"I did it to her. I asked her about the accident." "Ah, it doesn't matter." "She was a great mother to the boys, but she's for shits now." "It's my fault." "No. lt's Marion's fault." "Ruthie, please." "Mommy.!" " Come on now." "Go to sleep now." "Please." " Mommy!" "I'm here, sweetie." "Come on." "Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Come on." "Now, please, Ruth." "Mommy!" "Come on now, honey." "Mommy!" "Mommy!" "Come on." "She had a bad dream." "She heard bangs." "Heard banging noise." "What kind of banging noise?" "l-- l don't know." "What difference does it make?" "Come on, honey." "It's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay. lt's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay." "Come on." "Take me back." "Leave it!" "Goddamn it." "Why now?" "I've stayed too long already." "You want me to do what?" "I want you to give her these, but not the portfolio." "Just the drawings-- l want the portfolio back." "Isn't she expecting you?" "Tell her I'm not coming, but I wanted her to have the drawings." "lt-- lt might be, um, awkward... to ask for the portfolio back." "It won't be a problem." "I" " I don't really understand." "He" " He wants to give them to me." "He doesn't want them?" "He said he wanted you to have them." "Uh, but when is he coming?" "He's coming Friday, isn't he?" "I have the whole day for him on Friday." "He knows I have the day." "Will you stop?" "is he coming on Friday?" "I- l don't know." "Yes, you do know." " Uh" " Did you look at those drawings?" "Did he show you?" "My God, I'm locked out." "You're gonna have to break in." "Me?" "You're gonna have to carry me over the glass. I have bare feet." "How dare you?" "How dare you detest me?" "Ow!" "You're not exactly living an "un-sordid" life yourself, are you?" "Just" " Please, I wanna go home." "Oh, go!" " Why did she think you looked at the drawings?" "Did you?" " No." "Oh, Christ." "Of course you did." "No." "I didn't." "She exposed herself to me." "Jesus." "She did what?" "She didn't mean to, but she exposed herself." "The wind, it b-blew her robe open." " Jesus Christ.!" " And she locked herself out because of you." "She said you liked all the doors to be locked, and you didn't like the gardener to be around." "She told you that?" "Yes." "She said she had the whole day for you Friday." "I can't spend the whole day with her Friday." "You're gonna have to come and pick me up in 45 minutes." "Make that a half an hour." "On Friday morning, you're going to leave him at Mrs. Vaughn's." "I know-- for half an hour." "No." "You're never going back, and it'll take him all day to make his way back home by himself." "Mrs. Vaughn won't offer him a ride." "I don't expect him back before dark." "Ted's gonna be really pissed off." "I read your, um-- your story." "Oh. I thought you forgot." "No. I just didn't have a chance to get to it before." "It's not very good, is it?" "Oh, it's, uh-- it's very heartfelt, very-- very personal." "It's, um" "Well, it's just a collection of personal anecdotes that don't really add up to much." "It's, uh-- l was just tryin' to see if I could write something that seemed true." "Oh, it seems true. lt, uh, just isn't very interesting." "Sort of a-- an emotional outburst, but, uh, it isn't really a story." "And that, uh-- the guy, Hank-- you know, the one who dies at the end?" "Yeah." "You need to prepare a reader for something like that." "Uh-- lt just-- lt didn't seem like the way things happened." "Well, you need to let your audience guess what's gonna happen-- you know, anticipate what's gonna happen-- and then you surprise them." "But, um, you have to guide them through it." "You know what I mean?" "Yeah." "There's a part of writing that, uh, involves a certain manipulation." "That may seem cold to you, but it is, you know, sort of cold. I - l guess." "Everything in fiction is a tool:" "pain, betrayal, even death." "These are, you know" "These are like, uh, different colors on a painter's palette." "You need to use them." "Also, the details-- they could be more specific, you know?" "Specific details, they-- they create whole scenes in a reader's mind." "Not being specific, that's just sloppy." "It's sloppy thinking." "S" " Specific details?" "Yeah-- smells, taste-- details." "But I'll tell ya, for a, uh-- for a first effort, it's not that bad." "You know, the, uh-- Thanks." "the prose is a little purple, a little pretentious." "Thanks." "Thanks anyway for reading it." "You're welcome." "You ever think about getting a computer?" "Be easier to do your own revisions that way, so you wouldn't need an assistant." "Maybe the next book." "Yeah." "Oh, boy." "Uh, you better wait for me." "I'm not gonna last a half hour with this woman." "Twenty minutes tops, maybe 10." "Five." "If he hits you, hit him back." "He won't make a fist." "At worst, he'll slap you." "You should make a fist, and punch him in the nose." "If you punch him in the nose, he'll stop." "You can call Alice to help you with Ruth." "Screw Alice." "You better start to like her a little." "When Ted kicks you out, you're going to need a ride to the ferry at Orient Point." "And who's gonna explain this to Ruth?" "I won't be a bad mother to her." "I'd rather be no mother than to be a bad mother to her." "That doesn't make any sense." "I don't want her to be like me." "Remember, honey, don't cry when the doctor takes the stitches out." "I promise you, it won't hurt." "Can I keep the stitches to show you?" "You can take her anywhere for lunch." "All she ever eats is grilled cheese and French fries." "And ketchup." "And ketchup." "I have money." "I love you." "So long, Eddie." "Evelyn." "Evelyn, wait!" "Wait now!" "Come here, you son of a bitch!" "Come here, goddamn it!" "I'll kill you, you fucking fraud!" "Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn." "Evelyn!" "Why the hell did he" "Run!" "All right." "And one more." "Did we get the picture?" "What picture?" "Feet." "Oh, the photograph." "No, it's not ready yet." "That's not very nice." "My stitches are ready." "My cut's all fixed up." "Yeah." "You know what?" "You're right." "Let's go to the frame shop and tell 'em to give us the picture." "Good idea." "Ted Cole?" "Yes. lt is. lt is Ted Cole." "Good morning, Mendelssohn." "It is Ted Cole. lt is." "Forgive me for bleeding." "Don't be silly. lt's nothing you need be forgiven for." "Uh" "Could you" " Ah!" "Get Mr. Cole a chair." "Can't you see he's bleeding?" "Look, l" " No, you look. lf there's no manager here, there must be someone else." "There must be someone else here besides you, and I'm not leaving without that photograph." "Did you got mad at her?" "Yes, I did." "To put it simply, I need a ride home." "A ride?" "Yes." "I'll take you myself." "Of course, um, I'm going to have to call the wife." "She's probably out shopping, but not for too long." "You see, my car, it's in the shop." "Mm." "I use a bicycle, else I'd take you home." "Mm." "Too bad." "You warned him, you disgusting cretin." "If you have killed him, Mrs. Vaughn, you would have gone to jail." "You want this?" "Hmm?" "It's your last paycheck." "You're fired." "I understand that you're angry." "I'm very sorry about that." "When my customers are angry, I ask them to voice their complaints in writing, if you don't mind." "I work for Ted Cole. I'm a writer's assistant." "Then you won't mind writing, will you?" ""60 times." Really?" "Yes." "The Vaughns of Gin Lane?" "We framed a painting by Sibley for them called The Epitome of Diabolism." "Please go on." "Your signature is very, very beautiful." "I need a pen with a broader nib." "Also, some red ink, hmm?" "Red like blood, not like a fire engine." "Yes." "Of course." "This is Ruth." "She's four." "What do you want from me?" "Just the photograph." "It's of Ruth's mother." "She's in a bed in a hotel room in Paris." "It's not a good picture of the boys." "It's only their feet." " Yes, I know." "Ruth likes the feet." " Are the feet ready?" "Yes, dear." "I'll go check." "Should be almost ready." "Excuse me, ma'am." "Can I have my writing back, please?" "It's really not out of my way." "I'd be honored to take you." "Really." "No." "That's all right." "Someone else will come along soon." "It's not trouble." "Really, I don't mind." "No." "Really." "There you are. lf you need a few minutes, I can run a few errands." "I - l'd be thrilled to take you." "Really." "No." "There's no charge for the photograph." "Thank you." "Yes. I'm sorry." " ls the blood all gone?" " Yes, dear." "See?" "As good as new." " Okay." "Thanks." " Young man, if you're ever interested in a job, perhaps next summer." "I can always use an extra hand in the summer." "Thank you." "She wrote her freshman English term paper on you." "Shut up." "Mmm." "What was the title of your term paper?" "Uh, "An Analysis of the Atavistic Symbols of Fear in The Door in the Floor. "" "As you know, um, myths and fairy tales of tribal peoples are full of images... like magic doors and children disappearing... and people being so frightened their hair turns white overnight." "And the vagina?" "When the, uh, little boy's in the womb, the door in the floor is a... vagina." "How long was this paper?" "Twenty-eight pages-- not counting the footnotes and bibliography." "But-- l don't suppose you girls have a car?" "Believe it or not, I need a ride." "Oh. ls this sandwich for me?" "Yes." "These slippers are just wonderful." "They were a Christmas gift from me to my late husband." "Ah." "May I?" "Please." "I'll get these clothes right back to you. I was just gonna give them to the Goodwill anyway." "Look at that." "Phil was almost exactly your size." "You know, this is rather serendipitous." "I've been looking for two suitable subjects for a mother and daughter portrait." "Something I'm thinking about for my book." "At first I would want to draw you and your daughter together." "That way, when I draw each one of you separately, uh, the presence of the other one is-- is, uh, somehow there." "How long would it take, and..." "Uh-- which one of us would you want to draw first... separately?" "I should do Glorie first." "First, uh" " Well, first, the two of you together, and then, uh-- then Glorie alone, and then when Glorie's back at college, you alone." "Mr. Cole, you really are an enigma." "So which are you, and artist or a writer?" "Oh, Glorie, I'm-- l'm neither, really. I'm-- l'm just an entertainer of children, and I like to draw." "What sort of drawings did you have in mind?" "Don't" " No, no, no.!" "Don't" " Don't stop." "My goodness." "Wiper!" "Wiper." "Uh, yeah." "Why don't you, uh, just come in and wait on the porch." "I'll be right there." "Would you like, uh, some refreshments, some water or some tea?" "For the whole rest of your life, whenever you need to feel brave, just look at your scar." "Your hand will grow bigger, and your finger will grow bigger, but your scar will always stay the same size." "And it will always show up in your fingerprint." "What's a fingerprint?" "I'll show you." " Those are my fingerprints." " Ooh." "That's really neat, Ruthie." " So you were at the doctor's office getting the stitches taken out?" " Uh-huh." "And we went to the beach." "And we had lunch." "And Eddie showed me my fingerprint." "Oh, that's really neat, Ruth." " l see the photograph was ready finally." " We got the feet back!" "Look at all this sand in your hair, Ruth." "You're gonna need a bath." "Well, I was waiting quite a while for you this morning." "Where were ya?" "Where's Marion going?" "I'll give her the bath." "Better read that." " Answer me." " Read that first." "What's this?" "It's the only good writing I've done all summer." ""60 times"?" "Okay." "Let's run." "Did you saw that?" "Where are all the other pictures?" "Uh, I don't know." "Maybe Mommy moved them." "Look at you." "You've got sand in your toes and in your hair and in your ears. I got it in my crack too." "Well, I guess it's a good time for a bath then." "But Mommy didn't move those things." "What are those things?" "They're picture hooks." " Mommy moved all the pictures but not the picture hooks." " l'll give Ruth the bath." "I'll take a quick shower." "Yeah." "Make it quick." "Why would Mommy do that?" "I don't know, sweetie." "Hi." "This is Ted." "I can't play today, Dave." "Yeah, my wife's left me." "No, no. I'm okay." "Yeah." "All right." "Yeah." "I'll see you then." "Bye." "Aah!" "Where the fuck is my wife?" "I don't know." "Don't lie to me." "Jesus!" "Christ!" "I hit you with an open hand-- with the flat of my hand!" "You clench your fist, you punch me in the nose?" "I'm sorry." "Jesus Christ.!" "I'm sorry." "Marion said it was gonna make you stop." ""Marion said"?" "If she thinks she's got a rat's ass of a chance... to get custody of Ruth, she's got another think coming." "She doesn't expect to get custody of Ruth." "She has no intention of trying." " She told you that?" " She told me everything I'm telling you." "What kind of mother doesn't even try to get custody of her daughter?" "I don't know." "She didn't tell me that." "God." "Okay." "Okay." "Christ." "Why" " Why did she have to take all of the photographs?" "There're negatives." "She could have taken the negatives and had prints of her own made." "She took the negatives too." "The hell she did." "Go look for yourself." "She can't have the photographs and the negatives." "They were my sons too. I should have half the photographs, for Chrissake." "What about Ruth?" "Ruth should have some of the photographs." "Marion said you'd say that." "But she said no." "Oh." "Well, obviously, she went to New York." "I doubt it." "What do you know, Eddie?" "That's the only place she could go. I even know where in the city she is." "I just can't imagine her goin' to New York." "You don't have an imagination, Eddie." "Christ." "Aren't you planning on getting a divorce with her anyway?" "That Marion's question, or is that your question?" " lt's mine." " Eddie, just stick to what Marion told you to say, okay?" " She didn't tell me to get the photograph." "That was my idea." " Well, that was a good idea." " I was thinking of Ruth." " Yeah. I know you were." "Thank you." "You want a drink?" "No." "What day is tomorrow, Saturday?" "Yeah." "I want you out of here by tomorrow." "Sunday at the latest." "That's fine. I just need a ride to the ferry." "Alice can take you." "What about this one?" "Tell it!" "I'm sorry, Ruth. I don't know." "Okay?" "I just" "This is the one with Thomas in the tall hat." "Timothy is trying to reach Thomas's hat." "Timothy can't reach Thomas's hat, 'cause Thomas is standing on a ball." "Timothy got mad and started a fight." "Was the fight in the picture?" "No." "The fight was after the picture, you dummy!" "Okay." "We're gonna go watch a movie." "Yes." "We're gonna go." "No!" "No!" "We're gonna go pick a video." "Yes, we are." "No!" "Ruthie, stop it!" "No!" "No!" "Stop it!" "No!" "Oh, Alice." "What?" "What have you done to Alice, Eddie?" "I didn't do anything." "She was crying when I first got here." "I've been asking her what's wrong, and she won't even talk to me." "Where's Ruthie?" "Uh, she's asleep." "She was crying." "I'm sorry, Alice, for springing all of this on you." "Fuck you, Ted. I appreciate you pickin' up the slack." "I've spent years trying to get over my own fucked-up family." "And I've done the best I could with Ruth." "No." "No." "I just can't anymore." "I'm gonna quit." "I quit." "And you should have the decency to quit too." "It's-- lt's too late for me to quit, Alice." "I just got fired." "I never knew you were such a superior person, Alice." "Alice has been superior to me all summer." "Haven't you Alice?" "I am morally superior to you, Eddie." "I know that much." ""Morally superior." What a concept." "Don't you ever feel morally superior, Eddie?" "Hmm?" "To you I do." "Yeah." "You see?" "Everyone feels morally superior to someone." "Fuck you guys." "There goes my ride to the ferry." "Oh, you're a smart boy, Eddie." "You'll think of someone to give you a ride." "You want a drink?" "No, thanks." "Oh, for Chrissake." "Have a beer." "Jesus." "Look at this yard." "Cannot believe she doesn't want custody of her own daughter." "What kind of mother leaves her daughter?" "I don't know her well enough to judge her." "Let me tell you something, Eddie." "I don't know her well enough to judge her either." "Yeah, well, don't forget, it's you she's really leaving." "Guess she knew you pretty well." "Well enough to judge me, you mean?" "Certainly." "But then, she's leaving you too, isn't she, Eddie?" "You don't expect her to call you up for a secret rendezvous, do you?" "No. I don't expect to hear from her." "No, me neither." "I have drawings of her." "I drew her long ago, before the accident." "She was so-- so incredible." "So fucking beautiful." "Amazing." "You should have known her then." "Oh, Marion." "She hated to pose for me." "These are the only drawings I kept." "I was never good enough to draw Marion." "I didn't know how to." "I didn't have the ability, I guess." "You want one?" "You can have one." "No." "Ruth should have them." "Mmm." "That's a good idea." "You're full of good ideas, Eddie." "Wrong cubes." "Marion?" "Jesus, aren't you the optimist?" "Forget the light, Eddie." "This story's better in the dark." "What story?" "You told me you asked Marion to tell it to you, but Marion can't handle this story." "Turns her to stone just thinking about it." "Remember, you turned her to stone just asking her about it." "I remember." "Go on." "Well, here's the deal." "Thomas had his driver's license, but Timothy did not." "Tommy was 17 and..." "been driving for a year." "Timmy was 15." "He had only started to take driving lessons." "It was Ted's opinion that Timmy, who was only learning, was already a more attentive student than Thomas ever had been." "Timmy studied the driving manual diligently." "He was a more patient driver than Thomas." "Not that Tommy was a bad driver." "Tommy was a good driver." "He was alert, confident." "He had excellent reflexes." "And he was cynical enough to assume-- as Ted had instructed him-- that every other driver is a bad driver." "Who taught to you drive, Eddie?" "Um, my dad." "Well, good for him." "Tell him for me, he did an excellent job, would you?" "Okay." "Keep" " Keep going." "We were out west, actually, and it was after a long day of skiing." "It was snowing-- a wet, thick snow." "At 17 and 15, respectively," "Thomas and Timothy could ski the pants off their parents." "That day, in fact, Ted and Marion had retired to the bar at the ski resort... where they were waiting for a very long time... for Thomas and Timothy to finish their last run... and the last run after that." "I get the picture." "You were drunk." "Well, that, uh-- that was one aspect of what would become trivial... in the... area of the ongoing argument between Marion and Ted." "I mean, Marion said that Ted was drunk, although in his view, he wasn't." "Marion, while not drunk, certainly had had more to drink than she was accustomed to." "Besides, Tommy had not been drinking." "He had his license." "There was no disagreement as to who among them should be the driver." "And, brothers being brothers," "Timmy sat beside him in the passenger seat." "And as for the parents," "Ted and Marion... sat in the backseat." "Ted and Marion began to quarrel... about the best route back to the hotel." "There was gonna have to be a left turn no matter how Tommy did it." "So, Tommy moves into the center lane." "It's, um, a turning lane." "It's not a passing lane." "He puts on his blinker, not knowing that both lights are covered with wet, sticky snow... that his father failed to clear off at the same time his father... failed to clear off the rear window." "Any cars coming up from behind Tommy's car can't see the directional signals or... the brake lights or the tail lights." "The car is not visible, or it's visible only at the last second to any-- anyone approaching from behind." "And then, the interior of the car is filled with light." "It's the headlights from the car coming up from behind." "The snowplow cut the car almost perfectly in half." "Tommy was killed by the steering column." "Crushed his chest." "Died instantly." "And Ted... was trapped in the backseat for all of 20 minutes." "He" "He couldn't see Tommy, but he knew he was dead because Marion could see him." "She couldn't see Timmy." "He was directly in front of her." "Ted, however, could see that Timmy was still breathing." "Ted could also see that the snowplow, as it cut the car in half, also cut Timmy's left leg off at the thigh." "Timothy Cole bled to death of a severed femoral artery." "Marion knew that Tommy was dead, but only that Timmy had been carried from the wreckage, hopefully... to the hospital." "And then Marion, she sees Timmy's shoe in the wreckage." ""Oh, look." "Timmy's shoe." "He's gonna need his shoe. "" "And she walks over to it, reaches down to pick it up." "Ted" " Ted wanted to stop her." "Talk about turned to stone." "I couldn't move." "I couldn't even speak." "And that was when Ted allowed his wife to discover... that her younger son's shoe was attached... to a leg." "And that was when Marion realized that Timmy was gone... too." "And that-- that is the end of the story." "I hired you, Eddie, because you look like Thomas." "I gave her you." "See you in the morning, Eddie." "It's Eduardo." "What's Eduardo doing here?" "I don't know." "Maybe Mrs. Vaughn hired him to kill you." "No, no." "Not" " Not Eduardo." "You don't see her out there anywhere, do you?" "She's not in the cab or in the back." "Maybe she's lying underneath the truck." " l'm being serious, for Chrissake." " So am I." "Why" " Why don't you go out there and, um, see what he wants?" "Not me." "I've been fired." "Oh, for Chrissake." "What?" "Wha" "At least go with me then." "I can't go out there alone." "Mrs. Vaughn fired me." "Eduardo, Eduardo, Eduardo." "Let me make sure I understand you." "You think you saved my life, and this cost you your job?" "Yes, I did save your life, and it did cost me my job." "Well, Eduardo, I play squash regularly, and I'm pretty fleet of foot, um, but I do-- l do appreciate your brave warning." "How much money are we talking about exactly?" "I'm not here for a "hand-down," Mr. Cole." "I was hoping you might have some work for me." "Ah." "Let me" " Let me show you where l want to put a pool." "I want, uh, more lawn, like an athletic field, you know?" "Just, uh, pretty big." "You want some lines painted on it?" "No, no." "Just the size of an athletic field." "Wow." "That's a lotta lawn." "A lotta mowing'." "All right." "And a lot of fertilizers." "Yeah." "Well, whatever you say. I'm putting you in charge." "Thank you, Mr. Cole." "What about your wife?" "What about her?" "Oh, uh, does she work, or what does she do?" "Yeah, sure." "Sure, she works." "She cooks, she look after our children." "Mmm." "Maybe, uh-- Maybe she'd like to clean my house." "Or maybe she'd like to cook for me and, uh, look after my daughter, Ruth." "Sure. I'll ask her." "Yeah?" "Good." "Good." "Excellent." "Gotta do something about these straggly flower beds too." "You can start today, Eduardo." "You can begin by taking my former assistant to Orient Point, hmm?" "Sure. I can do that." "Uh, immediately." "Before breakfast, huh?" "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "Well, you're a fairly good driver, Eddie." "About Marion, there's another thing you should know." "Even before the accident-- l mean, even-- even if there had never been an accident, she still would be difficult." "I don't believe it." "About the shoe, it was a basketball shoe-- an "Air Jordan," l think he called it." "Specific details, Eddie." "Specific details."