Chili's Blues

Transcript: Sherri

Voice over intercom: All train travel is halted until further notice. (In English: I repeat, all train departures are canceled. So stayed tuned for further information.) I repeat, all train departures are canceled.

In coffee shop:

Man in hat: Coffee with extra water.

Waitress: I can’t get more than one cup in a cup. Understand? A cup’s a cup.

Man in hat: Then give me a cup of tea with extra hot water.

Schoolgirl: Nausea’s not a book about preventing motion sickness. Nausea’s a book by Jean-Paul Satre. And it’s very existentialist. That’s the best.

Waitress: With extra hot water.

Schoolgirl: Nausea a book on sickness. That’s absolutely the best.

Voice on intercom:(In English: Please stay tuned for further information.) I rep...shit. (no longer over intercom; in office) I’m paid to tell’em, and I told’em. What more can I do?

Co-worker in office: Suppose..Just suppose they hadn’t caught it at all. It’d be like you’d only done half of your work. You could say they didn’t do their half, since they didn’t understand. But that would mean, when they understand, they do half your work. In which case, they deserve half your pay. And that is almost communist!

(“My Boyfriend’s Back” playing in background.)

Pierre is looking at magazines at a newsstand.

Pierre to storekeeper: Yellow chiclets. Peppermint, not cherry! Always the same mistake. You ask for yellow, and they give you cherry. Why don’t they put cherry in a red box? Cherry...red. They go together. But what does Chiclets put in red? Cinnamon! And who wants cinnamon gum? No one.

Woman on phone: Snow is beauty. So, so beauty. I buy beautiful boots. With fur!

Woman in spotted coat (also on phone): What, expect me to shovel the tracks? I’m at the station, darling. Proof? (holds phone up} Sound like a lover or a station? No, answer me. Did that sound like a stud or a station?

Pierre: (still buying chiclets) It keeps things going. If we returned the gum, the whole system would collapse. I mean...

Storekeeper: So, you want cinnamon?

Pierre: No, I mean other people. They get it wrong. Understand? I understand. I ask for yellow peppermint. (Pierre gets his gum.)

Woman in spotted coat (still on phone): You don’t hear the trains cause they are dead. (Fucking dead.) Sweet Jesus, get me a librium!

In men’s restroom:

Man with fish: I’m warming’em up.

Pierre opens stall. A girl is inside with a gun in her mouth.

Pierre: Don’t move. Stay there. He runs to the station office.

Pierre: Sir! I need help! Jesus help me! She’s going to die! A girl with a...

Woman in white hat: What’s with him?

Woman in blue hat: It’s “Candid Camera.” I’ll bet you anything.

In men’s restroom:

Station worker: A dead girl? Not in here. Everything looks fine. No use calling the police. No sir. Now, if we had a body or someone close to death...But what do we have? Nothing. You know why we have nothing? Because it was all in your head.

Pierre: I never said she was dead. I said she was going to die. She was like this. (gestures with hand) You understand? Like this.

Station worker starts to leave.

Pierre: Where are you going? You can’t just walk away!

Pierre leaves.

Boy in tan jacket: Would you blow your head off in the men’s or ladies’ room?

Boy with comb: Is this a test? I won’t answer if it is, cause ...

Boy in tan jacket: Chouinard. Take it easy. It’s not a test. I’m just asking.

Boy with comb: Me? Well, I wouldn’t do it. But if I did...I dunno...the ladies. That way if I flubbed it, I might at least meet a girl, you know. Yeah, a girl.

Pierre: (at station office) We can’t pretend nothing happened. If she tried once, she might try again, right?

Station worker: Can’t you see I’m busy? I have 200 people in my charge. 200! Living people. So get off my goddamn back. (into microphone: one, two)

Woman in fur: Is that normal? Really! Do you find that normal? (shows her fur to Pierre) They cut it off right on my back!

Pierre: I have to go.

Station worker to woman in fur: I’m not the good lord. (over intercom: the good lord)

Pierre (to girl in plaid skirt): I’m so glad you’re not...I mean, that you’re here. Healthy. If you’d done what you set out to do, I wouldn’t have pretended nothing had happened. No, I’d...I dunno....I’d have sent flowers or at least a sympathy card.

Girl in plaid skirt: What is this? They let you out for the day? The funny farm is coming to town, that it?

Pierre: It wasn’t me in the toilet with the gun. It was you. So....if someone’s...(gestures with hand)...it ain’t me.

Girl in plaid skirt: Look, I’m not armed. And I wasn’t in the john. So, beat it, ok?

Pierre: Don’t want to talk about it? No problem. We’ll forget it. I respect that. You won’t believe it, but my dad had a beach outfit just like your skirt. Just like it.

Girl in plaid skirt: Hey, bozo, if plaid skirts turn you on, you hit the jackpot. (she gestures to other girls in plaid skirts; “One Fine Day” is playing)

Pierre leaves her.

Girl in red hat (to Pierre): Don’t look. It’s yucky, unspeakably yucky. Don’t you think?

Pierre: Who’s responsible?

Girl in red hat: My legs, I guess. They’re too close to the ground. You follow? I have stunted tibias. Next summer, I’m going to a health camp in Europe. In the Alps. They use hormones.

Pierre: I mean, who’s responsible for your school group?

Pierre approaches nuns.

Nun: Are you with the police?

Pierre: Okay, so you don’t want to talk to me. Fine. But she’s not my student. She’s yours. So why not count them and see if your flock’s short?

Nun: At St. Mary’s, we don’t go around killing ourselves. Especially not with guns. I think someone’s inventing this (grasps Pierre’s hand) just to attract attention. But the Lord pays attention to us all. That’s why I always tell my girls, Be nice to the Negroes. You never know, on Judgment Day you may be next to one.

Pierre: What Negroes? Did I say Negroes? I said a girl....like her. She Negro? Fine, I’m finished. You hear? It’s out of my hands. No, sister, I’ll go to bed tonight with an easy conscience. So that’s it. I’m going. As for you all...don’t die.

Pierre walks away. Someone follows him.

Girl: It’s me. It’s me you want. It.sh..me...shit! It’s me. (Pierre turns) You’re looking for me.

Pierre: Listen, I’m not looking for anything. So....

Girl shows him a gun.

Girl: I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for being there. And I...Can I buy you coffee?

In the coffee shop:

Pierre & girl are sitting at a table by the window.

Pierre: I love your white stuff. Great for chapped lips.

Girl: It’s not lip balm. It’s lipstick.

Pierre: I see. What’s your name?

Girl: Chili, like the sauce. Aren’t you going to ask why?

Pierre: Why do you want to die?

Chili: Because we’re decomposing. Everything is. The human race...shit! Know what’s on the hit parade? A goddamn nun! While monks in Vietnam set themselves on fire. And us? We play hula hoop and dance the mashed potato. And change our nail polish. I heard the average girl owns 3.3 Cutex colors. We organize eating contests. The record for pancakes?

Pierre: No idea.

Chili: 97. 97 pancakes. Enough to make you puke. I could throw up right here. Cause there’s too many things. Understand? Too many things.

Pierre: Too many things, too many things..What do you mean? I mean, How many should there be in a station? No, seriously, can you say a number? How many things do you need to have to have too many?

Chili’s Flashback-in a room with windows:

Man: Skating’s like anything else. The secret is not to think about it. Capice? Just don’t think. Same as when you’re dancing...or with women. You can think about it before but when you’re skating you just glide.

In coffee shop:

Pierre: So...no reason to be depressed. There’s room in the universe. There’s a lot more emptiness than things. A lot more nothing. It’s not just my word; it’s proven.

Chili: (handing him the gun) Take it. Because...I feel better. No joke. You did me a lot of good. A lot. So...(English: That’s all folks.)

Intercom: A green hat has been found in the men’s room. A green hat in the men’s room.

In the ladies’ room:

Schoolgirl: When I eat, I feel nauseous. When I don’t eat, I feel nauseous. What do I do? And yesterday I had to take Bromo Seltzer. Bromo Seltzer, in front of Jean Hughes! So embarrassing. I burped in his face.

Girl with glasses: Maybe it’s distemper. Your nausea might be distemper.

Schoolgirl: Isn’t that what dogs get?

Girl with glasses: Used to be. But now you can die of anything. I swear, anything. Germs know our codes.

Schoolgirl: Who’d you hear that from? Chili!

Waitress: (working on cash register) There! (to Pierre) Where were we? (He pays her and leaves.)

Voice on intercom: Passengers are kindly asked to be patient. Trains will depart in a few hours. (In English: I repeat, the trains are not stopped forever.)

In hallway:

Chili (to Pierre): Come here to see me or to pee?

Pierre: A bit of both.

Chili: Then...start by peeing a bit. I feel better but not a whole lot. Understand? You can’t leave me alone. (to old man) Peddle your wares someplace else! (to Pierre) Let’s say I went for a Coke...You’d have to come looking for me in two minutes.

Pierre: Y’know, there’s something I can’t figure out. Nobody ever said I’d be around for the rest of your days. Nobody.

Chili: You have to know what you want. So console me or don’t, but stop playing with me.

Pierre: I’m not playing with anyone. You’re the one who keeps changing her mind. You feel better, then you don’t.

Chili opens the door to a storage room and goes inside. Pierre follows.

Pierre: Let’s do a recap. Ok, we’ll recap everything. You have a problem with things. Too many of them. I sympathize 100%. But that’s all I can do. You see, I sell vacuum cleaners. With vacuum cleaners, suicide’s pretty rare. You don’t invest in one and go kill yourself. Do you understand? I guess what I really mean is....I’m not sure I know how to console you. C

hili: Well, if that’s your only problem, I’ll tell you how. No, seriously. If you don’t know what to do with me, I can help.

Pierre: You know, you’re like....like no one else.

Chili: Who should I be like? The rich bitches at the convent? Sister Agnes' lapdogs? My mother? My mother! Know what my mother does? She gets serviced by the entire croquet team. That’s what Mom does. Shit. Croquet!

Chili’s flashback:

Chili: A game for fags! Never knew a croquette could get it up. No joke. If anyone asked, I’d have said “No way.” Croquettes dress in white, hit their balls, and watch’m roll away. That’s what croquettes do. At the end of the tournament, they eat, party, and ? while dancing to....while dancing to Mantovani or, I dunno, Fausto.

Back in storage room:

Pierre: No, Chili...No, don’t. Take a deep breath. Let it out.

In hallway:

Girl in plaid skirt: Chili’s psycho. A nasty, lying psycho cow!

Girl in red hat: And a Verdunoise. Or maybe you say Verdunite or Verdune. What do you call the lucky souls born in Verdun?

Back in storage room:

Chili: (shows picture) This is when they opened the arena. Maurice Richard was there. In fact, he was right there (points). So what if you don’t believe me?

Pierre: I believe you. Maurice Richard was there. He was there. What’s the problem? He was...there. (points)

Chili: Sometimes I dream about it...the Scotch tape. I dream I take it off, and know what? The picture’s not even torn. I take it off very gently and the picture’s not torn.

Chili’s Flashback-In hallway of apartment:

Young Chili: Shoot, I’m ready.

Man: Can you stop this?

Back in storage room:

Chili: The picture’s not torn. (She places Pierre’s hand on her face.)

Pierre: Know why they call it Scotch tape? Because at the beginning of Scotch tape, they put glue only on the sides, so it’d be cheaper to manufacture. And since Scots are known for being stingy, people started calling it Scotch tape. Understand? Scots tape.

Chili: I feel good with you.

In hallway:

Girl in red hat: It’s just a rumor. I never said it was you. I said it could’ve been you. Because...You know why.

Girl in glasses: I only tried to kill myself once. If I try again, my parents’ll kill me. I swear, they’ll kill me. Anyway...I mean...I had the skipping rope around my neck, and all I could think was, “Is this real?” That was all. Am I really dying? I’d probably have died asking that question. Stupid, huh?

Girl in plaid skirt: Not as stupid as wanting to die for scoring against your team. Marie Stella! Dying for a basketball game! I know it wasn’t you in the toilet. You’d have died of embarrassment just walking in the men’s room. So they can shove the rumor up their a-s-s, ok?

Girl in red hat: e-s.A-s-s-e-s. Lili must have finished vomiting.

Back in storage room:

Chili: Mom tells everyone it’s all in my head. Bambi, it’s all in your head! Where else would I have a headache? My feet? Don’t you find it unreal? I find it totally unreal. Really. (She hums “The Twilight Zone” theme.) My mother’s a mutant. That’s what she is. With her cold cream.

Pierre: Want me to get some aspirin? To the coffee shop, there and back.

Chili: Look before you cross.

Pierre: I don’t have to cross.

Chili: It was a joke. To make you laugh. You obviously don’t find me funny. So what if I’m not funny? You have to decide. Do you want to be with me or Abbott and Costello? Too chicken to answer?

Pierre: To answer what, Chili? That I like you more than some clowns in the movies? I’m here, Chili. Here. For me, that’s all that has to be said. And now I’ll get you that aspirin.

Chili: Look both ways before crossing.

In coffee shop:

Girls are sitting at a table, laughing.

Girl in red hat: If both the head and tail curl...You’re in love!

Girl in plaid skirt: I’m not in love. No, I let others love me.

(Pierre enters)

Woman in blue hat: The stockings are attached to the underwear.

Woman in white hat: What’s it called?

Woman in blue hat: Pantyhose.

Back at the girls’ table-

Girl in red hat: Dead. I mean...the fish is dead. Symbolically speaking. It’s just the plastic fish that’s...dead. It’s not black magic. I mean, I bought it in Chinatown.

Woman in white hat: Did you ever think you’d live to see the day? Hosiery pants! It’s such a wonderful world!

Boy in glasses and hat pops a paper bag. Pierre grabs aspirin, puts change on the counter, and leaves.

In storage room, at faucet:

Chili: You’re scared for me. Most people are scared of me. (She puts the aspirin in her mouth.)

Pierre: That’s not how. The Scout way. Like this. (He puts his hands under the faucet.) Go on.

Chili: Like this? Again. Again.

Pierre: It’s just....Scout stuff.

Chili: How scared were you for me? I mean, where you just a bit worried or scared shitless?

Pierre: I guess you could say shitless.

Chili: Thanks. That’s the nicest compliment.

Pierre: No, Chili, that’s not a compliment. It’s, I dunno......

Chili: I don’t get many compliments, so let me keep this one. Last compliment a guy gave me was for wearing size five shoes. Size five shoes. That’s all he could think of. And you expect me to love the human race?

Pierre: Was it for something so insignificant that you...(gestures with his hand like a gun)

Chili: Course not. No, there were other reasons. The plane crash at St. Therese. A plane crash is horrible enough. But you know what was even worse? Well, answer me!

Pierre: This isn’t a contest about horrors.

Chili: What was worse is people went there to loot. Do you understand? Picking for wallets among the severed arms and legs! Can you explain that?

Pierre: Why do I have to explain something I didn’t do? Something I’d never have done. Why?

Chili: Cause you’re happy.

Pierre: That’s a good one. Cause I’m happy? I’m happy, so what?

Chili: I dunno, but....I figure if you’re still happy on December 12 at 8:45 p.m., then...you must accept what’s gone on till now. I don’t mean just St. Therese...I mean all human cruelty. The Boston Strangler, or the guys who wear flour sacks on their heads and lynch Negroes. You know how to deal with it, but you don’t want to tell me. So we won’t talk about it. Over.

Pierre: Keep your head flat. Your head...(straightens her head) And your mouth...(gestures for silence) Best thing for a headache.

At the phones:

Priest on the phone: A blizzard, Father George. Blizzard. That’s right.

Voice on intercom: Would Eric’s dad come to the information booth immediately?

Nun (passing out something): For you. And for you...You have a lovely family.

In storage room:

Pierre: There’s one word you have to remember. Just one. Investment. Understand? You don’t buy a vacuum cleaner. You invest in a vacuum cleaner. If you want the extension tube, you invest more. Personally, I don’t recommend it. Between you and me, the standard tube’s fine. Now, accessories are another story. We all have different needs...Ok. For a sofa, I recommend a flat suction unit. (Chili laughs) If it’s on castors...

Chili: Suction unit?

Pierre: Yeah...suction unit. Some people call it a nozzle, but that doesn’t sound as modern. Suction is...(Chili laughs.)

Chili: Suction. (laughs) I’ll stop.

Pierre: That’s pretty juvenile. I thought we could converse, but...You just want to laugh.

Chili: Don’t flip cause I laughed. All I did was laugh and not at you. So get off my back.

Pierre: I’m on your back? Ok, I’m going ape shit.

Chili: You can’t leave. Cause...Cause you haven’t signed my autograph album. And I can’t fake your signature. You haven’t told me your name. Why haven’t you told me your name? Why? (She cries. He walks back and hands her a handkerchief.)

Pierre: Here, blow your nose.

In coffee shop:

Girl in glasses: I swear it’s true. It was called West of Eden. They changed it, dunno why. I wonder what James Dean would’ve thought.

Girl in red hat: You know why? It’s obvious, Marie-Stella. East of Eden is set in the east because the east is intrinsically more...boring. Boring, boring, and...

Girl in plaid skirt: Fake. It’s true, everything there’s fake. Fake leather. Mock chicken. Miracle Whip. Despite what Chili says, Miracle Whip’s just salad dressing. The poor may call it mayonnaise...Not so.

Girl in glasses: If we were there...we wouldn’t know better. You see? It’s like when we dream; we think it’s real. Well, they think their lives are real.

Schoolgirl: You’re talking about the east end. But they’re not the worst-off.. The worst-off are...here.....just 15 minutes from us. Their lives really suck cause...no one’s poorer than the poor who live next to the rich.

Girl in glasses: So then Steinbeck should’ve called it South....Southwest of Eden.

In storage room:

Pierre: Marlo Brando....Marlo Brando?

Chili: Yeah, he signed here.

Pierre: His name’s Marlon. Not ‘lo.’

Chili: You sure? (Rips out page and throws it.) Can’t trust anyone anymore.

Man enters storage room (down the stairs.) Jar falls.

Chili’s Flashback-By a river & in an apartment:

Chili: Nicest thing Mom ever said about Dad was it was the folly of youth. I’m the result of youthful folly. They made me the first weekend...Dad was no croquette. We lived in Verdun. Grandma up in Westmount had a major depression. All cause my Dad was 17 and said “ain’t.” When he died, Grandma drove down Atwater and fetched us. That’s about it. He’s dead, and I don’t say ‘ain’t.’ Dad said heaven was like the police.

Chili: (back in storeroom) You needed your grade 10 diploma to get in. And since he’d dropped out..he had no illusions about eternity. Let’s change the subject, ok?

Station office:

Voice on intercom: Mr.Seguin is requested at the checkroom.

Girl: (hitting boy in tan jacket): Not funny.

Schoolgirl steals a key chain.

In storage room:

Pierre: (looking at book) This is what you learn? Why bother with this stuff? I mean, what do you want to do in life?

Chili: Nothing....plus zero minus the dishes. And you?

Pierre: Me, it’s not the same. I’m ahead of you.

Chili: Well, excuse me! I didn’t know I was behind. Thought we were on the same time. Here, at the same time.

Pierre: That’s not what I said. We’re together. Together (puts his hands together).

Chili: Yeah. We’re the Dionne twins. Except you’re a bit more of a twin than me. (She gets her stuff.)

Pierre: What’s that mean? More of a twin? I don’t follow you.

Chili: Course. You can’t follow me, you’re ahead of me. But you’re not higher, cause....we know who lives in Westmount.

Pierre: Ok, Chili...You and me just hit a wall.

On the benches:

Man to boy: How about using this?

Boy: It’s a nuclear shelter, not a doll’s house. Use your head, Dad.

Girl in plaid skirt: Distemper? Sure, Lili. And I’m the Holy Virgin.

Schoolgirl: Leave me alone, Cathou! Let me feel nauseous in goddamn peace.

Chili: I just said where I live. I didn’t put up the Berlin Wall. We’re not going to make an issue out of my address. When little babies are born with fins instead of arms....that’s an issue Pierre-Paul.

(exchange of “bullshits”)

Chili: Bullshit my ass! It’s not just in my head. Hiroshima wasn’t in my head either. And I didn’t invent the guy who ended up printed on a wall. Just a shadow, cause the heat of the bomb evaporated him. Like Carnation Evaporated Milk. And that’s no way to die. (She flips through a magazine to find a picture.) And this is no way to live!

Pierre: It may be faked. She hits him.

Chili: Is that fake? Or that? It’s not fake, Pierre-Paul. (She hugs him.) It’s not fake.

Pierre: Everything’s fine. It’s ok. Everything’s fine.

In the hallway:

Pierre: It’s hard to decide what to do cause they’re not our babies. And even if they were our babies...

Chili: Can we change the subject?

Pierre: We can’t change the subject. We’ll talk about those babies. If it hurts, I’ll console you. I’ll console you, like it or not. But you’ll stop...rehashing these tragedies. That’s what you do. You rehash them.

Chili: Was I rehashing in the toilet?

Pierre: We’re talking about babies not toilets.

Chili: I have nothing to say.

Pierre: Find something. (He sits back.)

Girl in red hat: Is that him? (looking at Pierre)

Girl in plaid skirt: Yeah, he’s the clown from before.

Girl in red hat: If he thinks it was Chili in the bathroom, he’s wrong! Hear about Jean Hughes’ cousin? You don’t know about Bebert?

Girl “tells” story about Chili; flashback - Inside a car:

Chili: I told her to go hang herself cause....she’d scored against our side. She took the ball and threw it in our goddamn hoop! I didn’t tell her how to do it. I just said, “Go hang yourself” the way you say “Go hang yourself.”

Boy: Do you want to or not? Cause if you do, how about a little silence? Your stories...wreck my concentration.

Chili: Fine. I’ll shut up. It’s just that...I’ve known guys who weren’t as easily put off. It’s true! I could’ve recited the phone book and...they’d have kept on....It’s ok. It’s ok. There are lots of ways to do it. (moving foot) Some use numbers, others...use just about anything. Like Van Gogh. It’s still fine.

Boy: Gogh. You say Van Go not Gog.

Chili: Who cares, Bebert? Van Gog, Van Go. I don’t get it. Cause there, right in front of, us are 20,000 people who say Van Gog. And of them....I bet quite a few think Van Gog...is a new make of van. So, I want to know something. What’ll you do with us? I mean, what would make you happy? Exterminating us? And laying tennis courts from Verdun to Pointe-aux-Trembles? Huh, Bebert? Is that it?

Back at train station. Girls laugh.

Chili: What I don’t get is the dispatching. Who’ll be crippled? Who’ll be rich? Who’ll die young? It drives me crazy.

Pierre: Was it to...dispatch things yourself that you were in the toilet?

Chili: Yeah, I guess. Yeah, except...it wasn’t me in the toilet. It wasn’t me, Pierre-Paul.

Pierre: I don’t think I heard right. I didn’t.....It can’t be. If this is a joke, it’s not funny. Not funny at all. And if it’s not a joke....You’re a goddamn liar cause it was you. First, you have the gun...

Chili: I had it. You have it now. Unless you left it as a tip in the coffee shop, you have it.

Pierre: Ok, I have it, so what? It’s still yours.

Chili: I found it in the trash can. I knew the whole story of the girl in the toilet cause you told it to St. Agnes. You needed a girl like me with a gun. I was a girl like me with a gun.

Pierre: What are you trying to tell me? You’re really not the girl in the toilet? Is that what you’re saying?

He gets up.

Pierre: That’s worse than sick. That’s....there’s no word for it. Pretending to be someone who wanted to die is completely.....! And I want nothing to...

Chili: I wasn’t in the toilet, but I wanted to die, too!

He leaves. She follows.

Chili: It’s possible that in a station there are two people who want to die.

Pierre: What about the other girl? Did you stop to think about her? No, you didn’t.

Chili: I did, but she was fine, cause I’d given you the gun. You see? What’s it change for you, whether you console her or me? What? I don’t want you to go. Don’t go. If you like, we can find her. We’ll do it, the three of us. A threesome.

Pierre walks away.

In the coffee shop:

Man: (in English) Miss, miss, can I get a cup of coffee?

Chili to boy in glasses: Could you move over?

Boy: What is this, a trap? This one going to fall? Is it?

Chili: I want to sit there. This seat’s as solid as rock, so move! (hits seat)

Boy: Why should I? If it’s so solid, why don’t you sit on it?

Chili: Are you gonna move?

Boy: Gimme one reason. Just one.

Chili: A reason? Cause I want to tell your buddy I’m sorry and buy him a coffee or something. Cause I want to be with him, get it?

Boy: (moving) Don’t throw a fit.

Chili sits.

Chili: (talking about Lifesavers) Do you know they glow? Lifesavers glow in the dark when you bite them. If I tell you about my attempted suicide, will that make it okay? We’ll say you’re consoling me for then. We can do that, Pierre-Paul. We could do that. (leaning her head on his shoulder) It was last fall.

Chili’s Flashback-A “garden party” by the river:

Chili: Mom was hosting a croquet tournament. (“It’s My Party” playing.)

Man in hat goofily dances and sings and unplugs the record player.

Chili: Move, clown!

Man: A problem?

Chili: No, no problem. Dad died seven years ago today, and Mom’s invited thirty jerks to dance by his grave. Because they never fished out his body. See? He drowned himself, and with the current he must be....

Man: Bambi, Bambi...didn’t you ever hear the expression “grieve and move on”? Here...(hands her a glass) There’s another one..”take a bite out of life.” And you have lovely teeth, take a dentist’s word. Like pearls.

Chili: What should I bite into first?

Man: Whatever you want, Bambi.

Chili bites the glass.

Pierre: Too many things....too many people. (back in restaurant) Christ, not too many people in your life! Compared to normal people with fathers you’re....you’re short. You’re short, Chili.

Chili: Say you have a deck of cards. And you lose one. You don’t have one card too few. You have 51 too many. Understand? 51 cards and they’re all ...they’re all too many.

Inside a passenger car:

Pierre: (voice-over) Maybe since the very beginning of time it had all been decided. Or maybe we decided there. Because, one, making love is easy to do. And, two, it makes sense. More than sleeping in rollers to curl your hair. Anyway, that’s what Chili said because even making love she didn’t stop talking. When I asked her why, she said it was because of rabbits.

Pierre: Because of rabbits?

Chili: Rabbits have no vocal cords; that’s why they get stuffed into hats. The poor rabbit doesn’t say a word so he doesn’t give away the magician. Capice? Wouldn’t work with a chicken cause you’d hear...(makes chicken sounds). But the rabbit just waits to be pulled out.

Pierre: (voice-over) Chili didn’t want to end up in a hat. As to ending her life, I dunno...No matter how closely I watched her I couldn’t tell if she still wanted to die.

Outside the train:

Pierre: (voice-over) But I’m sure of one thing. You can go right up to the edge of the pool without getting your bathing suit wet. I mean, even that close to death, you’re not forced to jump. I hoped Chili would choose the ladder...that, and....another color lipstick.

Pierre: (about glowing Lifesaver) I don’t know if it’s a trick, but if it is....I don’t want to know.

On the stairs:

Chili: Skating’s like anything else. Don’t think about it. Capice?

Chili: (voice-over) Ask anyone what comes after “Volare, contare...” and 9 times out of 10, they’ll sing...(hums)..but it’s “Blu dipinto di blu.” Blue being painted on blue, and that’s....exactly what I’d done since my father’s death. And when you paint blue on blue you never know what you’re doing cause....a rule says when you draw, don’t always use the same Prismacolor.

Voice over intercom: Attention all travelers. Trains will be leaving shortly. The person or persons who stole a fox head are requested to return it immediately.

In coffee shop:

Chili: (voice-over) Another rule says that people you meet in bus or train stations you never see again. That’s how it is. No asking why, or for more. Life does its best, and you can’t put more than one cup in a cup of coffee. So....I’d never see Pierre-Paul again. It killed me.

Pierre: I have to go. I have to go.

*End*