Linda Rosenkrantz - Talk

VINCENT: They are on, darling. I wish they were brighter.

EMILY: Are you sure this is the field? That was one of the most tragic experiences of my entire life.

VINCENT: Unbelievable. Did you see how they were looking at us? I’ll tell you, if we had had a gun, we could have gotten them all in a minute.

EMILY: Who would have wanted to? You don’t really understand.

VINCENT: Tell me about it. Why was it so important to you?

EMILY: Because deers are the wildest and purest of animals, they are the combination of virile and beautiful, that exact combination of great valor and great sensitivity.

VINCENT: Emmy, do you think we’re going to sink in the mud?

EMILY: I think we’re going to be raped and killed on this road. Vinnie, nobody would believe what happened to us.

VINCENT: There was only one guy in that whole place who was attractive, I don’t care what you say, that boy in the purple sweater.

EMILY: It wasn’t purple, it was gray.

VINCENT: It was a washed-out purple. Emmy, what do I do now?

EMILY: Don’t turn your wheel, baby. Let me do it, darling, please. You’re turning your wheel too much, sweetheart, you’re turning your wheel too much.

VINCENT: No I’m not, I’m doing it right. Emmy, I’ll tell you something — we were very stuck there for a minute. Wait a second— what’s that?

EMILY: It’s a beer can.

VINCENT: Some beer can — it’s blinking.

EMILY: Vinnie, I’m going to tell you once and for all, we saw four reindeer tonight, and it just beat my heart in twain.

VINCENT: Mark that, Emmy, mark that. Get it?

EMILY: I mean who in a million years would think there were deer around this part?

VINCENT: I know there were some in Montauk, but I thought they only came out in the winter.

EMILY: I’ve never seen a deer before.

VINCENT: Look, there’s someone necking there.

EMILY: Should we pull up and watch? No. How come you know where you’re going?

VINCENT: Because I’ve been here before and I have a fantastic sense of humor. Emmy, did we have fun tonight?

EMILY: I had a very good time; I loved it.

VINCENT: The whole thing was unbelievable in terms of a complete experience — first the Puerto-Rican-Hawaiian element of the Out-of-the-Ordinary Inn, then going to this gay bar with all those low-class people. And then seeing the four deer which made us realize who we were.

EMILY: It did, really, it completely sobered us up, it brought us back to a certain kind of spiritual purity.

VINCENT: Emmy, you’re a wonderful woman. I’m sorry, it’s raining, I don’t care what you say.

EMILY: Put your wipers on.

VINCENT: I love you for letting me drive. But why do these things that are cleaning the windows go so slow?

EMILY: You can whip them off too, you know. Learn a little something about your car.

VINCENT: I don’t want them going slow, I like action. Emily, I’m going to take four aspirins when I get home. Do you think that will kill me?

EMILY: I don’t know, but I’ll give you a couple of quotes from Lawrence Durrell and you see whether or not you’ll want to read The Alexandria Quartet this week.

VINCENT: Want to go back to the gay bar?

EMILY: No.

VINCENT: Want to go to the gay beach?

EMILY: No. One quote is “We all lead lives of selected fictions.”

VINCENT: Brilliant.

EMILY: Another line is “We always fall in love with the love objects of the person we love.”

VINCENT: Beautiful.

EMILY: Vinnie, I’m telling you you’ve got to read it. “We use each other like axes to destroy the ones we really love”—something like that. I’ve been thinking a lot about Durrell lately and I’m coming to the conclusion that I don’t think novels can be written without the very sad and pitiful knowledge that they are totally self-conscious and ridiculous and untrue. I’m curious to see what Marsha does with hers. At least it’ll be true.

VINCENT: They’re all passing me, Emmy.

EMILY: It’s just as well, you don’t have your license yet.

VINCENT: That’s right. You taught me from the very beginning that it doesn’t matter how fast the others want to go. Maybe they’re on their way to the city and they have to get there in a hurry. Emmy, you’ve taught me so much.

EMILY: I really have. I’m one of your great mentors.

VINCENT: Mentor health. Let’s pick up some boy and suck him. I don’t know why I talk to you this way, I don’t even suck boys.

EMILY: I have no idea why.

VINCENT: Emmy, are you at all in love with me?

EMILY: Deeply.

VINCENT: And I’m terribly in love with you because you’re so pretty and versatile.

EMILY: Marsha told you I looked beautiful, but she wouldn’t say it to me. That’s my Marsha.

VINCENT: Marsha has a fantastic affection for you, and I think she’s very demonstrative, I really do.

EMILY: She’s patting my head all the time these days. Very touching. I think Marsha’s in good shape.

VINCENT: Wouldn’t you love to drive to Idaho or someplace tonight?

EMILY: Let’s go.

VINCENT: It’s silly though, because we don’t have any money.

EMILY: And we don’t have any licenses. And we’re in Marsha’s car.

VINCENT: We could get through the entire country on her free Mobil credit.

EMILY: We certainly could.

VINCENT: And take tomatoes and corn from farms.

EMILY: But how long could we last?

VINCENT: We could last forever.

EMILY: And what about the opening of your show?

VINCENT: Oh, I don’t care about that; I hate it.

EMILY: How do you like the way I gauged the gas situation?

VINCENT: Fantastic, but we’re not home yet. You know I’m very happy, are you?

EMILY: I have to teach you something about psychodynamics, Vinnie. You must have asked me a hundred times tonight if I was having a good time. That just means you were projecting your anxiety about having a bad time, right?

VINCENT: I kept saying it because you were so reluctant to go.

EMILY: I wasn’t reluctant, I was ready from the start.

VINCENT: To the gay bar?

EMILY: To the gay bar, I was reluctant, yes I was. I was reluctant not because I was afraid, but because I wasn’t sure I’d have a good time, that’s all.

VINCENT: And instead we had a very good time. It’s always that way dancing in gay bars.

EMILY: That’s right, because there are no inhibitions.

VINCENT: And there’s no threat for you. If anything, you were performing fantastically. You were performing for the nature of gay men, which is like the positive, open part of straight men.

EMILY: Exactly. I even liked the line-up dancing.

VINCENT: What’s lilac dancing?

EMILY: Line-up dancing, sweetheart.

VINCENT: I love line-up, I think it’s terrifically orgiastic.

EMILY: Keep on the inside of the road, it’s raining again.

VINCENT: Thank you. I love you because you’re so sober when you’re drunk.

EMILY: I’m not at all drunk. I had nothing to drink.

VINCENT: I know. How many drinks did we have? You had a dry martini.

EMILY: I had one dry martini.

VINCENT: Two of them, darling, it was filled for two.

EMILY: No, it was one shot in a small glass. Listen, if you have some honey, you should take a couple of spoonfuls when you get home.

VINCENT: Really?

EMILY: It sobers you up, it restores Vitamin B to the system, which is what the alcohol consumes in digestion.

VINCENT: You know all things well.

EMILY: All things well and true.

VINCENT: You believe in me driving, don’t you?

EMILY: I believe in your driving, you’re a marvelous driver.

VINCENT: Shall I drop you off and then take the car home? I’m not saying that because I’m threatened by the fear of going to bed with you, either. I’ve got such a headache you wouldn’t believe it. What time do you think it is?