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turning to page one
turning to page one
The walls of Etheline’s study are filled with pre-Columbian art and primitive tools and weapons. There are shelves full of hundreds of bones and bits of pottery with little numbers painted on them. There are stacks of National Geographics on the floor. A human skeleton hangs on a stand in the corner.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Etheline became an archaeologist and had
overseen excavations for the Department
of Housing and the Transit Authority.
The back doors are open on to the garden. Pagoda sits on a bench outside, peeling potatoes, listening to a Walkman with headphones. His hair is now white.
Etheline is at her desk studying an arrowhead while Henry sits next to her. He is working on her taxes.
HENRY
Apropos of my question re: I-40 slash I-
9 adjustments.
Henry stands up. He seems very nervous. Etheline looks up at him curiously.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
She taught bridge class twice a week
with her friend and business manager,
Henry Sherman.
INSERT:
A copy of Henry Sherman’s book, Accounting for Everything. A caption at the top of the cover says “A Guide to Personal Finance.” It appears to have been published in the late sixties.
CUT TO:
Henry looking down at Etheline.
HENRY
It would probably be advantageous for
your marital status to be legally
established as single, in light of the
circumstances.
ETHELINE
What do you mean?
HENRY
I mean for tax purposes.
ETHELINE
(pause)
But I thought it was --
HENRY
Etheline?
ETHELINE
Yes?
HENRY
Will you marry me?
Pagoda stops peeling the potatoes. He takes off one ear of his headphones. Etheline puts on her prescription sunglasses.
HENRY (CONT’D)
I love you. Did you already know that?
ETHELINE
No, I didn’t.
Henry nods calmly.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Since her separation from her husband,
she had had many suitors --
MONTAGE:
A large man stands on a glacier in Antarctica with penguins behind him. He wears a hooded fur coat and has ice frozen into his beard. He checks the elevation with a compass. A title identifies him as Neville Smythe-Dorleac.
CONTINUED: (2)
An Asian man in a tweed suit and large, perfectly round glasses on a settee in a room filled with avant-garde furniture and sculpture. He has several sets of blueprints under his arm. A title identifies him as Yasuo Oshima.
A white-haired man sits in a director’s chair on a sound stage, surrounded by extras dressed as futuristic earthlings and aliens. He has a strong, weathered face and wears a safari jacket. A title identifies him as Franklin Benedict.
CUT TO:
Henry looking down at Etheline. He has two bandaged shaving cuts, and a safety pin holds his glasses together.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
-- but had not considered a single one
until this moment.
Etheline starts to say something. She hesitates.
ETHELINE
This isn’t really a tax issue, is it?
HENRY
(pause)
That’s true. I don’t know why I put it
that way.
Etheline smiles slightly. She takes Henry’s hand.
ETHELINE
Let me think about it, Henry.
Pagoda frowns.