"You can't just say you don't know, that's what you said on the phone." "When will you know?" "I don't know." "Do you want me to spend the night somewhere else?" "In a hotel, or something?" "Do you want us to... meet later on, we could talk more calmly, do you..." "Do you need more time?" "What, what do you need?" "What has happened?" "Bob knows that you are coming back today." "Well, I can..." "I can pick him up after school and take him... to the zoo, or something." "Come and admire him." "Maybe all couples go through this." "Yeah." "One mustn't be afraid." "No." "One must speak honestly." "Is it difficult?" "Is it difficult?" "I haven't been much help, but I finished that job now, it's over." "Maybe I was asking for too much." "I was the one who had the right to ask." "I know!" "No you don't." "Who was I doing it for, after all?" "Were you unfaithful to me?" "The truth is, not really." "Were you?" "There's always someone else when these things happen." "Not in this case." "Alright, well..." "What's happened to us is just... is just natural, feelings... change." "But without you I wouldn't feel anything at all." "What do you feel now?" "Are you really interested?" "No." "There you are, you see, it's the same with me." "I don't even want you now." "What time did you meet him?" "Eight thirty." "Where?" "In the park." "Was he willing?" "Yes, verbally." "Did you sense or detect weariness in him?" "No, a correct appraisal of the realities." "Is it making him bitter?" "No, greedy." "But you felt his power." "You mean, did I feel fear?" "No, because that would have prevented me answering all your questions." "How many vials did he take with him?" "Two." "What procedure have you devised for contacting him again?" "It's all in my report." "I suggest it's more economical to fill in my successor." "We don't feel there's a need for a successor." "I've completed my job." "Brilliantly." "That's why we want to rehire you." "It's out of the question." "And what would be the reason for your refusal?" "Family." "Oh, couldn't we be of some help there?" "No." "Wouldn't it be advisable for you to reconsider?" "I'm unable to do that." "Would you be unable for a long time?" "I hope not." "Aren't you allowing feelings to prevent you from answering your own questions?" "Exactly why I advise you to hire my successor." "Good." "Any questions?" "Does our subject still wear pink socks?" "Anna?" "It's me." "Anna?" "I am downtown." "Well, why downtown?" "I've been waiting all day." "I need some time to think." "What do you mean, to think." "Think about what?" "To think about me!" "Well, where are you, when will you..." "Hello?" "Margit, this is Mark." "Now, I know there's no sympathy between us, and it's, uh, hard for me to ask you for help, but... you're her only friend." "Now, just tell me the truth." "She has somebody?" "She wished you'd say or do something." "Something to reinstall you." "You know, a magic wave of the wand." "You arrived sooner than expected, Mark." "Yeah, sure, this is all my fault." "Now, how long has this been going on?" "Quite long." "Who is he?" "Oh, Mark!" "I don't..." "Your wife keeps her own secrets." "Margit." "I don't have a magic wand, I don't intend to hang on." "But make her talk to me, it'll be the way that she wants." "But this is not... proper." "Please." "Yes?" "We're over, Mark." "You have someone." "Yes." "For a long time?" "Does it matter?" "Yes!" "Yes." "Do you... sleep with him?" "Yes." "Do you like it?" "Yes." "More than with me?" "Yes." "I see." "How do you intend to live now?" "We have to discuss it." "Now." "As you want." "Half an hour, at the Cafe Einstein." "I'm too far for half an hour." "You calling from there?" "Yes." "Is he listening?" "No." "But he is there." "Yes." "Will 800 a month for Bob be enough?" "I suppose." "Will you move in with him or keep the apartment?" "I'll keep it if you allow me to." "I've decided not to see Bob." "At all?" "At all." "How can you say that?" "He's gonna be fucked up enough as it is," "I don't want to fuck him up even more by playing Sunday Daddy." "What were you to him, anyway?" "Precisely." "But..." "He knows you, he's used, he needs a" "A real father, full time?" "Well, I thought I could be, coming home from the wars, so to speak." "You say it's better with him than with me." "I get bored of it." "Tell me." "I think what you want to do to Bob is just..." "Inhuman?" "So what you're doing must be human." "How long is it gonna last?" "I don't know." "One week, two weeks?" "And how do you dispose of ideas like..." "like honesty, and loyalty?" "If I could only believe that it happened cleanly, at first sight..." "Okay." "If it makes things easier," "I was in his bed the first night I met him, if you have to know." "What do you expect of me, look what you're doing!" "No one is good or bad, but if you want, I'm the bad one." "And if I knew he existed in this world, I would have never had Bob with you!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Good morning." "May I help you?" "Do you need any help?" "Hello?" "How..." "How long have I..." "How long have I been here?" "Three weeks, sir." "What happened?" "It's Daddy." "Mommy said she would be right back, but she never came." "Then Margit called and told me to be brave." "Because she had broke her leg, and she had to go to the hospital." "You've been alone for a long time?" "Look, I got a new boat." "Did you get it from Mommy?" "No, from Uncle Heinrich." "Long ago?" "Yes." "Yesterday?" "No, before you come back from far away." "Okay, little piggy." "Come on, let's get out of this mess." "How did you make such a mess?" "This is not always like this, Mark." "Usually I'm on time." "I'm not interested." "I came to tell you that I can't live without you, and I'm ready to understand whatever there is, but it doesn't look like it makes much sense!" "You can't take Bob away from me!" "I'm not trying." "You can continue to visit whenever you want, but I'm taking over here." "Anna, is there anything I can do...?" "If you could just..." "Yes?" "I must..." "Yes?" "I must..." "You must restore order, you must leave him." "You will call him, you will say it is over." "Now, I don't care if you tell him you love him, but he's not your family, your family is here." "You must call him now." "But I can't, on the phone!" "I don't trust you." "I have to tell him face to face." "I don't trust you." "On the phone!" "Jesus!" "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus..." "If you want to stay, make that call." "It's still quite... warm, I don't think you'll need a winter coat and a sweater." "I can't stand to see you like this." "It'll be the way you want, just don't cry anymore." "I am very sleepy." "Anna is with me and she'll stay with me." "He phoned me, he said she won't be coming back." "Now, I have to talk to her right now, now please give me that number." "5426261." "Where is it?" "I don't know, Mark." "5426261..." "Hello?" "Yes?" "I want to speak to Heinrich." "My son's not in town." "Who's calling?" "Anna's husband." "Anna's not here, haven't seen her for weeks." "I miss her so much." "Hello?" "Hello?" "542... 6261..." "What happened?" "Wee wee." "Shall I take you?" "Where's Mommy?" "She went to see Margit." "Are you going too?" "I'm staying with you." "Hello, I'm..." "Bob's father, I'll be bringing him to school from now on." "I'm glad!" "You're the father who went far away and met the polar bears." "Hello!" "What is this, a joke?" "What are you talking about?" "I mean your wig!" "What?" "!" "I'm so sorry, it's impossible!" "Have you ever seen my wife?" "Naturally, ever day of the school year!" "You're Heinrich?" "Yes." "I've come for Anna." "Anna's not here." "You want me to break down the bloody door?" "You don't have to, it's open." "We don't have to be brutal to each other, or even impolite." "Our situation is like a mountain lake we are trying to swim in, starting from different shores." "I'm not astonished you're here." "I was thinking about you just before you came, so..." "Now that you're here, let's be open to each other." "You can hate me as much as you like." "But it's you who wants to know things from me." "So please make it possible." "I'm suffering as much as you are." "The fact that Anna did not inform you was harmful to everyone." "But I'd always accept Anna's ways, as I think no one has a right to impose his will on anyone." "So that's how you've changed her so much." "Possibly, but is it changing her, or making her open to herself?" "So open that she's inarticulate at night and you have to speak for her?" "What are you talking about?" "We spoke on the phone last night, you and I, didn't we?" "Stop it, I just arrived from Hamburg!" "You weren't listening to me." "I was just trying to make her comprehend that I love her!" "I left the day you arrived, to give her a chance to decide for herself." "I allowed you your chance." "Bullshit!" "I'm not obliged to listen to you speak to me in that way, it's" "How long have you been fucking me over?" "A year." "With my visits home, all that time." "Yes." "And this is what you mean by accepting Anna's ways?" "Precisely." "The key being the infinitive." "To accept." "I've been honest with you." "Would you permit me to inquire on a specific point?" "On your last visit home, were you content with your wife?" "I mean, sexually." "Why?" "Because in that period we reached a state of perfect harmony." "My mother." "Is she here all the time?" "Yes." "Even when you're fucking Anna?" "Of course." "Yes!" "Yes!" "Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool?" "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full." "One for... the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy that..." "lives down the lane." "Can I go out into the back yard?" "Yes you may, but you take your sandwich with you." "Where were you?" "I wrote you, I was at Margit's." "That's not true, I spoke to her." "I was with him." "That's not true either." "I saw him, I may... stink from him, but he's not lying." "I was with friends!" "Who?" "New friends!" "I'll check!" "Yes, check, check, check!" "Why did you leave last night?" "To be alone!" "But you said you went to friends!" "Why are you nagging me?" "Can't you just leave me in peace?" "I could have perfect peace if you never came back!" "It's..." "Bob, I have Bob!" "He is my son too!" "Don't try to tell me that you care about him all that much," "He didn't stop you from breaking us up." "If you really thought about him, you'd give a thought to us, for Christ's sake!" "I do, I do!" "No you don't, you think about buying him a pair of shoes, about, about making him a snack, about telling him a bedtime story, but if you really thought about him, you'd think about us!" "Right!" "Right, right, you're always right!" "But it's difficult, don't you understand?" "It is difficult!" "I didn't want it to happen, but it happened, and now..." "Don't you come any closer!" "Anna, it's me!" "Don't you understand you disgust me?" "I can't stand you touching me..." "You know, love isn't something you can just... switch from channel to channel." "I have your letters! "My love, trust me," you write, and all the time you're fucking your ass off!" "You want me to believe you?" "I'm a whore, yes!" "A monster, a whore!" "I fuck around with everybody whenever you turn around!" "I fuck aroud with everybody on every corner!" "You will let me go!" "Please don't make me force you." "You can't stop me!" "I'll open the window and jump!" "You need him that much?" "Oh, yes!" "Oh, yes!" "Fuck your needs!" "Do it again." "You know what this is for?" "The lies!" "Then you have to add much more." "Bitch!" "Bitch!" "Bitch!" "You bitch!" "What's gonna happen to us?" "It's up to you!" "Then stop coming!" "I have to go!" "I'll follow you!" "Don't you even try!" "Ooh, it's Aunt Margit, the angel of the extinct heart!" "Limping to the rescue." "And nothing can stop me." "Oh, I know you can't wait to run off and make a fool of yourself." "And I'm here to help you." "I'll look after Bob." "Give me your sweater." "I loathe you, Marge." "You are still full of belief, Mark." "I love seeing you miserable." "It's so reassuring!" "Shit, Marge." "Yes, sir." "Mr. Zimmermann will be with you in a minute." "Second door on the right." "Yes... so." "How can we help you?" "Please." "I..." "I would like you to follow my wife for a few days." "Of course." "Wives, wives..." "Are there any reasons you would like to give us?" "You don't have to answer, but often it is enormously helpful in the investigation." "My wife doesn't live with me anymore, but she visits." "Or at least she has been visiting, up to now, my son." "I see." "I have a photo of my wife here." "Are there any other leads?" "Family?" "Does your wife have a job?" "She quit about a year ago." "Friends?" "Her best friend is Mrs. Margit Gluckmeister, she's... in the directory." "Margit visits our place occasionally, to... to help out with Bob." "Alright, sir." "Now we must get down to practicalities." "Look at this tired boy." "That's it." "Look at this tired boy." "Let's get you in bed." "That's it." "On with the covers." "Excuse me." "How long is this going to last?" "Excuse me!" "I'm talking to you." "Excuse me!" "You don't have the right to behave this way!" "What have I done that you hate me so much, huh?" "Nothing!" "I deserve this?" "Get off it!" "No." "Get off it!" "Told you to stop coming home!" "Get off!" "It's just... disgusting." "Yes." "Look what we've become." "Yes." "Talk to me!" "I don't want you to be like this." "You know, when I'm away from you, I think of you as an animal, or a woman possessed, and then, and then I see you again and all this disappears." "You must try and help me." "Tell me." "Maybe it will help." "Are you happy?" "Do you love him?" "Does he love you?" "Do you want to live together?" "And have a family, and..." "Am I in your way, and Bob too?" "Then there's something else, you must tell me." "Why are you afraid to tell me?" "Are you afraid of me?" "Are you afraid I'll get mad again and beat you?" "Are you afraid I won't like you?" "Yes." "Anna, Help me!" "Help me!" "Anna, if Bob..!" "If Bob, remember!" "Good Christ, remember!" "It'll be the way you want it." "Hold it." "You don't have to say anything you don't want to." "You're my whole family." "I have to go now." "Could you want for Bob?" "I can't now." "Maybe we can both go and pick him up at school." "I can't." "It doesn't hurt." "No." "I got your wife's address, it's in Kreuzberg, Sebastianstrasse 87, first floor." "She seems to be alone." "You want me to check this now?" "I'm sorry to bother you, miss, I'm from the building manager's office." "We had a complaint about some broken window somewhere, and the glass falling down on the sidewalk." "Is that what it is?" "I'm afraid I have to check your windows." "But I c... can assure you they're alright!" "How can you be so sure?" "I just..." "I just saw you come in." "It'll only take a moment." "I don't want you to be here!" "I quite understand, miss, but it's me or the police." "A lady got hurt down the sidewalk, a Turkish w... woman." "Now, you might say she shouldn't be here in the first place, but she lodged a complaint, so what can I do about it?" "Nothing." "Please." "Is it okay?" "Moment." "So?" "Excuse me, the bathroom." "The bathroom doesn't have a window." "You sure?" "Absolutely." "Some bathrooms have windows this side of the house." "Not in this one." "I'm afraid I still have to check it." "Before someone else gets..." "Would you care for a glass of wine?" "Wine?" "Yes." "I'm afraid I..." "Yes, wine!" "I'm afraid you..." "Oh, come on, don't be so formal!" "Miss, it doesn't make any sense, I've got k... kids..." "I only came for the window." "Sorry, miss." "I still have to look." "Broke!" "Was ist das?" "How long?" "Ages and ages." "Much longer than I could." "I'm sorry to bother you so late." "May I see your wife?" "No, she went out." "That's not entirely true, she..." "She doesn't live with us any longer." "It's about Bob." "Ah, Bob!" "Bob is fine." "He's just beaten the world record in tub diving." "Hello." "Cut it out, Bob." "Look..." "Would you be so kind, he's..." "He's actually been in the bath for about an hour." "Yes, of course." "I have called many times." "I wanted to discuss with you the redistribution of our parts in this fundamentally vulgar structure, the triangle." "In other words, where is she?" "I've been giving a great deal of thought to the illogical aspects of your anger and your fear, and..." "Is Anna with you?" "And if...?" "I'd only ask to have a talk with her." "What if I said... no?" "I'm sorry I used violence with you." "Now I'd only employ my psychic process to make her come to me." "Oh, I'm so sorry, she's not here." "Did I tell you I had a wife and a daughter?" "No!" "They live in Cincinnati." "And what does that do for you?" "They will always will be my first family." "Anna can be the second, and you, and Bob in some sense." "Do you have a dog?" "Would that I had." "You misuse me." "It's stiff and blocked men like you that lead them to the concentration camp." "And who are the crusaders of every blind principle, so-called ideology, humanity invents to strangle me." "Why don't you like me?" "Why don't you draw into the magnitude of my love and pull it... all over your life, like a veil?" "Okay, I like you." "And I can tell you where Anna lives." "Lives?" "Only..." "I don't know the guy's name." "That's impossible, it doesn't make sense." "Why not?" "Because you think you've given her supreme pleasure?" "You, with your Yin-Yang balls dangling from your..." "Zen brain?" "Okay, maybe it does boil down to a sexual contest, in which case" "I'm sure you win..." "hands down." "But is that all?" "I used to be afraid of you." "But I don't think I am anymore." "There is nothing to fear except God." "Whatever that means to you." "For me God is a disease." "That's why through disease we can reach God." ""Tracking something," said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously." ""Tracking what?" said Piglet, coming closer." ""That's just what I ask myself." "I ask myself, What?"" ""What do you think you'll answer?"" "He wants to say good night to you." "Thank you." "You smell clean." "Do you like Helen?" "I think so." "Are you not sure?" "Well, I don't know her yet." "Do you like her?" "Yes." "Well, who don't you like?" "I don't like..." "Heinrich." "And I don't like that sailboat." "Why?" "He's funny." "I don't like..." "I don't like Mommy to like him more than us." "Who's prettier, Mommy or Helen?" "Who do you think is prettier?" "You tell me." "Our Mommy." "Good night, Stunkey." "Thank you." "Do you have anyone to help you with him?" "Oh, it's..." "It's not a problem, I..." "I have plenty of time." "Bob won't say anything to me, he keeps his worries for himself." "He knows everything, senses everything." "Children are amazing." "Yeah..." "After lunch we have an hour of rest." "Bob very often falls asleep." "And when he does, he cries, or shouts." "Does he do it at home?" "No." "He screams." "It's very difficult to calm him down." "When he wakes up, he pretends that nothing happened." "What can I say..." "I'm at war against women." "They have no foresight." "There is nothing about them that is stable, there's nothing to trust." "They're dangerous." "There is nothing in common among women except menstruation." "Excuse me." "I come from a place where evil seems easier to pinpoint because you can see it in the flesh." "It becomes people, so you know exactly the danger of being deformed by it." "Which doesn't mean I admire your world." "But I find pathetic these stories of women contaminating the universe." "I'm one of the contaminated." "Because you never feel free, do you?" "So sad that for you freedom seems to mean evil." "And what about lack of freedom?" "That was extraordinary." "Alright." "Together we can listen if Bob cries out." "You don't have to make love to me." "I'm not trying." "What happened?" "Did you have a bad dream?" "It's okay, it's alright." "I'm sorry." "It wasn't very wise of me." "This makes you think you've been right all along." "Hello, Bob." "Good morning." "I phoned you at home, you..." "Then I thought I might catch you here." "I didn't tell you where Bob goes to school." "Wasn't difficult." "We have a minor problem here." "Yes?" "The detective who was in charge of tracing your wife didn't come home last night." "So?" "He wasn't home this morning, hasn't reported to the office." "Before we start to get worried, I..." "When was he going to check it, yesterday or today?" "I don't know." "Please, don't misunderstand me." "That detective could have gotten drunk and spent the night with whores." "Although that's not much likely." "He could have gotten a heart attack..." "If our detective doesn't show up by noon, I'll have to notify the police." "The police will start digging into your problem." "That's how it is." "You can claim proffesional secrecy, but you have to give me the address the detective gave you." "Sebastianstrasse 87, floor one." "Have you been to that address yourself, or telephoned?" "No." "Very sensible of you." "But may I ask why not?" "I had the impression that you were tremendously interested in finding your wife." "Yes I was." "I suppose I still am." "But that was out of pure, blind ambition." "And you know something?" "I don't feel like there's anything much ambitions left of me." "I see." "So I don't even have to ask you, as a... personal favor, not to come to the office until I contact you." "Why?" "Precisely becaues of the... delicacy of your feelings, you might be able to understand that my interest in the case comes from the fact that I... live with that detective." "I'll be calling." "I have to talk to you." "That's what I guessed." "Have you ever seen this man?" "Do I have to answer you?" "Well, you'll have to answer to someone eventually." "That's too easy." "But it's you..." "or the police, right?" "Right." "Why?" "You're scaring me." "Am I not scared?" "Oh yes, I see..." "Darkness is easeful." "The temptation to let go... promises so much comfort after the pain." "He's in there." "My dear God!" "He's very tired." "He made love to me all night." "Emmanuel..." "He's still unfinished, you know?" "Emmanuel!" "Tighten your stomach!" "Up, your knee!" "Your foot, look at your hand." "Tighter stomach." "Move back." "Up, your leg." "Up, your knee." "Look at your hand." "Tighten your stomach." "Move back." "Your foot." "Do it." "Hold it." "Your knee." "Hold it!" "Hold it." "Keep your shoulders down." "Hold it." "Hold." "Hold it." "That was very good!" "Very, very good." "From now on she'll know how much righteous anger and sheer will she's got in her to say:" ""I, I can do as well, I can be better!" "I'm the best!"" "Only in this case can she become a success." "Nobody taught me that." "That's why I'm with you." "Because you say "I" for me." "Because you say "I" for me." "Yes, I'm thinking about him." "But I recognize the self who has just done something horrible like a sister I've casually met on the street!" "Hello, Sister." "It's like there's two sisters of Faith and..." "Chance, it's like two..." "It's like there's two sisters of Faith and Chance, of Faith..." "My Faith can't exclude Chance, but Chance..." "Well, it's like there's two sisters of Faith and Chance, my Faith can't exclude Chance, but my Chance can't e..." "Can't explain Faith." "My Faith didn't allow me to wait for Chance, and Chance didn't give me enough Faith." "And then I read that private life is a stage, only I'm playing in many parts that are smaller than me, and... yet I still play them, I suffer, I believe, I am!" "But at the same time I know there's a third possibility, like cancer, or madness." "But cancer or madness contort reality." "The possibility I'm talking about pierces reality." "I'm unable to say it, maybe." "Maybe it's impossible to say, maybe I'm too stupid." "You're looking at me as if you..." "You're looking at me as if to tell me that I need you to fill me up, as if I'm an empty space." "Well, I love you too, but what makes me go on is to know he'll return, and I'll make him suffer, and..." "And I'll hurt him, and..." "I'm betraying him, but... this brings me small rewards." "Well..." "But yet, I..." "I can't exist by myself because I'm afraid of myself." "Because I'm the maker of my own evil." "Because..." "Because I'm..." "Goodness is only some kind of reflection upon evil." "That's the way it is." "What are you doing?" "!" "I'm sorting out his things to take to the laundry." "I can do it myself." "But it's my job!" "Very kind of..." "I'm better at it!" "Maybe you could do it when Bob is at home." "It's getting... so difficult for you, isn't it?" "You're not as..." "You're not as strong or as sure of yourself as you thought you were, so you keep coming back." "You must be..." "You must be..." "torn apart." "I can..." "I can think more clearly now." "I guess..." "I guess when you're there... you want to be home, and when you're home... you want to be there." "If what you have there is so strong for you, if it's what you never had, stick to it." "Keep it." "It's very quiet here when you're, when you're out." "It was very quiet when you weren't here!" "Come over here, let's just see if we can sit together peacefully, still." "Is it the same there?" "No!" "Can you tell me now?" "I messed everything up." "Even Bob." "I've been a cheat, a liar, completely alone, wounded." "And you think I'm immoral shit." "I think so too but not the... same reasons..." "I feel nothing for no-one!" "It's as if the two sisters were too exhausted to fight anymore." "You know these women wrestling in an arena of mud, with their hands locked at each other's throats." "Each waiting to see who'll die first." "And both staring at me." "What I miscarried there was Sister Faith." "And what was left is Sister Chance." "So I had to take care of my Faith, to protect it." "That's what you're doing there?" "Yes." "You look uglier." "You've hardened." "For the first time, you look... vulgar, to me." "I remember when I was a kid..." "Have you ever seen a dying dog, you know, one of those old dogs that comes to die under the, under the porch of the house?" "At the last moment..." "It... yelps." "In terror." "As if it's seen something real." "I want you to take off the ring and the wristwatch" "I gave you last time I came home." "Don't forget to give him his yoghurt." "No." "I have to go!" "If I threw myself at your feet and yelped, would you still walk over me?" "Yes." "Hello, this is Anna's husband speaking." "Anna's not here." "I don't have the slightest idea what's happening to her." "Do you love your son?" "Sir!" "Tell him that I love him too." "I love everybody and everything." "I accept everything," "I have become wise, and profound, and good." "Do you want to talk to him?" "We're just having coffee." "No, I don't want to talk to him, I..." "I don't want your coffee to get cold, either, I certainly love your coffee." "Just tell Heinrich that Anna's address is Sebastianstrasse 87." "First floor." "Five, six, seven, sky!" "Eight, seven, six, five, four, three..." "Madam teacher, my apologies for being late." "No, it's alright." "Anyway, we were waiting for you." "Thank you." "And goodbye, Bob." "What is it?" "My name." "I respected your wish to be alone, I thought you needed the time, but now it's time enough." "Besides, what are you doing here, anyway?" "Don't resist me." "You know I'm stronger than you." "I'm the only one in your life who has rights on you." "Because I don't claim any." "I brought it from India." "You know, this is what the French poet Michaux was writing about." "I kept it for you." "With this, love opens to absolutely unknown horizons." "Absolutely unknown..." "We are made to swim in the center of the stream." "Not to wait on the dry banks." "Yes..." "Exactly." "I showed you the door to God." "And this door is always open." "Come." "Is this a joke?" "What is it?" "Anna!" "These must be removed." "They are beginning to smell." "This can't be true." "I've got to keep this place clean and well." "Oh my God!" "Are you going to help me," "Heinrich?" "You are no different from anyone else." "We are all the same." "But in different words." "In different bodies." "Different versions." "Like insects!" "Meat!" "Calling all ambulances and fire engines to the site of the crash." "And two trucks!" "Where?" "Can you answer the door, Bob?" "Now listen, Heinrich." "Just stay where you are." "At the bar at the corner?" "Bleed for a while." "I'll be there as soon as I can." "My son took the car." "An automatic one..." "Can you look after Bob till I get back?" "What is it?" "It's Mommy calling me." "No, not, not here." "Go to the toilet." "Need a Tampax?" "How can you joke while I'm so hurt?" "There are corpses in there." "At least two bodies." "I thought she was pulling my leg, but no, there's blood." "She cuts them." "A monster, a joke, but it was alive." "You're drunk, Heinrich." "She cuts us to pieces, Mark!" "Maybe she just didn't want to see you." "Don't joke, I am not joking!" "Alright, I'm not joking." "So what do you want?" "Don't you understand?" "She's killing people." "I understand she's killing people, so why do you call me and not the police?" "She is sick, Mark, doesn't that mean anything to you?" "There are dead bodies there!" "I don't believe you." "Maybe you're stoned on some shit you suck on." "Some mushroom you gobble?" "Perhaps you did it to yourself." "Maybe you're learning how to suffer." "Now that would be an achievement!" "I feel for people!" "You talk for people, you take their wives." "I take what I want!" "And I'm at peace with myself." "Nobody saw me come in, nobody." "I called you because we have to do something to help her." "What?" "It isn't normal, it wasn't even human." "It was..." "Devine?" "Perhaps you met God a moment ago, and you didn't even realize it." "Now, you believe in God, don't you?" "Certainly." "That great incomprehensible God whom you reached through fucking, or dope." "Am I right?" "Look, Mark." "That woman is crazy." "We have to do something." "We?" "I'm not going to do anything." "I can't leave it this way, it's Anna, it's murder!" "You are not a man, Mark, you're a woman." "Alright, if you don't intend to do anything and want to keep me silent, you will have to pay." "You have money, I know it." "You have to get me out of here, and send me on a long trip to restore my harmony!" "I deserve it!" "If you had only seen what I saw!" "Heinrich, help me out of here, I'm sick!" "I'm the one who is wounded, not you!" "Please!" "God's light avenge them!" "Giving it out clean, and getting it back dirty!" "Do you believe in God?" "God?" "It's in me." "Take me." "Did Margit see it?" "Yes." "That's why you killed her?" "She tried to take it away from me." "Is this Faith that helped us?" "It needs to be protected." "Like a child?" "Yes." "You know, for me," "God is still under the porch, where the dog died." "And on the branch of the Eucalyptus tree where I'd lie for hours, and watch how the clouds change the color of the grass below." "I need money." "I had to leave there." "Oh, I've cleaned all the mess," "I washed the floor, I made the bed." "I didn't know where to go." "It became so unsafe there, people couldn't stop trying to take it away from me." "Okay." "Now, leave me the car." "Take Margit's keys and go to her place and wait there." "Can you drive a motorbike?" "Heinrich taught me." "It's outside." "Now, I'll take care of Bob and everything." "I'll go to the bank on Monday and take the money out." "If Bob wakes up, tell him..." "I will." "It's only me." "Go to sleep." "I have to go." "Please close the door." "Because it's here with you?" "Yes!" "I'm sorry to disturb you, but..." "Yes?" "You understand that it is very late, and Heinrich hasn't called me yet." "He calls me every night so I won't worry about when he comes home." "Maybe..." "Maybe he just forgot your number." "No, you don't understand." "Mothers always feel it when their sons are in trouble." "Are you worried..." "Are you worried that he's not there having sex with my wife?" "They should come here." "I've put clean sheets on the bed, and they could have dinner." "Are you quite sure you know who you're talking to?" "I am." "I went there." "Where?" "I was worried, you understand." "There isn't any apartment there under the address you gave me." "There's only a smoking hole that the police won't allow anybody to come near." "So I went to a bar at the corner, to call home, to find out if Heinrich had returned." "Yes?" "And Heinrich was there." "Nobody could identify him." "Yes?" "I recognized his body, of course." "Did you... identify it for the police?" "No, it was only Heinrich's body." "But his soul was not there." "Perhaps he and the soul had parted company before." "You don't know what you're talking about." "No, no, you're quite right." "I don't have any idea what I'm talking about." "He must have seemed to you better and more beautiful than you." "When Anna met him, she immediately worshipped his soul." "And you sent him there." "Now, listen to me." "I recognize Heinrich's superiority in every way." "I was... proud that Anna accepted him." "Now, Anna..." "has gone missing." "And..." "I'm here, all alone, you understand?" "With our little son." "Now, I must find her, maybe it's her fault." "I'll find her, and I'll force her to tell me what she's done." "With Heinrich's soul." "And then I'll come to you." "And tell you." "Won't you come up?" "I'm in a rush." "Is it your wife?" "Here." "Will you promise me something?" "Yes?" "Whatever it is?" "I promise." "Almost." "Almost." "Yes." "Heinrich's dead." "Isn't he?" "Yes." "And you found Anna?" "Yes." "You come like the Angel of Death." "The one who kills." "I have thought about killing him." "And now?" "And now I don't know." "Did you see anything that made you change your mind?" "I don't know what I saw, but Heinrich saw it too." "And you came to tell me that you don't know... where Heinrich's soul is?" "Yes." "I can see it in your face." "It would be good to think that the soul lives separately from the body." "That the soul lives forever, and the body only for a time." "But it isn't so." "I don't know anymore." "I do." "I have to be on my son's side." "Even if he's made you unhappy." "I know all there is to know about him." "That I love him." "Yes." "I was wondering which is worse:" "Take away someone's wife, hurt a child," "or to kill?" "He also had a wife and a child." "I used to like her." "I liked your Anna too." "I had to like both of them." "Since they loved him." "The world is only what it is." "Murderous." "If we are the best of it." "You don't have to worry about me." "I don't want to be here." "If Heinrich is not around anymore." "That dog didn't die of old age." "What about you, Mark?" "Our man won't confide or deal with your successor, he wants you." "In fact, Mark, there is no successor." "We can take care of drowning dogs, but please help us take care of the drowning world!" "Don't you think it's uneconomical to waste yourself on dogs?" "Even dogs you love?" "I met a man who loved everything." "And he died in a flood of shit." "We know." "That's just details." "When I was a boy..." "I had a dog and his name was Louie." "When he crawled under the porch to die," "I stayed there with him." "So what?" "I wanted to see what it was that made him crawl under there." "Nobody's a boy anymore." "Must we prove it?" "Back up, then full speed, and crash into the police car." "My pleasure, sir." "Anna, the car!" "Anna!" "Run away, go!" "How could you find me?" "How could I not?" "I wanted to show it to you." "It is finished now." "Oh yes." "So hard to live with it, eh, Brother?" "Is there a way out?" "Will you help me?" "Yes." "Take it." "Shoot them." "How do you want to finish it?" "Would you open it, please?" "Why not, Bob?" "It could be your father." "Don't open." "Oh, but I want to." "Don't open." "But I want to!" "Don't open!" "Please, don't open!" "[Transcribed, not without effort, by Victor Flickstein.]"