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With envy, Trumper regarded this careless, real affection.
Trumper went to bed, lying rigid until he had warmed a spot. He heard a bidet flush and decided he could never fall asleep to that lonely music. He danced nude across the room, retrieved his tape recorder from the window seat and scurried back to bed. Fumbling through a box of tapes, he found his 110-220 converter, plugged in the earphone jack, and clutched the earphones to his chest to warm them. 'Come in, Biggie,' he whispered.
REWIND.
PLAY...
23
Taking it Personally
(Fade in: A medium shot of the Pillsburys' boathouse, exterior, and the ramp leading down to the ocean. Cuthbert Bennett is scraping down an old rowboat like the ones whaling men used, and Colm is helping him. They're talking animatedly to each other - presumably Couth is explaining the algae, kelp, barnacle and crustacean world stuck to the boat's bottom, but there is no sync sound. The voices are Ralph Packer's and Couth's)
RALPH: Let me put it another way: I mean, you're living with his wife and child. Has that put a strain on your friendship with him?
COUTH: I think it must be very hard for him - but because of what he feels for her, that's all. It's hard for him to be around her and the boy now. It's got nothing to do with me; I'm sure he's still fond of me.
CUT.
(In the Packer studio, Bogus speaks [sync sound] into camera)
BOGUS: I couldn't be happier about who she's living with. Couth is an absolutely wonderful person ...
CUT.
(The boathouse again, with Couth and Colm, voices-over)
COUTH: I know I'm very fond of him ...
RALPH: Why didn't the marriage work?
COUTH: Well, look, you should ask her that, really.
RALPH: I just meant, you must have an opinion ...
COUTH: Ask her. Or him ...
CUTBACK.
(In the studio, Bogus speaks [sync sound] into camera)
BOGUS: Shit - ask her!
CUT.
(On the deck in Maine, Biggie is reading a storybook to Colm. There is no sync sound; the voices-over are Biggie's and Ralph's)
BIGGIE: Did you ask him?
RALPH: He said to ask you.
BIGGIE: Well, I'm sure I don't know. I know that even if I knew why it couldn't change anything, so what does it matter?
RALPH: Who left whom?
BIGGIE: What does it matter?
RALPH: Shit, Biggie ...
