Chapter 39
THE BLOWUP
FADE IN:
INT. ST CLAIR HOME, LIVING ROOM - EARLY EVENING:
New Year’s Eve. CNN plays beneath a stream of screaming.
DORINDA
FOUR MONTHS. That’s how long you been at that job, now you’re quitting?
JOEL
I’m not working for some dictator.
DORINDA
I’m gonna be working for him too! You think it’s just you?
(Laughs in disbelief)
We need the money. We don’t have that kind of freedom.
JOEL
(Joel doesn’t appear to hear her. He stares at the TV screen like beyond it lies a door to his real life.)
DORINDA
All I ever asked for was some help.
(pause)
Do you hear me?
(pause)
Joel!
DORINDA grabs the remote, chucks it across the room. It splinters against the wall like nothing.
JOEL
You gonna wish you were paying attention when this country goes to hell.
DORINDA
“This country, this country.” What about this house? Ain’t nothing on that damn screen that matters when you don’t have a job. You need to go to your boss and ask for it back.
JOEL
I can get a new one.
DORINDA
(Dorinda kicks the side of Joel’s armchair)
And get up off this chair!
JOEL
Don’t be kicking the furniture.
DORINDA
The furniture I paid for.
JOEL
Who put up the down payment for this house? Who paid off that first car?
DORINDA
(Dorinda tornados through the room)
The one you killed my fucking flowers with?
JOEL
I been sober for twelve years—stop bringing that shit up.
DORINDA
What’s the point of being sober if you’re sober and useless?
DORINDA walks upstairs, passing CAT on the way…
DORINDA
(To Cat)
Don’t give me that look.
CAT
What?
DORINDA shakes her head and keeps walking up the steps. CAT finds her father slumped against the coat closet. She tries to hug him, but he turns away. Imagine a forgotten napkin crumpled in someone’s pocket. This is JOEL’s face before he hides it.
FADE OUT.