" Victor." "Victor!" "Victor, come on!" "Ooph!" "Bad dog." "Charles!" " Oh, hi." "Oh, what have you been doing?" "There's South American stamps on here." "You must know somebody in Uruguay, Mr. Razaghi." " Sort of." " I hope it's good news." " Thank you." " "We do not see the need for an authorized" ""biography of Jules Gund at this time, nor at any time in the future"?" " Why would they deny me authorization?" "It's not like everyone in the world is working on a biography of Jules Gund." " Which one is Caroline Gund?" " The widow." "There's a daughter too, but she didn't sign." " So who's Arden Langdon?" " She's the uh..." "mistress, I guess." "Adam Gund, that's the brother." "And Ocho Rios is the place where they all lived together when Jules Gund was alive." " That's quite a setup:" "the brother, the widow, the lover, a daughter." "That's probably why they don't want to authorize a biography." "It's too tortured and incestuous." "Wait." ""Your request has prompted much discussion amongst the trustees."" "That could mean they don't all agree." "You'll have to go to Uruguay." " What?" "After that letter?" " Confront the three executors and make them change their minds." "It may be easier than you think." " But they said "no."" " Mm." "You know perfectly well that without getting their permission, there's no fellowship, no money, no biography, and no new contract for you at the university." "Omar, you'll never get another teaching job." "And what else can you do?" " Nothing." " Exactly." "I forgot to heat the milk." "Do you think it matters?" " I've never heard of a sublet that comes with a dog, and one with such an elaborate diet." " How could you do that, fall in a puddle?" " It wasn't a puddle." "It was quicksand." " For you, it's quicksand." "For everyone else, it's a puddle." "It's like you have this subconscious drive to fall in, to mess up." "I think I should come with you to Uruguay." "I've had more experience with things like that." " No." "I think I should go by myself, if I decide to go." " Well, if you decide to go," "I think it would be better for us to do it together." "Better for us individually and as a couple." " I think it'll be better for both of us individually and as a couple if I were to go by myself." "But I appreciate your offer." " You appreciate my offer?" " Mm-hmm." " Omar, it's me, Deirdre." "You don't appreciate my offer." " I almost drowned in quicksand." "I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I did not like what I saw." "I've decided to change my life." "I have to be, you know, more independent." "Like other people." " I don't want you to be like other people, to change." " Oh, what's wrong, buddy?" "You want to go outside?" "Let's go outside." "Come on." "Come on!" "Oh." "Buddy." " Hopeless." " Out you go." " If you fly to Miami first, it's nonstop from there to Montevideo." "But that's horribly expensive." " What about Victor?" " He's not your dog." "We'll put him in a pound." "Most of them have a 30-day grace period." "You can redeem him when you get back." " Deirdre, he's part of the house-sit." "I'm responsible for him." "We can't just throw him in the pound." " Ah, this is better." "From Houston to Sao Paulo, then Montevideo." "For some reason, it's much cheaper." "Ah, it takes much longer." "Don't do that now." "I'm hurt." " Señor." " Si." " Por favor." " Are you coming to Ocho Rios?" "That's my house." " You speak English." " Of course." "And Spanish." " I'm Omar." "Omar Razaghi." " I'm Portia." "Why are you coming to Ocho Rios?" " I want to write a book." "I want to write a biography about Jules Gund." "Have you heard of him?" " He was my father." " Your father?" " Mm-hmm." "This is Omar." "He's writing a book." "This is my mother." " Mrs. Gund?" "I'm Omar Razaghi." "I wrote you the letter about the biography." " My name's Arden Langdon." "Caroline... she's Mrs. Gund." "But we wrote to you." "We said no." "We very definitely said no." " Yes, that's why I'm here." "I'm hoping you'll change your minds." "I guess I should have written first." "It was very wrong of me to come like this." "I have to find a hotel." " Where?" "There's nothing except this place for miles and miles." " I can sleep outdoors in the garden, if you'll let me." " Don't be ridiculous." "Now that you're here, there's nowhere else for you to go, so till we can get you back into town, we'll have to let you stay." " Really?" " Mad women and Englishmen:" "why they would want to walk here in the sun is beyond me." "Of course, those two ladies are always beyond me." "Can you help me with my cravat, please?" "You know, I've always liked this cravat." "I bought it in Venice in 1966." "I must have been happy at the time." "Otherwise, why would I have bought such a beautiful thing?" "I look very handsome in that." " They're walking like... they're bringing important news." " Oh, what news?" "Great tidings at Ocho Rios." "They do look serious, don't they?" "Supposing we... stuck by our decision to refuse authorization." " Then he shall have come very far for nothing." " Yes, but he can still write the biography without authorization." "That is, without our help and consent." "That would give him quite a free hand, wouldn't it?" "To make up things, to make up stories, twist the facts." "You know, once these people, these biographers turn against you, they can become quite vicious." " Oh, he didn't look as if he could ever be that." " How do you know?" "You only saw him for five minutes before at once inviting him to stay." " He looked so tired and helpless somehow." " And young and handsome." " Oh, really?" " That has nothing to do with it." " Anyway, Jules said he didn't want a biography of himself." "He said it was like having one's corpse publicly exhumed." " Oh, when did he say that?" " In a letter to me years ago." " My god." "Well, if we were held accountable for the things we wrote in letters millions of years ago, my dear, where would any of us be?" "But he must have told you other things." "Um, for instance, that he would be married and faithful to you forever and ever." " He was." "He stayed married to me." " Oh." "And Arden didn't count, or Portia?" " Caroline didn't say that." "The days pass, and we live together," "Caroline and I, and we manage it." "Quite well, I think." "And now this." "Adam's so moody nowadays." " It's because of you." "He's afraid you'll leave him." "I used to live like that, always afraid that Jules would leave me." "He'd get into those black moods, not speak to me for days on end, not to anyone, not to Caroline." "And I thought that she'd turn against me and get him to send me away." "Where would I go?" "Where would I go?" " That's all in the past." " Yes, it's strange." "Everything's easier." "But now when some stranger arrives..." " Is he young and handsome?" " It depends what you mean by that." "Can you find any more teaspoons?" "How can we just send him away?" "Tell him, "Good-bye; go home"?" " We're not." "We're even letting him stay in the house." "We're being very friendly." " But then he might start to think we've changed our minds." " That's his problem." "I can be friendly without changing my mind." " Well, he must have come here with such hope." " Let's think about this." "A biography would stimulate interest in Jules' work, and that is something that we, as his executors, should encourage." "Anyway, let's not make any hasty decisions, shall we?" " My decision's made, and it's not hasty." "And Arden, for her own reasons, is on my side." "You are, aren't you?" "Yes, you are." "So that's two against one, Adam." " Well, I refuse to be guided by anything as stupid as democracy." " Portia." "Mustn't disturb him." " Are we gonna whisper all night?" "Hmm?" " He's come a long way." "He must be tired." "♪ ♪" "♪ ♪" " Hello?" " Hello?" "I would like to speak to Omar Razaghi, please." " Dee!" " Omar?" " Hi." "How did you get this number?" " You don't sound like Omar." "Are you eating something?" " Yes, bread and honey." " What?" " Honey." " Darling, I miss you too." "But you won't be away long." "What's it like there?" "I guess they're all pretty old." "I only hope they're not senile." " Well, it might take longer than we thought." " Can't you stop eating for a minute?" " We have a very bad connection." " I told you to get a cell phone when you went down there." "It could have come out of the fellowship money." " Are you there?" "Dee?" " Omar?" " Dee, are you there?" " Hello?" "click!" " Thank you for the bread and the honey." "It was delicious." " It's from our own bees." "You know anything about bees?" " Bees." "I know they live in an apiary, a word derived from apis, which is Latin for "bee."" "This is not very interesting information." " I can't believe it." "You read a book and you think all about the place, but you don't really think that it exists, let alone that you'll be there." "♪ ♪" "Let me help you with that." " Oh." "♪ ♪" " Coming here, to Ocho Rios, was like coming to my first home, the first I ever had." "My parents were divorced, and I went back and forth between them." "No one really cared." "They both died in plane crashes, two different planes." "He was on his way to Prague for one of his not very successful films, and Mother was going to Hong Kong to get married..." "again." " All the years in America, my parents wanted to go back to Tehran, but it never worked out." " What did they do?" " They were doctors, pediatricians." "They died four years ago." "First my mother, then my father after a few months." "So we're both orphans." " I think I was born an orphan." "I was 18 when Jules first brought me here." "That was ten years ago." " I was 18 ten years ago." "You and I are the same age, born at the same time." "We could be brother and sister." " Twins." "Only twins can be born at the same time." " Oh." "I am Omar Razaghi." " Yes, I know who you are, my friend." "You're the biographer who showed up in spite of our letter." "And what are you giving him?" "Oh, what-tea?" "Oh, really, Arden, you'll have to give him something better than that to compensate for his long journey here and back." "How about some champagne?" " Champagne?" "At this time of day?" " Well, is there a special time of the day for champagne?" "Well, if so, it is now." "Hmm?" "You're flirting with him." " What?" " When you start opening up the beautiful secrets of your past" ""I was born an orphan"- that's flirting." " Caroline, try not to tease and provoke." " Oh, come on." "How often do we have a guest, even an uninvited one?" " I may not make it back tonight." " Why not?" " Business, as you know perfectly well." " I know your business perfectly well:" "antique furniture, and some of it not so antique." " We need to raise some cash." " I know." " Land taxes are due next month." "You have all this land;" "you pay big taxes on it." " Mm-hmm." " You don't try to make it work for you." "Sorry to spoil your mood, but try and be sensible." " I'm willing to be sensible, but can you imagine the other two ever agreeing to anything?" "I mean, look what's happening with this foolish little biography, which, for all I know, could be to our advantage." "But Caroline's only pleasure left in life is to say "no" to everything." "And as for poor Arden, well..." "I wish you had more of a life of your own." " I do have." " Yeah." "It saddens me." "I think I was wrong to bring you here." "Sorry." "Hey." " Hola!" "Ah." "Hello, darling." "Champagne." "Is there a little drop for me left, do you think?" "Ah, the guest." " Hello, sir." " Mr. Ragazi received our letter, but as you see, it did not discourage him from coming to visit, so now we're all having a party." " Oh." "Well, then we must show Mr. Razaghi-Omar, may I?" " Oh, please." " Omar." "Yes, we must show Omar what fine hosts we can be if, by some miracle, a guest is washed up on our lonely shore." "Huh?" "What do you say?" "A picture show." "Yes, why not?" "Portia proposes a picture show." "Her one and only picture show." "Go and show uncle Omar where the projector is." "Ocho Rios pictures presents... the Gunds." "Ah." " This is very unwise, as if we're suddenly his collaborators." " Well, we're not showing him anything he doesn't already know, are we?" "After all, Jules' book was not exactly reticent about our family affairs, was it?" "Champagne." " I'll get you a glass." " So... how are you, my dear?" " Peachy." " Peachy." "Our parents brought all this film footage with them from Germany, and they used to sit and watch it the way we're doing now, drinking champagne." "When they had to leave Germany and became refugees, they were allowed to settle here, in Uruguay on condition that they bought all this land and developed it for a mine." "My parents always traveled in style, even when they were fleeing Mr. Hitler and his Nazis." "Always traveled first class." "We lived here the way they had done in Europe." "We lived in the past, their past." "They didn't want to know about the present, any present anywhere." "South America's very good for that if you're a rich foreigner." " That's my grandfather." " They never spoke German again..." "♪ ♪" "Not even to each other." "♪ ♪" " There's mysterious Aunt Sarah." "She left for India to follow her guru." "Ugh." "There she is, signing away the family fortune." "♪ ♪" "They went to Venice for their honeymoon." "And after that, they went every year for as long as it was still possible." "But then the gondola was the epitome of Europe, of their Europe." "They persuaded the gondolier to sell them his gondola." "They called it the honeymoon gondola and they had it shipped all the way from the Adriatic, right across the Atlantic, here to Montevideo." "♪ ♪" "Their maddest and saddest enterprise maybe." "But you've heard all about our gondola from Jules' book." "It's still here with us, rotting in the boathouse." " Buenos dias." " I'm Pete." "You must be Omar." " Yes." "Hello." " Hi." " I'm looking for the mill house." "Miss Langdon said it was down this way somewhere." "Mr. Gund has invited me to lunch." " He has?" "He hasn't told me." "I'm the one who does the cooking around here." "I haven't bought anything." "He'll have to take you to the parilla." "There is no other place." " Do they take Visa?" " Don't worry about that." "Adam always picks up the tab." "He's very generous." "Get in." "It's a mile away." "This is where I found him," "Jules, by that big palm." "I was the one who found him." " So near to the house?" " Come on." "Blew the top of his head right off." "I'm glad it was me who found him and not one of the others." "The odd thing is that we all stayed here." " No, thank you." " Anyway, here we all are... including me." " Where are you from originally?" " From Tokunoshima." "A small island." "I was poor with no family." "When I was 14, someone liked me enough to take me with him to England." "Here." "I find this old furniture and make it look older." "A lady comes twice a year from New York and buys it." "She says I have a good eye." "Adam used to work at Christie's in London." " Hello, Mr. Gund." " Hello." " He sent me to a school there where I learned everything about furniture." "That was 25 years ago." " Yes." "We're about to have our silver anniversary, aren't we?" "Ready?" "Should we go?" "I've ordered us a platter of grilled meat and some red wine." " Not too much for me." "I'm a bit of a lightweight, I'm afraid." " Really?" "How sad." "What about all those drunken Persian poets of yours?" "What about Hafez?" ""Bring me a cup of red wine that is dark red and smells of musk..."" " "Don't bring me that expensive stuff..."" " "That tastes like money..."" ""And smells like lust."" "So now, about the biography." "Please understand, unlike my two sisters-in-law, or the two ladies, I should say," "I'm on your side." " You are?" " Entirely on your side." "See, I've been trying to explain to them that to revive an interest in Jules Gund and his work, a biography would be invaluable to us." " Well, if only I could convince everyone." "I would be very respectful of the past, everyone's feelings." " My dear boy, he was my brother." "I knew him better than anyone." "I knew him when we were still tearing the wings off butterflies." "I was eight years older, but it was he who invented all the little torments an older brother inflicts on the younger." "We were both sent to school in England." "I was utterly miserable, but he, when in a system, was in his element." "I suspect it was there at school that he began to learn how to exert power over those who adored him." "It's that simple." "So we must work together, you and I." "We must co-conspire." "I hadn't thought of conspiring." " Well, of course not." "Ah!" "Gracias." " Ooh!" " This is Mrs. Van Euwen." "The chatelaine of Las Golondrinas, our local grand dame." "Very grand." " Local color, you know?" "I told them all they would see was red meat." " Yes." " Worse, why do you keep your new friend away from me?" " Oh, yes, he's very beautiful, isn't he?" "Yes, I thought you'd be interested." "This is- he's blushing." " Ooh!" " This is Omar Razaghi." "He's come to do research on my brother's biography." " Mucho gusto." " Ah!" "Then you must research me." "I can tell you things about Jules that a brother could never know... or a wife or even a mistress." "You should write his life, his and Pete's." "That a more interesting story, yeah." " Go away." "Go away." "Thank you." " I go." "I go." "You should come to Las Golondrinas." " Have a sausage." " Is it pork?" " Maybe." "I don't know." "You don't drink;" "you hardly eat meat." "Um...well, as I said before," "I know I can trust you." "I feel I can ask you for your help as you're asking for mine." " Like I said, I'll do anything." " Wait, wait, this is non-literary." "It's nothing to do with the biography." "When our mother-that is, Jules' mother, my mother- when our mother arrived here as a refugee, she brought with her from Germany some valuable things, her jewelry." "Now, I have her jewelry." "And I would like to dispose of it, and I would like you to help me dispose of it." " Is it legal?" " Is what legal?" " Taking these things out of the country?" " No, it's moral." "They're my things." "They were my mother's." "When she arrived here, she hid them away." "Because of her experiences in Germany, she trusted no one." "She didn't feel safe anywhere." "Outside of this cocoon that they built here, why, she and my father didn't feel safe on this planet." "So after her death, very shortly after my father's," "I found the jewels." " Do Arden and Caroline know about them?" " Nope." "They know nothing of that history." "Even Caroline hardly knew my mother." "She certainly knew nothing of what was precious to her." "So I took the jewels." "I felt I could assume that they were mine as Caroline, in due course, felt free to take what was hers." " From what your mother left?" " With Caroline, it was what my brother left." "Have you never thought, never suspected that there might be another book?" " Other than The Gondola?" " Mm-hmm." " It is well known, Jules Gund wrote only that one book." " Well, he was working on another one when he died." "It is my theory that he died, or killed himself, because he couldn't... couldn't write anymore." "Or because of what he was writing or trying to write." "A psychological impasse." " Caroline has the manuscript?" " I don't know." "You have to ask her." "But that is not the subject of our present little talk, is it?" "My jewels." "My need for money." "Ah, here's Pete." "Hail to thee!" "Come upstairs." "Follow me." "I want to show you something." "It is not for myself that I need the money;" "it is for Pete, who may be free to leave me." " Does he want to leave you?" " He should." "He still has a chance at a better life than with me here." "You know, in order to bring him here to Uruguay," "I had to adopt him." "Legally, he is my son." "Come and sit down, please." " I'll do what you ask." " Even though it's illegal and dangerous?" " I think it's the right thing to do." "If you can trust me not to screw it up." " Ah, we shall see." "Please, sit down." "So here's the treasure." "Some of it is mixed up with my father's." "That's my father's watch." "Mother used to keep them locked in the safe, but sometimes she'd take it out and wear it for me to show me." "And, uh..." "I was her favorite, you know, her firstborn, her Adam, she called me." "Of course, Jules could never get over that." "She would show me how she wore them and where." "This at the opera." "She had much smaller wrists than mine." " Wow." " It's beautiful." "Go on, you can take it." "It's all right." "And these at the Burgtheater." " Isn't that beautiful?" "Oh, yes, and this little horse was for the races." "And she'd wear this attached to her cloche hat." " It's me, Omar Razaghi." "I hope I'm not disturbing you." " I'm just having my breakfast." "Come in." " Oh." "No, thank you." " You don't have to say anything nice about it." " No, I like it." "It's very interesting." " It's only a copy." "That's all I do nowadays, is copies, copy the masters." "It's safer." "That way, I don't reveal anything." "It's what art does, even biography." "Especially biography." " I would be very discreet." "I would absolutely respect your wishes as to what to reveal." " What if I were to tell you that Jules explicitly said he didn't want a biography of himself?" "He wrote it to me in a letter." "I suppose you'd want to see that letter." " Well, yes." "I'd like to very much." " And why would I show it to you?" "I don't know anything about you, no more than you know about me or ever will." "What if I were to ask you, have you ever been in love, passionately in love?" "See, you can't answer me." "You're not sure." " I am sure." " Do you have a girlfriend?" "A partner?" " Why do you want to know?" " Are you romantically involved?" " Yes." "I suppose I am." " Suppose?" "That doesn't sound very positive, let alone passionate." " We've been together two years." "Her name is Deirdre." "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here." "I mean, here in Uruguay." "I would have accepted your decision." "I would have given up." " I see." "Sit." "So it is your friend Deirdre who made you come to change our minds." "And what if you can't change our minds?" "What will she think?" "She'll think you failed." " Yes." "And she'd be right." "I will have failed." " Sometimes it's good to fail, to try but to fail." "There's nothing ignoble in that." " You don't understand." "Everything depends on it:" "my job, my career, maybe my relationship with my girlfriend." " You're so young." "Are you sure that's what you want your life to be forever and ever:" "that job, that career, that girlfriend?" "I'll show you a real picture I painted." "It's Jules, only it's not him, not as he really was, which only I knew." "You don't see it because I couldn't paint it." "I wasn't good enough to paint it." "I suppose now you'll write how the widow of Jules Gund is sitting in a south American jungle painting atrocious paintings and slowly going mad or not so slowly." " I promise to write nothing you don't want me to write." " Point is, I want you to write nothing." " If you could just give me one reason." " I don't have a reason." "As anyone will tell you, I am an unreasonable person." "Jules himself would have told you that if he'd still been here." "In fact, it's the very word he used when he felt I wasn't being accommodating enough to his arrangements." ""You're so unreasonable, Caroline."" " I'm sorry." "I shouldn't have come here." " Don't apologize." "No, it's good sometimes to hear another voice." "I was beginning to think that apart from our little group here, there was no one else left in the world." "♪ ♪" " Do you want to hear how Arden met Jules?" " Yes." " Omar doesn't want to know that at all." " He's writing a book;" "he has to know everything." " Mm-hmm." " Um..." "I was traveling around Spain when I met some people going to Uruguay." "So I went with them, and they turned out to be a missionary group sent to convert the heathen of south America." " Don't laugh." "Our name was joyful noise." "And we went around in a bus and gave concerts in the street." "We never drew much of a crowd, but people listened very politely." "But by the time we'd finished, there was usually only one or two left." "But we went right on singing and playing." " Arden shook the tambourine." " Anyway, one day, Jules stopped to listen." "And when we were through, he came up to me and said," ""What are you doing?" "And why are you doing it?"" "So I stopped." " And then I was born." " Well, not quite so quickly, darling." " Nine months later, anyway." " I'm packing a picnic lunch." " Why are you going on a picnic?" " I'm taking Omar to show him the gondola." " Why?" "As if that gondola isn't the most ludicrous of all the ludicrous collected items here." " I don't feel that." " No..." "You've changed your mind about the biography." "Well, haven't you?" "Why shouldn't he write the biography?" "He seems- he's just the right person to understand Jules." " In what way is he the right person?" "Because he's good-looking and charming and because he's charmed you?" "What is it?" "I'm sorry." "It's just that what we decided before still stands for me." "Maybe I shouldn't tell you this." " Tell me what?" " Do you know he's in love with someone?" " I didn't know that." " He told me he has a fiancée." "Maybe they're not engaged, but he has a romantic attachment." " Why are you telling me this?" " Because I thought you should know." " It has nothing to do with anything." " I never said that it had, but I wouldn't blame you." "You're lonely." " I'm not lonely." "Or maybe I am and I didn't know it until there was a new person." "When do we ever see anyone or get to talk to anyone?" "And now- why are you talking to me like this?" "Why do you want to hurt me?" " I don't want to hurt you." "I never wanted to hurt you." " Hola!" " So you're off to see the gondola." " Oh, yes." "You'll be coming with us?" " I've been there." " Mmm." " Maybe we shouldn't go." "It's a long way." " Uh, well, if you're not feeling up to it." " Well, if you're not allowed to write the biography, there's no point in going." "And Caroline won't change her mind." "That's the way she is." "She has a much stronger character than I have." " That's not true." " Oh, but it is." "Jules used to say that any breeze could come and blow me any which way." "But actually, why shouldn't we go?" " Right." "Why shouldn't we?" " Whoa." "Who won?" " We did." " I have to go find Arden." " She is showing Omar the gondola." " Without me?" " They'll take you another time." " What if Omar goes away?" "Is he going away?" " Do you want him to stay?" " Definitely." " Do you live alone?" " Yes." " But you have a girlfriend." " Yes." "I do." " What's her name?" " Her name is Deirdre." "She teaches at the same university." " What does she teach?" " Literature, like me." "She's a good teacher." "Much better than I'll ever be." "The great Russians and German poets." " Sorry, I'm being rude." "I'm not used to meeting new people, so I don't know how to behave anymore." "I shouldn't ask you all those questions." " But think of all the questions I want to ask you." "Is all of this your land?" " Pete keeps trying to make us sell some of it, or at least lease it for a vineyard or something." "And we could do with the money, but you see how we all are." " There's no quicksand here, is there?" "A swamp you could sink into?" " Oh, well, yes, there's lots of swamps." "So watch out." "What's wrong?" " I..." "I feel a bit strange." "Can't be the altitude." " Oh, no, we're at sea level." "Maybe you're just hungry." "Come on." " Maybe." " I want you to know," "I've changed my mind about the biography." "Why should I be afraid of stirring up bad memories?" "There aren't any." "There's Portia and this lovely place for her to grow up in." "I want you to write the book." "Like Adam, I'm on your side." "I give you my-what is it?" "My-my authorization." "You know, I came here to write one kind of book." " No, thanks." " And now it's turning into something different." "Like, it's no longer about Jules but about you-all of you." "And your life here and even about me here with you." "Does that make sense?" "No?" "It doesn't?" " Well, not entirely, but you said you were feeling..." " Oh." "May I get in?" " Yeah." "It needs painting." "I keep wanting to do it." " I'll help you." "I'd like to do that." " Caroline hates the gondola more than anything." "I don't know why." " What's she like, Deirdre?" " She's very determined." "Very strong personality." "She decides what needs to be done and does it." " That's how I'd want to be." " Well, so would I." "I don't suppose I'll ever manage it." " Me neither." "Can you help me get out?" " Oh, sure." "More, more." " Portia." "Pete, I wish you wouldn't let her do this." "You're not even protected." " You want to help?" " No." " Gracias." " Can't I do it?" " No." "Certainly not." "You're not to climb up there." " I'll do it." " Not at all." " Can I help?" " Sure." "Take the net up the other ladder." " I'll take that." "Portia, stay away from the bees." " Pull the net towards you." " Let me get higher." " Okay." "A little more." " Okay." "Ow!" " Careful." "Omar." " Ow!" " Omar!" " Omar!" "thud!" " No!" " Omar?" "Omar." "Oh, Omar." "Omar, the doctor's made a mistake." "He thinks I'm your girlfriend." "Can you hear me?" "Can you feel me?" "But it's all right." "I found Deirdre's phone number in your book." "I left a message on her machine." "Maybe she'll come soon, and then everything- can you hear me?" "Do you know what I'm saying?" "Deirdre's coming." "Oh, please blink." " No way." " Let me just show you your bedroom and bathroom." "Did you know Omar was allergic to bee sting?" " I did not." "But I'm not surprised." " Are those gauchos?" " No." "Oh, yes." "Gauchos." "Cowboys." "There's something I must tell you." "No, thanks." "The doctor, Dr. Pereira, he's taken very good care of Omar, but, um... he's made a silly mistake." "He thinks I'm Omar's lover." " Oh." " It's the sort of thing he would think." "He's Latin American." "They see the world in a certain way." "But I didn't correct him." " Why not?" " As I said, Dr. Pereira is the way men are here." "They like to think of men and women involved, romantically involved." "I thought that if the doctor thinks that, that Omar is loved- that I love him- then he would take very special care of him." " Moo!" " But of course, now that you're here..." " No, that's all right." "Whatever works best for Omar," "I don't care what a doctor thinks." "Let him think I'm Omar's sister." " Oh, you don't look like his sister, nothing like." " He's in this ward, on the right." "I'll wait outside." " Okay, thank you." " Mm." "My god." "Why are you here?" " Arden called me." "You were in a coma." "Has Arden been visiting you?" " Have you met her?" " Of course, I'm staying in the house." " Don't you like it?" "Isn't it amazing, the house and everything?" " Do you remember what happened?" "With the bees?" " No." "I don't remember anything that happened that day clearly." " Are you a friend of our poor Omar?" " Yes, I'm very worried about Omar." " You must not worry." "You are too beautiful to worry." "All the women who visit Omar are beautiful." "His recovery has nothing to do with me." "It is the beauty of women that cured him." " Where did you get these pajamas?" " I don't know." "I woke up wearing them." " Did Arden bring them?" "They may have belonged to Jules." "You are wearing Jules Gund's pajamas." " Mmm." " Do you think she's changed her mind about authorization?" " Well, I'm not very sure about Caroline." " We'll see about her." "What about Arden?" " She's leaning my way." "Our way." " And the other one, the brother?" " Adam?" " Mm-hmm." " He's always been on my side." "And he says he'll help me with Caroline, and I said I'd help him." " Help him with what?" "What can you help him with?" " It's nothing, really." "He just wants me to carry something for him when I go back to the States." " Carry what?" " Just some things." " What things?" " Some... pieces of jewelry." "Stuff like that." " Jewelry?" "Did you say you would?" "Omar, you're crazy." "It's smuggling." "He's asking you to smuggle for him." "You'll go to jail." " He wouldn't ask me to do anything criminal." "He's not that type." " Anyone who asks you to take something secretly out of the country for him is that type." " He's been very helpful to me with the biography." "And that's what I'm here for:" "to get authorization for the biography." " This is not the way to get it." " I'm doing it my way." "Everything's fine." " Everything is not fine, Omar." "If it were, I wouldn't be here." " I didn't ask you to come here." " Oh, I'm sorry." "I flew 5,000 miles because you were in a coma." "A coma!" " Stop." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." "I just-I wish you wouldn't treat me like a baby." " Then don't act like a baby." "Don't agree to smuggle jewelry." "Don't fall out of a tree." " Falling out of a tree was an accident." " You know what I think about accidents." " Accidents happen to people, Deirdre." "We can't all be perfect like you." " I'm not perfect." "I know I'm not perfect." "I don't think I am." "I'm just trying to help you, Omar, because I love you." "You really wish I hadn't come?" " No." " Because I can leave." "I can leave whenever you want." " No." "Want you to stay." " Omar, you've broken your wrist." "Let me wipe the soup off your face." " Adam!" " So how is our poor young friend?" "I hear he's recovering." " His girlfriend has arrived to comfort him, and hopefully to take him home." "Where's Pete?" " Taking a shower." "So... to what do I owe this pleasure?" "It really is a pleasure, you know?" "Well, here we are." "To the pleasure of you." " How sweet you are." " Not bad." "Not bad at all." "Please, sit down." " It's supposed to be a cocktail." " Cocktail." "What a lovely word." "If only one could drink it where a cocktail should be drunk, sitting on a barstool somewhere dark, secluded." "But liquor is liquor wherever you go in the world, isn't it?" " It's a Manhattan, or half a Manhattan, since you have no bourbon." " A Manhattan." "That's your Moscow." "Hmm?" ""Oh, Olga, Olga, let us go to Moscow." "There's no place in the world like Moscow."" " Adam, I want to ask you, do you think I was wrong to stay here?" " What do you mean?" " You know what I mean." "When Jules came back with Arden." " I didn't judge you." "It was your affair and Jules'." " She was so pathetic." "It was as if he'd picked up a stray kitten and brought it home, a pregnant kitten." " Yeah." " Now I think she's changed her mind about the biography, as you have." " I never opposed it." "Why should we?" "A biography is nothing, an account of the facts written by, well, just for all we know, some academic hack." "Though I hope not." "Maybe he'll surprise us." "Poor boy." "What a thing to happen." "A bee, can you imagine?" " It's his own fault." "Why did he come here?" "He has no business here, hack or not." " Supposing Jules had written something himself." "Had he?" "Yes, he had." "I thought so." "And it would have to be personal, autobiographical, 'cause Jules was not an inventive writer." "And as The Gondola was about our parents' lives, this other manuscript" " Which no longer exists. would be about his life with you and Arden in this place." "And for all I know, even about Pete and me." " How could any outsider understand this place or what it was like to all live here together or what it's like now without him?" " Yes." "You know, you could leave tomorrow if you wanted to, any time you choose." " You very well know, I have no money." "How could I get the fare together?" "Don't you think I haven't thought of it, that I don't sit up there pretending to paint, brooding over where I might be instead?" "I need a real drink." "How about you?" "Scotch." " Yeah." " Not getting very far on just vermouth." "Adam, do you like life?" "Well, I wouldn't like to live forever." "But um, for a little while, yes, but... yes, I like it." " But living here?" "You wouldn't rather be somewhere else," "New York, London?" " No." " Why not?" " Because you have to care about- or at least pretend to care about everything:" "politics, fashion, culture." "It's just exhausting." " What I wouldn't give to see some new painters, a new play, go to the opera." "Yes, I know." "To Moscow, Olga." " Yeah." "This is a very potent drink." "Perhaps I should not have indulged in a refill." "Tell me something." "Was there ever a letter?" "Did Jules really write to you saying he didn't want a biography?" " No." "But I know he wouldn't have wanted it." " How would you know that?" " Because he destroyed the manuscript." " He destroyed it himself?" " He wanted no one to know what only concerned himself and me." "So no matter what you and Arden decide," "I shall never allow this biography to be written, even if he gets stung by 100 bees." " Excuse me." "Can you tell me the way to the mill house, please?" " You have to go back this way and then through the bamboo grove." " Through there." " Thank you." " What do you think of her?" " What do you?" " I don't see her with Omar, her personality." "But I don't know either of them very well." "What do you think?" "Will you miss them when they're gone?" " No." " I mean Omar." "Will you miss Omar?" "Do you love him?" " No." "No, I don't love Omar." "What?" "Why did you ask me that?" "Omar didn't say anything to you about me when you went to see him in the hospital?" " No, I just thought, if I were you..." " If you were me, what?" " I might love him." "Well, it's as you said, Pete." "We hardly know him." "He's only been here for a short time, he has a girlfriend, and he's leaving soon." "The doctor says he can travel in a few days." "They're both leaving." "I'm glad." " Mr. Gund?" " Who calls?" " Hello." " Hello." " I could come back another time if you're not free." " Not free?" "As you can see, I'm quite free, hopelessly free, for the rest of my life." "This is Jesus, and you must be, uh..." "Deborah." " Deirdre." " Deirdre." "May I offer you something?" " Oh, just some mineral water if you have it." " Mineral water, hmm." "How about a dry martini?" "No." "No, thank you." " So you must be, um..." "Omar's paramour." "It's so difficult finding the right word to describe a relationship." "At least my relationships." "They're all too complicated for mere words." " Paramour is not the right word." "I wouldn't use it to describe Omar's and my relationship." " Do sit down, my dear." "You look as if you might bolt." "I've offended you, no doubt." "Good." "You know, in my youth," "I used to call my partners my paramours." "It's such a lovely word to describe a lovely situation." "And as a result, I remained a youth for a very long time." "The aging process was retarded, but alas, one morning I woke up and" "I was an old man who talks too much." "But it is you who've come to talk to me, yes," "I have no doubt, about the authorization." "As you've probably heard, I'm on Omar's side." "We have made our arrangement." " That is what I've come to talk to you about, what you call an arrangement." " So he has told you about it?" " He has, and I consider it blackmail." "You said you had made a bargain with Omar." "You asked him to smuggle certain items out of the country in return for your help in getting him authorization." "I... call that blackmail." " "Smuggle," "blackmail."" "My, my, you do have a romantic imagination." " I will not allow him to do it." "And besides, he's the wrong person for it." " I agree with you." "Omar is certainly not the right person." "Unlike you, he is not practical." "But you will be returning to the United States as well?" " Are you trying to make a little bargain with me now?" " Please, do sit down." "I'm enjoying your company." "Sit down." "You're so invigorating." "It's a pity you have no sense of adventure." " I certainly have a sense of what's legal and what is not." " You know, one day, you will regret this." "You will regret having come all the way to south America and not involving yourself in what you encounter here." "You will think, "Oh, why?" "Oh, why did I not smuggle those things?"" " So it is smuggling." " Well, you read too many books." "Or perhaps you don't even read books anymore." "You probably just read criticism of books." " Mr. Gund, you must consider your little bargain with Omar dissolved." "Neither he nor I will be able to help you in this business." "We'll have to get Caroline somehow to agree to authorization without you." " Mm-hmm." "How will you do that?" " We can try, honestly try, without resorting to bargains and blackmail." " Hmm." "It seems a bit stupid to me, if I may be so blunt, to alienate me like this." "After all, what is stopping me changing my mind?" " Oh." "Excuse me, I..." "I understood you wanted a biography." "I didn't think your support was variable or could be bought." "Gracias, Jesus." "Gracias." "Well, I admire your gumption." "But I think it best that this situation be resolved between Omar and myself." "The arrangement was made with Omar, so it is up to Omar to dissolve it." "I have enjoyed our little chat." "Please excuse me." "♪ ♪" " Mrs. Gund." "♪ ♪" "These are lovely." " Are you fond of art?" " It's not my field, but some paintings I like very much." "I have been hoping to talk" " What kind of paintings do you like very much?" " The impressionists," "Cezanne and Monet, van Gogh." "Perhaps they weren't all impressionists, or were they?" " As far you need be concerned, they were." "♪ ♪" " May I speak to you?" " Of course you may." "Sit." "Sit." " May I?" " Of course." "Little to the left, please." "♪ ♪" " I'd like to assure you that Omar intends to work very closely with you all on the biography." "If you knew what this is for Omar, how very much depends on it for him to get authorization and write this book." " I am not concerned with Omar's needs." "I have other... different allegiances." " To Jules Gund?" " I don't think this is really any of your business." "But yes, to my husband." "♪ ♪" "And to myself, for that matter." " Why are you withholding authorization?" "Perhaps if you told me, I could address your concerns." " Shh." "♪ ♪" "Do you recognize it?" " It sounds familiar." " It's Poulenc," "Tres Lent et Calme." " I hope you will consider reconsidering." " I have already discussed this with Omar." "I have told him more than once that I will not change my decision." " But Arden has changed hers." " Miss Langdon has her reasons;" "I have mine." "♪ ♪ lsn't it marvelous?" "♪ ♪" " I think I'm wasting your time." " Time is not a very precious commodity around here." " But you've made up your mind." " I made it up long ago, long before Omar arrived." " Then there's really no point in me or Omar talking to you." " Not about that subject, but we could talk about something else." "Art?" "But that's not your field." "Music?" "Or is music not your field either?" "But surely you like this." "How could you not?" "♪ ♪" " No, thank you." "♪ ♪" "♪ ♪" " But why do you need Omar?" " I didn't want you to know." "It was to be a secret." "It was for you, you idiot." "I wanted you to have the money." " Why?" "For what?" " I have a good business of my own." "I don't need more money." "You do." "I'm happy." " What, here with me?" "I don't think you know much about happiness, my friend." " Do you?" " Oh, I gave up on all that stuff a long time ago." " You pretend you have." "Don't I make you happy, at least sometimes?" " Yes, of course." " So why are you trying to send me away?" " Because I don't want you wasting yourself on me." "I'm an old man," ""a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick."" "Make a life for yourself, for god's sake." " Look at me." "Go on, look." " I'm looking." "I'm 40 years old." "I've lived with you for 25 years." "I don't want any other life." " 25 years." "Hmm." "You're a sweet boy." "And I've always loved you, and I love you now." " But there is someone who needs money to leave." " Oh, Caroline, yes." " Don't involve Omar in this." " Hmm?" " I can get much better price than he ever could." "If not in Montevideo, then in Buenos Aires." " You can?" "How?" " I have contacts." " So how much do you think you will make with these?" " Enough for where she wants to be." " Really?" "Supposing we exact a small exchange with Caroline." "Supposing the money you make for her, she takes the cash and leaves." " Quite a bit of cash." " Yes." "And in return for that bit of cash, we could make a bargain with her." "I suggest she might want to make over her part of Ocho Rios to you." "You'd be 1/3 partner with Portia and myself, and of course, as you know, we're more accommodating than Caroline and more used to signing things." "So perhaps you could, if you want to, start one of your moneymaking schemes." "Thousands of acres of soybeans blowing in the wind." " My god." "How I'd make this place work for us." "Oh." " I'm going to Las Golondrinas for a few days." "I just wanted you to know." " Why?" " I don't feel comfortable here." "I want all these people to go away." "But as they only incapacitate themselves and multiply," "I'm going away myself." "Call me when the coast is clear." " I'll do no such thing." "Go if you want, but don't give me orders." " Goodness." "Sounds as if you're the one who needs to get away from here." " Caroline." " I wonder if Luis can get me there." "¿Esta bien, Luis?" " A su disposicion, señora." " Are you leaving without talking to him, to Omar?" "Omar." " Why should I talk to him?" "I've talked a lot to him and to his rather unpleasant girlfriend." " You're afraid that if you stay, you'll change your mind." " I'm afraid if I stay, I'll lose my mind." " "My dear Caroline," ""I have a confession to make." ""I am a jewel thief." ""I have secretly kept all my mother's diamonds." ""Graciously, I beg you to absolve me" ""by accepting them from my guilty hands." "Don't overdo it."" " "Forgive me, if you can," ""and live happily on the proceeds" ""wherever you may choose." ""Pete and I have each other" ""and need almost nothing more." ""But there is one fairly small favor you can do for us." ""In return for Mother's diamonds," ""would you relinquish your 1/3 share of Ocho Rios?" ""Pete has great plans for the estate" ""that I cannot even pretend to understand." ""A new chapter will soon begin for you" ""and if, perchance," ""something is weighing on your conscience" ""and who among us is without blame?" ""Humanum errare est" ""rid yourself of it with one small gesture." ""Allow the boy to write the biography" ""yours is still the one voice he needs." "Adam."" " Where is everyone?" " They're busy doing whatever they do, forging paintings, raising killer bees, I guess, and smuggling jewels." " Well, can you please go find them and tell them we're back from the hospital?" " Find whom?" " Arden...and everyone." "Caroline." " Caroline." "You certainly need to speak to Caroline." " What are you drawing?" " Are you finished?" "I'm sorry, Portia, but I need to talk to Omar." "Run along." "Can you believe it?" "Caroline has left." "And without a word to us about the authorization." "I'll have to go after her and speak to her." "I think she's enjoying this." "These people are awful." " If anyone speaks to Caroline, it'll have to be me." " I think I might be better at handling a person like that." " I don't want to handle anyone." "I hate that attitude." " Omar, what's the matter with you?" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry, you've been ill." "You've only just come out of the hospital." "You're not yourself." "And really, you're not in a fit state to go running after crazy Caroline." " Please, Deirdre, leave it to me." " Darling" " Would you just let me rest?" " Omar, "Las Golondrinas"" "means little birds that fly and sing." "That is what we do here, as you can see." "Jules was always welcome here." "He lived with his two women at Ocho Rios, and sometimes he had to come up for air... when Caroline was too much for him." " And Arden was too little." " Don't you want to swim?" "We have plenty of suits." "Yes?" "You don't have to put that arm in the water, no?" "El bracito en el agua, ¿para que?" "No." "Traele...traele, Wilson..." " No, no, no." " ¿Como no, no, no, no?" "Si." "Plunk!" "Plunk!" "Plunk!" "Jules was very, very attractive." "And depressive, of course." "But that made him even more attractive, like Hamlet or someone out of Dostoyevsky." "He had the knack of making each woman he met feel she was the only one who truly understood him." "Only women." "He didn't care for men, nor they for him." "And he was writing this book, another book to make him even more famous." "We thought it was thrilling." "Perhaps we were all in it." "And each one of us thought she was his muse." "And would go down in history, no?" " God knows what she's telling him." "Every woman who ever met Jules is convinced she understood him better than I did, or Arden, for that matter." " You know what I think?" "That he wasn't writing a book at all." "He was talking about it to impress us, but he found he couldn't." "And that made him- he couldn't bear the thought of not being a celebrated author anymore." "Admired and famous and... and everyone hopelessly in love with him." "Ah, Wilson." " Señora." " Gracias." "Permiso." " Tango." "Tango." "Puedes." " Puedo." " Puedes." " Puedes." " Puedo, puedo." " Maybe we'll meet in the States." "I'd like that very much, although maybe you prefer to forget all about me." " I want to give you a farewell present." "About the biography, go ahead and write it." "Explain us to ourselves, if you can." "I'll be interested to read your interpretation or invention." "I grant you my authorization." "lsn't that what you wanted?" "What you came here for?" " Of course." "And I'm very grateful to you." " Deirdre anyway, will be pleased." " But what about Jules' letter that he didn't want a biography?" " Jules never wrote such a letter." "I made that up." "But he did try and write a second book." "There is a manuscript." "It does exist." "No one's ever read it except me." "Jules never finished it." "He couldn't." "Shall I tell you about the last scene?" "The last he wrote and then he couldn't go on?" "In this last scene, Arden and I are in the gondola, and we loathe each other as we never did." "Though, perhaps that's what he was waiting for." "But in the gondola, we have a terrible fight, a physical fight." "And I push Arden overboard." "But you know what?" "The water isn't deep enough." "So I keep on pushing her down and down." " Did you intend to publish it?" " There were times when I felt that I had to, that it was a responsibility, a duty, to literature, if that doesn't sound too grandiose." " I don't believe any of us has such a duty." "I believe literature takes its life from us, not the other way around." " Is this the belief of a professor of literature?" " Oh, I'm afraid this is the other Omar, the misguided caliph who burned all the books." "You know, the entire library of Alexandria was fed into the bathhouse boilers," "700,000 papyrus scrolls." "It took six months to burn them all up." "♪ ♪" " Let me take that." "Gracias." " I was just coming down to say good-bye." " I've come up." " You must be very happy with your success." " My success?" " You've achieved everything you came for." "With all three of us, that's 100% success." " Arden," "I'll come back soon." " I know." "You have to interview all of us." " That's not what I'm coming back for." " Omar?" " I'll be right down." "Deirdre's always afraid of missing her plane." "She never has." " Have you?" " Maybe twice, three times." "Whatever." "There are worse things in life than missing a plane." " Well, try not to miss this one." " You're right." "You know what I think?" "Those bees knew what they were doing." "They stung me so I'd remember what I was here for." "Not for my own selfish reasons, not just to have a good time and be happy" " But to get your PhD." " And write the book." " And when it's published," "I hope you'll send us one copy each." "And please inscribe it," ""With best wishes, from professor Razaghi, PhD."" " Professor Razaghi." "It sounds like a stage magician." "The kind that makes pigeons fly out of a top hat." " And saws girls in half." "Go on." " Here you are." "We're going to miss the plane." " Good-bye, Deirdre." "I hope you and Omar have a safe and pleasant journey." " Thank you for everything." "Good-bye." " Bye." " Hey, Omar." " Where you going, Omar?" " I'm in a hurry." " Oh, come on." " Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Knock it off!" " Hey!" " In 500 words for Monday," "I want you to analyze the role of fate in hardy's novel." "In Shakespeare, character is always fate." "Which we know by now from experience to be absolutely true." "What happens to me happens because I am I." "Hardy's characters are caught in situations that are impossible to get out of." "But are they impossible?" "Suppose a character decides that he can do something about his fate." "What then?" "Any hands?" "Come on, guys." "♪ ♪" " It's Omar." "Omar, I found your shoe." " My shoe?" " The one you lost when the bee stung you." "Do you still have the other one?" "Then you can wear them." "Thank you, Portia." "As a matter of fact, I did keep it as a souvenir from my bee sting." " I'll go and get it." " You can't do this." "It's wrong." "Walk in, walk out whenever it suits you." "No, you can't." " I should have written." " Yes, you should have written." " I tried to." "You don't know how often I tried, how many letters I didn't send." " A postcard even, instead of silence, nothing, not a word, as if we no longer existed." " You don't understand." " What don't I understand?" " I was always thinking, "Go there." "Go there." "Go there."" "I knew I had to do something." "I wish I could have done it right." "If there was one thing I could give you, it would be for once to do something right." " Well, you can't just appear like this, horribly upsetting everyone by turning up in these fantastic ways." " So I should just sit and do nothing and suffer and miss you?" " Oh, please, go." "Just go, Omar." " I wanted to give him his shoe." " Omar." " Hi, Pete." " Come in." " Thank you." " I'll get you some dry socks." " Hail to thee, dear boy." "Where have you sprung from?" "Come and sit down." "Make yourself warm." "Sit here." "Would you like a drink?" " Please." " Good." "Here you are." " Thank you." " You seem to have developed the habit of popping up at the most extraordinary times." " I'm clumsy and a fool." " I used to call myself that." "But now Pete has set us up as a corporation," "I'm not a fool anymore." "I'm a business." "And how's your business?" " I've given it up, the biography." "I'm not writing it." " Oh." "Well, quite frankly, it seemed to me that it was, um" "What was her name?" "Deirdre." "It seemed to me that it was Deirdre's project more than it was yours." " Before I even came here," "I lost a dog." "And searching for it, I nearly drowned in a swamp." "And then it happened again." "I lost a dog." "The same dog, Victor." "And looking for him, I came to the same swamp, and I thought, "Oh, no." "No, not again."" "But I was sinking, not in that swamp but in the biography, my whole life." " Well, I haven't the foggiest notion of what you're talking about, dear boy, but obviously, you've come all the way back here to save yourself from sinking." "Welcome." " Arden told me to leave." "She said I had no right to come here." " Oh, we're always saying things we don't mean, especially in this family." "In fact, we often say the opposite of what we do mean." " Adam sends me away every day." "He says it's better that way." " Yes, "It's better that way," which means," "I can't bear it, but I will." "It's the Jewish mother in me, you see." " What should I do?" " Go and see her again." " But what if she tells me to leave again?" " Then come back here and tomorrow try again, and the day after that and the day after that." " Omar!" " Come on." " This ought to be good." " Don't forget he was only 10 or 12 when he wrote it." "Be kind." "Hang on." "I think I know her." "Excuse me." "Aren't you Caroline Gund?" "I'm Deirdre." "We met in" " Ocho Rios, of course." "How could I forget?" " Hello." "Nice to meet you." "This is Tim." " Hello, nice to meet." " Do you live here in Madrid?" " No, no, we're just visiting." "We live in New York." " Really?" "So do I." "I teach at Columbia." "Do you ever hear from them?" " I do occasionally." "They all seem very happy." "They've turned the land into vineyards." "And there's a baby." " A baby?" "A boy or a girl?" " A girl." "A little sister for Portia." "And they still keep bees." " Oh." "Those bees?" " It's a business now." "They sell the honey." " How funny to meet you like this after all these years, and we both live in New York now." " Well." " Good-bye." " Who's that?" " That's a crazy story." " She's not very" " Give me a second." "Caroline." "Call me." "I'm in the phone book." "The only Deirdre Rothemund," "West 84th." " So who was that?" " Someone I met once in Uruguay, of all places, three years ago." " What were you doing in Uruguay?" " I was sent for." "A friend needed me." "Did you know that a bee sting can be fatal?" "Was it fatal?" "Did he die?" " No." "He recovered." "But it a profound psychological effect." " Will you call her?" " She's friendlier than I remember." " What happened?" " It's a long story." " Tell me." " Shh." " I'll tell you later."