nice to meetcha. heard a lot aboutcha.
don't worry. if i had a certified lunatic coming around the house, i'd probably get the kids out of the way too.
helen's been talking it up about you people for months.
the nice young wheelers on revolutionary road, the nice young revolutionaries on wheeler road.
i'd like some sherry. and i'll drink helen's if she doesn't beat me to it.
but, hey.  listen, though. you got a high-ball glass? put a couple-three ice cubes in it, pour it up to the brim. that's the way i like it.
you a lawyer frank?
i could use a lawyer.
pop, couldn't you just sit there and eat your wonderful egg salad, and quit horning in?
see, i've got a good many questions to ask and i'm willing to pay for the answers.  now, i don't need to be told that a man who goes after his mother with a coffee table is putting himself in a weak position legally; that's obvious.
if he hits her with it and kills her, that's a criminal case.
if all he does is break the coffee table and give her a certain amount of aggravation and she decides to go to court over it, that's a civil case.
ma, how about doing everybody a favor? how about shutting up!
so, what do you do, frank?
you design the machines?
make `em, sell `em, repair `em?
whaddya do it for then?
okay, okay, okay  i know it's none of my business. and besides, i know the answer. you want to play house, you got to have a job. you want to play very nice house, very sweet house, then you got to have a job you don't like. anyone comes along and asks "whaddya do it for?' he's probably on a four-hour pass from the state funny farm. all agreed? ma?
did you know about this, ma? wow. how do you feel about that, ma? the nice young wheelers are taking off!
you hear wrong. it's all gone now.
you know what electrical shock treatments are?
i've had thirty-seven.
see?
supposed to jolt out the `emotional problems.' just jolted out the mathematics.
`how awful' why, because mathematics is so `interesting?'
i like your girl, frank.
so, what do a couple of people like you have to run away from?
and what's in paris?
the hopeless emptiness? now, you've said it. plenty of people are on to the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.  wow.
hold it a second, ma.
i don't get this.
what's so obvious about it? i mean okay, she's pregnant; so what? don't people have babies in europe?
i'm asking the man a question. if he doesn't want to give me the answer, i'm assuming he'll have sense enough to tell me so.
okay. okay; it's a question of money. money's always a good reason.
but it's hardly ever the real reason. what's the real reason? wife talk you out of it, or what?
little woman decide she isn't quite ready to quit playing house?
nah, nah, that's not it. i can tell. she looks too tough. tough and female and adequate as hell.
okay, then; it must've been you.
what happened?
what happened, frank? you get cold feet, or what? you decide you're better off here after all? you figure it's more comfy here in the old hopeless emptiness after all, or --
wow, that did it! look at his face! what's the matter, wheeler? am i getting warm?
boy!
boy! you know something? i wouldn't be surprised if you knocked her up on purpose just so you could spend the rest of your life hiding behind that maternity dress. that way you never have to find out what he's made of.
big man you got there, april.
big family man, solid citizen. i feel sorry for you. still, maybe you deserve each other.
matter of fact, the way you look right now, i'm beginning to feel sorry for him, too. i mean, you must give him a pretty bad time, if making babies is the only way he can prove he's got a pair of balls.
right.  sorry, sorry, sorry! okay ma? have i said `sorry' enough times? i am sorry, too. damn; i bet i'm just about the sorriest bastard i know. course, get right down to it, i don't have a whole hell of a lot to be glad about, do i?
hey, but i'm glad about one thing, though.
you know what i'm glad about? i'm glad i'm not gonna be that kid.