"Time of wrap, please, Dawson." "1 2:07 a.m." "So that's what, Monday?" "1 2:07 a.m. sometime in January and we have done it, people." "We have finished principal photography." "So although it's rather out of character for me I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all your hard work and to propose a toast." "To us and our movie." "Cheers." "Strange, isn't it that all this will be gone tomorrow, like it never existed?" "Hey." "Nice speech, by the way." "And don't even bother pretending it was Todd's idea because that puppy had you written all over it." "Sincerity, warmth, and a hint of something, I don't know bittersweet?" "Or is it just bitter?" "Well, that's what wrap parties are all about, aren't they?" "You're more experienced at them than I am." "So are you heading back to L.A. tomorrow, or what?" "Yeah, with Todd." "You?" "Afternoon flight." "Max got me a small part in that Spielberg film he's doing." "You know, it's like two days' work or whatever, but who knows?" "Maybe it'll lead to bigger things." "Knowing you, Natasha, I'm certain it will." "is that a little attitude?" "A break in the oh-so-professional on-set demeanour you've cultivated since the New Year?" "Not everyone is acting every second of their lives, you know." "No, maybe not, but in Hollywood, they are." "So goodbye, Dawson." "Good luck out there." "I have a funny feeling about you." "What's that?" "That you're gonna need it." "Hi." "It's me." "And I'm back at school." "I mean, I've been back." "I wasn't going to call, because you didn't call me and I have pride, but not enough, because you win." "I'm being the typical girl and calling you." "In retrospect, I really don't think Christmas went that badly if you grade it on a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "scale." "But, anyway, you're probably out pounding the pavements and stuff so just give me a call when you get a chance, or whenever." "Okay." "Bye." "So how'd you get in here?" "You don't look a day over 1 6." "People always think I'm 1 6, but, duh, I am totally 1 8." "Don't you mean 1 5?" "Nice talking to you guys." "Maniac." "Harley, what are you doing here?" "I thought Christmas vacation was over for the Britney and Christina set." "I'm not on vacation." "Unfortunately, I live here now." "Where's Eddie?" "He's the only nice person I know here and he still owes me a root beer float." "You live here full-time now?" "As in, full-time with your father?" "Yes." "Why are you smiling?" "Sorry, it's just your father's such a great guy he deserves to have such a well-behaved teenage girl living with him full-time." "Speaking of which, why aren't you in school right now?" "If I tell you, will you tell me where Eddie is?" "Out with it." "Okay, fine." "I was on a field trip and I ditched." "You would too if your life was ruined by your mother's sudden need to do research in Bangladesh." "Harley, your life isn't ruined." "You're just being melodramatic." "Right." "Like you would know what it's like to have your life ruined?" "Look, he's not here, okay?" "Eddie." "And to be honest, I don't exactly know where he is." "Man, I can't believe you messed it up with him." "He was amazing." "He was beyond amazing." "Look, I'll get you a root beer float, then you have to go back to school." "I don't care how miserable it is." "It's just life." "Life is miserable." "Shouldn't you do that in a museum?" "Oh, bloody hell." "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." "Well, you did." "It's not the sort of place you expect to find stockbrokers." "Give me a break, I'm on my lunch hour." "Mind if I sit?" "No, go ahead, but don't sit too close." "I know, that overwhelming attraction's getting to you, huh?" "That's not it exactly." "Really?" "No. I just don't want anyone to know that you're with me." "Thanks." "What are you doing here, anyway?" "l work near here. I come here a lot." "The better question is, what are you doing here?" "I'm just killing time till 1 :00." "What happens at 1 :00?" "Well, you should know this, since you come here all the time." "On my lunch hour, which happens at noon." "So I come here, I walk around, have a slice of pizza..." "...and I'm out the door by 1 2:45." "Back to work." "That's why they call it " lunch hour."" "Because if was to stay till after 1  when I got to work, it'd be the " lunch hour and a half" ..." "...and we just can't have that, now." "Then I don't want to keep you." "Excuse me?" "It's 1 2:46." "Right." "All right." "Then I'll-- l'll just see you back home." "Well, of course it sucks." "That's why they call it life." "And what is it, really other than an endless series of mind-numbing days one on top of another?" "Alienation, despair these are the natural by-products of living in a mechanized" "Okay, stop." "Stop?" "Yeah." "A lot of people get depressed this time of year." "And I don't think they're calling in, hoping to talk to Kierkegaard." "But you said he was a philosophy major." "Whatever." "Look, l-- l don't wanna fight, okay?" "I get annoyed, you get defensive." "Let's just move on to the next one." "No, let's not. I quit." "You can't quit." "You haven't even started yet." "It's your first day of training." "Well, if the training consists of sitting here for a week..." "...and listening to you act superior-- -l've been doing this for two years." "Great." "Well, maybe your expertise will come in handy when we get to a hypothetical situation involving casual sex and a couple of blond girls." "Maybe you're right about one thing." "Let's call it a day." "So come back tomorrow or don't come back but whatever you decide, you should make it about you, not me." "Damn." "What?" "There's no good magazines to read." "That's it?" "I mean, you're not at all nervous about this?" "Oh, it's a piece of cake." "I've done it like a million times." "A million?" "Give or take." "I'd be a pretty hypocritical counsellor if I didn't practice what I preached." "Right." "Seriously, it's no big deal." "The most embarrassing part is when they ask what risky behaviour you've engaged in in the past few months." "Only thing I come up with is eating carbs after 9 p.m. and jaywalking." "Jack McPhee?" "It's fine." "" Blindingly dull." "Achingly dull."" "" Mind-numbingly dull."" "I see." "And what do these little cards prove, exactly?" "Other than that you've been previewing it all along." "They prove we're not done shooting." "That's what they prove." "Reshoots?" "Absolutely." "More sex." "More violence." "Maybe a little twist in the plot that's not predictable from the very first frame." "I mean, obviously, the goal here is to try to make this damn thing watchable." "I see." "So you're calling my movie unwatchable?" "I don't have to." "They did." "You want me to read some more?" "That won't be necessary, thank you." "Anyone got a light?" "If I'm gonna sit here and take artistic advice from everyone in Tarzana who had nothing to do last Wednesday then I bloody well need some nicotine, all right?" "Light, please, Dawson." "You know what?" "I'm gonna go get one." "Come on." "Pick up the phone." "Reach into the pocket and pick up the phone." "Hello?" "Shut up, before you make it worse and get out here." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Excuse me." "Where do you think you're going?" "Oh, I'm sorry." "Don't mean to be rude." "There's another idiot, in the hall, that requires my attention." "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" "I think-- What are you doing?" "You're digging a hole bigger than the La Brea Tar Pits." "Did it occur to you that was my intention?" "You never wanna work again?" "We're in charge here." "That's all well and good, except for one thing." "It's their money." "Look, you brought me here because I can stay calm in a crisis." "Well, this is it." "If you don't go in there and act happy about these reshoots they'll get someone else." "It could ruin this movie." "And would that be such a tragedy?" "Yes." "Look, maybe I'm naive for thinking that the whole system, the whole process can only produce something that's a notch above mediocre but I want this thing to be good." "I want it to be as good as it possibly can." "And I wouldn't have stuck it out with you if you didn't want the same thing." "So we figure three days of reshoots on a sound stage here in L.A very minimal budget." "The whole idea here is to come up with a new ending." "Something that's watchable." "Or at the very least, something that makes sense." "Now, I have no idea what that's gonna be." "But Heather here seems fairly confident that given enough nicotine, alcohol, caffeine you might be able to pull something off." "Well, that's very charitable of her." "Thank you, sweetheart." "All right, Todd, what's it gonna be?" "Well, I can see where you're coming from." "I can. I can see where you're coming from." "I can see how you and other people like yourself people of lesser intelligence, might be a bit confused by my movie." "And I can see how you don't have any ideas of your own on how to improve it, because, after all you're not really in the business of having ideas, are you?" "Oh, that's right." "You think you are." "Well, you're not." "You're in the business of criticizing other people's ideas." "Which is why, after much careful consideration I'll be throwing your generous offer back in your face and leaving." "Goodbye, and good luck with all your future endeavours." "Well, then, since nobody seems up to the challenge of convincing me that Mailer was wrong when he dismissed female writers as unreadable, that's it for Wednesday." "That can't be Joey Potter." "Guess a D isn't enough to get anyone thrown out of Worthington anymore." "Sweet, really." "Your concern for my future." "But that's not why I'm subjecting myself to your toxic personality." "Then I'll skip ahead to the part where l tell you that, no it will never be possible to drop this course without losing your credits from the first semester." "I don't want to talk to you any more than you want to listen to me." "I just need to tell you that your daughter may not be as safely ensconced in Milton Academy as you think she is." "What does that mean?" "She's cutting class, okay?" "I'm a little confused as to why you're telling me." "She came into the bar yesterday, on the lam from some field trip and God knows where she went when she left. I just...." "Call me crazy, I just figure these are things a father of a 1 5-year-old girl on the streets of Boston should know." "The subtext here being that these are things a father would know if he were paying attention." "l didn't say that." "You didn't have to." "Look...." "Tell you what." "Let's make another one of our famous deals." "You stay out of my life, and I'll do my best to stay out of yours." "Gladly." "You know, I'm sorry for the intrusion." "I guess I was naive enough to think that this might be about something other than your gigantic male ego." "You' re saying that that doesn't bother you the whole life-as-repetitive-stress-injury thing?" "No, it does." "But nothing prepares you for a life of mind-numbing boredom and repetition so much as studying music as a child." "Piano lessons?" "Violin." "My mum taught piano, though, to a series of ever-changing twits who all had one thing in common." "They were allergic to dogs." "So you had fish." "Tanks full." "So, what's yours, then?" "My what?" "Your excuse for coming here." "It can't simply be a matter of geographic proximity." "No, it's not. lt's.... lt's much like yours, really." "It's a window into the person that I used to be." "You used to be another person?" "Like you weren't born with pink hair, I'm not as conservative as you think." "You're not?" "No, I'm not." "Prove it." "Stay." "Stay here?" "I don't think taking an afternoon off is going to send capitalism screeching to its knees." "No, but it will catapult me to the top of the Rich Rinaldi firing list." "Yeah, that's such a bloody tragedy." "Here." "Call them." "Tell them, I don't know, that you're sick or something." "You're serious about this?" "Yeah." "Question is, are you?" "Hi." "Can I speak to Rich Rinaldi, please?" "Okay, well, if what you're telling me is true" "You've had unprotected sex with 1 7 women in the last three months." "then I think it's a good idea to get tested." "For you and for all of those hot women you've been sleeping with." "What?" "What?" "I have nailed many a hot girl in my day." "Hey, I believe you." "Thank you." "I volunteer to help you guys and get criticized for my acting abilities." "Please, like you could ever be straight." "Your heart is too big and so is your brain." "She's hostile." "Told you." "Could you please not talk about me like I'm not in the room." "So I have some anger." "Can you tell me there's something wrong with expressing your emotions?" "Hey." "Hey." "Sorry." "Am I interrupting anything?" "No, no, it's cool." "We're done here, I think." "Yeah, it's 4:00." "We're done." "So you guys think you can get along without me tomorrow, or what?" "Wait a second." "The only reason you're here all afternoon instead of with me is because she can't get along with him?" "Jen?" "Are you mad at me too?" "You can't loan me your boyfriend for one measly hour?" "is he your boyfriend?" "Have you guys kissed yet?" "Did I miss all of this over Christmas vacation?" "Charming." "Let's go." "Why are you looking at me?" "Hostile." "So he's changed his mind, has he?" "Come to his senses?" "Not that his apology's going to be accepted." "So where is he?" "Caught in traffic?" "Smoking?" "Not exactly." "Dawson?" "Yeah." "Technically, he's not gonna be here today because, technically, he doesn't know that this meeting is taking place." "You set this up." "Yeah." "Technically." "You set this up to apologize for him to smooth things over, to clean up after his mess." "Like you've been doing all along?" "Yeah, kind of." "Look, nobody sets out to make a bad film." "Todd wants it to be better." "He's too proud to admit it, but he's got five alternate endings." "This is stuff we've talked about all along." "It can easily be done on a sound stage in three days for no money." "Well, that's all very sweet and moving." "But since he's not here on his knees, begging for forgiveness you're wasting my time, my friend." "Unless...." "Unless what?" "Unless the answer is sitting right in front of us." "Excuse me?" "Excuse me?" "I know this is gonna sound crazy, but just stay with me for a second." "He knows the footage we've already shot." "He knows the script, the actors, the crew." "Personally, from what I've seen, I think he could do it." "Wait a minute." "Hold on a second." "What?" "You're saying you can't?" "l'm saying this is insane." "All right, let me ask you this." "Hypothetically, if you had to could you direct the reshoots of this movie?" "Well, yes, but that's not" "All right." "Call his agent." "l don't think he has one." "Then don't call his agent." "Call his mother, make her sign a permission slip." "Wait, hold on a second." "This is insane." "This is" "This is not why I came here today." "This is not what I wanted to happen." "Well, guess what. lt did." "And since these opportunities don't come along every day I'd hop on the happy train." "Or, I'm sorry, is being a director not the fulfilment of a dream..." "...you've been waiting your life for?" "No, it is." "lt definitely is, but" "We'll be in touch." "Oh, boy." "So did we ever figure out whose party this was?" "No." "Some dude's." "Then I don't suppose we ever figured out what day it is." "Come on." "Give me a break." "l really vote we take a cab." "Yeah, and pay the guy with what?" "You know, you being famous doesn't make me any less broke." "What?" "You're broke?" "Yes, Jack, Audrey Liddell is broke." "is that so impossible to believe?" "Someone must be paying too much for their drugs." "Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not on drugs." "Yeah, right." "I hate to be judgmental like your college friends but, please, don't rip my lungs out when you have some bad PCP." "Shut up, will you?" "He's coming." "Who?" "Your friend?" "Dawson." "Dawson Leery." "I'm on thin ice with him right now." "So if you can shut up about drugs for, I don't know, the next half an hour" "What?" "You'll make it worth my while?" "Don't I always?" "So I can go through your underwear drawer?" "No." "That's gross." "I'll sit on your lap the whole way home, okay?" "All right." "Cool." "But one word about..." "...any drug, and you've blown it." "Hey, I have self-control." "I'll believe that when I see it." "I'm gonna go wait in the car." "Hey, Jack." "Hey." "Hey." "You came." "Yeah." "You called, right?" "The fact that I recently destroyed your house with an automobile must have slipped my mind when I was dialling." "l freaked out, okay?" "What, then or right now?" "Both, I guess." "What are you even doing here, Audrey?" "Here in L.A. or at this weird party?" "Either one." "I don't know." "One minute, Jack and I are in a parking lot off Sunset talking to these guys in a limo and the next minute, we're here, and it's morning, and...." "Like I said, I just freaked and you were the only person I knew in this area code who would definitely be awake at this hour." "What about your parents?" "Please." "Do they even know that school started back?" "No." "I wasn't ready to go back last week." "You know I lied a little bit." "I didn't want to face the grand tribunal of judgment." "I'm ready now, though." "And I'm gonna be good from now on, Dawson, I swear." "Just don't be mad." "I mean, don't be any more mad than you already are." "All right." "Just tell me you realize how stupid it is to get in a car full of strangers that you meet in a parking lot." "Hey, it's me again." "Look, I get that you're avoiding me." "I do." "Many days, no phone calls." "What could be clearer?" "But I'm scared now because I don't understand why you wouldn't call me back." "It's not like you, okay?" "I guess I'm just scared that something happened to you." "Even if something did happen, I wouldn't know because, obviously, I'm not a very important person in your life." "So could you just call me back?" "Call me back as soon as possible." "Bye." "Any luck this time?" "When have I been lucky with men?" "He'll call you back, Joey." "I know he will." "Yeah, there's usually a very logical explanation for this kind of thing." "Yeah, I guess." "Hey, can you guys...?" "Pay the bill that's been sitting here for like a century?" "Yeah." "You're welcome to stay as long as you want. lt's just...." "l don't feel that great." "I want to get home early." "Yeah, it's no problem." "Here." "Keep the change." "Thanks." "Thanks a lot." "Bye." "Bye." "Well, that was depressing." "There's nothing sadder than watching somebody wait for a phone call..." "...that's never going to come." "Oh, sure there is." "There's orphans, sick orphans." "Plus, we don't know if this guy's not gonna call." "Oh, please." "We're guys, aren't we?" "How many people have you hooked up with and never called?" "A few." "Look, I went out a lot this summer." "And...?" "l didn't call a few of the guys back." "Look, if a straight guy did it, it would be rakishly charming." "You meet someone, okay, you think you like them" "And then after closer examination, you don't." "Yeah." "But only after the closer examination part." "Basically." "You gonna give me a lecture here?" "Do you want one?" "Not particularly." "Fine." "Fine." "Okay." "Let's go, Harley." "You're out of here." "Get your coat." "Excuse me?" "I don't have the energy to go through this again." "In case you've forgotten, we already played this scene two days ago." "Then you ratted me out to my father, who grounded me for a month." "So I figured the only way I could repay you would be to cut class again." "Right." "You think I'm gonna leave you here with a possible date rapist who thinks you're 1 8?" "I'm leaving." "You're leaving." "Let's go now." "I can't believe you talked me into staying for this yesterday." "Big fish eat little fish." "What's the big deal?" "This is why you come here every day?" "Well, if it was big company eating little company, you'd love it." "And for the record, I don't come here every day." "You don't?" "Not normally, no." "Just when I have a hangover." "So then what was this week?" "Some sort of special occasion?" "Look, I've just been wondering, what's it all for?" "I mean, if what you've told me over the last couple of days is true then you've changed your entire life, and I'm not sure why." "How the hell should I know?" "Why does anybody change their life?" "Why do people dye their hair?" "To piss off their mum?" "Or to try to be somebody else?" "For me, it would be the latter." "Why do you wanna be someone else?" "Because that's a part of growing up." "Pacey at 1 5 was a bit of a schmuck." "Bad haircut, bad Hawaiian shirts, broke all the time." "Dumb enough to chase things he knew he would never get." "Mostly women, I suppose." "Mostly." "Though there were a few girls." "And you are allowed to call them girls when they're 1 6." "Not that you care what I think but I don't think he sounds that bad, this person you used to be." "He actually sounds kind of nice." "Yeah, well, maybe he was, occasionally." "Still could be." "Quit the job." "Get rid of that goatee." "Grow back the terrible haircut." "What if I told you I'd actually been thinking about that lately?" "I'm not sure I'd believe that." "Unless...." "Unless what?" "Unless you showed up here again tomorrow, promptly at 1 :00 wearing some wretched Hawaiian T-shirt." "You know that that's not true." "If a girl doesn't have a perfect relationship with her father it doesn't mean she won't be able to have a meaningful relationship in" "Hello?" "Hello?" "She hung up on me." "My first real, non-hypothetical caller and she hung up on me." "Somebody walked in the room." "She got embarrassed, hung up." "You're just trying to make me feel better." "You were doing fine." "Why did this have to be boy trouble?" "Why couldn't it have been a nice eating disorder or a homesick freshman in need of an ego boost?" "You gonna answer that?" "No." "She talked to you." "She'll wanna talk to you." "No, l-- l don't wanna answer it." "I'm just gonna mess it up again." "You do it." "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Just answer it." "Help Line, this is C.J." "No, she had to step away for a second." "Yeah, she's a-- She's a little high-strung." "Oh, let's give her a break, though." "It's her first day." "Yeah, yeah, it is hard to talk when other people are in the room." "All right, call me back in 1 0 minutes when they're gone." "Yeah, I'll be here." "All right." "Promise me you'll call me back." "Okay." "Bye." "What?" "Nothing." "Hello?" "Every third store we're passing sells liquor." "Shouldn't this indicate that we're not in a great part of town?" "You wanted to walk on the wild side, so since your dad is in class until 6...." "We're here." "Where are we, anyway?" "Nowhere, okay?" "I just have to do something." "" Eddie Doling, 3A"?" "I thought you didn't know where he was." "I don't. I know where he lives." "I just don't know where he is." "Well, perhaps you've heard of the telephone?" "lt's a helpful stalking tool." "l tried that already, Harley, thank you." "When a girl leaves a slew of messages..." "...for her boyfriend" "Boyfriend?" "That means one thing." "You slept with him." "What did you just say?" "l asked if you slept with the boy." "You know, had sex?" "Gone all the way?" "I thought that's what you said." "Yeah, so, what's the problem?" "Nothing. I guess I...." "l had forgotten what a sophisticated woman of the world you are." "You're probably not even a virgin." "Probably lost it years ago to a trucker named Bubba, right?" "l don't get it." "You're not supposed to." "Look, go." "I'm not in the mood for this." "So what?" "Just because I'm 1 5, I'm not even allowed to talk about sex?" "No, you can talk about it." "And then when you're 1 9 you can look back and realize what an idiot you sounded like." "Oh, right, because you're so smart now." "You must know exactly what you're doing." "That's why you came here to stalk someone who hasn't called you back since you decided to sleep with him." "What?" "What's the big deal?" "We're in the wrong apartment, right?" "Joey?" "I mean, this obviously isn't it, right?" "You got the numbers switched or something." "Joey?" "I must say, your idea of casual Friday leaves a little to be desired, Witter." "Could we discuss your fashion do's and don'ts another time?" "Like, say, after lunch?" "Lunch?" "Think again, my friend." "What's all that?" "Extra work." "Did you think your little mini-vacation would have no consequences?" "I told you I was sick." "Yeah, well, I don't get sick myself." "And you know what kills me about people who do?" "What's that?" "How they never seem to realize that being sick doesn't decrease the quantity of work." "It means someone else has to do it." "It doesn't seem very fair to your colleagues." "I can tell you're all broken up about that, Rich." "But maybe what really upsets you is that they don't open up as many accounts as me." "Getting a little unnecessarily cocky here, aren't we?" "Cocky, yes, unnecessary, no." "Because we know that how much money you make is proportional to how much money we make." "Yeah, well, that may be true, but my attitude isn't the problem." "Yours is, and I expect to see a change in it soon, very soon." "Here." "Maybe this will help." "Thanks." "I love January, because that's when this comes." "What, my pay check?" "Thanks." "Not your pay check, Witter, your W-2." "I'm not sure what's in it but I'm guessing it's more than they pay fry cooks." "Like you would have any idea." "Any time you want to quit and go back to the easy life be my guest, but as long as you work here the only lunches you're gonna be going to are the ones you cater in your mind." "So this is what it's like when you're actually working, huh?" "This is it." "I thought the phones would ring a little more." "No, it doesn't really work like that." "I mean, think about it." "Think about how stubborn people are." "How hard it is for them to ask for help or actually admit they're wrong about something." "Yeah, you're probably right." "Listen, C.J." "Oh, it's almost 4." "Caffeine fix?" "You're asking me if I want coffee?" "Yeah. I'm just gonna go out to the cart." "Oh, no, no." "No, you're not." "You're not leaving me here alone." "Yeah, I am." "No, you're not." "Because if you leave, then the phone will most certainly ring and it'll be someone who wants to talk to some" "Yeah." "That's what you're here for." "Yeah, except you know what you're doing, and I don't which is why you shouldn't go." "A few days ago, you couldn't stand to be around me and now you don't want me to leave." "Can't a person change in a week?" "l don't know." "Can she?" "Sure you don't want anything?" "No?" "Okay, I'll be right back." "Kierkegaard." "Just one coffee." "Okay." "Hello, Help Line." "Well if we're being completely honest, which I hope we are I'm not entirely sure if I can help you." "But" " But I'd like to try, so...." "So you gonna tell me or what?" "Nothing to tell." "Cool." "Let me" " Let me ask you something." "Yeah?" "You know, all that stuff we talked about yesterday did that fundamentally alter your opinion of me in any way?" "Yeah, right." "Like I couldn't tell from a mile away that you were way sluttier than me." "What?" "Jack, give me some credit." "I mean, look at you." "You're ridiculously good-looking." "l mean, you're no Viggo" "Yeah, okay, that" " That's great." "Let's go." "What, we're leaving?" "Well, yeah." "I'm not gonna have this conversation with you here." "I'm sorry, but I think" "Hey, hey, David." "Yeah?" "Shut up." "Yeah, I think I could do that." "One of Barthelme's central tenets was his belief that only by juxtaposing disjointed, quite often absurd fragments of time could one truly replicate the emotional tenor of real life." "Can someone give me an example?" "Joey?" "Okay, pick a story, any story." "Wait, I'll pick one for you." "The School." "How about that?" "Ring any bells?" "Yes." "What's it about?" "A teacher trying to explain something to his students." "What's he trying to explain?" "Death and loss." "Why is he trying to explain it?" "Because it keeps happening to them, like this endless cycle." "I mean, first the orange trees, then the herb garden, then the tropical fish." "You know, it's absurd, really, because one minute, they're there, the next minute they're gone." "And the thing that's true, the part of it that's true, that's real is that no one ever does explain it to them, because..." "...no one can." "That's great, Joey." "You forgot all about the snakes and puppies, but" "Look, we're out of time for today." "Monday, everyone, Saul Bellow." "Got a second, Potter?" "What's this?" "This is 50 bucks." "I know you're poor, but don't tell me you've never seen 50 bucks before." "l don't get it." "For taking care of Harley yesterday." "She said that you helped her out with something said she was having some kind of a crisis." "She was having the crisis?" "Yes." "Look, just take the money." "It'd be a lot easier for me than trying to be nice to you for the semester." "Wait a second." "Why would you be nice to me?" "Why?" "Because as you pointed out the other day, this really isn't about me." "Her mother's gone, and her father.... ls a gigantic scuzzbucket?" "Yes, he is, actually." "Most days, anyway, according to her." "You, on the other hand, she seems to like." "Yeah, well, I'm very likable." "But likable and poor." "Fifty dollars, three times a week." "Sixty-five, and I'll help with homework, if she'd want help from a D student." "Deal." "Here." "What's that?" "Fifty bucks." "No charge for yesterday." "Look, don't do me any favours, Potter." "l'm not." "You wouldn't understand, okay?" "What is it, a girl thing or something?" "No, it's a human-being thing." "So you found me, then, did you?" "Called the surf report." "There were only so many beaches you could be at." "I can see I'm gonna have to get one of those Men in Black dealies deprogram you, now that our long association is over." "It's too dangerous, isn't it?" "Having that much information floating around just waiting to be used against you?" "I came by to apologize." "For what?" "For stealing me job?" "After you told them no yesterday, like the idiot you are, they called me." "They even apologized, as much as they're capable of." "What's next?" "We do reshoots here?" "We go back to Boston?" "What?" "I'm sorry, mate." "You misunderstood me." "We're not doing anything." "You are." "I went through this before." "l'm not gonna" "Not gonna what?" "Not gonna benefit from being at the right place at the right time?" "That's all it is, you know." "Doesn't mean you're actually going places or that you're more talented than me." "God, no." "You're, like barely functional, but you're like, my mentor." "What, not Steven bloody Spielberg?" "Well, he hasn't been returning my phone calls." "Just don't make it any worse, okay?" "And listen, the absolute first thing you have to do when you're on set is take a picture of Natasha's face at the exact moment that she's introduced to her new director because that's something I bloody well have to see." "Coming?"