September 23rd, Night. 2024
Divine Objects (Part 2) by Johann Jóhannsson plays.
“Am I that…narcissistic? …What if I read your blog and my husband…who’s opinion matters to me…feels I’ve shamed our family? Criticizes me? Then what?” asks Alisha.
“You’re a character in a story.” says Grandpa Pantell.
“Except…” says Alisha.
“How…am I…supposed to manage that!?!” says Lacey. “HOW!? HOW….is that my responsibility!?!”
“I agree with her.” says one of her neighbors. “You all picked a fight with her. Here’s your fight.”
“But she’s already won. We seem like freaks.” says Casi.
“Why did you do it? Why?
You know…I have been appearing to her for the last few weeks. On the blog. …Which means there’s very likely an afterlife. Doesn’t it? And it certainly means there could be an Illuminati. …And her story moved me. It personally brothers me.” says Hamish Harding.
“As it would if she’s England.” says Lacey’s neighbor. “In her soul.”
“I wish I knew for sure either way.” says Lacey. “It’s extremely disturbing.”
“Are you that evil?” Louis asks Alisha.
“What did you really think of us? If you were there?” asks Bobby of Lacey.
“Alright. I’m either being fooled or this what happened. …I recall you being small. A smallish boy. Dark. You smiled…awkwardly. And…you always seemed to be hiding something to me.
And…you were all very sad. So…broken. So…almost quiet. Calculating? Shy? What was it?” says Lacey.
“Did Lem seem to be singling me out?” says Bobby.
“Not…really. …I think I thought that myth emerged later. After the drug issues. …If I was there he seemed…warm…but…I knew the real him. And…to me…he seemed…to be hiding something from all of you.” says Lacey.
“What!?” says Cheryl.
“A secret coldness. A secret reserve. Behind his smile. Because I knew how nice he could be.” says Lacey. “Even when he couldn’t stand someone.”
“Huh.
What did that look like!?” asks Joe I.
“Like he was constantly calculating something. He’d get really…quiet. Speak more slowly. Stare off. …There would be a dryness to his words.” says Lacey.
“Dryness? What do you mean?” says Bobby.
“So…you got a crush on her!! If there’s reincarnation. You had a crush on Mrs. Billings. Essentially.” Joe teases his younger brother.
“You know…I kinda look like her. Just a little. To be real.” says Olivia.
“He was…distant. Unimpressed. Uninterested. …But…so pleasant. So…mellow and seemingly charming. But I knew. I always knew he was secretly livid.” says Lacey. “Isn’t that absurd. That’s either a real memory or…I just know him and I’m being confused.”
“WHICH IS IT!??” Lauren Bacall yells. Begging God to explain.
“So what happened? You keep remembering something. What is it?” asks Bobby.
“I couldn’t figure out why you were considered a sex symbol.” says Lacey. “As a teenager.”
He laughs at her. Somehow. As a teenager.
“Yeah. You were a difficult little boy. Very strong-willed. …But…a sex symbol!?” says Lacey.
Bobby Sr. laughs.
“No. It’s absurd!” says Lacey.
Bobby nods. “Why!?”
“Because you were so much more…cerebral. And serious. …And dark. …There was this sort of darkness to you? Or is that fake? Huh. …Well…you seemed…nerdy. Maybe…a playboy. But…not a sex symbol.” says Lacey.
“That’s how they saw me. Boomers.” says Bobby.
“I don’t think that’s what Lem thought. And it wouldn’t have been what I thought either. …I would have thought you were…very serious.” says Lacey.
“I’m so sorry. That must be awful!” says Bobby. “See! Part of me wants there not to be reincarnation now. Because…it’s creepy if there is. Because you had a small crush on me. And got over it. But…from what I know of you…that’s probably sad.”
“It would be. Yes! …But…I’m only human. And it was a childish temporary crush. And then it felt…ridiculous. As I got older. And I was never knowingly your aunt. I’m Lem’s dead wife if there’s reincarnation.” says Lacey.
“But…you…didn’t feel anything for me while you were dead? If there’s reincarnation?” asks Bobby.
“No! Not at all. …And I don’t now either. …As I’ve tried to explain…it was…sort of like you were part of a band. And…I had a crush on all the Beatles, so to speak. I had to? Or something. It was childish thinking.” says Lacey.
“And someone told you if there’s reincarnation…that…I’d be crushed by that? Because I found YOU attractive!” says Bobby.
“Yes!
Yes…
You saw me while you were high. Many times. Or drinking. Often. In your spirit.” says Lacey.
“They can see you too!” shouts Lem at Lacey. In a hallucination. Back in time. If there’s reincarnation.
She’s confused.
“No. They can’t see me!” she says.
“THEY CAN!!” yells Lem, half asleep. Sitting in his living-room.
“Oh I doubt it! And I have to see you!” said Lacey.
He laughs. Smiles. “Come here!” he says, merrily. And in those moments he’d often almost die. If there’s reincarnation.
So she’d come to him. If there’s reincarnation.
She’d sit on his lap. If there’s reincarnation.
“They can see you!!” Lem would whisper to her. So sure. “They can!”
And…if there’s reincarnation…they could.
A Japanese woman cries with Lacey. Now.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” says Lacey to Bobby.
“People get crushes.” says Bobby. “It’s not like Mad Men. You weren’t Betty. You were…dark.”
“Of there’s reincarnation. You were…so…dark. And…beautiful. …Mary had that same…sparkling quality. Like…a blue diamond. …I never told her that.” says Bobby. “And I…was…in awe. Because…if there’s reincarnation I knew. I knew you were in love with Lem. LEM. …And that fascinated me. …Your presence…that would emerge when I was…out of my mind…made so…much…sense.”
The song plays.
“I’d think, ‘Everything…makes…so…much…sense.’” says Bobby.
“Could I have been there if there’s not reincarnation?” asks Lacey.
“Yeah. I don’t know.” says Bobby. “Huh.”
“God knows.” says Lacey.
“We knew you two were off together.” says Bobby.
“I’d fool myself into thinking you didn’t know.” says Lem.
“What was he actually doing at that time?” asks AMC.
“He was…getting up and going to bed.” says Bobby Senior.
“You know Lacey!!” yells Cheryl.
“If there’s reincarnation? Yes.” says Bobby.
“That’s why she trusted Honey Fitz.” says a psychic.
“Yes! We watched over them. Not as angels. God…let us…pray. In person. Together. Often. In that apartment. If there’s reincarnation.” says Honey Fitz. “She would have thought we would be…always kind. To her, at least.”
Joe Sr. weeps.
The song ends.
“They knew. But I was so in love with her…if there’s reincarnation…that…it all made sense.” says Lem. “Love!! They can’t possibly see me!”
“So at first she worried you.” says AMC.
“Yes. Because if she was there…I knew she’d be seen. She’d appear to me as my wife. And…I don’t think she imagined they could really see her.” says Lem.
“What did you see!??” says AMC.
“Very good! Now we’re getting somewhere!” says Hamish.
“We are!!” says Lane.
“Honestly? …A woman? A beautiful woman. …Sexy. Dressed in some…colorful robe? Painted eyes? Beautiful. Fragrant. Light…but sensual and sensitive. …Deep! ….Daring. And very in love with Lem. If she was there. …I was…fascinated. She was…exotic. But not.” says Bobby.
“This…is one in a thousand reasons why you don’t drugs around kids.” says F. Scott Fitzgerald. “Even if she was just a fantasy. What are our fantasies?!?”
“She had no idea. If there’s reincarnation.” says Lem. “And I fooled myself. Once she got too close.”
The Goats by Johann Jóhannsson plays.
“This literally is what happened. If there’s reincarnation. KEEP…That…in mind.” says Hamish Harding.
“Thanks!!” say a group of readers.
“Bobby. Do you recall her or not?” asks his father.
“Don’t try to make it up. If you don’t…that’s fine.” says Ted.
“I’d be lying if I said I knew for sure.” says Bobby. “Lacey…did we seem…daring to you?”
“No! You seemed…desperate.” says Lacey.
“She’s for real, yo.” says Joe I.
“Gosh. I wish I knew.” says Lacey.
“Tell me about it!” says Cheryl. “We’ve done lots of theological studies lately.”
“My fans…care.” says Bobby.
“Life…is ugly. For both of you.” says Cheryl.
“She was never supposed to be here.” says Lem. “Not like this, I mean. But God has His throne. And I trust He will explain and it will be glorious.”
Leaving Home plays. By Johann Jóhannsson.
And the song ends.
“Bobby what differs? If there’s reincarnation? From Mad Men? You’re obviously a subconscious inspiration for writers. I see Glenn and Don. What’s different?” asks Matthew Weiner.
“She’s not-“ starts Bobby.
“Blond. Not like Betty. …And…I only make sense…around her. …In a way it’s Mad Men inverted. …She’s…genuinely just worried about him. Glenn. There’s nothing vain about it. Or pedophilic. …And Bobby is…not as determined as Glenn to be with her. Unlike Glenn…he actually might just want a mother. And yet still find her attractive. So…on the one hand he’s got a crush on her. And on the other hand he’s not that put off by her lack of interest in him in that regard. He’s not actually as crushed as you’d think. …And…I only make sense with her around. …So where Don’s father figure seems aloof and evil around Don’s mother figures…and possibly even felt that way towards his mother…I suddenly make sense.
Lacey’s not a prostitute. She makes soup. She makes excellent stew. Soup. She doesn’t ever buy it. …So…if there’s reincarnation…when Lacey is around…everything seems FINE. Dad, Lem is straight after all. Who’d a thunk? And Bobby has a loving mom. And his parents are madly in love. And mom came and saw dad! And he was happy. And he’s alive. And…golly…maybe everything will be okay. …And mind you if there’s reincarnation he was very high as this was all in his head. So…it’d all seem…so…nice. So safe. …It’s extremely sad. If there’s reincarnation it’s extremely sad.
But…it’s possible…if there’s reincarnation…Lacey understands him better than I do. …And…I was a horrible father-figure. How much is that like Don? I worry we’re the opposite. His father taught him to fight. And…I taught Bobby…nothing. Because I was never really trying to truly be a father. I’m sorry. …I may have felt he was a danger and if he chose to use hard drugs? then let him die. Let him. Let him kill himself if he was going to go around trying to get his siblings killed. He was a cruel menace. Let…him…DIE.” says Lem. “That’s not how Lacey saw it. If there’s reincarnation.”
“So…unlike Don…you don’t look for the ‘dark haired lady’ who will save you and who you can manage to actually love. You look for what? Lem? As a woman? Or what?” asks Matthew Weiner.
“I look for sex. I look for…things to make sense.” says Bobby.
“Oh. So what you really want…is for Lacey and Lem…to be together. But you have yet to realize that consciously.” says Matthew.
“Maybe.” says Bobby.
“What was Lem like? In your head?” says Matthew Weiner. “When he made sense.”
“I’ve lied. Obviously. …I wanted privacy.
Umm…I felt…safe. I think I felt safe. When she was with him. He’d seem…if there’s reincarnation…so sane. So…normal. …And I’m sure I rationalized it by thinking he was just high. But…if she was there at all…he seemed…chill. You know? Like…happy. …Like a happy…content…loving dad. Someone who would…be…admirable. …Like the big…British…Old Money version of my dad. In a way. Who was dead. …Cheerful, sophisticated, intelligent. And yeah…he’d seem…totally straight. I guess. But…that was just part of him being in love with her. And them being happy. …I think I knew my family was dishonest at times. Okay!? I knew. …But then…I couldn’t figure out how. Because everyone lied so damn well. And maybe if she was there…it was a breath of fresh air. Truth. Something…real. You know? Something real. Either as his ideal…or as his wife. She…made…him…make sense.” says Bobby.
“So he seemed less scary.” says a man.
“More scary. And less scary.” says Bobby.
“He reminded you of your dad!” says Tucker.
“Yeah! …A bit. …Serious. Difficult. Possibly argumentative.” says Bobby.
“So he’d get argumentative?” says Tucker.
“Yeah. …Not…in a gay way. Truly! …Nothing petty. No. Like…feisty. …But it was his way. His attitude. We never actually fought.” says Bobby.
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone this!? Until tonight.” says Tucker.
“It seemed dangerous.” says Bobby.
Lacey hears a loud bang on her shower tiles. Like a knuckle.
“That wasn’t stupid!” says JP.
“If any of this is him telling the truth.” says Nils Nesheim.
“Okay. Wow.
Ummm…I’m sorry if I’m narcissistic.” says Alisha.
“Are you? Or what!?” says Lacey.
“Why…did my character have sex with ghosts?!??” says Katherine Heigl.
“It’s sexy! It’s just sexy!!!” says JFK in 1976.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if I’m your boyfriend. Like the inspiration for his character. …Jack was perverted.” says Joe Junior.
“Not Lem?” says Katherine.
“No! …Oh no.” says Joe.
“I’m not a clinical narcissist.” says Alisha.
“Good.” says Lacey.
“Well! Time for bed.” says Lem.
“Yup. They’re off. Goodnight!” says Hamish.
Keen to Cross the Pond 