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50INT. VAN - DAY

Laroche drives, solemnly nodding his head. Orlean studies him for a moment, her sad eyes wet and glistening.

ORLEAN

Wow, that's some story. So how many

turtles did you end up collecting?

LAROCHE

(matter-of-fact)

Oh, I lost interest right after that.

ORLEAN

Oh.

LAROCHE

I dropped turtles when I fell in love

with Ice Age fossils. Learned everything

about them. Collected the shit out of

'em. Fossils were the only thing made

any sense to me in this fucking world.

Y'know?

They drive in silence. Orlean watches a flying heron.

LAROCHE (CONT'D)

Then fossils were over when I found

lapidary, which I just adored.

ORLEAN

Okay, now what is lap --

LAROCHE

Ditched lapidary for resilvering old

mirrors. Did that with my mom for a

while. We had the largest collection of

19th Century Dutch mirrors on the planet.

Perhaps you read about us. Mirror World

October '88? I have a copy somewhere...

Laroche fishes through junk as he drives.

ORLEAN

So, did you ever miss the turtles? The

only thing that made you ten year old

life worth living?

LAROCHE

I'll tell you a story. I once fell

deeply, profoundly in love with tropical

fish. I had sixty goddamn fish tanks in

my house. I'd skin-dive to find just the

right ones. Anisotremus virginicus,

Holacanthus ciliaris, Chaetodon

capistratus. You name it. Then one day

I say, fuck fish. I renounce fish.

CONTINUED: (2)

LAROCHE (cont'd)