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Marie: I'm looking for a book... something that can help me deal with what might be an awkward situation. Something funny might be nice, but not necessarily big, 'ha, ha, ha,' 'laugh, laugh, laugh' funny, and certainly not make-fun-of-other-people funny but rather something human-funny. And, uh, if it could uh, sneak up on you, surprise you, and at the same time make you think that what you thought wasn't only right, in a wrong kind of way, but when you're wrong, there's a certain rightness in your wrongness... Well, what I mean is, more importantly, I'm looking to be swept up! And at the same time, not.
Dan Burns: Well, you rarely find all that in one book.
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Marie: [Entering laundry room where is Dan seated on a cot] What was that?
Dan Burns: [rises from the cot] I couldn't... I couldn't stop myself.
Marie: What am I supposed to do now?
Dan Burns: You can't do anything. He's my brother.
Marie: [stifling back tears] Why did you sing for me?... Then?
Dan Burns: Because I... I'm
[now shaking his head]
Marie: [reciting passages from Dan's book] Page 92. "Did I just die? Because an angel walked into the room". Page 148... uh..."I'll forgive you your past if you'll forgive me mine.". It seems all his best lines were yours. It's unbearable. I... I can't keep pretending.
[Marie leaves the laundry room]
Willa Cuthrell
Extended Reading
