Then She Found Me Page #2

Do you have a ladies room?

- Hello, beautiful.

- Oh!

Thank you.

I'm a... teacher.

...sounds like Judy Holliday.

You get anyone besides her, hang up.

You won't get in

unless you use my name, right?

I know, it's terrible,

but we're talking about your health.

- Thank you very much.

- Mm.

Let me just look at you.

- You're magnificent!

- What's your name?

Oh, thank you.

Um, what is your name?

- You got my letter.

- Uh, your last name?

Oh, Graves.

I'm so happy you don't know it.

- Why would I...

- How do you feel right now?

How do you feel?

I feel like you are the reward for

everything I ever did right in my entire life.

- Oh!

- And how do you feel?

I, um... Thank you.

I'm wondering how you can be certain

you're actually my mother.

Are you married?

I mean, do you have anyone?

Someone who takes you in his arms

or her arms.

God knows

I only want you to be happy.

Someone who holds you in the night?

- You didn't answer...

- Doesn't matter.

Some of the richest periods of my life

came when I was between love affairs.

- Were you raised with brothers or sisters?

- I have a brother.

Oh, I wanna meet him.

- It's a little soon...

- Hello, you two.

- Oh, Alan, you remember Gabrielle.

- It's April.

Recovering from the abominable way

I approached you?

I make for you a special

mother/daughter antipasto.

Someday I'll tell you

how we have Alan to thank for this.

I uh, I produced the show that led to this.

I looked in the camera and

the whole story just came out. Our story.

- Such a powerful moment.

- Excuse me, what is our story?

- I'm sorry to bother you.

- That's all right.

- Alan, do you have a pen?

- No, I just want to say, I love you.

I watch you all the time.

I think you're just the best.

Enjoy your lunch.

Thank you.

If you have a TV show,

why have I never heard of you?

You watch local TV

at 10:
30 in the morning?

- Never.

- Me, either.

How much do you know about

my parents?

I know that you lost Trudy

three weeks ago,

and you lost Julius

three years before that.

- How do you know who they were?

- Oh, I've known since the day I lost you.

- Were they good to you?

- How?

- You weren't allowed to know that.

- I read it.

Upside down,

across the adoption counsellor's desk.

"Baby Girl Epner, born April first. "

So, it's possible.

- What?

- That you are who you say you are.

Listen, I only got to have you

for three days,

but that doesn't change the fact

that you are my daughter.

You are the most important thing on earth

to me.

You must know that.

Do you have children?

I think your own family might feel strange

about you tracking me down like this.

My family is me and you.

It shows in your face

that you know I'm your mother.

- What about your husband?

- Oh, I don't have one.

What about you -

ever been married?

- Yes.

- How's that going?

- Y'know, there's a certain presumption...

- Don't lock Bernice out.

- She loved the people who raised her.

- You're her mother.

- But it's natural she would have questions.

- I'm sitting here!

Yes, you are.

Ask me anything.

You're sitting on anger. Ask me anything,

hit hard, ask me anything you want.

Why did you give me up?

"On you will go,

though the weather be foul.

"On you will go,

though your enemies prowl.

"Onward up many a frightening creek

"Though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak. "

- What?

- It's a book, by Dr. Seuss.

- Did your adoptive parents read it to you?

- No.

Oh, that's a shame,

because it's a map of your life really.

The whole point of which

is that every ending is a beginning.

Now, when Trudy and Julius passed,

that was an ending,

but in a funny kind of a silver liningy way,

it's brought us together, hasn't it?

I have to go.

Wait. Stop.

Don't... Don't go.

- Gabrielle!

- April, goddammit!

Would you like to know

who your father was?

He was a famous man, now dead.

Why don't we go to my office

and really talk?

- Thank you, no.

- We could go for a drive.

- I would like to walk.

- Oh, you like to walk?

You sound like your father.

My famous father, now dead,

went for walks?

I'm a walker myself, you know.

All kinds of exercise, I'm a nut for.

Could we slow down for just a moment?

Oh, being related like this

is just incredible.

You were saying about my father?

You hardly know me yet.

Well, thank you, Ms. Graves,

it was traumatic and

potentially illuminating to have met you.

I met him when I was fifteen.

- I worked in perfume.

- Where, exactly?

Well, four blocks that way,

as it happens.

Used to be Bonwit Teller.

You can look it up.

Since I wasn't rich, I earned extra money

working in their perfume department.

- So this was a customer?

- Oh, a very special customer.

He came in to buy a gift for his mother.

He was close to his mother, too close,

- because no woman could measure up.

- Who was it?

He was immediately flirtatious,

but not in a boorish way.

He was, and I say this in all humility...

enchanted.

- Who was it?

- Steve McQueen.

- How dare you.

- We were deeply in love.

Well, what went wrong?

He was single when I met him.

Separated, anyway.

I never would've gotten involved

had his relationship been viable,

but I sensed they weren't through.

"They" would be Steve McQueen

and Ali MacGraw?

If you watch The Getaway, you'll sense

a certain closeness. I feel good about that.

By the way, do you have any children?

- Was it a one-night stand?

- Oh, the memory lasted a lifetime.

Your generation is so cynical.

- When was I conceived?

- Around the fourth of July.

- Around or on?

- On!

- Was he right or left handed?

- What kind of question is that?

Circumcised?

Catholic.

I understand your parents were Jewish.

- So what? So am I.

- Well, God bless.

- What does that mean?

- God bless that you believe in God.

- You don't believe in God?

- I don't know. Watched the news lately?

I'll ask you one more time,

why did you give me up?

I didn't give you up.

You were taken from me.

Didn't they tell you that?

My father was very religious.

I held you in my arms for three days,

praying that it wouldn't happen.

But it did.

He walked in, he took you,

and he left me screaming.

How do I know any of this is true?

Because it is!

All right, listen to me,

and please respect what I say to you.

I have to go home, think about this,

and decide what to believe.

OK.

OK.

Thank you.

- I appreciate you...

- Can you drop me?

What? Where?

Back there.

All right.

When can we do this again?

Everyone needs family.

I will call you.

Let me give you my number.

Do you have a pen?

OK.

Give me your hand.

Please?

It's harder to lose a hand.

This isn't just

a thousand-to-one shot.

This is a professional blood sport.

It can happen to you.

And then it can happen to you again.

I want my mommy!

Hi, everybody.

Thanks for your patience.

- Oh, some more than others.

- I want my mommy! I want my mommy!

Ruby, I need you to come here now.

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