The Sunset Limited Page #2

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I'd like to meet him,

I surely would.

And what you think that got me?

I don't know.

What did it get you?

Life in death

is what it got me.

Life in death.

Too dead to even know

enough to lay down.

I see.

I don't think so.

Let me ask you a question.

All right.

You ever read this book?

I've read parts of it.

I've read in it.

Have you ever read it?

Read the book of job.

Have you ever read it?

No.

- But you is read a lot of books?

- Yes.

- How many, you say?

- I have no idea.

Ballpark.

Two a week,

maybe 100 a year

for close to 40 years.

Two a week...

I'm just messing

with you, professor.

Tell you what...

Give me a number,

any number you like, and I'll

give you 40 times it back.

- 26.

- 1040.

- 118.

- 4720.

- 4720.

- Yep.

- The answer is the question.

- Say what?

- That's your new number.

- 4720?

- That's a big number, professor.

- Yes, it is.

- You know the answer?

- No, I don't.

Let me see that.

How do you do that?

Numbers are

the black man's friend...

Butter and eggs, crap table.

You quick with numbers, you can

work the mojo on your brother,

confiscate the contents

of his pocketbook.

You get a lot of time to practice

that sh*t in the jailhouse.

I see.

Let's get back to you and

all these books you read.

You say you done read

Probably, maybe more than that.

But not this book.

Uh, no, not the whole...

- Why is that?

- I don't know.

Well, what would you say is

the best book ever wrote?

I have no idea.

Well, take a shot.

There are a lot of good books.

Pick one.

- Maybe "War and Peace."

- All right.

Do you think that book's

as good as this one?

I don't know.

They're different kinds of books.

This "War and Peace" book...

It's a book somebody made up, right?

Well, yes.

So is that what makes it

different from this here book?

No, in my view

they're both made up.

Ain't neither one of them true?

Not in the historical

sense, no.

Hmm.

Well, what would be

a true book?

I suppose maybe a history book.

Gibbon's "Decline and Fall

of the Roman Empire" might be one.

At least the events

would be actual events.

They would be things

that had happened.

Hmm.

So you think that book is as

good a book as this book?

- The Bible?

- The Bible.

I don't know. Gibbon's is a cornerstone.

It's a major book.

- And a true book. Don't forget that.

- And a true book, yes.

But is it as good a book?

I don't know.

I don't know as you can

make a comparison.

We're talking about

apples and pears.

We ain't talking about no

apples and pears, professor.

We're talking about books.

Is that "Decline and Fall" book

as good a book

as this here book?

Answer the question.

I'm gonna have to say no.

Used to say right here

on the cover

'fore it got wore down...

"The greatest book

ever written."

- Think that might be true?

- It might.

- You read good books.

- I try to, yes.

But you ain't read

the best book.

- Why is that?

- I've got to go.

You don't need to go, professor.

Just stay here and visit with me.

You' afraid I'll go back

to the train station.

You might, so just

stay here with me.

What if I promised I wouldn't?

You might anyway.

Don't you need to go to work?

I was on my way to work.

A funny thing happened to

you on the way to work.

Yes, it did.

Will they fire you?

No, they ain't gonna fire me.

- You could call in.

- Ain't got no phone.

Anyhow, they know

if I ain't there by now

I ain't coming.

I ain't a late sort of person.

- Why don't you have a phone?

- Don't need one.

Junkies would steal it anyway.

Get a cheap one.

Don't get too cheap

for a junkie.

Let's get back to you.

Let's stick with you

for a minute.

- Can I ask you something?

- Sure you can.

Where were you standing?

I never saw you.

You mean when you took

your amazing leap?

- Yes.

- I was on the platform.

- On the platform?

- Yeah.

Well, I didn't see you.

I was standing on the platform,

minding my own business.

Here you come haulin' ass.

I looked all around to make

sure there was no one there,

particularly no children.

There was nobody around.

No, just me.

Well, I don't know

where you could have been.

Fixing to get spooky

on me here, professor?

Maybe I was behind

a post or something.

There wasn't any post.

So what're you saying...

You're looking at some big black angel

got sent down here to snatch

your honky ass out of there

at the last possible minute and

save you from destruction?

No, I don't think that.

- Such a thing ain't possible?

- No, it isn't.

Well, you're the one

suggested it.

I never suggested

any such thing.

You're the one who put in

the stuff about angels.

I never said anything about angels.

I don't believe in angels.

Well, what is it

you believe in?

A lot of things.

All right.

- All right what?

- All right, what things?

- I believe in things.

- Give me a for instance.

Um, cultural things,

for instance,

books, music, art,

things like that.

All right.

Those are the things

that have value to me.

They're the foundations

of civilization.

Well, they used to

have value to me.

They don't have so much

value anymore, I guess.

What happened to them?

People stopped valuing them.

I stopped valuing them

to a certain extent.

I'm not sure

I can tell you why.

That world is largely gone now.

Soon it will be wholly gone.

I'm not sure I'm

following you, professor.

There's nothing to follow.

It's all right.

The things I loved

were very frail,

very fragile.

I didn't know that.

I thought they were indestructible.

They weren't.

And that's what sent you off

the edge of the platform?

It wasn't nothing personal?

Oh, it's personal.

That's what an education does.

It makes the world personal.

Well, them's some very

powerful words, professor.

And I can't say that I got

an answer to none of that.

And it might be that

there ain't no answer.

But still I got to ask.

What's the use of having

notions such as them

if they won't keep you

glued down to the platform

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