Tumbledown Page #3

star-humping dickweed?

Did I forget any?

lam willing to let go

of my first impressions--

Oh, good, good.

Well, then me, too.

Hold on a second here.

Psychotic, ball-busting widow.

Poof. To the wind.

Proceed.

You know, you're just the last

in a long line of bloodsuckers

coming here

to dig up dirt, so you--

No, no, no.

I'm not digging up a damn thing.

What are you doing?

Are you just calling to screw with me?

No, no, no.

I have a proposition.

A proposal.

Have you ever written

a biography?

- Finley:
What?

- Shh. Shh.

Okay, I see what's going on here.

You're just a crazy person.

Yes, apparently, because I think

that you have half a brain,

and I need it...

to help me distill the life

of an incredible person

into a couple dozen thousand words.

But, I mean, I've got a book deal

with Random House.

And a pub date,

you know what I mean?

- What do you got?

- Nothing.

Well, I got the truth

of his last 10 years.

I'd give you access

to all the fun stuff--

the sheet music

and drafts of his lyrics.

Okay, okay.

Hold on.

Let's just talk this through

for a second, will ya?

All right, so I write this bio...

We write this bio.

We write it?

Like, together?

Okay, I call left side

of the keyboard.

We co-author it.

Your name goes on the spine

right under mine.

Okay, Hannah,

I have an advance.

Well--

well, Hunter's life insurance

policy wasn't huge,

but, uh...

I could do 40.

- Um"

- Finley:
Are you kidding me?

- Jack it up, jack it up.

- What do you mean, jack it up?

That's, like,

five times my advance,

plus she's giving me

the keys to the kingdom.

50. That's all I got.

Okay, look, take your time.

Think it over.

I tell you what, Miss Miles.

You just bought yourself a typist.

Yes!

What? Really?

Okay, so I guess that means

that you'd be coming up here.

Uh, yeah, yeah.

We've got spring break coming up.

I have a guest room.

You could stay in the guest room.

Uh, yeah. Yeah, no.

I guess that would work.

Okay, well, I will see you

in vacation land.

- I will bring my swim trunks.

- Ha.

You know, there she is

Matches of sunlight

Keep me honest and true

One won't need me

Worn out my welcome

Sing you never in a song...

Okay, we'll let...

...the strange man into our house.

- Hi.

- Hey.

- Hey.

- Oh, look at these guys.

- Show no fear.

- Look at that.

These are the hounds.

This is Ripken. This is Glover.

Ripken, Glover.

Excellent

Hi, I'm Andrew. Hello.

This is what I smell like.

Yeah, okay.

He's not sure.

Okay, we'll take you in here.

- Yeah.

- Come on.

In you go.

Bedtime. Bedtime.

- Hello, again.

- Hi.

Yeah. You know, it's nice to be

in business with you.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

How were the roads?

Oh, I'm--

unmarked, tractionless,

a waking nightmare

of snow blindness.

- You, uh...?

- Yes. No, yeah, please.

That would be helpful.

I mean,

don't get me wrong,

I find moonlight as romantic

as the next guy,

but kiss my ass if I'm expected

to drive by it.

You city people,

you have this whole

"don't mess with me" exoskeleton,

but you're generally

just such pussies.

I mean, this will be done

by the morning.

- It's just a tease.

- Mm-hmm.

You sure you don't want some tea

or something to help you, uh...?

No, thanks. No, no, no.

That's all right.

No, you know what?

Maybe you can just show me

where I'll be warehousing

myself this evening.

- Mm-hmm.

- And there I shall build

a cocoon of many blankets.

Call my gal, let her know I survived.

She's very worried.

But I will rise again,

I'll tell you that.

I'll be ready and raring to dive

into my new job.

At that point,

I'll drink your tea.

And by then maybe,

just maybe,

I'll have forgiven you

for just calling me a p*ssy.

All right?

Oh, boy.

Hello there.

You're right.

You're right.

You're sleeping.

My fault. You got it.

- Oh!

Dick move.

Dick move.

And you're his enabler.

Andrew:
Ah. Oh, hello.

Hmm. Walk of shame.

So this is where

the magic happens, huh?

Uh-huh,

if smashing your head

against a screen is magic,

then, yes.

Mm.

What do you got so far?

You have one of those drawers

in your kitchen

full of unrelated items

like the small appliance manuals,

dead batteries, egg beaters,

how he lost his virginity,

his go-to joke,

his theories on why Thursday

was the greatest day,

and everything else that I can't forget

in no apparent order.

"Nothing stinks like a pile

of unpublished writing,"

quoth Silvia Plath

before preheating herself to 350.

Yeah, well, enter the dragon.

So I guess we can start

with my notes.

It's kind of like a book

without any verbs.

Yeah, sure,

but what about his notes?

You know, did he keep a journal,

song ideas, things like that?

No, it was mostly in his head.

I do have

the last interview he did.

Yeah, Hannah, look,

I'm all for diving right in,

but I can't start thinking about

the beginning of the story

without knowing how it--

you know.

Right.

He should've been home by then.

His cell kept going

to voice mail,

so I thought

he must be still up there.

There's no reception up there

on Tumbledown.

It got dark

and I drove the roads

looking for him pulled off

with a flat tire

or having hit a deer,

worst case scenario.

And then I saw his truck

at the trail head.

And later they went up

the mountain

with flashlights

and dogs, and...

in the middle of the night,

in a shallow ravine, they found him.

He was rock-climbing?

Hiking.

Had he never been

on that trail before?

Nope. He'd done it

a hundred times

in the same pair of boots that I got him

our first Christmas in Maine.

You know, sometimes

you make a little mistake,

you bump your knee,

get a bruise.

Other times

you make a little mistake,

and you fall off

the face of a mountain.

I am so sorry.

It's the least interesting thing

about him.

Can we work on his life now?

Yes. Yeah, of course.

But, you know, I really think

I should go up there sometime.

Why? To satisfy

your morbid curiosity?

Sure, I mean, maybe my dad

will take you up there.

That is if you get to meet them.

Maybe at Easter or something.

Oh, will they be joining me

in the guest room for spring break?

No, they live in town.

- Hmm.

- They do a big Easter dinner thing.

It's-- yeah, don't worry.

You're totally off the hook.

What are you talking about?

I earned my master's

in American Studies.

Family gatherings

are my bread and butter.

Tried my hand...

That's just this thing

I was talking about earlier.

It's on here.

Just--

- Thank you.

- Okay.

And a friend

I know who I was then

I know who I am now

Love take away

- I won't need it...

- Ooh.

Salvation's pain

Glory be

Follow me down

on this road

One more hand to let go...

Hmm.

Hey, dude.

- Uh...

- You know, this thing's out of tune!

Yeah, sat by the fire too long,

probably.

Mm-hmm, that'll do it.

Plus, I'm playing it left-handed

and don't know what I'm doing.

- There's that, too.

- Those three things...

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