ah, Wendy, forget it.

- I don't want it.

Are you sure?

It'll make you more comfortable.

Come on. Here we go.

I don't want it! Can't you hear?

What the hell does she think

I'm paying her for? To bother me?

Wendy, he doesn't know

what he's talking about.

You want one?

Thanks.

Thank you.

So what's in the box?

A cat.

Taking it out for a walk?

Your cat is cold.

Come over here.

I'll turn the heat on.

How's he doing?

My friend in B-26.

Oh, he's good.

I mean he's not good,

but he's... he's okay. He's fine.

He likes Tater Tots.

It's the only thing he touches sometimes.

I give him extras when I can.

Double servings.

You married?

No.

But my boyfriend is.

Does your mother know

you're doing that?

She's not really in the picture.

She dead? That's why

she never comes around, eh?

No. Just kind of obsolete

in the parenting department.

- She just wasn't very good at it.

- Hmm.

Neither was my father, actually.

So that's why a pretty woman doesn't

have a husband or a family of her own.

What do you do when you're not here?

I'm a, um...

a theater person.

I temp for money, but it's not my main thing.

I write plays.

Like Shakespeare?

Yeah. Well, not as good.

- What are your plays about?

- What, my plays?

- Can I read one?

- Are you kidding?

- No, no.

- You actually want to read one of my plays?

What's so strange about that?

No, it's just that, you know,

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