The Vanishing of Sidney Hall Page #2

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Not this one.

I'm not going to prom.

- How does that look?

- Why not?

Because it's a segregated ritual

wherein the unpopular people

are ostracized

- by the beautiful ones.

- Oh, my God.

Your father and I have great

memories from prom night.

Yeah. Me.

Get over it.

All right.

Brandi. Okay.

Hi.

Brandi.

There you go.

Uh, it's a pleasure

to meet you, Mr. Hall.

Hey. Uh, what's your name?

My name's Henry Crow.

I've read

your book so many times.

Um, it's really affected

the way I think about things.

Is that Crowe with an E?

- Yeah.

- An E, yeah.

I think I know

what I'm supposed to do now.

Sorry, what was that?

"The core of our nation

"is etched inside

these plastic smiles.

"And endless rows

of nowhere houses.

"This is how we live.

"It's also how we die."

Sidney?

Sorry for the wait.

Harold's ready for you.

Lawyers are only trouble.

Listen, I gotta go.

A great writer

has just entered the room.

All right, Love you.

Bye.

Sidney, my dear boy.

Don't take this the wrong way,

I say it as a friend.

You look like sh*t.

You look like one of those

lost children on milk cartons.

You've been number one

on The New York Times

best seller list

for eight months.

And still, no smile.

Please, tell me.

What ails you? What can I do?

I'm having

panic attacks, Harold.

That's good. All of my clients

have panic attacks.

Yeah, but you know,

none of your other clients

have my kind of pressures.

None of my other clients

have your kind of talent.

If you weren't

having panic attacks,

I'd be very worried.

No, it's

It's different this time.

I'm seeing things.

Things that aren't there.

Like right now, it looks like

you're not wearing pants.

I'm not wearing pants.

Sidney, do you know

what I have in this folder?

No.

It's starts

with the letter "P."

- Protest letters?

- No. Not protest letters.

Christ, man!

You've got to get optimistic.

Forget about Montana.

Everything that

we have worked for.

Everything that we

have talked about

has come down to this.

Open it.

The Pulitzer Prize.

You're a finalist.

We find out the winner

later this month.

Good, you've heard of it.

Ugh.

Oh.

Whatever you want,

it's not as important as what

I'm doing right now.

Love you, bye bye.

My mother.

So, can I get a f***ing smile

now or what?

This guy, Francis, uh, Bishop,

should I be worried about him?

Francis Bishop is the literary

equivalent of Valium.

Forget the other guys,

you're a shoo-in.

Prologue to Paris.

- That's a good title.

- No.

No, that's a bad title.

That's the worst title

since Gone With The Wind.

More importantly, I'm throwing

a big party tonight.

There's going to be women.

Alcohol.

Women drinking alcohol.

I don't do parties, Harold.

You know that.

Well, that's a damn shame.

Cause you're going to be

the guest of honor.

Even worse.

So, that's a yes?

It's late and I'm confused.

I'm confused about a boy

who writes the most

beautiful stories in his

school newspaper.

I read each one carefully

and paste it in my journal

when I'm done.

And then I think

about approaching him.

But quickly realize

that I'm not very good

at being social.

And he's clearly

not good at being social.

I guess I'd tell him that

he's the most talented person

I've never met

But I have met him.

Maybe that was a dream.

Love, Melody.

I don't think anyone named

Melody goes to this school.

You know, Melody might not

even be her real name.

Do you recognize

the handwriting at all?

It's nice. It's very elegant.

I should only be so lucky

with my students.

What do you think?

I mean, what should I do?

Who is she?

Maybe you already met her.

Have you met anyone recently?

Not really, I mean

I have to find her, though.

Oh, I have a great idea.

So you walk up to every girl

that crosses your path,

both inside and outside

of class

- Yeah?

- And you shout

"Melody!"

"Melody!"

See what happens.

That That's it?

That's your advice?

Yup.

Seriously?

Melody?

Melody?

Hey, Melody?

Melody?

Melody.

Melody.

Uh, Melody? Melody? Melody?

Uh, Mel

Melody? Melody?

Melody? Melody?

Uh, excuse me.

Pardon the announcement. Um

But would anyone named Melody

please report

to the front office.

I repeat, anyone named Melody,

uh, please report to the

front office immediately.

This is an urgent matter.

Um

Anybody who writes under

the pseudonym, Melody, just

Just come to the front

Get outta here, you savages.

Go eat some hors d'oeuvres.

Feed on the blood of the young,

whatever it is you do.

Here, all the greats

drink whiskey.

That's a fact.

How soon before I can go?

It's like throwing a party

for Silvia Plath.

Come on, I have to talk

to you about something.

The Big P.

I need you to be

encouraged by it.

I want you to embrace it.

It means a lot

to a lot of people.

Not least of which,

should be you.

You deserve it.

Yeah, and what about Bishop?

He's a hack.

Guy writes six mediocre books.

All of a sudden,

he comes up with one

that people actually buy.

It's bullshit.

You need to get

your head straight.

Take a vacation.

Finish your second novel.

Get inspired.

It's hard,

I'm telling you, Harold.

It's hard to get inspired.

You want inspiration?

I'll give you inspiration.

- Ladies and gentlemen

- No, don't

Your attention, please.

Mr. Sidney Hall is a finalist

for the Pulitzer Prize.

Give it up

for Mr. Sidney Hall.

You had to do that, huh?

- You just had to do

- That wasn't so bad, was it?

Listen, Sidney.

Whether you believe it or not,

I'm on your side.

I understand what

you're going through.

I've had three of the ugliest

divorces in American history

and I survived them all.

They're like enemas.

They're uncomfortable

and invasive,

but the next day

you feel like a new man.

You need to find

yourself a muse.

Loosen up, you know what I mean?

I'll round back to you in a bit.

Don't leave. I want you

to meet my daughter.

Hey, hey. Excuse me.

Yeah, um

Could you

Could you send this drink,

while you're there,

could you send it

over to that girl right there?

Black hair.

Thank you.

This is for you

from the gentleman

in the corner.

Right there.

You couldn't just walk 15 feet

and give it to me yourself?

You had to send it over

from a safe distance?

Is that part of the

Sidney Hall mystique?

What's your name?

Alexandra.

If you don't wanna

take the drink,

I'll gladly take it from

You.

Okay.

You have to leave

Lewis Chang alone.

I don't even want

to see you looking at him.

That goes for Greg and Pyat

and all the other goons.

What do you care about him for?

I mean, look at him,

he's asking for it.

I don't see him asking for it.

Fine. Whatever, Hall Look.

You better shed

some serious light

on the situation

if I'm going to throw away

one of the few things I have

to look forward to every day.

Does that mean you'll stop?

Yeah, I'll stop.

But if he ever grows

enough balls

to start up with me,

I swear to God

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah

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