excuse me.  your voice is familiar and i'm sure i know you from somewhere.
well, i.  i.  ah-h, let's see.
oh. oh, god. of course, dave, how are you?
well, that's interesting, dave. i always liked washington, it's a pretty town.
galley proof.
page proof of a book i'm working on.
oh, yeah?
well, actually, we have a little black boy named her---t who lives in the garage. he does it for me.
that's right, dave, i'm headed for glenville on a whisperin' jet.
she has other things to do, dave.
tell me about that job in alexandria, dave, the big motel you're building.
i see. outside it.
um-m, well.
well, no, i didn't actually.
dave, you are as full of shit as a christmas turkey and you know it. now if you want to start a fight on this plane and get yourself in jail, go right ahead. but i am telling you, you are full of shit right up to your eyeballs.
dave schapiro is no horse doctor and rose has been a good wife to him for a long time. to call her a nymphomaniac is the most stupid thing i ever heard in my life.
yeah, it took her a while to grow up and find mr. right, but she did it. she found him.
yeah, i remember it.
yeah, i'll do that, dave.
dave, i haven't seen rose for years.
what do you want me to tell her, dave?
he still loves her. the poor damn fool still loves her.
a girl named rose. still take r75 to glenville?
mr. right. dave wilkie.
hello, daddy. how are you?
it isn't yankee whisky, daddy, it's scotch.
i can use a drink after the plane ride i had.
yeah, they're in the snow.
good god, the way you live here. this place hasn't been dusted since mother died. look at that goddamned refrigerator.
of course i recall rose. in fact i've been thinking of no one else for the last hour and a half.
dave wilkie of all people was sitting by me on the plane -- her first husband. it's funny you would mention rose. did you hear from her?
what's all this about rose? what do you mean, you heard from her in a manner of speaking?
what sad news? did her cancer come back?
is her husband sick or something?
the pitiful son of a bitch said rose was a nymphomaniac.
you're damn right it incensed me, the miserable bastard. he also said the kikes and the niggers have taken over washington. d.c.
he didn't lose her, he threw her away.
you know, i don't know this town any more. all this traffic, new buildings, prosperity.  where have the years gone, daddy? where is the little town i knew as a boy?
that's what she would say herself.
it always gives me a funny feeling to come home. dear old southland. gone. it's all gone, daddy -- -- except you, you're still here.
it's funny you would mention rose, i was thinking about her all the way up in the car. or maybe it isn't so funny.
all right, daddy. we have our drink, we're out on the patio, you have prepared me for it. rose's cancer has come back, hasn't it?
dead, rose is dead? you mean.  she died?
but.  but how? she was young! rose wasn't old!
excuse me, i'll be right back.
well, you have knocked me for a hell of a loop, old man. a hell of a loop.
i can't believe it, daddy. i know it must be true, but i can't believe it.
why rose? why rose, daddy?
that's a hell of a thing to say. why, rose?
i'm not blubbering.