Benji
[in their hotel room]
How the **** are we supposed to smoke a joint in here? They ****in' locked the windows. It's like a goddamn police state.
David
Yo, man, I think I might just wanna crash. We've been up for like twenty-four hours.
Benji
Don't. Don't tell me you're gonna sleep on me. This is our first night together in ****in' years.
David
I don't know. I'm exhausted, I haven't showered...
Benji
You're exhausted? Dude, the weed's gonna help you sleep.
David
Is it the kind that helps you sleep?
Benji
No, it's the other kind.
Marcia
David, we numb ourselves to avoid thinking about our impact.
E Eloge
Ignoring the proverbial slaughterhouse to enjoy the steak, as it were.
Benji
Yes, Eloge! Damn, that's a good analogy.
David
No, and I get that, I get all that, it just seems like maybe there's, like, a time and a place to grieve, and maybe it's not...
Benji
Yo, Dave.
David
What?
Benji
We're on a **** Holocaust tour. If now is not the time and place to grieve, to open up, I don't know what to tell you, man.
Benji
[Benji is explaining to David how they can get through their train trip without paying]
We stay moving, we stay light, we stay agile.
David
Yeah.
Benji
The conductor's gonna come through taking tickets. We tell him we're going to the bathroom.
David
The bathroom. Okay.
Benji
He gets to the back of the train, he starts heading towards the front looking for stragglers.
David
Sorry, we're the stragglers?
Benji
Yeah. By the time he gets to the front, the train's gonna be in the station and we're home free.
David
This is so **** stupid.
Benji
Man, what's stupid is the corporatization of travel. Ensuring that the rich move around the world, propagate their elitist loins, while the poor stay cut off from society.
David
That's great, we can argue Marxism while they're hauling us off to Siberia.
Benji
Siberia is in Russia, Dave.
David
This is ridiculous. Tickets are probably like twelve bucks.
Benji
It's the principle of paying. We shouldn't have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country.
David
No, it's not. It was our country. They kicked us out 'cause they thought we were cheap.
David
[having gotten drunk and made a fool of himself, Benji has just excused himself from his tour group's dinner table to use the restroom, leaving the group in awkward silence]
Sorry about him.
D Diane
What a troubled young man.
E Eloge
He wants to be good. You can see the spark. Do you know what I mean?
Marcia
Yeah. Absolutely, Eloge.
M Mark
Forgive me if I don't see this magical spark.
D Diane
Oh, Mark, stop it. He's tormented, for whatever reason.
Marcia
He's funny and he's charming under all the mishegoss.
D Diane
I feel bad for him.
Marcia
Has he always been like this?
David
Yeah. I mean, he's always been, like, up and down, you know? Like, he's sensitive, and he, like, sees people so clearly, you know? But then you say the wrong thing and, like, something switches. Or maybe it's not appropriate to talk about him.
Marcia
No.
D Diane
No, what's not appropriate? You obviously got something going on between you and, uh - well, he's clearly in pain.
David
Yeah, but isn't everyone in pain in some way? I mean, look at what happened to our families, look at where we came from. I mean, who isn't - you know, who isn't wrought?
M Mark
Well, you seem okay.
David
I'm not, though. I'm not. I just, like, take a pill for my ****in' OCD, you know, and I jog and I meditate and I go to work in the morning and I, like, come home at the end of the day, and I, like, move forward, you know, because I know that my pain is unexceptional, so I don't feel the need to, like, I don't know, burden everybody with it, you know?
David
Yeah. God, I'm sorry.
J James
No, it's all - it's all right, David.
David
I'm sorry, I'm ranting, I am just, like... I don't know. Um... [he chokes up] Ooh. Sorry, I'm just, like, so **** exhausted by him sometimes, you know? Like, I... I, I love him and I hate him and I wanna kill him... and I wanna be him, you know? And I feel, like, so stupid around him, you know, because he is so **** cool and he just does not give a shit. And then... just, like, being here with him is just so **** baffling to me, you know? It's just baffling, 'cause it's like: How did this guy come from the survivors of this place, you know? [he turns to Mark] I mean, that your uncle had to sell, like, used furniture to rich assholes or, like, couldn't get into medical school. [he turns to Eloge] And that you survived, like, the worst thing to happen on this planet in the last thirty years. And that our grandma survived by a thousand miracles when the entire world was trying to kill her, you know? And I look at him and I just, like, wanna ask him... I just wanna ask him, and I just can't. Like... like, how did the product of a thousand **** miracles overdose on a bottle of sleeping pills?
Marcia
What?
D Diane
Sorry, what did you say?
David
Yeah, he tried to... yeah, sorry, I probably shouldn't have said anything.
J James
It's okay. Uh, I'm so - I'm sorry to hear that.
E Eloge
I'm so sorry. That's - that's very distressing.
Marcia
When did this happen?
David
Like six - six months ago. My aunt Leah - uh, Benji's mom - found him on the couch. And I know he is so funny and so charming. And you are all gonna walk away with this picture of this amazing man, which he totally is in so many ways. But when I picture him, it is passed out on a ratty basement couch while I am in New York City with my beautiful wife and adorable child, and it just **** kills me. Sorry. I'm... I'm oversharing. [the sound of live piano emerges from the next room] Well, they're back again.
Marcia
It's him.
[the pianist is revealed to be Benji, playing Tea for Two]
