Wonder Boys Page #5

13INT. LIVING ROOM - GASKELL HOUSE

Poe noses blindly through a forest of legs, pauses by

Miss Sloviak's high heels and scores a Rye Krisp. Crabtree,

returning with a pair of DRINKS, tiptoes around him, finds

MISS SLOVIAK chatting with a trim MAN in his 50's.

CRABTREE:

Walter! I see you've met my friend.

WALTER GASKELL:

Yes . She' s charming.

MISS SLOVIAK:

(taking her drink)

Walter's been telling me the most fascinating

things about Marilyn Monroe and. ..who was it?

WALTER GASKELL:

Joe DiMaggio. Simply put, Antonia, it' s my

contention that their marriage tapped into the

very id of American popular culture. Joe

DiMaggio represented, metaphorically speaking,

the Husband as Slugger.. And, though it may be

controversial, I personally believe every

woman, in some way, desires to be Marilyn

Monroe.

MISS SLOVIAK:

Oh, I couldn't agree more.

NEW ANGLE:

GRADY works his way through the crowd, spies Walter, and

changes course. Directly ahead is an oddly commanding MAN

("Q"). From the behavior of the people in his vicinity it's

clear he is someone of interest. Presently, he is putting

the make on Hannah Green.

Q:

And while my latest has been on the New York

Times bestseller list for 40 weeks, I can't

help but lament that my first book, which

contains what I consider my finest writing, was

remaindered in less than five. So, I find

myself conflicted.

GRADY:

Ask him if he's conflicted about his house in

the Hamptons.

HANNAH GREEN:

(brightening)

Grady.

Q eyes GRADY over his wine glass.

Q:

Hello.. .Professor.

GRADY:

Q,. Hannah's had two stories published in The

Paris Review. You'd best dust off the 'A'

material for her.

As GRADY moves off, he sees Poe sniffing, and goes the

other way, heading directly into the crosshairs of a MAH IN

TWEED, who is talking to another, shorter MAN.

MAN IN TWEED:

(to short man)

A supermarket for the mind, my ass. I'm

telling you, they're nothing but a big, fat mob

laundry. Have you ever been to Davenport, Iowa?

Let me tell you, they need a 30,000-square-foot

bookstore like they need another goddamn cow.

(as GRADY passes)

Grady!

GRADY:

Hello, Nathan.

MAN IN TWEED:

My God, I haven't seen you since, what? The

PEN/Faulkner Awards. That was a big night for

you, Grady.

(to his friend)

GRADY was there for Arsonist's Daughter,

The short man blinks, impulsively takes Grady's hand.

SHORT MAN:

Douglas Triddly, Amherst. I kid you not when I

say Arsonist's Daughter belongs in the pantheon

of late twentieth century fiction. I've had it

on my Graduate Studies syllabus three years

running.

GRADY:

(pulling away)

No wonder it's still in print.

As GRADY flees, he passes a WOMAN holding a cigarette.

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