Jeremy: It feels as if everything that could have happened, did happen. There seems to be ghost images of these othernesses constantly playing out as nostalgia and regret that get in the way of the 'right now'.

Becky: Wow. You are so full of yourself sometimes.

Jeremy: Yeah, I know.

tamara 2

(Tamara sits in chair beside window, draped in towel, posing. Jeremy hunches over, painting large canvas laying on floor.)

Tamara: "Are you saying you faked being crazy just to have a place to stay?"
Jeremy: "I don't think so. Probably not in the way you are thinking, anyway. I am just saying it was my occupation. I was being paid...well at least housed and fed in return. At some point I chose - if that is the correct word for it - to do something else for a living."

(Jeremy gets up walks over to Tamara and adjusts her pose to have her head looking upwards and to the side. Leaves blue and yellow streaks on her face.)

Jeremy: "For a long time after that I just roamed around looking for something else I was good at. (pause, returns to canvas) Perhaps in the same way I 'chose' crazy, I was pulled or chosen back. People now pay for my nightmares. Still-lifes of it. Better pay, actually. Maybe I'm getting better at my calling. Or I found a more upscale clientele than the state."
Tamara: "Or just crazier."
Jeremy: "Probably so. (gets up and readjusts Tamara's head) Now my sweet, pale nightmare, if you would stop looking out the window and fidgeting."

tamara

(Tamara, back turned to Jeremy is washing dishes. Jeremy, sitting on couch, hears cellphone ringing, looks and sees that it is his cousin Becky. Answers)

Jeremy: "hi"
Becky: "Hi yourself. (Coyly) So how are you getting along over there?"
Jeremy: "We're OK"
Becky: "We're OK, are we? (pause) You're something else. So you pretty much like Southern girls once you get over that initial fight-upon-meeting thing you do, huh?"
(silence)
Becky: "Are you ready to get back to reality? You know, you only have a couple of days left and you still haven't seen your Mom."
Jeremy: "Yeah, can you come pick me up?"
Becky: "Say hi to 'Little-Miss-Book-Signing-Assistant for me."

(Jeremy closes phone. Looks over and sees Tamara has stopped washing dishes and appears to be crying, he walks over and silently holds her from behind.)


***last scene with Tamara here



(Jeremy comes out of Tamara's house. Old squeaking screen door opens, then closes hard against door spring. Jeremy gets in car, avoids looking at Becky. Looks out car door, back at screen door of house, fiddling with handle.)


Becky: "Are you OK?"
(silence)
Becky: "Is Tamara OK?"
Jeremy: "I shouldn't have come back."
Becky: "I'm sorry."
Jeremy: "Everything is so thick here. The air. The people. My past. It's like I'm re-living it with different characters. (pause) And everything smells like barbecue."
(Becky smiles)
Jeremy: "At home, none of this matters. As long as you do your job, laugh at the right time, at the right jokes. (pause) It's much... thinner."
(Becky looks and finds gum in purse.)
Becky: "I hate to bring this up, but do you feel like going over and seeing your Mom right quick?"
Jeremy: "Ughhh..."
(Jeremy flips his head back against headrest. Stares at car hood.)
Becky: "Look, I tell you what. I have some friends at work throwing a picnic this afternoon - they're as plastic as anybody your bound to meet up North - let's swing by your Moms place, get all the hugs out of the way, then I'll take you over there, OK?"
Jeremy: (hesitates) "OK"
Becky: (makes face) "First I'm going to get you a bath - you don't smell like barbecue."
(Becky starts engine.)