Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Page #6

They sit in silence for a while.

CLEMENTINE:

I just don't think "nice" is a

particularly interesting thing to be.

The conductor enters the car.

CONDUCTOR:

Tickets.

Joel hands the conductor his ticket. The conductor punches

it and hands it back.

CLEMENTINE:

What is nice, anyway? I mean, besides an

adjective? I guess it can be an adverb,

sort of.

The conductor turns to Clementine. She fishes in her bag.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

It doesn't reveal anything. Nice is

pandering. Cowardly.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

And life is more interesting than that.

Or should be. Jesus God, I hope it is...

someday.

(to conductor)

I know it's here.

The conductor and Joel watch as she gets more agitated.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

I don't need nice. I don't need myself

to be it and I don't need anyone else to

be it at me.

JOEL:

Okay.

CLEMENTINE:

Sh*t. Sh*t. I know it's here. Hold on.

She dumps the contents of the bag onto the seat and sifts

frantically through. Joel sees the book she was reading in

the diner. It's The Play by Stephen Dixon.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

Damn it. DAMN IT!

(there it is)

Oh. Here.

She hands the conductor the tickets, smiles sweetly. He

punches it, hands it back to her, and walks away.

CONDUCTOR:

Next stop Southampton.

The conductor heads into the next car. Clementine shoves

stuff back into her purse. Her hands are a little shaky.

She pulls a airline-sized bottle of alcohol from her pocket,

opens it, and downs it. Joel is watching all of this but

pretending not to. She looks out the window for a while.

The train pulls into the station. The doors open. Nobody

gets on. The doors close. The train pulls out.

CLEMENTINE:

Joel? It's Joel, right?

JOEL:

Yes?

CLEMENTINE:

I'm sorry I... yelled at you. Was it

yelling? I can't really tell. Whatever,

I'm a little out of sorts today.

JOEL:

That's okay.

CLEMENTINE:

(stares out window)

My embarrassing admission is I really

like that you're nice. Right now,

anyway. I can't tell from one moment to

the next what I'm going to like. But

right now I'm glad you said, "that's

okay" to me. That was nice of you.

JOEL:

It's no problem. Anyway, I have some

stuff I need to --

CLEMENTINE:

Oh, okay. Well, sure, I'll just...

(stands, throws bag over

shoulder)

Take care, then.

JOEL:

(pulling journal from

briefcase)

Probably see you at the book store.

CLEMENTINE:

(heading toward other end of

car)

Unless I get that hair-color-naming job.

Clementine sits and stares out the window.

INT. TRAIN - LATER

There are a few more people in the car now. Clementine has

inched a few seats closer to Joel. She watches him. His

head is immersed in his journal.

INT. TRAIN - LATER

It's dark out. The train is pretty crowded. Joel stares out

the window. Clementine sits closer still to Joel, eyes him.

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