"Damn, this house is cold." "Shit, Hattie, it's like a goddamn icebox." "Well, no wonder." "Girl, are you crazy?" "We live in the desert." "It gets cold at night." "You plan on sleeping all day?" "I was planning to get me some breakfast before nightfall." "Come on, bitch." "Get your lazy ass up." "Come on, now, this ain't the old folks' home." "Hattie." "Hattie?" "I hate this client." "Every time she gets dumped by a guy, she gets a puppy." "So now she's got, like, 15 dogs." "They're all male, they're all huge and they sit there and watch with their tongues hanging out while I work on her." "It's like being in some live sex show for Asian businessmen and frat boys." "Which I actually did for a while, back in the '80s, to make some money." "I got this great thing going with Ping-Pong balls you'd really like." "I'm gonna show it to you sometime." "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if I got some hedge clippers and cut off your dick?" " What?" " Do me a favor, okay?" " Don't read that shit in front of me." " You gave it to me." " Yeah, come on, I'm late." " I'm at the part with the doll." "Why is your doll angry?" "Because she got raped." " Really?" "By who?" " By you." "Brenda, do you know what "raped" means?" "It means she was forced into sexual intercourse against her will." "It's so cool." "You're doing it to scare them into leaving you alone, right?" " What do you want from me?" "I was 8." " Did it work?" "No, it didn't work." "I just got a whole new level of scrutiny by a different set of vultures, only they were women." "I'm leaving." "You still want a ride?" " You all right?" " Yes, I'm fine." "What are you doing today?" "Well, the cabinets." "I'm gonna try to organize the cabinets." "Good." " I'll be downstairs." " All right." " Hey, Bobby." " Yeah." "Bring the Lincoln Town Car around front." "So you're the other Fisher boy, huh?" "The one from where, Oregon?" " Seattle." " Right, with the health-food thing." " Yep." " I remember your dad talking about you." "I'm sorry to hear about him, man." "He was a funny guy." "Yeah?" " No, you don't pay." " Don't pay?" "Yeah." "Your dad buried my brother a few years back." "It's in trade." "My father traded a funeral for oil changes?" "Yeah, guess so." "Bye, Mom." "Have a good day." "So would you like us to take care of finding you a cemetery plot, Mr. Jones?" " Yeah, I don't wanna do that." " Would you like a double plot?" "What for?" "Well, one for your wife, and one for you." "Next to each other." "It this what you do all the time?" "Sell people their own graves?" " Yes, sir." "This is my job." " Don't try to pull that shit with me, boy." "I want a simple box, no frills." "You can't take advantage of me because I'm old." "I'll kick your ass!" "Just a single plot, then." "No." "Double plot." "Shit." "Will you want Mrs. Jones prepared for viewing?" "Yes, I wanna see her, but I don't want you messing with her none." "I don't want you to cut her or stick her or pickle her like an egg." "If you want a viewing, I recommend..." "That's my wife, boy!" "I don't want you to touch her!" "Mr. Jones, I can guarantee that you will not want to see her nor will anyone else, unless she's been embalmed." "I would beg you to consider what your wife would want." "She's dead, fool." "Don't matter what she wants." "Well, yes, sir, but..." "After death, the body immediately begins to decompose." "Much quicker than you might think." "The skin begins to separate." "There's quite an unpleasant odor." "Should you choose to forgo embalming, my recommendation would be cremation." "As soon as possible." "That's just the way it is, Mr. Jones." "I don't wanna burn her up." "I wanna see her." "Fine." "You do understand, however, that means she'll need to be embalmed." " I ain't paying for that." " Sir, the cost is minimal." "I will waive the embalming fee, Mr. Jones." "All right?" "That was a good sermon, I thought." " Did you?" " You didn't?" " I didn't really listen to it." " Hello!" " Hello." " Hello." "Hello, Mrs. Fisher." "I'm Tracy Blair, David's friend." "Tracy." "I keep asking him when we're gonna meet his fianc'ee." " Does she go to another church?" " Yes." "What fianc'ee?" "Tracy, I told you, Jennifer and I had broken it off years ago." "You did?" "So there's no fianc'ee now?" "Excuse us." " It's really a sore subject for us all." " You're hurting my arm." "Ruth." " Hiram." " How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you." "Have you been coming to church?" " I haven't seen you." " I wanted to give us some space." "Please don't sacrifice anything on my account." "Little late for that." " I miss you." "Can I see you?" " No." "Ruth, haven't you punished yourself enough?" "Shall we go?" " Hi, I'm David Fisher." " Hiram Gunderson." "Nice to meet you." " You're the hairdresser." " It's nice to meet you, son." " Don't call me that." " David!" "What?" " I'll go get the car." " No, I'm coming with you." "It's good to see you." "You look well." "Okay, I hear you." "Jesus!" "Who are you?" " I live here." "Who are you?" " I wanna see my wife." "Oh, I'm sorry." "We're not open yet." "Everyone who knows anything is gone." "I wanna see my wife." "Sir, I don't deal with the dead people, so you're just gonna have to come back." "Bitch, I don't need your permission." "Sir, you're just gonna have to come back later." " My foot." " What?" "Help!" "Help!" "There's a white girl trying to cripple an old black man." "Honestly." "Look, sir, you can't go in there." "Hello?" "Hello, is anyone home?" "Yes, in here." " Who's your friend?" " Hell if I know." "His wife died, and he wanted to see her." "I guess she isn't ready yet." "He was about to keel over, so I helped him sit down." "Then I had to listen to him bitch about public transportation forever then he just, like, passed out." "Now I can't get his fucking hand to let go." " Maybe he died." " Very funny." "No, he's still breathing and farting." " Can you help me pry his hand loose?" " Sure." "Is Nate around?" "I just bought this fabulous antique chest, weighs a ton." " I'm gonna need a hand getting it home." " No, I haven't seen him." " I can help you move it, though." " No." "Thanks." "So I'm no good because the cabinet moving thing's just foreplay for you to fuck my brother?" "No." "I'm just not into babysitting high-school girls." " No offense." " Let go of me!" "Damn, what you all doing?" "Trying to steal my watch?" "Ought to call the goddamn cops." "Why?" "You're the one who's breaking and entering." "Look." "We've gotta go move a chest." "Someone should be back soon to let you see your wife." " Hey, little girl." " What?" "You ain't fooling nobody." "Great." "Thanks." "I'll work on that." "I'll be, like, one minute to change, okay?" "Are you gonna be okay here alone?" "Everybody's alone." "You born alone, you die alone, goddamn it." "I'm sorry about your wife." "You didn't know her." "Jessica Wilcox?" "I'm Nate Fisher." "Nathaniel's son." "I wondered why I hadn't heard from Nathaniel in quite a while." "I hate this." "I hate that I'll never see him again." "He was such a kook." "A kook?" "Dad?" "I don't think anybody ever made me laugh like that." "He had such a sense of humor." " So I hear." " He was really proud of you." " I'm Nate, not David." " I know who you are." "You're the one who took off." "Your father really respected you for that." "Said he wished he'd had the guts to do that when he was a kid." "Ms. Wilcox, did you have some kind of arrangement with my father?" " Arrangement?" " In our ledgers, some of the funerals were marked differently, and your mother's was one." "It seems my father sometimes traded his services for payments other than cash." "Please don't take this the wrong way, but can I see some kind of identification?" " Driver's license would do." " Sure." "Libra, huh?" "I would've taken you for a Capricorn." " You drink a lot of coffee up in Seattle?" " Yeah." "Better be careful." "Give you kidney stones." "Come on." "Surely you wouldn't begrudge your father such a minor indulgence." " My father never smoked pot." " Not in front of you, he didn't." "It's the finest organic." "Grown up in San Francisco by my son." "Take it." "It's your father's monthly supply." "How is your mother doing with the grieving, David?" "She's fine." "As far as I can tell." "You know her, she likes to suffer in silence." "That seems to be a family trait." "You know, it's God's will for us to live our lives fully." "Breathing in the joy around us, not just shouldering the pain." "God wants you to be happy." "I call them "energy buns." They're my own recipe." "Well, not really." "Adding the peppers, I picked up on my honeymoon." " Have you ever been to Brazil?" " No." "Oh, my God, Brazilians are the most beautiful people alive!" "They're like these fabulous mongrels who've incorporated all the very best attributes from every race." "I mean, all that crossbreeding." "Hello!" "I had a half-breed mutt who lived to be almost 20." "Then I got this purebred corgi, and its hips disintegrated before it was even 2." " Here you go." " Fuck you, church freaks." "Well, enjoy." "Do you cook?" "I hate cooking just for myself." "That's the worst part about being divorced." "That and the whole no-regular-sex thing." "David?" "Could I talk to you for a moment?" " Alone?" " Excuse us." " What do you want?" " Ruth won't talk to me." "I'm worried about her." "I was hoping you could..." "You were fucking my mother while my father was still alive and now you want me to...?" " I understand if you're upset..." "Understand this." "Whatever you have with my mother is between you and her but I have no interest in helping you." "Table for one?" " Are you the owner?" " Yes." "Did you know my father, Nathaniel Fisher?" "This used to be our storeroom but when I finally got a loan from the bank, I put an extension out the kitchen." "Your father buried my wife seven years ago." "I had very little money for the funeral." "He asked if he could have this room as his own and that would be my settlement." "What did he do here?" "I don't know." " Stay as long as you like." " How often did he come here?" "Sometimes, we wouldn't see him for months." "Sometimes, he was here every day." "Mrs. Fisher." "Good afternoon, Nikolai." "I don't believe I've had a chance to thank you yet." "When Kroehner started pressuring everyone to cut us off most of our suppliers just abandoned Fisher  Sons." " You stuck with us." " Of course I stick with you." "Here." "Thank you." "These flowers are not going to plant themselves." "Such delicate skin." "You have Russian color." "I do?" "You don't like the beauty you have?" "The front door is open." "You can leave the flowers inside." "Okay." "Okay." "That is where that is going to have to stay." " God, that shit was heavy." " You wanted to help." "Oh, my God." "Is this yours?" "No." "That's Nate's, but he keeps leaving it in my car." " I love this book." " You've read it?" "Yeah." "My friends and I were all over it three summers ago before they all turned into pretentious drama nerds and abandoned me." "Thank God." " What's your favorite part?" " Oh, they're too numerous to mention." "Where's that part where she, like, stops speaking for a month and just barks at them?" "Brenda..." "Brenda, I know you're angry." "Can you talk to me?" "You know they put me in therapy because I stole that foot?" "Yeah." "Nate told me." "God, I would love to go into one of those sessions and just bark." "Just to see the look on his face." "So do you totally identify with this book too?" "Of course she does." "It's about her." "What?" "She's Charlotte." "You're shitting me." "Is he for real?" "Completely." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "This is like meeting Gandhi or Jesus." "Don't tell me." "The book spoke to you." "Like it was written specifically for you." "Well, yeah, in a way." "Have you been to the website?" " There's a website?" " Oh, yes." "There's a fan club." "Yeah." "Those lonely little girls desperate for something to emulate." "Apparently, they're not original enough to come up with anything on their own." "Well, that's what I like to see, drinking before sundown." "Hi, I'm Billy." " I'm Claire." " How do you know my sister?" "Through my brother Nate." "They're dating." "Oh, yeah?" "Dating?" "Like what, going steady?" "He give her his ID bracelet?" "She carve his initials in her arms so they'd be there forever?" "Yo, Bren." "You should've seen me out on the ocean today." "All those Venice dicks taking themselves so seriously." " You surf?" " Me?" "Do I look like I surf?" "Do I?" "You'll freeze your ass off at this time of year, wearing that thing." "So?" "It's my ass." "Oh, fine." "You wanna get pneumonia again, go right ahead." "Claire, I should take you home." "I got stuff to do." " That's all right, I'll take her." " Great." "Oh, no, I've got time." "We just need to go right now." "If you have stuff to do, don't worry about it." "Yeah, do your stuff." "I just have to take a shower." "So I'm walking along one day, and this asshole stops me and asks if I'm all right." "He says I got a look." "He'd seen a man with that same look once and had ignored it." "And that man had jumped out a nine-story window." "Do you know the reconstruction involved in a death like that?" "This business gets under your skin." "It's like a fucking virus." "You can even see it on your face." "Smell it on you." "What the hell is this place?" "This music?" "Since when do you listen to the Classics IV?" "What did you do here?" "Who the hell are you?" "So many questions." "Why couldn't you ask them when I was still alive?" "It's okay." "I couldn't have answered most of them anyway." "Unlike now." "Now I'm a fucking prophet." "Right." "You think I'm kidding, buddy boy?" "That's one of the perks of being dead." "You know what happens after you die and you know the meaning of life." " That seems fairly useless." " Yeah, I know." "Life is wasted on the living." " Could've told me you were proud of me." " You were never around for me to tell." "Which is exactly what I was proud of you for." "Therein lies your Catch-22." " So, what's the meaning of life?" " You really wanna know?" "I don't know." "Will it fuck me up if I do?" "Oh, David, you make such a handsome deacon." "All those old stiffs." "Finally, a dose of Viagra to the place." "Oh, I don't mean that literally." "Not like you'd need it." "Thank you, Tracy." "So..." "No fianc'ee, huh?" "No, no." "That's over." "But she broke my heart, and I'm just not ready or interested in any sort of relationship now." " Come on, any relationship?" " I'm just not ready." "And I doubt that I will be for quite some time." "Well, what if Cindy Crawford were to walk up to you and say:" ""Just use me for sex"?" " I would say no." " Liar." "Is it so wrong to want a little human contact?" "You're lonely too." "I can tell." "For chrissake, Tracy." "What does it take?" "No." "Well, you don't have to be so mean about it." "Apparently, I do." "I come here to feed these people because I don't want to talk to anybody." "Do us both a favor." "Go to a bar." "Pick somebody up." " No." "We just met." " I know." "I'm sorry." "I'm just so turned on by you." "Shut up." " I have to go home." " Hey..." " I wanna see you again." " Good." "But I'm not some skank for you to fuck." "If that's what you're into, go and find that somewhere else." "That's not what I'm into, Claire." "I swear." "If you're lying, I swear to God, I will kill you." "I will kick your ass." "You do not want to mess with me." " That ain't her." " Excuse me?" "That ain't my wife." "That ain't my Hattie." "What did you do with my Hattie?" "Mr. Jones, with all due respect..." "I don't want your respect." "I want my wife." "Sir, that is your wife." " You married?" " Yes, sir." "She all young and pretty, know how to treat you right?" "Yes, sir." "You can't believe how lucky you are." "How life can be so good to you, right?" "She gonna turn to that." "We all do." "Well, don't that piss you off, boy?" "Not yet." " He used this how long?" " Seven years." "It's weird how you keep showing me rooms people used to live in." "I think it's fucking weird." "He'd sit in this sad little room, doing God knows what." "Why does it have to be sad?" "Look around." " I think it's fascinating." " Really?" "Why?" "It's such a mystery, you know?" " You'll never know what went on here." " That's exactly what's driving me crazy." "So, what if you did know?" "Had it all explained to you." "I bet it wouldn't be nearly as interesting or fun." "Your father would be a lot more boring." "You enjoy this." "Come on, don't you pick up on something?" "I thought things left marks in people, in places, in time." "What, you think I'm a witch?" "You really don't get any kind of vibe from this place at all?" "You wanna know what I think?" "I think your father wanted someplace that was just his and nobody else's." "Nate, if you didn't know him when he was alive, you never will." "I don't want to be somebody who, when I die, nobody knows who I was." "So don't be." "How are you doing, Mr. Jones?" "I'm sitting here, holding my dead wife's hand." "How do you think I'm doing?" "Well, you let me know if you need anything." " Oh, hello." " For Jones." "Mr. Jones, see the beautiful flowers for your wife's viewing tomorrow?" "I don't know why you so excited." "They're just gonna shrivel up and die." "Well, thank you." "I'll see you out." "I don't know what you think you're doing, but I'll have my sons order flowers from another florist if this behavior continues." "Which behavior?" "This is our place of business." "There are grieving people here." "I can't have you skulking around with that look in your eye." "What look?" "That sex look." "Maybe you like it." "Lady wear red, she mean business." "This is just what was clean." "Lady, I can see it from here." "And I'm blind and deaf." "You need to get yourself laid." "Whoa." "Time warp." "I told you." "It's pretty cozy." "For a morgue." " It must be weird." " You get used to it." "You ever done it with anyone here?" "Yeah, right, and have my mother walk in?" "No." "Wow, you look great!" " Shut up." " Come on, seduce me." "There you go." "Oh, yeah." "There you go." "Don't pretend like you haven't done this before." "You are a natural." "Look at you." "No, no, don't hide." "Wait." "Is this what you do?" "You, like, shoot models and stuff?" "Hardly." "Hurry, it's on a timer." "Just something to remember me by." "Hey, what do you think about Brenda and your brother?" "Think they have a chance?" "I hope so." "She's pretty amazing." "He'd be a real idiot to let her go." "Then again, he's capable of being an idiot sometimes." "Yeah, so why is she into him?" "Just hot sex?" "I think he's really in love with her." " How could he not be?" " Shit, I'm thirsty." "You got any beer?" " No, sorry." " It's all right." " I should be heading out anyway." " Oh, okay." " I had fun today." " Me too." " Let's do this again." " Okay." "Okay." "Mr. Boelson is all juiced up." "I'll be in around 7 tomorrow to airbrush him get him ready for the viewing." "Unless, you know, you want me to do him now." "I was kind of hoping to get home before Vanessa put Julio down." "That's fine." "Good night." "Need any help?" "No, Federico." "Go home to your family." "Don't work too hard." "Mr. Jones." "Time to go home." "Who the hell are you?" "I'm Nate." "I work here." " That's my wife in that box." " I know." " I'm very sorry." " Fifty-six years I spent sleeping in the same bed with that woman." "Fifty-six years of listening to her talk about the same shit." "Day in, day out." " It's late." "Maybe I should drive you home." " Shut the fuck up, boy." " Let an old man speak." " Okay." "She chased me across the front yard with a steak knife once." "Tried to cut my ass." "We spent close to a year apart." "That time like a hole in me now." "She the only one who really knew me." "Your wife will always be with you in your memories." "You love someone that much, they never..." "You sell that shit to somebody who buying it, because I ain't." "You don't know nothing about love." "Some pretty little thing catches your eye, next thing you know, it's been 56 years." "And you done shit all over yourself in a movie theater and she the only one to help you clean it up." "That's love." "You don't know nothing." "I won't argue that." "Can I get you anything to drink?" "I have beer, red wine, a little vodka." "No, just water, thanks." "I don't usually go out on a school night, but you know how it is sometimes." "Yeah." "Here you go." "My ex." "We were together nearly two years, then he dumped me for a 22-year-old stand-in he met on location." "I think that's the only picture I had of him I didn't tear up." "It's funny, you think you know somebody, and..." "I hear he's in AA now." "So are you in the business?" "No." "No, I'm a lawyer." "I'm from Boston." "God, how refreshing." "You tend to forget sometimes, living in L. A that there's this world outside the entertainment industry and that's the real world." "So, what do you do?" " Production accounting." "I told you that." " Oh, right." "I'm sorry." "It's okay." "So, Jim what do you like to do?" " Can we sit down?" " Sure." "Had a little too much to drink there, Jim?" " You okay?" " Yeah." "I want to apologize for what happened yesterday." "It's okay." "I should never have lashed out at you like that." "It's..." "I don't know what's wrong with me." "L..." "I was holding a saucepan the other day and all of a sudden, I remembered making creamed corn in that pan." "Some night when it was raining outside and both the boys had colds and my husband was on a call picking up a body." "And then yesterday, I was cleaning out the cabinets and I found a jar of baby food in the very back." "Strained carrots from when Claire was a baby." "That jar had been sitting there for over 15 years." "I am surrounded by these..." "These relics of a life that no longer exists." "We're here for the Jones viewing." "Right this way, please." " Yeah?" " Oh, shit, Billy, did I wake you?" " I'm sorry." "Fuck." " Who is this?" "It's Claire." " Who?" " It's Claire." "Nate's sister." "I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out after school again today." "Not really," "Come on, Claire, you're what, 16?" "What do you think I am, a pedophile?" "Well?" "I don't know what you want me to say." "I don't want you to say anything." "I just thought you should see it." "Well, I've seen it." "So Dad traded a room for a funeral." "No wonder we never had any money." "Didn't Dad ever say anything about this place?" "Dad and I never talked about anything but work." "That's exactly the relationship you and I have." "Nate, people are allowed to have private lives." "So what if Dad had a secret room?" "I don't care if he brought women here to fuck." "I don't care if he brought men back here to fuck." "You think we should tell Mom about it?" "Sure, why not?" "You won't be happy until this whole family is in therapy." "That's kind of a leap." "I know you're pissed off about a lot of shit." "But I didn't make any of that shit happen." "Right, I abandoned you." "Well, you know what?" "I'm not your father." "I'm not the one whose responsibility it was not to abandon you, so get over it, please." "Life is just too fucking short." "Thank you, Nate." "I appreciate your honesty." "Wrapped, as it was, in such a bouquet of condescension." "If I were you, I'd pack this place up before they start charging us rent." "Quite a hottie, huh?" "This is Mom." "You have no idea how beautiful she was, buddy boy." "I have no idea who you were." "I really wasn't that interesting." "No, I think you probably were." "I think you were this great guy, who was funny and weird and high." "I was just always so afraid of everything you did." "Death." "I made the decision to become a fucking undertaker because I thought it was something you believed in." "Now I find out you think running away is the best thing I ever did?" " Maybe." " I kept us from selling to Kroehner." "And I'm taking the funeral director's license test next month." "Maybe I was just covering up for how embarrassed I was when you left." "Is that why you left half the business to me?" " To get back at me?" " Maybe." "Maybe I wanted to see if you had the balls to go against me." "Or maybe I really wanted you to have it." "You'll never know." "Goddamn it!" "When are you gonna stop fucking with me?" "When are you gonna stop caring what I thought?" ""I never knew my father."" "Get over it, please." "Life is just too fucking short." "My brother is a very complicated man." "And very high-maintenance." "Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly." "But I pity the woman he ends up with." "See, that's the same thing I'd say about my brother." "Nate is not even in the same league." "Was I crazy?" "I mean, Billy was really acting like..." "Did you fuck him?" "No." "Well, you dodged a bullet there." "Is every man alive a total asshole?" "At some point or another." "Then again, so are we." "Come on, we gotta go." "I still cannot get over the fact that you are Charlotte, Light and Dark," "You have to, because it's very irritating." " Mr. Jones is still downstairs." " I know." "This silver has been in your father's family for three generations." "I don't believe I've ever used it." "I'm going to put an ad in the paper and see if I can sell them." "Mom, I found something you probably should have." " Where did you find these?" " In the office, among Dad's things." "Look at what a child I was." "Your father was leaving for Vietnam." "He'd volunteered as a medic." "Your grandfather was furious." "You don't remember your grandfather, do you?" "No." "He was a very unhappy man and he wanted everyone else to be unhappy too." "We were all living in this house." "You were a baby, and there was no privacy, so..." "Nathaniel and I got a room at a motel." "Some seedy place in the valley." "And we made love like maniacs." "Like it was the last time." "Your father took these pictures in that dank little room." "Told me he kept them in his pocket in Vietnam to protect him." "It's frightening how much we change." "Are you staying for dinner, dear?" "Yeah." "Mr. Jones." "Probably should think about heading home." "You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow with the funeral and..." "Mr. Jones?" "Mr. Jones." "Mr. Jones?" "Oh, shit."