Answer the question.
What question is that?
You know very well what question I am referring to, you.
I do?
Yes, of course. Don't be ridiculous. We want to know if you did it.
Yes, I did it.
And what do you have to say for yourself?
Nothing.
Nothing?
That's what I said, wasn't it?
Is it?
Is what?
You're confusing yourself, I think.
The fact that I don't think is what got me into this mess in the first place, isn't it?
Isn't it though?
Who's to say?
You! You're to say. I hate that. If you're asking who, it's you, goddamnit.
I am no longer sure what we are talking about here.
You're very sure. You're just also sure you want to talk about something else.
I don't answer to you.
No, you certainly don't. At least not well.
What's that supposed to mean?
Don't change the subject. I asked you if you did it and you said yes.
That I did.
How could you do it?
It seemed right at the time. When the train was coming and I couldn't take it anymore.
Take what?
The yammering in my ear. About nothing.
That's what it was?
When did it become okay to be boring?
I don't think it did.
So you agree, then?
I agree to disagree.
That's just a fancy way of saying you don't agree.
That's right. I don't agree with you pushing her onto the tracks.
And why not?
It was a temporary solution to a bigger problem.
Is that how you see it?
That's how I see it.
You're never looking at any of this with the right set of eyes.
Where can I buy a set of those?
Don't be a smart ass.
But that's exactly what I am, aren't I?
And why is that?
Because I've turned the tables. At least here. Haven't I?
Haven't I?
I'm liking the Patriot one this week and No Contest too. Congratulations on 925! You have to always be thinking and CREATING to come up with so many of these!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Congrats on 925! You seem as much a student of form as you are of plot. This is to say that as the reader, I am often as intrigued by the structure of your writing as I am by what you're saying. This schizophrenic sort of prose reminds me of just what we were talking about over the weekend: the rapid-fire pace of Aaron Sorkin's style can sometimes seem unnatural, ramping up the speed of characters' alternating lines of dialogue in an unrealistically witty way. This doesn't mean that the piece loses entertainment value though. We want to reach the end of the piece because we want to understand the criminal's lack of remorse, a comprehension we won't be afforded. So again, I return to form. This piece feels like a beautiful exercise in digestible structure, a wonderfully kinetic conversation that might be a passage from a much larger story. Bits and pieces baby, but great developmental work nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteCongrats 0n #925
ReplyDeleteI hope I look at your columns with both eyes and I hope it solves the bigger problems and questions.
Congrats!!!!!