"Did you like it?" "I've never had something wriggling in my mouth before." "How does my tongue feel?" "Like a slug." "It's disgusting." "You have to breathe, or you'Il choke." "Should I open again?" "half open." "That's it." "Okay, get in there." "You're all slobbery." "I'm going to throw up." "If it's not wet in there, it won't work." "Stick out your tongue." "Rub it against mine." "Breathe through your nose." "How do peop e do it?" "Do you want to Iearn, or not?" "No." "Open." "No." "Open." "No." "What do you mean, no?" "Kiss me." "Leave me alone." "I'm al out of spit." "Some other time." "See, you had spit after all." "Check the tires at the gas station." "Pump them up if they need it." "You've got a passenger today." "An engineer." "Arrives at 10." "You'lI drive him around for a while." "Sure thing." "Your dad, is he doing okay?" "We started his treatments." "They admitted him?" "No, we go back and forth." "Something like huge prickly-pear trees." "Except instead of prickly pears, they were hung with pricks." "What do you mean?" "Big, small, medium-sized... wrinkly... erect and milky and juicy ones." "Some bent to the Ieft, some to the right, some with foreskins, others without." "Trees w th pricks." "Prick-trees." "Some were small and shriveled, but swayed slightly... as if they were breathing." "Did you taste them?" "The hard, juicy ones." "A strange taste." "Like bitter almond." "And an intense smell of spunk." "What is "spunk"?" "Semen stink." "What's that like?" "Like a thousand men jerked off in the same spot." "And you like that?" "You know, it's one of those things you like, but at the same time makes you feel guilty." "I don't know..." "Seeing genita s in your s eep is a bad omen." "It terrifies me." "Because you're ignorant, that's why." "They're like those animals you love, in those documentaries by Sir Attenberg." "Sir David Attenborough." "They're I ke little animals too." "They act with a mind of their own, it's just that they're attached to men's bodies." "Do you ever imagine me naked?" "No, never." "A father's mind represses such thoughts about his own daughter." "Is it taboo?" "There's a reason why we mammals have taboos." "It ensures the propagation of our species, without defects." "I have imagined you naked." "Shame on you." "It bothers me as an mage, but I don't reject it." "I prefer to think of you... as a man without a penis." "You're right." "Some things should stay taboo." " To the hotel?" " Right." "Can you be here tomorrow morning at eight?" "I don't work tomorrow morning." "Only the afternoon." "Four o'cIock at the factory, then?" " Okay." " Bye." "Bye." "You smell like bleach." "And you smell like gasoline." "Eat your pot-roast, mommy's girl." "I'm not a mommy's girl." "I don't have a mom." "Daddy's girl, then." "How's Spyros?" "You mean Mister Spyros." "It annoys me when you become so familiar." "bella, you Iitt e slut." "Do you want more bread?" "There's a lookout sitting on that tree... and he's already seen me." "There is more...meaning, and... mutual understanding, in exchanging a glance with a gorilla," "than any other animal I know." "And so if ever there was a possibility of... escaping the human condition, and living imaglnatively... in another creature's world, lt must be with the gorilla." "You still have her photos." "You were good together." "Keep this." "And this." "And this." "And this, and that's it." "If I drive too fast, tell me." "Okay." "Eye to eye" "Hand in hand" "My heart will be happy" "Without fear of tomorrow" "There w II be a day" "When my soul" "Is without sorrow" "The day when I will also have" "Someone who loves me" "Like the boys and girls my age" "I will soon know what love is" "Like the boys and girls my age" "I wonder when that day will come" "Eye to eye" "Hand in hand" "They head off in love" "Without fear of tomorrow" "Yes, but I walk the streets alone" "My soul in sorrow" "Yes, but I walk alone" "Because no one loves me" "My days, like my nights" "Are the same in every way" "Without joy and filled with boredom" "With no one to whisper "l love you" in my ear" "All the boys and girls my age" "Make plans together for their future" "All the boys and girls my age" "Will know what it means to love someone..." "goal." "You know babifoot." ""Babifoot"?" "FoosbaI ." "goal." "goal." " Bye." " Bye." "will you ever get married?" "I don't think so." "Don't you Iike men?" "Not particularly." "I don't blame you." "You don't ike them either?" " I prefer women." " Me too." "Not that way, not like you." "I don't desire them." "I have never desired." "I've never done it with anyone." "I find it disgusting." "Repulsive." "A thing inside me, moving in and out like a piston...jamming me... I refuse to imagine you've got one of those things too." "I don't have one of those things." "Never did." "You really are an extraterrestr aI... just as I thought." "NutIess." "Gut ess." "HeartIess." "Fartless." "Snotless." "Spitless." "Witless." "Have you ever desired anyone, since mom?" "Yes." "Have you done it?" "What?" "You know..." "That." "The "piston."" "Yes." "You disappoint me." " A little compassion." " l hate compassion." "I'd ike you to start iving along w th others." "That's not how you taught me to live." "Why are you asking me to do it now?" "What are you doing here?" "I had a passenger." "Want to come up?" "For a beer?" "I've got to take the Volvo back." "Just for a little bit." "What's your name?" "Marina." "You like Suicide." "Yes." "A Iot." "Me too." "Alan Vega's a god, right?" "Yes." "You're too young to be listening to Suicide." "23." "What's your favorite song?" ""Be Bop Kid."" ""Surrender"?" "It's good." "A little melodramatic, but good." "Want to sit down?" "Here." "Beer?" "No." " Can I kiss you?" " What?" " Am I doing it right?" " Fine." "Do you like it?" "Very much." "You?" "I've never done t before." "With a man." "With a woman?" "With my best friend." "She's very experienced." " You don't smoke." " No." "You taste nice." "You too." "Keep going." "I met someone." "Who is it?" "Someone." "Someone you Iike?" "I think so." " Do you want me to meet him?" " No." "Then why are you telling me?" "I don't have anyone else to tell." " You have bella." " She'd flirt with him." "She flirts with you too." "Haven't you noticed?" "bullshit." "Don't swear." "I'm not." "You are." "Fine." "You want to fight." "Your problem is bella, or the guy you met?" "My problem is your swearing." "I hardly ever swear." "And I feel awkward about all this." "all what?" "Do I know him?" " He's not from here." " You like him?" "I already said." "Yes." "Does he like you?" " No." " How do you know that?" "I'm guessing." "But does he know he likes you?" "No." " Are you going to tell him?" " No." "I think you should." "I don't agree." "Fine." "Don't tell him, then." "OK." "I Iike women's breasts." "The way they bulge under blouses." "I can't take my eyes off them." "It must make the women feel uncomfortable." "But I don't ust after their breasts." "I admire them." "If I had dreams like yours," "I'd dream of breast-trees instead of penis-trees." "Tit-trees." "Prick-trees." "Keep on correcting my Greek... idiot." "Do you like my tits?" "Yes." "They're very beautiful." " Do you envy them?" " No." "Why not?" "They're too small." "Want to touch them?" "To try them out?" "bella, you Iitt e slut." "Touch them to be sure." "They don't arouse me." "Am I asexuaI?" "Do men arouse you?" "Yes." "You haven't touched one." " l have." " When?" " Recently." " Who?" " Someone." " You're lying." "I'm not." "You're a sea-urchin." "You don't let anyone touch you." " l let someone touch me." " Then why didn't you tell me?" " It's none of your business." " l'm your friend." "You're a predator." "You're one of those women who can't stand women." "We women are the wondrous mystery of the animal kingdom." "You haven't seen the documentaries of Sir David Attenborough." "You're insufferabIy pedestrian." "You can't stand women either." "...and ignorant." " You can't stand them either." " Yes." "But I admire them." "I admire you and you're insufferabIy pedestrian." "Don't mimic the way I speak." "Stop repeating what I say, please." "Who is he?" "You don't know him." "You haven't got your claws nto him yet." "Does Spyros know him?" "It is Spyros." "You fell for it, didn't you?" "You have the hots for my father." "It's as if we were designing ruins." "As if calculating their eventual collapse... with mathematical precision." "Bourgeois arrogance." "especially for a country that skipped... the industrial age altogether." "From shepherds to bulldozers, from bulldozers to mines, and from mines, straight to petit-bourgeois hysteria." "We built an industrial colony on top of sheep pens... and thought we were mak ng a revolution." "A small revolution." "I Iike it." "It's soothing, all this un formity." "Because deep down you're an optimistic bourgeois modernist." "Bourgeois." "Bonjour, bourgeois." "Bonjour, bourgeois." "Fright." "Flight." "Fight." "Bite." "Bright." "White." "Light." "Night." "Sight." "Light." "Shite." "Sh t." "Sit." "Seat." "Beat." "Bat." "Bet." "Bed." "B ed." "Dead." "basically, you're eaten by the worms." "They start with the eyes." "They're the softest." "Then they go n through the nostrils." "They get inside." "They burrow." "After a while only your skeleton is left." "Do we have to talk about this?" "It upsets me." "I prefer not to go through it." "Anyway you always told me that architects would burn in hell." "I'm trying to fend off your macabre pronouncements with bad jokes." "I'm not ready." "I need your help to escape the worms." "I hate those fucking worms." "If we lived somewhere else we wouldn't be having this discussion." "Here, we have to arrange it through some kind of provider." "Provider of what?" "Alternative funerals." "A funeral home for alternative Christians who are scared of worms." "Exactly." "The worms devour you." "All that remains are bones." "Then you're dug up." "Packed in a tin box and placed on a shelf." "And then they bury someone else in your allotted space." "Urban planning for the dead." "Do I have to send you away?" "Abroad?" "Yes." "And once... once you're there..." "what happens next?" "What do I do?" "They'II send me back to you... and you'II scatter my ashes in the sea." "Which sea?" "This one here." "You've thought of everything." "I'm sorry if I'm shocking you." "What shocks me is that you plan things without me, and then announce them in the end." "It's not the end yet." "Right." "Do you like it?" "You don't have to constantly ask me." "Sorry." "Don't say sorry." "Sorry for saying sorry." "I don't exactly know what I'm doing... but don't show me what to do." "It annoys me when people show me what to do." "I'm not embarrassed." "You make me feel unembarrassed." "I fee good lying on top of you." "You smell great." "I can feel your cock but it doesn't bother me." "I always thought that when the time came, it wouId bother me." "Until recently I couldn't even say the word "cock."" "You're not hard." "No." "Why?" "Interview over?" "Yes." "Can you keep quiet for two minutes?" "And then?" "Kiss me." "Can we turn off the light?" "No." "I want to be ab e to see you." "I can't concentrate." "Close your eyes." "I want to look at you." "With the light off, you won't be able to." "We'll leave the bathroom light on." "Now will you get hard?" "Not likely." "You're stressing me out." "Sorry." "How about you, got a hard-on?" "I think so." "Want to help us out a litt e?" "How?" "Stop talking so much." "So... I purse my lips slightly... and stick out my tongue." "I beg you, stop describing what you're doing." "I'II give you a blow job." "No, no, it's okay." "Later." "It's moving slightly." "On its own?" "Or is it you doing it?" "They met as flve-year-olds... when they returned to these cliffs where they had hatched." "While their elders nested, they joined with groups of others of their own age, to dance." "As the dance parties proceeded, the male and the female began to dance with one another habitually." "After a few weeks of these courtship games, the young birds flew off, back to sea." "During the year that followed, they cruised the ocean separately, looking for fish." "But the following year, they were both back." "And here we have a more modern range." "Oak, wa nut, cherry, pine or mahogany..." "excellent finishes, clean lines." "The fabric swatches are in these cata ogs." "This one here... and this one." "AII top quality." "It can't be synthetic." "He's allergic." "The synthetic fabrics are in a separate catalog." "And as far as which countries I can send him to?" "well... we work w th bulgaria, Monaco and Germany." "Hamburg, to be exact." "I wouldn't recommend Bulgaria as your first choice..." "It's the cheapest option, if you don't m nd me saying." "They mainly serve people from the balkans." "We're BaIkan too." "I mean from the former Eastern bloc." "You know." "Atheists." "I propose sending him to Hamburg, where services are more advanced." "The deceased is sent ahead by air, you follow on another flight that day, you are met by limousine, and within three hours of your arrival, the cremation procedure takes place in your presence." "We can also book a string quartet for the ceremony." "Here is a selection of ecclesiastic music to choose from." "He likes bebop." "I'm afraid pop-pop isn't an available option..." "Bebop." "Be that as it may, the options are fixed." "And if I don't go with him?" "The ashes are sent as cargo to Athens airport." "We prefer Greek airlines, out of respect for the deceased." "The urn is delivered directly into your hands." "Do I pick out the urn here?" "Of course." "We are the only undertakers who offer such a wide range of urns." "I have a few samples here that I can show you..." "That's too fancy for my father." "One moment..." "Right, my official consent form." ""I would Iike to become a member of the non-profit Committee... for the Right to Cremation in Greece, and... I'd Iike to receive free pamphlets published by the Committee."" ""Yes / no?"" "Yes." "Good to keep abreast of deve opments, where I'm going." "The undersigned... I donate my body to our next fish soup." "Spyrosoup." "BouiIIabaisse." "I've never been to Hamburg." "Are you coming a ong?" "If you want." "Whatever you decide." "I'd rather wait for you here." "I'm scared of airplanes." "When I'm delivered back to you, don't forget to scatter me..." "Shut up." "Hold on a moment." "We used to say that when I grew up, I'd become a NASA astronaut." "And that I'd explore a new planet." "pluto." "Are you ready to be an astronaut?" "Yes." "Where are your loyal assistants?" "Your little robots?" "Here." "How many are there?" "will they be enough?" "Yes." "I'm boycotting the 20th century." "It's overrated." "And I'm not at all sorry to leave it." "I'm an atheist old man." "A toxic remnant of modernism... of post-Enlightenment..." "And I leave you in the hands of a new century, without having taught you anything." "What is there, where you're going?" "A giant, warm pussy wa ting to suck me back up." "Forgive me." "Sometimes I forget that you're not my buddy." "You don't have any buddies, that's why." "I'm your only buddy." "I'd ike you to do me a favor." "I'd Iike you to sleep with my father." "What do you mean?" "Are you stupid or something?" "You've been with guys older than him." "Your father asked for this?" "Of course not." "My father isn't I ke those filthy sIeazebags you screw." "He hasn't been with a woman for centuries." "I think he wants to, but he's too shy." "Will you do it?" "Yes or no?" "I'm uncomfortable around him." "He'l want you." "Isn't that why you usually do it?" "To validate yourself, to feel wanted?" "only th s time, you won't give me the details." "I don't want to know a thing." "It's a favor." "Ask one of me too, and we're even." "Say my name." "My little Marina." "Without the "little."" "Marina." "Again." "Marina." "Again." "Again." "Marina." "Dad." "When can I pick him up?" "Tomorrow after twelve." "I'lI need the death certificate." "The undertaker will take care of that." "To which funeral parlor do we deliver him?" "What difference does it make?" "We have a duty to issue a shipping invoice." "Do you have their name and address with you?" "Shipping invoice..." "unfortunately there is also an outstanding balance to clear... including extra meals and the satellite TV." "We didn't have satellite." "We never even used the TV." "Here you are." "Have you collected his things?" "Come on, throw him." "Now."