"You've got it all right here." "No, I'm serious." "This is as nice a place as I've ever been." ""The silver apples of the moon, and the golden apples of the sun."" "Yeats." ""The Song of Wandering Aengus." No?" "Good stuff, Yeats, huh?" "Realism economy, sensuousness beauty, magic." "All that appeals to my Irish ancestry." "Something wrong?" "No." "Want something to drink?" "Maybe some coffee?" "Maybe some brandy?" "Maybe some both." "Yes?" "Let's." "Sure you don't want me to help?" "No. I'm not going to wash them now." "I'll rinse them now." "Do it later." "Francesca." "Are you all right?" "Yeah." "What?" "What?" "We're not doing anything wrong." "Nothing you couldn't tell your kids." "To ancient evenings and distant music?" "He's getting her drunk." "That's what happened." "Maybe he forced himself." "That's why she couldn't tell us." "He did not." "He's such a nice guy." "He's trying to sleep with somebody's wife!" "I don't think so." "And that doesn't make you a bad person." "He reminds me of Steve." "Steve's weak, immoral and a liar, but he's still a nice guy." "He just shouldn't be married." "At least, not to me." "I'm hungry." "Are you getting hungry?" "I had no idea it's gotten that bad, sis." "Please, don't feel sorry for me." "Nobody's forcing me to stay." "Why do you?" "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" "No." "Why did you get divorced?" "I was never around." "So, why'd I get married?" "That's a good question." "I guess I needed a home base." "Roots." "You can kind of get lost on the road." "So what happened?" "I never got lost." "I was more at home everywhere than just in one place." "Kind of like a citizen of the world." "Must get lonely sometimes." "No. I never indulge in that." "I have friends all over the world I can visit now and then, if I feel like it." "Women friends too?" "I'm a loner, but not a monk." "You really don't need anyone?" "I think I need everyone." "I love people." "I'd love to meet them all." "That's the thing about Iowa." "You tend to meet the same kind of person repeatedly." "So when Mr. Delaney has an affair with the Redfield woman the town wakes up." "There's a lot of that going around." "It seems to me there's too much of:" "..."this is mine" and "he or she is mine."" "There's just too many lines being drawn." "That kind of thing." "You know?" "Doesn't it scare you?" "Being alone?" "I don't think so." "I think I embrace the mystery." "Do you ever regret it?" "What?" "The divorce, I mean." "No." "Do you regret not having a family?" "Not everyone's supposed to have one." "But how can you live for just what you want?" "What about other people?" "I love other people." "But no one in particular." "But I love them just the same." "It's not the same." "I know it's not the same, but what you're saying is it's not as good, it's not normal." "That's not it." "lt is." "I have a bit of a problem with this American family ethic that seems to have hypnotized the whole country." "You probably think of someone like me as a poor displaced soul who's destined to wander the planet with no TV or self-cleaning oven." "Because someone decides to have a family doesn't mean they're hypnotized." "Never having seen a gazelle stampede doesn't mean I'm asleep in my life." "Want to leave your husband?" "No." "Of course not." "I'm sorry about that." "I apologize for that." "What made you ask such a question?" "I thought that's what we were doing." "Asking questions." "We were having a conversation." "You ask me questions reading all these meanings into it that I must be too simple to interpret or something." "I'm sorry." "I apologize." "Roseman Bridge at dawn." "I better be going." "I'm sorry." "I apologize." "You must forgive me." "That was a very indiscreet question. lt was dumb." "I feel like something's been spoiled." "It was a perfect evening, just the way it was." "Perfect evening a nice walk." "Thank you for the..." "You're a good woman, Francesca." "Keep the brandy forward in the cupboard." "It might work out after all." "And don't kid yourself, Francesca." "You're anything but a simple woman." "Johnson's." "Richard, hi." "Everyone settled in okay?" "Good." "I said, good." "Johnson's." "Hi, it's Robert Kincaid." "Hi." "Got your note." "W.B. Yeats and all." "I put it in my pocket and didn't read it right away because the light was changing." "Had to get my shots." "The light was changing." "But I do accept your invitation." "It'll have to be later though." "I'm going to the Holliwell Bridge and shoot there." "After nine, how about that?" "Yes, your work's what's important." "I'll make you something nice we can warm up when you get here." "Maybe you'd like to come along with me." "Yes, I would like that, but I'll drive my pickup and meet you." "All right?" "All right." "What time?" "How about six?" "Okay." "Great." "It's Lucy Redfield." "Apparently Mrs. Delaney caught them." "There's a seat down here if you like." "Thank you." "Hot out, isn't it?" "Yeah." "Well, are you ordering anything?" "No." "Thanks. I've changed my mind." "How about this one?" "Well, it's...." "l don't know, I don't know, I don't know." "I haven't bought a dress for myself in so long." "I'm just buying a dress." "It's not for a special occasion." "I'm just shopping." "I'm just shopping for a new dress is all." "That might work." "And if he's still mad, tell him you married him out of pity." "That always works for me." "Johnson's." "Hi, it's Robert." "Listen, I'm running a little late." "But I'll still be there." "I don't want this to sound the wrong way but I'm wondering if this is a good idea." "I had lunch in town." "And I crossed paths with that Redfield woman." "I guess you got the whole story." "The cashier at the grocery store was most generous." "He's running for town crier next year." "I learned more about the Delaney affair than I knew about my marriage." "If it's going to be a problem for you to see me tonight, don't do so." "I'm sometimes not too bright about people's reactions." "I wouldn't want you to be put in a compromising situation." "Yeah, I understand." "That's very kind of you to think of that." "Robert?" "I want to come." "So I'll meet you at the bridge like we planned and don't worry about the rest." "I'm not." "All right. I'll see you then." "Okay." "Hi." "Beautiful here." "Make yourself at home." "I have to knock off a few shots." "Oh, look at the butterfly." "Got you." "Come on." "No, don't take my picture." "Yeah, come on." "Go ahead, give me a pose." "One of those French model looks." "l can't." "Like Gina Lollobrigida." "Can I help?" "No, I've got everything under control." "I'm just going to go clean myself up a bit." "I'll take a bath." "What happens if I set the table?" "Well, that's fine." "Sure." "Good." "Would you like a beer for your bath?" "Yeah." "That's nice." "Dinner will be ready in half an hour." "I realized that he had been here just a few minutes before." "I was lying where the water had run down his body and I found that intensely erotic." "Almost everything about Robert Kincaid had begun to seem erotic to me." "What's wrong?" "You look stunning." "If you don't mind me saying so." "Make-them-run-around-the-block- howling-in-agony stunning." "Johnson's." "Hi, Madge." "No, I was just fixing something to eat." "No, what?" "Oh, yeah, I heard about him." "I hear he's some kind of photographer or something." "Hippie?" "No." "is that what a hippie looks like?" "No, I was just going to step into a bath when you called, so maybe...." "They don't get back till Friday." "Maybe I'll call you then, okay?" "Bye." "If you want me to stop, tell me now." "No one's asking you to." ""He told me he wouldn't apologize for what was going to happen."" "What's wrong?" "I'm going to get some air." "Take me someplace." "Right now." "Take me someplace that you've been." "Someplace on the other side of the world." "How about Italy?" "Yeah." "How about Bari?" "Yeah." "Tell me about that time you got off the train." "You know the station." "Know the little restaurant with the striped awning across the way serves arrancinos." "Arrancinos." "And zeppolis. I know that place." "Well, I had coffee there." "Did you sit by the doorway or near the front of the church?" "I was near the church." "I know, I sat there once." "I sat there once on a day like this." "It was very hot and I'd been shopping and I had all these packages around my feet." "I had to keep moving them." "You make me forget my story." "Lucky me." "I had thoughts about him I hardly knew what to do with." "And he read every one." "Whatever I felt." "Whatever I wanted, he gave himself up to." "And in that moment everything I knew to be true about myself up until then, was gone." "I was acting like another woman yet I was more myself than ever before." "We decided to spend Wednesday away from Winterset away from Madison County." "Away from pastures and bridges and people too familiar and reminders too painful." "We let the day take us where it wanted." "is that India?" "It's beautiful." "Look at this one." "Look at their expressions." "Beautiful." "It's as if the camera isn't on them." "They're not photographs, they're stories." "You should have these published, have your own collection." "Nobody'd buy it." "Why do you say that?" "Six publishers have told me so." "No big deal." "Whatever it is that makes an artist look like an artist to the world is just a feature I don't have." "Maybe you have to convince yourself first." "Maybe." "Maybe you have to ask yourself why it's an obsession." "What's that?" "I remembered I had this the other night, after you left." "It was made for me in Assisi." "I got it for my 7th birthday." ""Francesca."" "Keep it." "A musician friend of Robert's told him of a place off the interstate." "A place, Robert assured me no one I knew would see us." "Thank you." "What were you like as a young man?" "Trouble." "Why?" "I just wandered." "Why were you trouble?" "I had a temper." "What were your parents like?" "Your mother and father?" "I don't know if I can do this." "What?" "Try to cram in a whole lifetime between now and Friday." "For all we know" "We may never meet again" "Before you go" "Make this moment sweet again" "We won't say good night" "Until the last note" "I'll hold out my hand" "And my heart will be in it" "For all we know" "This may only be a dream." "Where'd you go?" "Bar in town." "Did you call Betty?" "Maybe you should." "I found out who Lucy Delaney is." "Remember the Delaneys from Hillcrest Road?" "Yeah." "But I thought she died." "He remarried Lucy Redfield." "Apparently, they were having an affair for years." "Apparently, the first Mrs. Delaney was a bit of a stiff." "You mean she didn't like sex?" "Mom could have helped." "Oh, boy." "All these years I've resented not living the wild life in some place like Paris." "And all the time I could have moved back to Iowa." "Are you drunk?" "Not yet." "Want to get out of here?" "I think I better." "I'll take the keys." "I'm driving." "I've never cheated on Betty." "Not once we were married, I mean." "Did you want to?" "Only about a thousand times." "What do I do now?" "What's good enough for Mom is good enough for me?" "What gets me is I'm in my forties." "I've been in this crummy marriage for over 20 years because that's what I was taught." "You stick things out." "Normal people don't divorce." "I can't remember when my husband loved me so intensely that he transported me to Africa." "Frankly, I don't think he ever did." "And now I find out that in between bake sales, my mother was Anais Nin." "What about me?" "I feel really weird." "Like she cheated on me, not Dad." "Isn't that sick?" "You know, when you're the only son you sort of feel like the prince of the kingdom." "In the back of your mind you think your mother shouldn't want sex anymore because she has you." "You're right, that is sick." "If she was so unhappy, why didn't she leave?" "Can I read it now?" "Did I miss anything important?" "She just took him to her room." "Dad's room?" "You can skip that part." "Let's start here." ""Robert lay asleep in the bed." ""l was up all night that night." ""What happens tomorrow?" ""He will leave and everything new and unknown that had become so familiar..." ""...would be gone.""