[Discussing Frank's attempted suicide]
Why did you want to kill yourself?
No, don't answer the question, Frank.
Don't answer it. He's not going to answer the question.
I wanted to kill myself because I was very unhappy..
He's sick! He is a sick man! He's sick in his head!
I'm sorry, I don't think it's an appropriate conversation for a seven year-old.
Well, she's going to find out anyway.
There were a lot of reasons, mainly though I fell in love with someone who didn't love me back.
One of my grad students. I was very much in love with him.
Him? It was a boy? You fell in love with a boy?
Yes, I did. Very much so.
Yes, you're right. It was very, very silly.
[under his breath]
There's another word for it.
So that's when you tried to kill yourself.
Well, no, the boy that I was in love with fell in love with another man. Larry Sugarman.
Larry Sugarman is perhaps the second most highly regarded Proust scholar in the U.S.
No, uh, what happened was I was a bit upset, so I said some things that I shouldn't have said and did some things that I shouldn't have done, and subsequently I was fired from my job and forced to move out of my apartment and into a motel.
Well, no. Actually, all of that was...okay, what happened was, two days ago the MacArthur Foundation, in its infinite wisdom, awarded a genius grant to Larry Sugarman. And that's when I...
Decided to check out early.
Yes. Yes. And I failed at that as well.
[going over eye test pamphlets]
Mom, Dwayne's got 20/20 vision!
Now, let's see if you're colorblind.
[Olive opens the pamphlet]
What's the letter in the circle?
[Dwayne looks confused]
The letter in the circle?
Can you see a letter, Dwayne?
It's an "A". See? Right there?
[Dwayne scribbles anxiously on his notepad "What?"]
Dwayne, I think you might be colorblind.
[pause, Dwayne holds up his notepad again]
You can't fly jets if you're colorblind.
[Dwayne immediately falls into an emotional breakdown; Frank, Olive and Sheryl all yell for Richard to pull over the vehicle; Dwayne springs from the stopped van into an empty field] [yelling]
****!!!!!! ****!!!!! [he collapses, screaming and sobbing, after breaking his nine-month vow of silence]
He's colorblind. He can't fly.
Oh, Jesus. Oh, no. [waits several moments, then approaches Dwayne] Dwayne? Dwayne, honey, I'm sorry. Dwayne, come on. We have to go.
I said I'm not, okay? I don't care, I'm not getting on that bus again.
Dwayne, for better or worse, we're your family.
[stands up]
No, you're not my family, okay? I don't want to be your family! I hate you **** people! I hate you! [points to Sheryl, Richard, and Frank as he shouts] Divorce, bankrupt, suicide?! You're **** losers! You are losers!
[begins to cry again]
No, please just leave me here, Mom. Okay? Please, please. Please just leave me here.
[Dwayne writes "Please don't kill yourself tonight."]
Not on your watch. I wouldn't do that to you.
[Dwayne writes "Welcome to Hell."]
Thank you, Dwayne. Coming from you, that means a lot. Goodnight.
