Alex & Emma Page #3

"In the beginning

God created the heaven and the earth."

Do you see why I can't begin?

The giants that have gone before me.

Does it seem foggy in here?

There's this haze that...

I think the tumor could be spreading

in my occipital lobe.

- I have to go.

- It's only 7:
00.

I know. These last five hours

have just flown by.

- Will you be back tomorrow morning?

- I can't see why.

What do you mean?

Here's what I've been figuring.

You've got exactly...

eight words so far?

Since a typed page is 350 words,

that's roughly six weeks per page.

With one week off for Christmas,

two weeks summer vacation...

three hundred pages would take

approximately 37 years...

which, quite frankly, is a little more

than I'm willing to allocate to this project.

Miss Dinsmore, I think

you're underestimating the process.

This isn't a comic book, it's a novel.

There's character development.

Symbolism. Subtext.

Which do you prefer,

the pepper spray or the stun gun?

Adam Shipley had given up on love.

Art was to be his mistress.

And so it was

that in the summer of 1924...

We're rolling. We just got started.

Adam Shipley had given up on love.

Art was to be his mistress.

And so it was

that in the summer of 1924...

he took a sabbatical from Andover to

write, if not the great American novel...

then certainly one that would make

the world sit up and take notice.

To support himself while he worked...

he accepted a position

as an English tutor...

for a French family

vacationing on the island of...

Saint Charles.

Never heard of an island called

Saint Charles.

It's off the coast of Maine,

northeast of Nantucket. Beautiful.

- Still never heard of it.

- I made it up.

- You got a second paragraph?

- A what?

If it's going to be 300 pages

you'll need more than one paragraph.

- That ringing sound.

- I have to go.

Adam boarded a train in Boston,

headed for the ferry at Saint Charles.

And then?

Saint Charles was an exclusive island,

known for palatial mansions...

manicured lawns,

and an exquisite gambling casino.

There was also an especially large

French contingent...

who had claimed the island

after it was discovered by...

Jacques Cartier in the 16th century.

- Wait a minute.

- I'm going too fast?

I thought you said you made up the island.

I did.

But you just said it was discovered

by Jacques Cartier in the 16th century.

Yeah?

Jacques Cartier was a real guy.

You can't have a real guy

discover a fake place.

I can't?

No. It's a perversion of history.

If you have a fake place,

you have to have a fake explorer.

- Now, if you have a real place, then you...

- Miss Dinsmore.

I mean, I'm laughing, but I'm not laughing.

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