Tuesday, July 12, 2011

three little words

you've got mail
i'm in love with this movie!

kathleen:  what will ny152 say today, i wonder.  i turn on my computer.  i wait impatiently as it connects.  i go online, & my breath catches in my chest until i hear three little words: you've got mail.  i hear nothing.  not even a sound on the streets of new york, just the beating of my own heart.  i have mail.  from you.

kathleen:  the odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something.  but i just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.

joe:  oh!  i was eloquent!

kathleen:  sometimes i wonder about my life.  i lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - & sometimes i wonder, do i do it because i like it, or because i haven't been brave?  so much of what i see reminds me of something i read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?  i don't really want an answer. i just want to send this cosmic question out into the void.  so good night, dear void.

joe:  pride & prejudice.
kathleen:  do you mind?
joe:  i bet you read that book every year.  i bet you just love that mr. darcy & your sentimental heart just beats wildly at the thought that he & umm.. well, you know... whatever her name is... are truly, honestly going to end up together.
waiter:  can i get you something?
kathleen:  no, no!  he's not staying.
joe:  mochaccino.  decaf.  nonfat.
kathleen:  no, no.  you are not staying.
joe:  i'll just stay here until your friend gets here.  gee, is he late?
kathleen:  the heroin of pride & prejudice is elizabeth bennet.  she is one of the greatest & most complex characters ever written.  not that you would know.
joe:  as a matter of fact, i've read it.
kathleen:  oh, well, good for you.
joe:  i think you'd discover a lot of things if you really knew me.

frank:  what about you?  is there someone else?
kathleen:  no.  no, but... but there's the dream of someone else.

joe:  you know, sometimes i wonder...
kathleen:  what?
joe:  well... if i hadn't been fox books & you hadn't been the shop around the corner, & you & i had just, well... met...
kathleen:  i know.
joe:  yeah.  i would have asked for your number, & i wouldn't have been able to wait twenty-four hours before calling you & saying, "hey, how about... oh, how about some coffee or, you know, drinks or dinner or a movie... for as long as we both shall live?"
kathleen:  joe...
joe:  & you & i would have never been at war.  & the only thing we'd fight about would be which video to rent on a saturday night.
kathleen:  well, who fights about that?
joe:  well, some people.  not us.
kathleen:  we would never.
joe:  if only.
kathleen:  i gotta go...
joe:  well, let me ask you something.  how can you forgive this guy for standing you up & not forgive me for this tiny little thing of... of putting you out of business?  oh, how i wish you would.
kathleen:  i really have to go.
joe:  yeah, well... you don't wanna be late.

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