Mom accompanied by Gretchen

• We thought we’d come here and cheer you up.

• Gretchen, do you want to say anything to your brother?

• Gretchen, can you just cooperate for fifteen minutes.

• Gretchen. This is not a game.

• I can’t believe you refuse to cooperate even with this.

• Just go wait outside then. You are really being awful. You are being just awful and I wish I knew why. I’ll be outside in five minutes.

• Jesus.

Mom accompanied by Grace

• Grace drew you a picture!

• It’s a picture of Cat Stevens!

• It’s a what? Oh.

• It’s a bear.

• Grace drew you a very handsome bear.

Earl

• sup, ike

• i talked to some a your teachers

• you gotta write an essay or some shit

• you gotta do a list of problems outta some book

• ms. harrad says don’t worry about the test friday, you and her gonna talk about it when you get back, also she hope you get better

• mr. cubaly want you to do some test while you in here but i got no idea how that suppose to happen so my advice is don’t worry about it

• you got mulholland drive in the mail from netflix so i watched it

• that shit is fucked the fuck up, no joke

• we gotta watch it once you get out of here

• that shit is crazy as hell

• lesbians and shit

• look at you

• you gonna be a weak little bitch when you get outta here

• you just lying in bed all damn day

• what else, what else

• oh i went to see your girl again

• she got a bald-ass head right now

• she look like darth vader without the helmet

• chemo is no joke, son

• she axed me for some of our films last time so i lent em to her

• i dunno which ones, i gave her like ten of em

• whoa

• what the hell are you yelling about?

• are you being serious right now? are you being serious with me right now?

• you need to calm your ass down

• you need to be toning this shit down right about now

• man, that girl has a damn bag full of chemicals in her body right now, she need something to cheer her the hell up, she happy as hell about these films

• i mean no she is not happy as hell but she was smiling and shit and that’s a major improvement so don’t be trying to bitch me out about this

• yeah, that’s right, tone it down

• the fuck you think i’m gonna say no to this girl be dying out of cancer and shit.

• damn

• this is what papa gaines would call an “extenuating circumstance,” am i right

• goddamn

• look

• you’re being dumb as hell but i do feel you

• you know i don’t like to show this shit to no one

• but you can’t say no to this girl

• i do feel you, but it’s like, i dunno, you do not understand how much she like our dumbass films, but she like the hell out of em

• so don’t give me shit

• aight, i’m done

• feel better, son

Dad

• Well, well, well.

• You seem rather jolly today!

• No, I know. I’m just making a little joke.

• No, it can’t be much fun to be in here.

• Although you do get to lead a fairly decadent lifestyle, don’t you.

• With the constant television, and the food brought to you, and the mountains of books.

• Not all who stay in hospitals enjoy such luxury.

• When I was hospitalized in the Amazon, the patients were all quartered together in a single room, and instead of television, all we had to watch for entertainment were the giant hairy spiders lying in wait for prey on the thatched ceiling, maybe eight feet above our faces.

• Spiders the size of your fist.

• Fangs glistening with venom.

• They each had hundreds of little black eyes that would twinkle dimly at night.

• And how they used to battle the wasps!

• Sometimes in the darkness a wasp would strike one of them, and in their struggle they would come tumbling down onto the bed, biting and stinging and thrashing and—

• OK. OK.

• It’s just something to think about.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 839