Against The Current Page #4

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What's going on here? What...

When Amy was killed, Paul was a wreck.

He was completely destroyed.

Um... One night, after not being able

to reach him for a couple days,

l went over to their apartment

to see how he was.

And when l got there, the door was open

and there was a suicide note on the desk.

And l remember

we hung out on his roof sometimes,

so l run up there.

And there he was on the edge of the roof,

-about to iump.

-Jesus.

Yeah. But l start talking to him.

We start talking

and l'm trying to convince him

that he will feel better sometime.

Amy had iust died three months earlier

and he just had to give it some time.

And l told him to think about

the people that care about him.

And what about our friendship?

That kind of thing.

And l give him reason after reason

not to do it,

not the least of which

is my car's parked below,

l don't want him to land on it.

Really?

No, but l did say that at one point

and he actually laughed.

l got a laugh out of him,

in spite of everything, and, uh,

just kept him talking.

Finally, after what seems like an hour,

l say, ''l'll tell you what.

''You absolutely have to give this more time.

''Give it five years,

''and if at the end of those five years

you still want to die,

''l promise not only not to interfere,

''l'll kick in for a pack of razor blades,

''and l'll give a eulogy at your funeral,

telling 'em you did the right thing for you,

''and l'll defend your decision

to anybody who has a problem with it.''

But he didn't want to wait five years.

He didn't want to wait five minutes.

Thing is, he would've asked for

the exact same thing

if the situation was reversed,

to give it more time.

And when he realized that, l knew l had him.

l knew he wasn't going to jump.

We actually shook hands on it,

and he seemed to gradually get better.

And after a couple years,

l put it in the back of my mind,

and, uh, kind of forgot about it,

until about two minutes ago.

So, it's five years later and, uh...

The time is actually here,

and he still wants to die.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

(MOANS)

Hi.

Hi.

Good morning.

Where'd you get that?

LIZ:
A little store up there.

l got one for Jeff, too, and a Coke for you.

Oh, perfect. Thank you.

l also found out

we're camping on private property.

Well, we're private people.

Rise and shine, captain.

We got swimming to do.

The missus brought you some coffee.

Really?

Fantastic.

Need to do six miles today, at least.

You guys up for that?

Considering all we have to do is

sit in the boat drinking Mai Tais

while you do the actual swimming,

l'd say, yeah, l think we can swing it.

l can't believe we're iust...

We're just gonna go along like this?

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