The Skeptic Page #2

So I was thinking maybe I'd use it.

You know, just for a few weeks

or so like we talked about.

- Like we talked about?

- Yes.

Didn't we talk about this?

Didn't we talk about how

some time apart

might be exactly what we need

right now?

Didn't we say that was something

we should seriously consider?

- Yes, we said that.

But one of us was bluffing.

I guess we know now it wasn't you.

- No.

It wasn't me.

[sighs]

[garbled voices]

- Hi, this is Marlene Diver.

Please leave a message.

Thank you.

- It's Bryan Becket.

Please leave a message.

[loud thud and shaking glass]

[glass shaking]

[stairs creak]

[wind whistling]

[bed creaking]

[people chatting]

Morning', Carol.

Hey, it's no rush,

but I still need

the Benes motion to compel.

Are you okay?

- I'm fine.

- Morning, Riley, Sarah.

What is wrong with everyone today?

Hey, could I talk to you

for a second?

- Mm-hmm.

- Please be seated.

Are you and Robin separated?

Now, I only know this because

Robin called Celeste

who called Karen,

so it's going to be on O-SPAN

in, like, five minutes.

- That's between Robin and me.

- And Celeste and Karen.

- All right.

Robin thinks that I'm too unemotional.

- Unemotional?

[laughs]

She knew that going' in.

- Thank you.

Exam... thank you.

She knew that going' in.

I haven't changed.

I'm the exact same guy

I advertised in the store window

You bet I'm unemotional.

She used to be fine with that.

It was a turn-on.

But suddenly it's not enough

for her anymore,

'cause she turned 40,

and she wants someone to panic with.

And she wants me to cry.

- About what?

- It's my choice.

She just wants me to reach down

and fall apart.

- Could you even do that?

- Are you kidding' me, Sully?

I'm a guy.

I haven't cried since I went

to Cooperstown.

- The Lou Gehrig speech.

So what's your plan?

- My plan is to stay separated

until she realizes

she can't change me,

gets scared that if she keeps

trying' to change me,

she's going to lose me forever,

takes me back as is,

gets used to being' 40.

We live happily ever after.

- Dismissed.

[door creaking]

[door creaking]

[wooden creaking]

- Becket!

Beck!

- Hey!

- Don't you answer your door?

- You're a crisis addict.

Do you know that?

What is it now?

- This is your crisis this time.

Come on.

- Okay, what?

- This is your aunt's will.

- What?

No, no, no.

My aunt didn't have a will.

- Well, her good friend Martha Corn

dropped this off today,

so I checked it out.

This is your aunt's will.

She wrote it herself,

and it's completely legal.

This isnt your house, Beck.

- What are you talking about?

I'm her only kin.

I have this house through succession.

- You are her only kin.

- Then who the hell did she

leave the house to?

- The Delano Institute.

I don't know why...

- Why would she...

- But she left it to

a particular department there

run by one Dr. Warren Coven.

- Okay, what do we know about

this Coven guy?

- He runs a sleep lab.

- Which is what, exactly?

- I don't know;

I assume it's a lab where people sleep.

And now they've got your house,

I'm sure they're going to sleep a lot easier.

- So this is a sleep lab.

- Yeah, it's not a typical one.

The Institute had space issues,

and we take the brunt.

But we're very proud of our work.

We're regular contributors

to The Poly graphic Journal,

and we do treat the uninsured.

- People with problems sleeping.

- Uh, yeah.

Do you have sleep problems, Mr. Becket?

- Sometimes.

- Well, we're here to help.

Yeah, please take a look.

Ms. Carl is with us tonight.

She's a sleepwalker,

and we want to know why.

- And what was my aunt's problem?

I mean,

I'm assuming that you treated her

for some sort of sleep disorder.

Is that right?

- No, actually, she...

she was not a patient here.

- Then how did you know her?

- She had an interest

in a different lab

that I run here at the Institute.

- Another sleep lab?

- No, actually, it's a lab

where we conduct special experiments

on various topics

of personal interest to me.

- And would that be the lab

that was mentioned in her will?

- Probably.

Yeah.

- Then I believe that's the lab

I'd like to see.

- Three.

- Welcome to the Coven Project.

Tonight's concept is a very simple one.

Oases meditates as random

single-digit numbers pop up

on Dillon's screen.

A vibration signal is sent down

into the studio

through this one-way glass

to the electronic ball

in Oasiss left hand

where she makes the determination

whether the number

is odd or even.

- She makes a determination about what?

It seems to me it's just a guess, right?

- Well, there we go.

That's the million-dollar question.

Is it a guess?

See, what we're trying to do here,

under the most stringent

conditions ever applied,

is to quantify one human being's

psychic ability to read another.

- Oh.

Psychic.

- Well, ESP, to be more general.

- Warren, she's gone below 50%.

- All right.

Excuse me one second.

Derek?

I need you to drop the room

to 56 and heat the bed.

- Are you sure you want to do that?

You want to heat the bed?

- Yeah, she won't notice.

She's been down too long.

- All right.

- So that's what you study here, ESP.

- Yes, amongst other things,

mostly dealing with psi energy

in aural paranormal activity.

- Paranormal activity.

And you're telling me

that my Aunt Marlene

believed in all this stuff?

- Absolutely.

I mean, that's why she's funding us.

See, your aunt experienced

some paranormal disturbances

around the house.

- I'm sorry.

She what?

- She experienced paranormal

disturbances in her house.

- Meaning what?

- Well, meaning that she,

you know, she thought the place

was haunted.

- She wasn't serious.

- Oh, no, she was very serious,

very analytical.

She even brought us photographs.

- Photographs of what?

- What she believed to be the centre

of the disturbance in the house.

- This is absurd.

- I believe that's a closet

on the second...

- Yes, I know where it is.

Taking pictures of it means...

- I'm not saying her house

is haunted or anything.

But I am saying that she

witnessed sonic...

- Doc.

- Paranormal disturbances,

which is not...

- Warren, we got a problem here.

- Oh, sh*t!

God damn it.

- She f***ed up the entire TLS.

- F*** you!

[crashing]

- Jesus!

- Jesus, she's out of control.

- She's coming' up.

- What?

- Ross.

- I called it.

- You weren't concentrating.

The fulcrum on the...

It sucked?

- No.

- I sucked?

- No, no.

Y... no.

You were fine.

I just... you could be so m...

oh!

Oases!

- You lied to me.

- God damn it.

- Understand?

- Oases, please.

- What's in the briefcase?

- Just some New York State

precedents

on the succession of property.

Listen...

- I apologize.

It's just, she's very high-strung

but really quite gifted.

She is very gifted.

Hold up, Mr. Becket.

Could you hold up a second please?

Listen, so the girl's an eccentric.

So what?

- You think this is about the girl?

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