Two for the Seesaw Page #9

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It came through on the 14th.

Two weeks ago.

Why didn't you tell me, Jerry?

Well, it shook me up a little more

than I expected, I guess.

I needed the time to get used to the idea.

You didn't want me to know.

No, I guess I didn't.

Not until I got on top of it. I'm sorry.

You talk to her so much,

you tell her about me?

- That you moved in with me?

- Yes.

You dirty louse!

You didn't tell me about this.

Smash 'em! Who needs 'em.

I'm getting outta here.

- Gittel.

- Jerry, why didn't you tell me?

- I couldn't.

- You can only tell her about me.

Even when you divorce her

it's the secrets you have with her.

You marry me,

she'll know and I won't!

- You're not going.

- You look out!

You sit down.

All my life I never yet been able

to beat up one lousy man.

It's just not fair.

Gittel, look.

I told her about you for a reason.

Because she asked me to come back.

She wanted me to come home.

- I want you here.

- I'm here.

But I want all of you here.

I mean...

I don't want just...

Jerry... listen.

- You're my friend?

- I'm your friend.

Then tell me the truth.

Would you ever... Would you ever

once say, "I love you"?

- I only said it once.

- There can be a second time.

Lots of people, it happens.

The marriage went sour, you said so.

You said you wanted it

to stay dead and buried.

It was buried, alive. Look.

This says, "The bonds of matrimony

are severed and held for nought."

I knew the day I got it, any two people

who lived together as long as Tess and I.

As deeply as... You can't tell where one

person leaves off and the other begins.

It's like, well, look. Once at a party

I was telling a dream I had,

and right in the middle of it

I notice the funny smile on Tess's face

and I realised I was telling her dream.

This... This isn't true.

All the courts in the world

will tell you it's true but it isn't.

The bonds can't be "held for nought".

So how come we're having moving day?

Why'd you tell her no?

I told you to make a claim on me,

to depend on me. I practically forced you.

Gittel, I care for you. I don't want to see

you hurt or lost or short-changed.

So what's the future, Jerry?

You gonna think any less about her?

A little time'll pass,

everything'll be hunky-dory?

How am I gonna give her competition?

Have a haemorrhage twice a year?

Trap you that way?

I got half of you by being a wreck,

is that how we'll go on?

Oh, you gotta short-change me, Jerry.

- I've tried not to.

- That's what's outta whack.

How hard you try.

Who works that hard if everything's OK?

Things aren't even-Steven with us, Jerry.

You do all the giving.

What I have to give, you don't want.

And what I want, you can't give.

Doesn't matter if I learn shorthand

or to play a bugle standing on my head.

If you don't love me, you don't love me.

And time isn't gonna make

one lousy bit of difference.

Listen, Jerry, I'm the one in a trap.

You move in with me, I'll... I'll nudja

you into marrying me, I know I will.

And then what'll I have?

I don't wanna have to spend

the rest of my life begging.

It's not good enough for me, Jerry.

Not any more.

I want somebody who'll feel about me...

what you said about her before.

What do you say

we give each other the gate, huh?

For my sake? So I can go back?

No. Whether you go or stay.

To tell you the God's honest truth, Jerry,

I didn't take one free breath

since that haemorrhage.

I wanna get outta here so I can breathe.

(phone)

- Yeah, hello?

- Honey, I'm all set. Packed.

Hiya, Jerry.

I left some cartons of odds and ends,

kitchen stuff mostly,

- if there's anything you want.

- I won't want anything.

Well, if you do, anything important,

I'll be at the Hotel Commodore in Lincoln.

That's Lincoln, Nebraska, not Nevada.

Not Nevada.

And if you need anything in a hurry,

call Frank Taubman.

You don't have to explain.

It's taken care of. Just call him.

- Yeah.

- No. Promise. Be generous, Gittel.

- OK. I promise.

- Good.

I'm OK, Jerry, honest.

I bounce up like a jack-in-the-box.

- Just get what you want out there.

- I'll try.

We won't make the same old mistakes.

We'll have what I earn, a desk,

telephone, pencil and what's in my head.

- I'm rooting for ya.

- I'm rooting for you too.

You're the salt of the earth, honey.

Don't waste it.

I won't.

Listen, it's a a big city. There's a guy

around some corner. I'll find him.

I got a better opinion of myself now.

I'm gonna propose more often.

I'll send you a birthday card

now and then, huh?

- Say, twice a week?

- (sighs) Gittel, what am I doing?

You're doing right, Jerry. I don't want

any handouts either, that's no favour.

No. No, we both know that, I guess.

And I'm not gonna just

be passing them out either.

I want somebody... We'll take care

of each other. That's all mine.

Not like Sam or Jake.

They couldn't take care of a chicklet.

Things look a lot different to me now.

- You did me a world of good, Jerry.

- Did I, Gittel?

- Really? Because if I could think that...

- You helped me.

This is the first time I come out

with more than I went in.

Whoever this guy is, he'll owe you.

Thank you.

She'll owe you, too.

More than she'll ever know.

Well... so long, honey.

I love you, Jerry.

As long as you live, remember

the last thing you heard outta me

was I love you.

I love you too, infant.

(phone)

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