"Cecilia was the first to go." "What are you doing here, honey?" "You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." "Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl." "Everyone dates the demise of our neighbourhood from the suicides of the Lisbon girls." "People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms, the harsh sunlight and the continuing decline of our auto industry." "Even then, as teenagers, we tried to put the pieces together." "We still can't." "Now whenever we run into each other at lunches or parties we find ourselves going over the evidence one more time." "All to understand those five girls, who, after all these years, we can't get out of our minds." "Cecilia, the youngest, was 13." "And Lux was 14." "Bonnie was 15." "Mary was 16." "And Therese was 17." "No one could understand how Mrs. Lisbon and Mr. Lisbon, our math teacher, had produced such beautiful creatures." "Paul Baldino claimed to have found Cecilia on her first attempt." "Hey, I was the one who found her." "I was in the storm sewer under my house." "There's all these tunnels." "You could get into anyone's house." "When Paul said this, we believed him because he was the son of Sammy "the Shark" Baldino, and we knew about his escape tunnel." "So I went up, thinking I could see one of those girls taking a shower!" "Right!" "And I walk in and I see blood everywhere." "So I turned around, went for the stairs and right back out the tunnel." "I had to tell you guys that story." "I'll see you guys later, all right?" " I heard there was an accident." " It was no accident, Joan." "Of course the parents are to blame!" "I heard they found the razor in the toilet..." "Everyone had an opinion as to why Cecilia had tried to kill herself." "That girl didn't want to die." "She just wanted out of that house." "She wanted out of that decorating scheme." "The most popular theory held Dominic Palazzolo to blame." "Dominic was staying with relatives until his family got settled in New Mexico." "He was the first in our neighbourhood to wear sunglasses, and within a week of his arrival he'd fallen in love." "The object of his desire wasn't Cecilia, but Diana Porter." "I love her!" "When Diana Porter left on vacation in Switzerland, Dominic denounced God." "To prove the validity of his love he jumped off the roof of his relatives' house." "Ahem!" "I'm gonna show you some images, and, uh... you tell me what they remind you of." "OK?" "A banana." "A swamp." "An Afro." "I don't think Cecilia truly meant to end her life." "Her act was a cry for help." "I know you're very strict, but I think that Cecilia would benefit by having a social outlet outside of the codification of school, where she could interact with males her own age." "Peter Sisten had helped Mr. Lisbon install a model of the solar system in his class." "And in return Mr. Lisbon invited him for dinner." "Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord." "Amen." "Amen." "Lux, please, put your shirt on this instant." "Sorry." " Thank you, dear." " Can you pass the salt, please?" " Ham?" " Thank you." " Sweetheart, would you like some peas?" " I hate peas." "Here." "That's a nice-looking ham, dear." " Well, thank you, honey." " Mm, this is good." "So, Peter, are you an aviation enthusiast?" "Well, I don't know if I'd call myself an enthusiast, but I like planes." "Ah." "Uh, Peter, are you on the football squad?" "Um, no, I play it, but I'm not actually on the team." " Oh, I see." " Ah, not a team player." "Do you like to wrestle?" "You OK, Peter?" "The Brazilian turbot frog was added to the endangered species list today." " That's the third animal this year." " Oh, dear." "The turbot frog?" "I don't think I've ever heard of..." "Um, excuse me, may I use the rest room?" "Oh, of course." "The one down here isn't working very well." " Go upstairs through Cecilia's room." " OK." "Thanks." "Hold..." "Hold on." "I thought you'd died in there." "Are you done hogging the bathroom?" "I need something." "Do you mind?" " Thank you very much." " You forgetting something?" "Oh, Peter." "Here's a little aerofoil I thought you might find amusing." "It's a demonstration of Bernoulli's principle:" "lift." "From that time on, the Lisbon house began to change." "Almost every day, and even when she wasn't keeping an eye on Cecilia, Lux would suntan wearing a swimsuit that caused the knife sharpener to give her a 15-minute demonstration for free." "Following the doctor's orders, two weeks after Cecilia returned home Mr. Lisbon persuaded his wife to allow the girls to throw the first and only party of their short lives." "There." "Is that OK?" "I'm gonna get dressed." " Welcome!" " Good evening, Mrs. Lisbon." "Come on in." "The party's in the basement." "Just go on round to the left, and then down the stairs." "Hi, I'm Bonaventure." "Hi." " Hi." "Tim." " Nice to meet you." "Hi." " Would you like some punch?" " Yeah." "Thanks." " Hi." " Hi." "Thanks." " Hi." " Thank you." " Hey." " Hi." "Do you wanna sit down?" " Yeah." " Me too." "Um, how did your SATs go?" "OK." "Good." "Do you know where you're applying yet?" "Well, no, but my parents are pushing towards Yale 'cos that's where my dad went." "That's nice." "You have to imagine what it'd be like when out of the sun would come the Hun and his Messerschmitt coming down." "And boys, I swear, two or three years older than you would be in this - the P51 B Mustang." "B for what?" "For bull's-eye, see?" "You've heard of Yale?" "Oh, yeah." "This punch is fantastic." " Can I give you more?" " Sure." "What's in it?" "Juices." "Some cherry, pineapple." "You know, I uh..." "I love pineapple." "Really?" "This baby would come in, and this won the war for the United Kingdom." "You see?" " Excuse me." " Sure." "And it's this kind of, uh..." "this kind of equipment that makes, uh a model work." "Here's Joe." " Hi, Joe." " Hi." " Now, if he needs anything just call me." " Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine." "Hi." " Joe!" "Good to see you." "How are ya?" " Hey, Joe." " Glad you came tonight." " How's it going?" "You're just in time." "Good." "Hi." "Everyone look!" "His ears wiggle if you scratch his chin." "Joe, sing your song." "* Oh, the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga" "* Oh, the monkeys have no tails Got bitten off by whales" "* Oh, the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga" "Good job, Joe!" "Good job, Joe." "Where'd you learn that song?" "May I be excused?" "If you want to, dear, but this is your party." "Oh, all right, if you want to go upstairs, go ahead, but we'll just..." "We'll just have to have fun without you." "Oh, look." "He always chooses heads." " Joe, what's it gonna be?" " Heads." "Joe, will you try tails?" "Heads it is!" "I'll show you again." "Let's go." " Heads." " Tails." "Heads." " One more time." "In the air, Joe." " Heads." "Heads it is anyway." "One more time here." " OK, call in the air, Joe." " Heads." "Heads." "Not bad." "How you doin'?" "Good." " You picked it up really well." " It's my favourite song." "You know, you're... very beautiful." "I could paint you sometime." "Thanks." " So did they sing it to you?" " Yeah." "Cecilia!" "Cecilia!" "Oh, my God..." "No!" "No!" "No!" "Don't look." "Turn around." "Turn around." "Darlings, turn around." "Don't look." "Don't..." "Don't look at this." "Oh, Jesus." "Please, God." "OK." " What did he say?" " He said she was only 13." "Oh, hi, Mary." "Are your parents home?" "Hi, Father Moody." "Come in." "Oh, hello, Father." "Please, sit down." "Thanks." "Come on, Miller, that was inside." "Ah, no." "No, thanks." "How about we get the missus down here, have a little chat?" "Afraid she's under the weather." "She's not really seeing anybody." "Well, she'll see her priest." "Ah!" "This kid's a sucker for the high inside ones every time." "Every time." "Excuse me." "Father." "Ah!" "Double play..." "Father." "Double play." "Mrs. Lisbon?" " May I come in?" " OK." "Hello, girls." "I thought we could talk." "Do you feel like talking?" "Well, if you ever want to, you know where to find me." "Mrs. Lisbon, it's Father Moody." "Mrs. Lisbon, hello." "I wanted you to know that I listed Cecilia's death as an accident." "An accident waiting to happen." "John said you couldn't get a policy to cover it." "I know." "It's so incredibly dangerous." "Let's give it a try." "Ready?" "One, two, three." "Oh, God." "It's just so sad." "I can't even believe it." "Footings are too deep." "Got that chain in your truck?" "Hit it!" "Our collection of souvenirs of the Lisbon girls, which still exists, started with Cecilia's diary." "Parkie had gotten it from Skip Ortega, the plumber's assistant, who had found it next to the toilet." "Tim Weiner - "the Brain" - decoded it." "Emotional instability." "Look at the i's." "The dots on 'em, they're everywhere." "Basically, what we have here is a dreamer." "Someone completely out of touch with reality." "When she jumped, she probably thought she would fly." ""Monday, February 13th." "Today we had frozen pizza."" ""Thursday." "Mom made creamed corn for dinner." "It's the worst." "It looks like..."" ""Mary chipped her front tooth on the monkey bars."" ""She made a big scene and had to get it capped." "It looks normal, I guess."" "Here, give me that." "Told you she had a capped tooth." "Elm trees." "How many pages can you write about dying trees?" "Here, something about Dominic." ""Palazzolo jumped off the roof over that rich bitch Porter."" ""How stupid can you be?"" ""Today we went out on the boat." "It was cold."" ""We saw a couple of whales."" ""Lux stroked the whale." "I didn't think they'd stink so much."" ""It's the kelp in their baleens rotting."" ""I hope we can go again sometime."" "Let's read that. "Lux lost it over Kevin..."" " Is it Heines?" " "Heines, the garbage man."" "Lux lost it over Kevin Haines, the garbage man." "She'd wake up at five in the morning and hang out on the front steps - ...like it wasn't completely obvious." "She wrote his name in marker on all her underwear." "Mom found them and bleached out the Kevins." "Lux was crying on her bed all day." "The trees like lungs filling with air." "My sister, the mean one, pulling my hair." "And so we started to learn about their lives,..." "We felt the imprisonment of being a girl, the way it made your mind dreamy so you ended up knowing what colours went together." "We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them." "We knew that they knew everything about us." "And that we couldn't fathom them at all." "Hi." "Uh, Mrs. Lisbon, I'm Lydia Perl." "I'm putting together a..." "Oh." " Hi, I'm Bonnie." "This is Mary." " Hello, girls." "Um, I'm here to ask you a couple of questions about Cecilia." "Yeah?" "Great, great." "Um, maybe you could start by telling me a little bit about her." "Did she have any special interests or hobbies?" " Um, she liked writing in her journal a lot." " That is great." "Um, OK." "Uh, did she..." "Did she ever talk about ending her life?" "What's going on here?" "Um, you must be Mrs. Lisbon." "I'm Lydia Perl." "I'm from Channel 2, and..." "You have to leave now, Miss Perl." "The suicide of an East Side teenager last summer has increased the awareness of a national crisis." "I'm in front of the home where Cecilia Lisbon..." "Why can't they let her rest in peace?" "...and write poetry, tragically put an end to her life." "Psychologists agree that adolescence today is much more fraught by pressures and complexities than in years past." "More and more doctors say this frustration can lead to acts of violence, whose reality the adolescent cannot separate from its intended drama." "I baked a pie full of rat poison." "I thought I could eat it, you know, without being suspicious." "My nana, who is 86..." "She really liked sweets." "She had three pieces." "I feel sorriest for the mother." "You'd always wonder if there was something you could've done." " I gotta go." "See you later." " All right, then." "Bye-bye." "Bye-bye." "Don't worry." "They took the fence out." "God, you snore loud." "Those girls have a bright future ahead of them." "The other one was just gonna end up a kook." "We didn't see the girls together as a group until convocation, September 7th." "Mary, Lux, Bonnie and Therese came to school as though nothing had happened." "We felt if we looked hard enough, we might begin to understand what they were feeling and who they were." "All right, so if we have - these are Venn diagrams, as you remember..." "If we have A and B intersecting, and A and B..." "If A intersects B, we have this area." "And if A is the union with B, we have all of the circle, plus the intersection." "These are the laws of intersection and union." "OK?" "How's it going?" "Not bad." ""Do a character sketch on the following characters from Portrait Of A Lady."" "The first one is..." "Ralph." "Um, he was nice." "It was really sad when he died." "Oh, my gosh." "I can't believe I just said that." "I am so sorry." "Reading about the alarming suicide rate, I talked to Mr. Woodhouse and some of the teachers here and realized that nothing about this serious matter has been discussed at this school." "Quickly thereafter green pamphlets were distributed." "We thought green was cheerful, but not too cheerful." "Certainly better than red." "They told us there were 80 suicides a day in America,..." "...30,000 a year,..." " Cheese!" "...and alerted us to danger signals we couldn't help but look for." "Were the Lisbon girls' pupils dilated?" "Had they lost interest in school activities, in sports and hobbies?" "Had they withdrawn from their peers?" "Hi." "I'm Chase." "I know who you are." "I've only been going to this school my whole life." "You don't have to talk to me." "For example, we have two different types of economics - ...or so-called two different types." "The first one is called macroeconomics." "Look." "She's laughing." "He made her laugh!" "I've never heard him say anything remotely intelligent." "The boys who talked with Lux were always the stupidest and made terrible sources of information." "Squeezebox is all right." "Let me tell you, she's the hottest girl in the school for sure." "Do you wanna know what happened?" "Smell my fingers, man." "Nah, she didn't talk about Cecilia." "We weren't exactly talking, if you know what I mean." "But the only reliable boy who actually got to know Lux was Trip Fontaine, who only eight months before the suicides had emerged from baby fat to the delight of girls and mothers alike." "I'm late again." "Oh, come on." "Thank you." "All the girls at our school were in love with Trip." "All the girls except for Lux." "Trip told us his passion for Lux started when he went into the wrong history class during fifth period." "He went out to his car to smoke the marijuana he took as regularly as Peter Petrovich, the diabetic kid, took his insulin." "On this particular day he ran into Mr. Woodhouse and ducked into the nearest class." "She was the still point of the turning world, man." "I never got over that girl." "Never." "I mean... you know, I loved a lot of ladies, but not like that." "That was real." "I'll never forget the first time I saw her." "I didn't know what had hit me." "I didn't know what to do 'cos it was so easy with all the other girls, but she wouldn't look at me." "I, uh..." "I was never the kind to pursue, if you know what I mean." "That girl drove me crazy, man." "Mm, yummy." "Warm." "Lux." "Hey." " Look at it." "It's just meat on bread." " Eugh!" "Sick!" "Thanks, Mom." "Trip's dad was little help." "Well, first off, don't call her on the phone." "It's all, um... it's all subtlety." "It's all nuance." "Yeah." "You just need to talk to her at school, you know, about anything." "About the weather, or school assignments." "Um, you know, anything to have the chance to communicate with the language of eye contact." "And, uh, project confidence." "And keep the hair out of your eyes." "She'll feel the vibe." " Just be yourself." " Yeah." "The word hurricane was the name given to nature's strongest storm." "A hurricane occurs when high pressure and low pressure masses of air..." "There is often a significant difference in temperature between the two masses." "One mass is warm, while the other is cold." "The warmer air rises and the cooler air falls." "Likewise, the low pressure slides down the sides of the high-pressure area." "They swirl in and around one another, creating the beginnings of the storm." "In this footage, taken from US Navy weather patrol aircraft, we can clearly observe the two masses, one high pressure and one low, coming in contact with one another." "The result is a surging storm of tremendous strength that strikes with forceful determination." "Even though the hurricane is the most powerful storm known to us..." "Must have been Conley." "His ass is grass." "I'm gonna ask you out." "Fat chance." "First I'm gonna come over to your house on Sunday and watch the tube." "Then I'm gonna ask you out." "You're a stone fox." "The hurricane... one of the most truly awe-inspiring and spectacular storms nature has to offer." " What channel's this?" " Five." "Ah, let's see." "Um, Animals In The Wild." ""Journey through the African Kalahari as we visit exotic animals in their natural habitat."" "I think that sounds very nice, don't you?" "The rainforest eventually gives way to expansive arid grasslands that stretch to the horizon in all directions." "This is the Kalahari." "Uh, do you want some more pop?" "Yeah, sure." "Thank you." "Thanks." "The wildlife spectacle played out on these vast open grasslands and in the deep recesses of the rainforest is unparalleled on Earth." "Lux, please put your feet down, honey." "The Kalahari and its vast open skies provide the theatre for the drama played out by the herds and the great cats that prey on them." "Oh, my!" "It's getting so late." "Honey?" " I said it's getting late." " Yeah?" "Oh." "Well, Skip, we usually hit the hay about now, so..." "Right." " OK." " Thank you." "OK, so..." " It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Lisbon." " Yes." " Good night." " See you." "Bye." "Bye." "Gotta get back before bed check." "Ahem." "Uh, this is fourth period." "I don't have you until fifth." " I know." " Oh." "I'm not here for math today, sir." "I'm here to tell you that my intentions for your daughter are honourable." "What... might those intentions be?" "I wanna ask Lux to the Homecoming dance." "Trip, why don't you sit down for a minute?" "You see, my wife and I have certain rules." "They've been the same for the older girls." "I can't change them for the younger ones." "Even if I wanted to, the wife wouldn't let me." "True." "So, uh..." "If you want to come over and watch TV again, that would be fine, but you cannot take Lux out, especially not in a car." "So I'm sorry, son, that's just our policy." "OK, sir, what if there was a bunch of us guys and we took all your daughters out in a group and we had 'em back by whatever time you said?" " Are you on the football squad, son?" " Yes, sir." " Ah." "What position?" " Defensive cornerback." "Ah." "Good." "Good." "I was a..." "I was a safety in my day." "That's a crucial position, sir." "Nothing between you and the goal line." "Exactly!" "Exactly." "Oh, well..." "So the thing is, sir, we've got the big game against Country Day, then afterwards we have the dance and..." "all the other guys are taking dates." "You're a good-looking fellow, Trip." "Lots of girls would go with you, I bet." "Yeah, well, I'm not interested in lots of girls, sir." "I'll take it up with the wife, Trip." "Do what I can." "Thank you, sir." " It's a graph." " Oh." "Mm." "Trip Fontaine and some of the other boys in the football squad asked to take the girls to the Homecoming dance." "You know how I feel about that sort of thing." " I'm gonna be a chaperon at the dance." " Oh, come on, Mom." "Please!" "Your father and I will discuss it later." "Mr. Fontaine, may I speak with you, please?" "Now, my wife and I have had a little talk and we've come to a decision about your request." "Yes!" "I'm taking Lux Lisbon to Homecoming." "I need three guys to take the other girls." "I'll give you three joints, Trip." "Come on, Trip, man." "You pick me, we can take my dad's Caddy." "You gotta pick me, Tripster!" "Trip, man, you owe me." "I saved your ass with Woodhouse that time." " Thanks, Dad!" " OK." " Who are the other boys?" " Ah, let's see." "Parker Denton and Jake Conley." "He's a very good student, dear." "And, uh..." "Kevin Head." " Who's taking who?" " Whom." "They're just gonna raffle us off." "It made no difference which pattern of their dream dresses the girls chose." "Mrs. Lisbon added an inch to the bust line and two to the waist and hems." "And the dresses came out as four identical sacks." " Everybody decent?" " Yeah." "OK." "Come on." "Oh, I'm sorry." "OK, there we go." "OK, come on, together." " There's a leak." " And Cheddar cheese!" "I'm so excited!" " You ready?" " Let's go." " Ready, man." " Let's do it." "In the end Parkie won because of the Cadillac, Kevin Head because he had the killer weed and Joe Hill Conley because he won school prizes - ...which Trip thought would impress Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon." " Hello, boys." " Hello, Mrs. Lisbon." "Come in." "Thank you." " Uh, who... who... who's driving?" " I am." "How long have you had your license?" "Two months, but I had my learner's permit for a year." "We almost never let the girls go out in cars unless it's necessary." "There's so many accidents nowadays." "I'm sure you will be very careful." " Oh, yes, ma'am." " OK, third degree's over!" "Girls!" " I better get going." "See you at the dance." " See you there, Mr. Lisbon." "Bye, dear." "See you later." "Girls, come on down." "The boys are here." "We got white ones." "We didn't know what you were wearing, and the guy, the flower guy, said that white would go with anything, so..." "I'm glad you got white." "Why don't you pin them on?" "Don't stick me!" "There we go." "All right." "Let's do it." "Bye, Mom." "Bye." "Oh my gosh, look, you guys." "Her car's there late again." "Mr. Leo's having an affair with the maid." "I saw him follow her into the laundry room." " Eugh!" "He's so fat, and that red nose." " Totally an alcoholic." "What about the Hessens?" "You know they're Nazis." "They're Nazi sympathizers, Bonnie." "They had a fit when the Schwartzmans tried to join the tennis club." "Nice aluminium siding Do they really think that looks OK?" "Mr. Kriegers ordered that from TV late at night." " It's the Baldinos' barbecue tree stump." " I have never seen them barbecue on it." "Actually it's an escape tunnel for Sammy "the Shark"." " Leads to a river where he has his boat." " Yeah." "Paul goes there all the time." "He can get into anyone's basement through the storm sewers." " No way." " Yeah." "Cool." " Dad'll smell it on you." " No, I got mints." "He'll smell it on your clothes." "I'll just tell him some kids were smoking in the bathroom." "Don't let it die a virgin." " That's gross!" " Yeah, grow up, Conley." " Uh, do you wanna dance?" " Sure." "We've been having such lovely weather, don't you think?" "Yeah." "Yeah, it's been nice." "Good evening, everyone." "If I could have your attention..." "I hope you're all having a good time." "Sure looks like it." "Here's a spot." "I'd like to open the voting for Homecoming king and queen." "The ballot box is at the refreshments table, so please cast your votes and we'll make the announcement in a little while." "Thank you." ""I'm Not In Love")" "Did anybody see you come in?" "No." " What about you?" " No." "You'll love it." "Peach schnapps." "Babes love it." "That stuff tastes really good." "I don't want any, thanks." "Come on, just a taste." "A tiny taste." "Don't be such a goody-goody." "Don't swallow it!" "Can I have everyone's attention, please?" "Thank you." "I'd like you all to put your hands together for this year's king and queen Trip Fontaine and Lux Lisbon." "All right, Luxie!" "I'm having the best time!" "Let's go for a walk." "We better not." "We've gotta go back in a minute." "We can keep an eye on the car." "They won't leave without us." "My dad." "Just tell him you had to put the crown in your locker." " Hey, see that divot there?" " Uh-huh." "That's where I reamed this guy today in a cross-body block." "Really?" " Maybe they went with your dad." " I doubt it." " We're cooked." " Luxie is." "We're not." "Does anyone have any mints?" " Sorry." " No." "Bye, Parkie." " We'll walk you to the door." " No, don't." "Why not?" "Just don't." "OK." "Will you call me?" "Uh, absolutely." " Bye." " Bye." "Bye." "Where have you been?" "Get in!" "I walked home alone that night." "I didn't care how she got home." "It was weird." "I mean, I liked her, I liked her a lot, but out there on the field..." "It was just different then." "That was the last time I saw her." "You know, most people will never taste that kind of love." "But at least I tasted it once, right?" "It's time for your six o'clock group meeting." "Given Lux's failure to make curfew, everyone expected a crackdown." "But few anticipated it would be so drastic." "The girls were taken out of school and Mrs. Lisbon shut the house in maximum security isolation." "She had done more than just take the girls out of school." "That Sunday, arriving home from a church sermon, Mrs. Lisbon commanded Lux to destroy her rock records." "Now!" "But, Mom!" "This is final, Luxie." " It's not fair!" " I said now!" "Now, Luxie!" "Come on." "Hold on." "Kiss!" "Please don't make me do this." "Burn it." "Oh, Mom." "Aerosmith!" " Come on." "Don't make me burn this." " No." "What's that smell?" "It's all right." "That'll do for now." "Give me these." "Give me these." "I'll put them in the trash." "This was the time we began to see Lux making love on the roof with random boys and men." " Is she naked?" " You can't tell." "Hold on." "Well, get it focused." " Will you stop?" "Wait your turn." " What are they doing?" " They're rolling around up there." " Let me see." "Let me see." "Hold on." "And she's on him and he's rubbing his hands through her hair." " Come on, let me look." " No, it's my..." "It's my telescope, Chase!" "Yes, and what else?" "Our male up there seems to be in a Burger Chalet uniform!" "That Burger Chalet - you never think those guys ever get lucky." "She turns to me and asks me if I thought what we'd done was dirty." "I knew what to say." "I said no." "Then she grabs my hand and goes "You like me, don't you?"" "I didn't say anything." "It's best to keep chicks guessing." "Chase, honey!" "Come practice your violin before dinner!" "You're not gonna believe it." "Lux is on the roof again tonight!" " Her hands are moving down." " I gotta see this!" " This is beautiful." " No, no." "She's on top of him." " What's she doin', man?" " Wait." "Now they're done, he's getting up." " That's it?" " Popcorn." "That was quick." "Ooh, good morning!" "Good morning" "Have we photosynthesized breakfast today?" "Hello, Ronald." "Hi, Eric." "Your daughters haven't been at school for over two weeks." "You checked out back?" "They found a new math teacher." " Well, he's gonna have to get another job." " I know." "How long can those girls be cooped up like that?" " Just go away." "This is our tree." " Girls!" "Girls, it's a little late." "This tree is dead." " Why not leave it up to nature?" " If we did, there'd be no trees left." "That's what it's gonna be like anyway." "If boats hadn't brought the fungus, this wouldn't have happened." "OK?" "Let's go." "No?" "All right." "That's it." "I have an order to cut down your elm tree, but your kids won't let us." " How do you know that tree's sick?" " It had yellow leaves." "The tree is dead." "Our daughter said Aritex is a less aggressive therapy." "It doesn't work." "I leave that tree, they'll all be gone by next year." "Will be anyway, way things are going!" "I don't want to call the police." "Our daughters are standing on their own front lawn." "Since when is that a crime?" "Right." "Uh..." "Clive, did you see those girls in the nighties?" "That's the shot that I want, OK?" "Honey, move forward." "I want those girls in the nighties." "Oh, God." "OK." "Here, let's just back up a little bit." "There you go." "Is that good?" "OK?" "Four sisters of Cecilia Lisbon, the East Side teenager whose suicide last summer focused awareness on a national problem, put their own lives in jeopardy by trying to protect the elm that Cecilia so loved." "For the next few weeks we hardly saw the girls at all." "Joe Hill Conley didn't call Therese as he had promised." "And Lux never spoke to Trip again." "You're a stone fox." "The girls' only contact with the outside was through catalogues they ordered that filled their mailbox with pictures of high-end fashions and brochures for exotic vacations." "Unable to go anywhere, the girls traveled in their imaginations to Siamese temples or passed an old man with a leaf broom tidying a moss-carpeted speck of Japan." "We ordered the same catalogues and, flipping through the pages, we hiked through passes with the girls, stopping every now and then to help them with their backpacks, placing our hands on their warm, moist shoulders and gazing off at papaya sunsets." "We drank tea with them in a water pavilion." "We did whatever we wanted." "Cecilia hadn't died." "She was a bride in Calcutta." "The only way we could feel close to the girls was through these impossible trips which have scarred us forever, making us happier with dreams than wives." "Collecting everything we could of theirs, the Lisbon girls wouldn't leave our minds." "But they were slipping away." "The colour of their eyes was fading, along with the locations of moles and dimples." "From five they had become four, and they were all living in the dead, becoming shadows." "We'd have lost them completely if they hadn't contacted us." "OK, one long, two short..." "...and one long." " Mm-hm." "You got that?" "That's it." ""Help."" ""Send bo bo."" " Bo-bo?" " Bo-bo." "That's what it says: bo-bo." ""Help send bo-bo"?" "I thought you knew Morse code." "Something here for you." "I got one, too." "We racked our brains for a way of contacting them." "Tom Faheem suggested we fly a kite with a message alongside the house, but that had logistical problems." "In the end, the answer was so simple it took a week to work out." "We called them on the telephone." "727..." "...8221." " 8221." "Get ready." " Hello?" " Go!" "* Hello, it's me" "* I've thought about us for a long, long time" "Call us. 7270487." "Shit!" "It's them." "* To think that only yesterday" "* I was cheerful, bright and gay" "* Looking forward to - who wouldn't do?" "" "* The role I was about to play" "* But in my hour of need" "* I truly am indeed" "* Alone again" "* Naturally" "* Run to me whenever you're lonely" "* Run to me if you need a shoulder" "* Now and then you need someone older" "* So darling" "* So far away" "* Doesn't anybody stay in one place any more?" "* It would be so fine to see your face at my door" "* Doesn't help to know you're just far" "* Away" "I gotta go home." "See ya tomorrow." "I'll see you later." " We're suffocating." " You're safe here." "I can't breathe in here." "No answer." " What time is it?" " Any time now." " Guys, there it is." " What?" "Yeah, it's them." "Let's go!" "I have keys to my mom's car." "Shh!" "Maybe we should knock." "We're here." "About time." "We've been waiting for you guys." "We got a car, a full tank." "We'll take you anywhere you wanna go." "It's just a Cougar, but it's got a big trunk." "Can I sit up front?" "Sure." "Which one of you is gonna sit up front next to me?" "Where are your parents?" "Asleep." " What about your sisters?" " They're coming." "Come on, it's getting late." "Wait five minutes." "We had to wait until my parents were asleep." "They take for ever." "My mom's an insomniac." "We better take our car." "There's more room." "Think you can handle a station wagon?" "Sure." "It's not a stick, is it?" " No." " Yeah, no problem." " Will you let me steer?" " Sure." "But maybe we should go." "I heard somethin'." "Could be your mom." "Come on in." "I'll go wait in the car." "You guys wait here for my sisters." "These girls are making me crazy." "If I could feel one of 'em up just once..." "What?" "We would never be sure about the sequence of events." "We argue about it still." "Most likely Bonnie had died while we were waiting in the living room, dreaming of highways." "Mary put her head in the oven shortly thereafter." "Therese, stuffed with sleeping pills, was gone by the time we got there." "Lux was the last to go." "It's four o'clock on Sunday afternoon." "Do you know where your children are?" "This has been Lydia Perl with Channel 8 News." "None of my daughters lacked for any love." "There was plenty of love in our house." "I never understood why..." "After the suicide free-for-all the Lisbons gave up any attempt to lead a normal life." "They had Mr. Hedlie pack up the house, selling what furniture he could in a garage sale." "Mr. Lisbon put the house on the market and it was sold to a young couple from Boston." "We, of course, took the family photos that were put out with the trash." "We had pieces of the puzzle, but however we put them together, gaps remained - ...oddly shaped emptiness, mapped by what surrounded them like countries we couldn't name." "What lingered after them was not life, but the most trivial list of mundane facts a clock ticking on the wall, a room dim at noon, the outrageousness of a human being thinking only of herself." "We began the impossible process of trying to forget them." "Our parents seemed better able to do this, returning to their tennis foursomes and cocktail cruises as though they'd seen this all before." "It was full-fledged summer again, over a year since Cecilia had slit her wrists, spreading the poison in the air." "A spill at the plant increased the phosphates in the lake and produced a scum of algae so thick that the swamp smell filled the air, infiltrating the genteel mansions." "Debutantes cried over the misfortune of coming out in a season everyone would remember for its bad smell." "The O'Conners, however, came up with the ingenious solution of making the theme of their daughter Alice's debutante party "Asphyxiation"." "Like everyone else, we went to forget about the Lisbon girls." "She'll give him a heart attack!" "Hi, Parkie." "Al's got the acting bug, you know." "She caught it from Pinkie." "And I want to announce tonight that next fall Alice is going to a little school in New Haven" "I hear they have a great drama school out there." " In fact, Sam, didn't your father build it?" " That's the law school." "We're so proud of Alice." "We really couldn't be prouder." "I've had it." "Goodbye, cruel world." "No, no, no, you don't understand me!" "I'm a teenager." "I got problems!" "So much has been said about the girls over the years." "But we have never found an answer." "It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls." "But only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together." "* I'm a high school lover" "* And you're my favourite flavour" "* Love is all" "* All my soul" "* You're my playground love" "* Yet my hands are shaking" "* I feel my body remains" "* Time's no matter" "* I'm on fire" "* On the playground love" "* You're the piece of gold" "* That flushes all my soul" "* Extra time" "* On the ground" "* You're my playground love" "* Any time" "* Anywhere" "* You're my playground love"