you're so handsome.
i never thought i'd get you here.
you're arriving in the midst of a drama. ingrid, make sure wizard is inside. malcolm trudges over to the trash cans.
the neighbors want us to cut down our tree.
we're having the ceremony under it.
is malcolm what you thought he'd be?
the moustache is temporary. he left it for last when he was shaving. it's meant to be funny.
yeah.
i'm sorry -- with so little time to prepare, we had to put you in malcolm's storage room --
yeah, poor becky. now it's a storage room. i've just started to feel like it's our house not my parents. you know?
of course. it might still smell like paint, but.
well, music's officially a hobby.  he's painting now. and writing letters to newspapers and magazines. he's very meticulous, he'll spend up to a week writing a response to a music review. he's incredibly smart. maybe too smart. i don't know. we're doing very well.
i don't know where to begin. what can i tell you? it seems i'm pregnant, but it's really early so.  i haven't told anyone. i mean, i haven't told malcolm or ingrid.
yeah, if it sticks. we'll see. i hope so. things are good. we did a couples seminar two months ago or so in maine. they give you exercises and things to do. i know you're not convinced, but.
we got engaged right afterwards. the guy who runs it, strickland, wrote a really interesting book about loving which i'll lend you if you want.
but only if you'll read it. because i need it back. i made notes in the margins.
well, i'm not going to lend it to you if you're not going to read it.
it's going to be very informal by the way. just mom and becky. malcolm's brother. few friends. and now you and claude. nothing like the first one.
you go.
oh. yeah. we have a.  well. i'm glad you changed your mind and came. i never heard from you after i sent the invite. i even wondered if you got it.
did you get it?
i wasn't angry. i was. disappointed.
but you did in a way.
fine. i felt betrayed. is that word okay?
you were the aggressor. let's not.  i've become a really good cook.
malcolm played with ric ocasek once?
claude, ignore him.
when your mother moved to new york she used to send me books and records. she sent me rem's murmur.
and x. she was very cool your mother.
yeah, but i love rem now.
i was dating that guy, horace back then. remember him?
no, that was our dad.
it's awful -- that stuff that happens to kids. malcolm was fondled by a male baby-sitter.
sorry. we're with family. i figured.  claude looks at malcolm. malcolm doesn't meet his eyes.
i think becky got it the worst.
ingrid, why don't you show claude and bruce the game trunk.
what she did to toby and alan tonight didn't seem crazy enough for you?
well, she cares deeply.
this has nothing to do with bruce. she thinks everyone is autistic.
what?
well, can't she be both, care deeply and be crazy? do people have to be all one thing?
well, okay.  it is nice she came for the wedding. she's so pretty, don't you think?
a little thin maybe.  but it is nice she came.
i'm sending claude's ball into the bushes.
i don't want to do that.
shit.
well done.
claude have you ever seen your mother climb a tree?
as kids margot climbed everything. she could even climb that tree.
show him, margot.
i told you. margot reaches a perch near the top and looks down at the gang. they wave. she waves back. the sun is hot. she sweats, flushed. she takes a deep breath and relaxes against the bark. trees for miles. the neighbors' house is faded and grey. in the far distance, toxic white smoke comes out into the sky.
she's stuck.
we're all laughing, margot.
what are you doing?
i thought claude could hand out programs. ingrid's going to sing. do you want to read a poem or something?
you're doing a "conversation?"
uh huh.
it's nothing. it's just. i would come. i want to come. i get a kick out of it. it's just weird, you know.  so, you're not here for.  okay, i get it. when did they ask you?
i see.
did i tell you, becky got her tubes tied.
i think it's symbolic.
i considered it in my twenties. you know, when i was fucking everyone. you remember.
but not like me.
no, margot, i don't want to count. what was it about dad that had us fucking so many guys?
i don't think that's it. i just think it was something we were good at.
it's a girl.
jesus, margot, what are you doing. they already hate us.
it could be anyone's. margot bursts into tears. pauline hesitates then holds her.
they're not going to do anything, honey.
we have to cut down that tree.
i don't. we'll do it in the fucking drive-way if we have to.
where are you going?
come on, nobody blames you, margot.
yeah. he has a house up here.
good question.
we didn't invite them to the wedding.
we're friends enough that's it's awkward. maisy baby-sits for us all the time.
no, i didn't even know you knew he was up here.
you're competitive with everyone. it doesn't matter if they even do the same thing as you. he's competitive with bono.
malcolm, what would ever make you think that's something to draw right now?
what's up?
come on, don't be that way.
dick doesn't care that you don't make any money.
fine, we'll have fun.
i don't think dick and maisy pee in their pool.
to the end and back. claude, you say go.
it was close.
it's okay.
here you are.
what do you mean?
oh, come on, it's sexy.
i'm not worried. we could teach claude how to swim.
no.
i liked your last story in, was it harpers? the one about mom. i was very. i liked it very much.
i thought it was. anyway. why don't you want claude to know how to swim?
i'm not. i'm just.  as a safety thing and. i'm.  forget it.
it's interesting -- this is the first time dick has invited us over.
kind of. we're neighbors. we employ maisy. i mean i don't care, i just think it's interesting. are you excited about the talk? i thought i'd come if that's okay. my friend, agnes, asked me, "what's it like to have a celebrity as a sister?" i said, i've got no problem with celebrity. alice munro taught at bennington and was kind of a friend of mine.
well, you're well known.
just accept the compliment.
margot used to never speak. i remember when we went on a double date in high school, that kid ron asked you if english was your first language.
you thought you were aphasic.
oh, jesus, margot.
i just. your diagnoses sometimes irk the hell out of me.
malcolm, let it go. margot would insist on driving if she knew how.
said the man with the moustache that he thinks he's wearing in quotes.
what?
you're just so incompetent.
oh, god.
because i didn't want to get you excited before it was real. it's not really a baby yet. in two more weeks we can celebrate together, okay?
because she's my sister and i trust her. how do you feel about it?
margot told claude something i expressly told her in confidence. and he told ingrid.
i'm stunned that she put me in this position. it's so fucking infuriating.
don't say anything. you know what. just be there for me. silently.
why do i have to be so careful around her, but everyone is allowed to make fun of me?
malcolm, what did i just say? you know, i just want you to take my side, i don't need you to make it better.
ingrid's really upset about it. fuck. i can't believe she did this to me! i didn't tell you because.  i didn't want you to feel like you had to marry me. i found out right before our seminar.  i'm pregnant.
well. does that sound good to you?
come here, honey!
i don't know. ingrid brought him in last night, but we couldn't find him this morning.
did you tell claude i'm pregnant?
you did.
you did. you don't have to tell him everything.
i don't know, honey. ingrid sinks into her mother's body. claude and margot walk ahead.
and that they can come for a glass of champagne. but you tell them. i think they respond to you better.
yeah, right.
no.
hi. vogler stops. his face is jagged and worn.
hi, i'm pauline. this is malcolm. we've met before. we're your neighbors. the man watches them strangely with icy blue eyes.
well, we grew up with that tree and we're getting married under it saturday and --
we had a tree doctor out and he said it was healthy.
would it hurt you to say anything?
you're making me do the whole fucking thing.
he brought up --
i'm sorry.  this was better thought-through back at the house. pauline's gaze goes above vogler's head -- like margot described earlier. he runs his hand through his hair as if something might be caught in there.
we were wondering if you and your wife -- i'm sorry i forgot her name -- would like to come over for.
you've never hit anyone.
who?
she's not an idiot. you might not like her --
jesus.
what is wrong?
did you drink your teas?
you have the most oddly self- conscious form of rage i've ever --
jim.
i'm sorry i didn't get to have that experience.
jim, i'm sorry about the room. it's usually malcolm's storage room so it's kind of make-shift right now.
oh. poo. open it margot.
come on, get to it.
i know. we're at the age where we're becoming invisible to men and if a guy wants to fuck us, it's very tempting.
i'm saying, if you get your sense of self from being fuckable and that starts to wane -- it's very hard. i almost had an affair too. but you know, you don't have to do it. you can, i don't know, get a manicure or something.
you know i tell people you're my closest friend. i really miss you.
but i can't help feeling that you really came to my wedding because i live a mile away from the guy you're fucking.
yeah.
you have a.
yeah, i think so.
who should i be with then?
you really want to know? i'll tell you. she wrote a story about lenny and me. yeah, it's in here. i mean we were talking almost every day at this point and there was no warning. maybe a couple of remarks that she'd used some things of ours.  then the new yorker comes -- we have a subscription -- and there's the story and.  it's things we said and did -- stuff i told her in confidence.
i think it helped end our marriage. i read it and thought, "she hates me."
you think? margot tried to murder me when we were girls. she put me on a baking sheet, sprinkled me with paprika and put me in the oven.
are you okay?
you're your mom's favorite. do you know that?
she's always liked you best. more than jim even.
but she still loves you best. it's hard, i think, to find people in the world you love more than your family.
yeah? good. i don't know. i do too. i can teach you to swim if you like.
has your mother talked to you yet?
are you okay? it's hard to see your mom like that -- get attacked like that. right? it was mean what he did. i think it was really shitty.
you know, i think your mom's going through a rough time right now and. whatever she tells you. like if she says she's leaving your father. remember that she often changes her mind and.
i don't want you to worry about anything right now.
good.
you're not a pain.
are you able to do this yourself?
watch the tent. the jagged blades pierce the trunk. pauline crunches her face. malcolm stops suddenly. he walks around the tree and inspects the bark.
i think it's over between dick and margot. he was so cruel to her today. and poor claude had to watch it all. she should just get out of the marriage and then she can fuck whoever she wants, you know. it's cowardly. and dick koosman. what a choice. i mean. you know?
what does that mean? you want to fuck margot?
i know you have a crush on her, you already told me that.
have you ever done anything like that.
have you ever cheated on me?
those emails you had with that student of mine.
did that. i know you said it was nothing.
i just.  can you say it again?
you never did anything with her?
right, just a regular friendship between you and a twenty year old girl.
but. why don't i believe it?
you promise.
okay. i'm sorry.
what?
i don't want to know.
i don't want to know.
no. where's maisy?
nothing.
i can't talk about it --
margot, i can't --
i want you to pack all your things and get out of here. you can take our car and leave it at the ferry.
do you love me? good.
no, you're not. you're not.
no, you haven't kept your mouth shut! no you haven't. kept your mouth shut.
margot, i can't.
get out!
becky and i talk about you -- about what a monster you are. is it cause mom gave me the house? can't i have anything? what was i thinking? i let you in. get! out!
ingrid!
ingrid!
i'm sorry. malcolm trudges up the stairs. he's bloody and tattered. wizard trots behind him.
we have to call people and cancel.
the brakes are bad, that's right.
don't look!
shit!
nothing.
fuck. margot turns to the kids. ingrid hides a smile.
i left mom and becky a message.
you should take care of that. it can hatch eggs.
there's malcolm.
i can't live in that house alone.
maybe. maybe i could get a place in brooklyn -- williamsburg or something. people are living there right?
but what do you think of that idea?
you're already trying to pass me off on mom.
you don't even know where you're going to live. you might have to move in with mom too. margot tightens.
what? oh. didn't you tell him?
what have i done? what have i done?
you cannot write about this. you can't have it.
you already took a part of my life, you can't have any more. and that goes for ingrid and malcolm and wizard. we all own our own rights. they're not for sale.
if i could read your handwriting i'm sure i'd be furious. but if i ever see a story that involves a hotel room or any of this shit, i will fucking take your bowels out.
you've now successfully ruined two of my marriages.
it's hot, i'm pregnant. move over. jesus.
stop touching me. i am so hot. feel my head.
i don't have a fever.  i'm pregnant. are you always like this?
you should just go to vermont.
you don't like malcolm because you're not attracted to him.
no. i won't do that for you.
i told him you often change your mind.
i'm going to call him. margot quickly turns to her sister.
i. i need some clothes and things.
okay. i'll tell him to get the hell out of our house.
it has no one to get married in it.
you can't do what you did again. do you understand?
no matter how tempting. at the bar: margot watches her sister carefully. she absent- mindedly picks through her red knit bracelet and drops it onto the floor. ingrid slides something small and grey across the bar to claude.
i don't know. i don't know.
what was.  how was it?
it's not too sweet? they sometimes make their stuff too sweet.
i miss you too. maybe we should do another seminar.
i can't understand you, honey. margot finishes her glass of wine, her eyes still on her sister.
they didn't get my message.
what? you're not coming?