Empathy

Chapter Twenty-nine

FADE IN
INT. RUTH AND IRV’S APARTMENT. LATE EVENING. PASSOVER.

The family is sitting around a seder table set up in the living room. It is obvious from the clutter on the table that they have just finished the meal and are preparing to resume the seder.

(Getting up to clear the table.)

Anybody want more coffee? I’ll make another pot.

Ma, let Stevie clear the table. Steve, clear the table.

Don’t tell me what to do.

(Getting up to clear the table.)

I just don’t see why, in this family in 1991, men still don’t clear the table.

I’ll clear the table.

What’s the matter, Barbara? You don’t like conflict?

You, you shouldn’t lift a single plate. You didn’t eat a thing. You didn’t even eat the parsley. What’s wrong with you?

Obviously she’s anorexic.

Remember the way my Zeyde used to dovan all night?

Yeah. Those were the good old days.

You and me and Morris would fall asleep under the table.

Let’s start on the second part of the seder. I have an hour on the subway after all of this.

Okay, you gotta find the afikomon. Find the matzah and Daddy will give you a big reward.

Yeah, you can have anything you want under a dollar.

There’s no more children in this family. Where are the grandchildren?

Ruthie, it’s a new age.

No grandchildren is a new age?

What do you want? That’s progress.

I’m gonna be thirty in two weeks. I’m a full professor in Cinema Studies and I have a book on Paul DeMan coming out in the fall. I’m too old to look for the matzah.

But you’re not too old to clear the table.

We can’t start the seder without the matzah.

You’re all a bunch of stinkers. I’ll find it.

SYLVIA starts looking for the matzah.

I remember when my Zeyde used to hide it in his butter churn. A butter churn! Steve, I bet you don’t even know what that is.

I know more than you think.

What’s a butter churn?

I got it! Irv, that was too simple. You put it in the most obvious place.

Where? I forgot where I put it.

What’s a butter churn?

Okay, Sylvia, what do you want?

Yeah, Sylvia, come up with something good.

I want everyone around the table to say their seder wish. I’ll start. I wish my daughter will be safe and happy in the Peace Corps.

Where is she again?

And I hope she comes home soon and that next year she’ll be here with us at seder. Now, Barbara, what is your wish?

I wish for all wars to end. I wish for peace on earth for everyone.

I wish the Israelis would give back the land already. But only the West Bank. For years the Arabs threatened to bomb Israel. But only George Bush could actually make them do it. And that the whole family should be healthy and that I should have grandchildren while I’m still healthy enough to enjoy them.

I wish that the whole family should be healthy. I think that’s a good wish.

Physical health is very important. But, more important is how you feel about yourself. Like Ruthie says, we all need to be free inside. Even the Palestinians must be free.

I wish my friends would stop dying of AIDS.

You always have to bring that up.

Shush, Ruthie, it’s her turn.

And I wish something I’d rather keep private.

Okay, that’s it. You know, it’s very interesting. Seders are not really about telling the story of how we were slaves in Egypt.

What are they really about, Pop?

I think that they are more of a way of ensuring that the family psychology is kept dynamic. We all sit down together and take a good look at each other.

And, God willing, we’ll all be here next year to do it again.

God has nothing to do with it.

I’ll get it. It may be a patient.

And I hope I never see a yellow ribbon again for as long as I live. Ron Silliman calls them “soft swastikas.” That’s what they are, soft swastikas.

IRV comes back.

What is it, Pop?

It’s an emergency. I’ve got to go to the hospital.

Well, that about wraps up this seder.

Irv, take a cab.

Of course I’ll take a cab.

INT. HALLWAY OF THE BUILDING

IRV is waiting for the elevator. ANNA comes down the hallway, still holding her napkin.

What’s the matter?

Pop, I want to tell you something.

I’ve got an emergency.

Pop, I just wanted to let you know that I realize you believe in Freud and everything, and I’m not going to go into that right now.

I don’t have that much time right now.

I know. But I Just want to tell you that, despite what Freud says, the reason I am a lesbian is not because of wanting to hurt you. It’s not about you in any way. I really love you, Pop, and I’m a lot like you and being a lesbian is about me. Okay?

I’m glad to hear that you love me. Sometimes I’m not too sure.

The elevator arrives.

Ooops, gotta go. I have an emergency at the hospital. I think I’d better take a cab.

Pop, it’s after eleven. Don’t take the subway, take a cab.