We need to get into character, okay?
Slow down. My feet hurt.
All right, Irene, just remember that we're Greek, okay?
I'm gonna do all the talking.
We have to get into this party.
Try and talk to somebody important, all right?
If I can get hired for the Olympics, then hola Brazil.
Brazil.
Beautiful. Yes.
One more. Nice.
Oh, hi. We should be on the list.
My name is Teodora Papayano Pouvis,
and this is my sister Irene.
We are direct descendants of the first Olympians.
Nope.
We really should be on that list.
I, I, I please check every page.
Wait until our ancestors here about this!
I can't believe that was your best idea.
It's almost as ridiculous as when you posed
as that sports agent to meet that quarterback.
Okay, punter.
He was a punter, thank you very much, and he was very cute.
Okay, what I remember is when you showed up
for the meeting, and you couldn't come out of the bathroom.
Well, you have to admit life
is more fun when you've got goals.
Get it? Goals?
What we gonna do now?
Do people from Brazil desperately
wanna travel to New Jersey?
I thought college would help me escape, but it failed.
I'm right back where I started, plain and small.
- Credit cards! - No.
You are not going into debt just so you
can chase boys in the southern hemisphere.
Please, Mom!
It could be a culturally immersive experience!
It could change my life!
I don't think immersive is a word.
Yes, it is,
and what could be more worth some bad credit, you know?
I think it's about time that I become less local
and more global.
I will tell you what is more worth
is you getting your life going towards a worthwhile goal.
Don't waste time!
Honey, we need to save every penny for law school,
and besides, it's best for you to stay in school
until the economy gets- The economy gets better!
Right, precisely!
Everyone I know from college
is going abroad after graduating, Mom.
It's what you do.
It's friends with money, Dora.
You need to expand your social circle
or network or whatever you call it.
But Irene and I have been friends
since we lived in the city, Mom.
- How about something sweet? - Oh, my God.
I will run away. I'll go to Ohio.
I'll go to Nevada.
I'll go to Singapore,
but then I have to be a stowaway on a ship,
and that'd be really weird.
But then I'll make a living from my something,
but then I'll become famous, and then she'll be sorry!
And I'll be set to do something big,
and she'll show up, and I won't recognize her, right?
And then I'll turn around and say, "Mom? What mom?
I don't know what this woman is talking about.
Please take her away."
- Dora? - What?
You've got to snap out of this.
Yeah, so says the girl about to leave for South America.
I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Huntington.
It's getting late if we're gonna be picking up your friend.
Oh, Bri's meeting me at the airport.
- Brianna's going with you? - I couldn't go alone.
No, no, I, I guess you couldn't.
All right, gonna be late.
- I love you. - I love you. Have fun.
Honey?
We can go to the shore every weekend
when the weather warms up.
Can you sign this get well card for your Aunt Vera, please?
Would you like to know what happened to her?
- Yeah, what happened? - She broke her foot.
She was dancing.
God bless her.
Oh my. Aunt Vera boogieing down.
That's kind of cool. - Yeah, I guess so,
except that, at her age,
a broken bone is gonna take an awful lot longer to heal.
Oh, gosh,
and there's that book "Paradise" that just came out.
What kind of book?
Oh, it's Nena Gabrelle's autobiography.
You know, it's on the best-seller list.
Nena Gabrelle who is the actress?
No, Nena Gabrelle the bimbo.
Oh God, you don't know about this. So wait.
It turns out that Uncle Theodore faked his death
and ran off with her back in the 60s.
What? No way, that's crazy, right?
Oh my God, your room. Have you seen your room?
Ta-da! You signed up for the prep course thing, right?
You did not Just clap your hands at me, Mom!
Yes I did, Dora! I'm trying to energize you.
Let's go, Dora. Come on, you could do it!
These depressions of yours really get
in the way of your progress. - Stop, stop.
I'm just trying to support you, honey.
We're in this together, you know?
"Rio fab. Wish you were here instead of Bri."
Did Irene even graduate? I thought she flunked out.
- You can let go of me now. - Okay.
Does Aunt Vera have anyone taking care of her?
No. Not yet.
She doesn't like to have strangers in the house,
so they're still trying to find someone.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Have you lost your mind?
Please don't clap at me again.
No.
You cannot take care of an 80-year-old woman
right now, Dora.
No, that's final.
I owe her. It's the least I can do.
I'll go look into train schedules.
Yes, you do that
because I'll be damned if I'm gonna drive you!
This is silly. I'll drive you.
The cleaning lady says that she needs help
in and out of the bathtub.
No problem there.
She likes music but no CDs, only record albums.
Okay. Is this Grandma's coat?
Well, I thought I'd play the part
of the dowdy poor relation, like from a gothic novel.
But woe, the eve of departure is upon me yet.
I must journey to great Aunt Vera's country manor.
Except that it's Brooks Brothers and very expensive.
Why don't you play the part of a bright young girl
who aspires to become a successful lawyer, hmm?
Okay. "Most importantly, keep her spirits up.
She likes her cocktails,
but you have to ask her if she wants one.
She won't make it herself, and cut her toenails."
- That's gross. That's gross! - Ugh. That's the job.
Why does it always seem like everything fabulous
is so far away from me?
And I think it's all right there in your head.
I'll be up on March 1st to take you to the test,
and I will come and get you whenever you want, okay?
All you have to do is call me.
You're arrested for murder
when some egg jails his bookie.
You beg the judge for life, and he says,
"Okay, hard labor for life."
You wake up at a work farm and there's nothing but rain.
You try to the bail the water with buckets
and tin cups with all the other sorry bastards.
- Aunt Vera? - Back in the bunkhouse,
you get crosswise with two convicts who hate your look.
- Hello? - They nail your clothes
to the wall while you're still in 'em.
You can feel the end of your tether flapping in the breeze.
Suddenly there's nothing for it, so you sing.
Only you can't sing, so you yell,
songs about chippies and tomatoes
and a cat called Half Track Frank.
You're too exhausted to sleep. - Aunt Vera?
Good afternoon, Dora. You can turn that off.
Heading into the blackness.
You reach down to feel the thing moving you,
and there's nothing there.
You wanna scream but your mouth.
Do you want some help?
I'm cold.
I wanted a fire and I've always hated this chair.
Here.
All right, all right, all right.
Just a moment, yeah. Okay.
All right, all right.
- Here. - All right.
I can walk.
I'm not an invalid, so please do not treat me like one.
If you want to be useful,
you can bring in that poor dracena plant out there.
Bring her inside.
Don't leave the door open. Please hurry.
Oh, I, I, I, I don't think this is firewood yet,
but I can try to use your hammer.
No, Dora, it'll come back,
and then we'll put it in the sun room where it belongs.
The machine picks it up.
Can I, can I make you a cup of tea?
No tea.
Aunt Vera, would you like a drink?
Martini dry with a twist.
Yes, ma'am, cocktail coming up.
I, I love your home. Does it have a name?
I've never understood how you can name a house
unless houses come when you call them.
My grandfather built it.
When he died, my family moved here from Charleston.
Was quite a cultural shock. I guess this is where I'll die.
So you've come to help your feeble aunt.
Great aunt.
You can't be happy about it.
Oh, I volunteered!
You need your head examined.
Hi. Hi, yes.
Yeah, everything's fine. I love Aunt Vera.
What a warm and and gentle soul. Yeah.
I think, I think this is gonna be the best thing I ever did.
Yeah. Yes, I am being serious, Mom!
Yeah. Okay.
Okay. I, I gotta go.
Yes, there's a desk with a chair and my computer on it.
Okay? Goodbye, Mom.
I graduated college.
So I heard. What degree?
Pre-law and a minor in English literature.
Here's to your wonderfully useless degrees.
- Which you paid for - Mm-hmm.
And I'm forever thankful, and I just turned 20.
And to being 20 and all that it means.
I wish it meant I could travel.
Oh. Well, now I traveled continually for years.
Now I have a garden, and it takes up my time.
I'm sure it's beautiful in the spring.
It's beautiful now. it's just dormant.
And I hear you're still dancing. That's amazing.
What do you dance? - Dance?
I heard you broke your foot dancing.
I broke my toe, not my foot, just my toe,
but it threw me off balance a great deal
because the damn thing, it's just like an anchor.
And I can't drive. Oh no.
I can't even go up and down stairs,
and, and, and, and they move me down into the study.
Well, you could always learn to chair dance.
Now I see your father. He died too young.
It's strange to think I've spent half my life
without him already.
I was your age when I met Theo.
Wasn't he some sort of like war journalist, right?
Oh, honey, he was the best.
We met when he was here in Saugerties.
Well, he's still paying his dues,
and he was covering the story of the cement factory,
and when he left, I followed him.
That's romantic.
I'm taking the LSAT in March.
Vive le France!
Yes, indeed.
You must not follow me!
Okay, okay, maybe just a little,
but you must leave space between us
because I can't be seen with you, commoner.
But you belong to me. - No! I belong to France!
Vive le France!
Maybe Aunt Vera's gone senile.
"In 1968, the brilliant journalist and fiction writer,
Theodore Marxos, went missing and was presumed killed
while covering the war in Vietnam
and began a new life with his mistress,
"actress and anti-war activist Nena Gabrelle."
Dear Irene, how am I? I'll tell you.
Life is so still at my Great-Aunt Vera's estate
that a depression would be redundant.
I'm wearing thermals in Saugerties
while you're on the beach with Brianna.
Is it okay? Does it hurt?
But I'm happy for the both of you, sort of.
Okay, okay, okay. - Wait, wait, wait.
The picture of the ocean in my head is gone.
It must've evaporated.
Trying to lift Aunt Vera's spirits
is about as easy as trying to lift an enormous elephant.
♪ Watch out for your foot, ha ha ha ha ♪
But sometimes, Aunt Vera is not so dull.
Aunt Vera?
At least the dream I had when I was 12 has now come true.
Remember how we wanted to be characters
from a 19th century novel?
But still waiting for my dashing suitor to arrive.
Your extremely grounded friend, Dora.
These are the dressy sweaters. Go get the other box.
Dora! I'm freezing down here!
I'm gonna burn the other chair!
Wait, you're pulling my hair.
That's it, that's it. How long you been here?
- 12 days. - Seems like forever.
Here. - What's that?
Make haste. Gets dark early.
Can I help you?
- Where are the aspirins? - Aisle two in the middle.
And I need some suppositories.
- I'm sorry? - I need some suppositories.
Oh, Phil, can you grab some of those anal laxatives there?
What else? I'll fix you up.
Bless you.
Okay, throat lozenges.
Welcome to Dig.
Brr, who's wearing these? - No one here.
It's resort wear. - Like South America?
Like Aruba, warm and tropical.
Oh my God.
Oh, you can put your things over here.
I haven't seen you here before.
Oh, I'm just up visiting my great aunt.
I'm Dora. - Abbey.
I always wanted a great aunt.
Does she wear like big chunky jewelry and kaftans?
No, she wears rings, but she doesn't really wear kaftans.
- That's unfortunate. - Yeah.
Oh, the dressing rooms are over there.
Okay.
Oh, lovely weather you have out there.
Just looking for a gift.
- Male or female? - Hmm?
Well,
I hadn't really ever considered purchasing anything living,
but I, I'd lean towards a female just outta habit.
My butt looks huge!
Well, you can't go wrong with jewelry
if that's more of what you have in mind.
Sure.
Oh God! Ooh, ooh!
I'm sorry.
Nice outfit. Was that an art piece?
Gone wrong.
Can I take a look at this one?
Okay, good choice. It's very popular.
Ooh, that's beautiful and very in.
Well, I like being in.
- It's important. - Yeah.
Well I guess I'll, I'll take that one.
- Okay. - That was simple.
My daughter's turning 15. I can't believe it.
Seems their problems keep getting bigger,
but at least the gifts get smaller, right?
Oops, sorry.
- Can I have you sign this? - Sure.
Mm-hmm, thank you. - Thank you.
I hope she enjoys it. - Sure she will.
Appreciate your help.
Thank you very much for shopping at Dig.
Please come again.
I just sold a necklace to one
of the biggest music producers of all tiz-ime!
Nikki Summers!
Oh my rock and roll God! Who is that?
Nikki Summers, U2, REM, Nine Inch Nails.
I heard that he was making an album at Woodstock.
I would love to sing for him.
- Are you a singer? - And songwriter.
Yeah? That's cool.
I had a band in high school.
We were called Jane's Girls,
and all of our songs were based
off of characters from Jane Austen novels,
but the only song that we actually got down right
was "I Got It Bad for Mr. Darcy."
I would love to hear that song.
Oh God.
Well, I could never perform in front of an audience,
so our band died. - You need some stylation.
What? Ooh, whoa, okay!
I dunno how to really do this jacket.
You look amazing.
Just a little zip. - Ooh my goodness!
Look a t this shape.
This is such a nice shape. - I feel like a new woman.
Yes.
Oh, can I hear one of your songs?
Okay, but it's just a demo.
♪ If I could take a minute to breathe ♪
Oh my gosh, I love this. You have such a nice voice.
- Thank you. - Yeah.
Wait, we have to get you into Nicki Summers' music studio!
I mean, then you can sing for him.
You can't just walk in there.
Those kind of sessions are closed.
Abbey, doors are for opening.
I can get you into Nikki Summers' music studio.
All right. Okay.
- Oh. - Let's do some accessories.
♪ Pulling my strings ♪
Hello?
♪ Keep pulling my strings ♪
Hi! Yeah, okay.
♪ Pulling my strings ♪
Okay. All right, I'll be home soon, okay?
All right, bye. Oh my God.
You look like a rock star.
Thank you, who has to buy adult diapers.
Ew.
August, 1952. Saw Theodore again today.
We talked for hours.
He's the first real journalist I ever met.
His ideas get me so excited.
He calls me Jean after Jean Arthur.
I'm a good sport, he says.
I had a dream about him last night we were together.
He smiled at me.
Ooh. What about "House of Mirth"?
Get out of the 19th century.
Okay, well, "Tropic of Capricorn."
Yes. Oh God, I used to have such a crush on Henry Miller.
Is it possible to lust after a dead man?
When I was younger, Jack London did it for me.
Miller was always too stimulating,
the smell of raw onions and the taste of goat cheese.
- Raw onions and goat cheese? - Mm-hmm.
That's what his apartment in Big Sur smelled like.
You've been to Henry Miller's apartment?
Was it like super earthy? - It was more like dingy.
Oh wait. I think I found one.
Yes. You can get down now.
"Bloody Footprints in the Sand."
Whoa. Aunt Vera!
An island murder mystery. Creepster.
- Oh damn. Is it Tuesday? - Mm-hmm.
The Saugerties Poetry club.
What do they want?
I host the monthly poetry readings.
- When? - Now.
We used to do it at the lighthouse, but listen,
there's cold drinks in the refrigerator and cheese,
and I want you to greet and welcome each
and every one of them. - What, me? Why?
Wait, wait! Where are you going?
To my room.
Well, I look forward to hearing your poem.
I never read. I just support.
- What are you doing here? - Abbey, hi!
This is my Aunt Vera's house.
Are you a poet? - No, not really.
I, it just helps with my songwriting.
Cool. I this everyone, you think?
Yeah. Wait, your great aunt is Vera Marxos?
- Yeah. - What?
It must be really cool to like hang out with her.
Depending on her mood, you know?
But I found her journals from like a really,
really long time ago. - No way.
- Yeah. - What did they say?
It's wild.
I, you'd never know it,
but she used to do this thing called tramping,
and so Aunt Vera and Uncle Theo,
they would jump onto moving train cars,
and that's how they traveled. - Like a hobo?
Like, like romantic hobos, you know?
Oh, did you find out about getting
into Nikki's recording session?
Closed.
- I've got a plan. - Well, I got the clothes.
Do you think I need to welcome everyone?
- Yeah. - Oh, thank you.
Good afternoon. I'm Aunt Vera's niece, and I love poetry.
Sounds like an AA meeting.
"In the room, women come and go, talking of Michelangelo."
Yes. Thank you, Dora.
It's so nice of your aunt
to offer her home to the poetry group.
Guy Reed, can you please take us away?
Okay, before we begin,
I just wanna remind everybody,
the End of Winter Poetry Festival is coming up very soon.
We still have posters and tickets,
and we really need to get the word out.
The other night, I was in a fast food parking lot trying
to decide whether to turn left and go out into the night
or turn right and drive home.
I was wanting to satisfy a deep longing for beauty,
but I realized that satisfaction
of that longing is not possible.
Art is the best chance we have of finding truth
and, therefore, being beautiful if the muse allows.
So I wrote this poem, "Burst."
"Cosmic rays pierce your body every second, photons,
helium nuclei, and other particles from stars.
It's a measurable fact.
How many cosmic rays in a nanosecond?
0.0000000001, the tiniest smidgen,
but in the last second, just gone by,
light from the energy you just saw
traveled nearly a billion feet.
In 10 seconds,
thousands of cosmic rays passing by through space in time.
How many through my heart?
"Oh, love, the beautiful ones in your eyes."
Day four, crossing the Atlantic.
I like to stare at the water,
not toward the horizon but straight down deep.
Virginia is no more.
Vera means truth, and that's what I'm after, truth.
"Dear V, here's the article."
I'm bloody stuck. See what you can do.
Pound it out and send it back
to the embassy in Budapest fast.
Tell your mother no chance in hell
of us getting an annulment.
"Theo."
Normandy.
Theo hates that he missed D-Day
and talks about Korea all the time.
Last night we slept in a burned out barn near the beach.
I tried to focus my mind on the waves
instead of the sound of rats gnawing around us.
I want an adventure. We walked all day.
I saw an old woman in the fields.
I stopped and helped her collect rocks.
She lived through two world wars. It's now real to me.
I wanna grab it and write about it like Theo does.
My brain fills up but scatters quickly
as Theo pulls me away toward his interests.
Must find a map of Asia. Istanbul.
It's our seventh anniversary. Theo forgot.
He confuses the date with the first time we had sex,
but after seven years,
Theo depends on me and my red pen more than ever.
Ginsburg suggested I become an editor
and quit torturing myself trying to get published.
Theo agreed, but they were drunk.
"They're probably right. Damn them."
What was your inspiration?
If it wasn't for my niece Dora,
I would never have known how extraordinary my life
was and is. - Oh, I have fresh eyes.
I am so proud of our latest book,
"I'm Not an Invalid, So Don't Treat Me Like One."
What the hell are you doing?
What, what are you doing?
You're not supposed to walk upstairs!
How dare you! Put them away!
But Aunt Vera,
these are like the best things I've read in, in decades!
What would you know?
No one wanted to publish what I wrote. Oh no.
They want the mystique of being the wife
of the great writer!
No one wants reality. You put them away.
Why are you running?
'Cause it gets the adrenaline going!
If you fall in those clothes, you own them!
Okay, close your eyes, okay?
We need to get into character. I'll be your agent.
- Manager. - Are they closed?
- Yeah. - Good. Okay, great!
So Abbey, I want you to visualize yourself
as a "Rolling Stone" reporter.
You're writing a, an incredible-
- Abbey. - Ed.
What are you doing here? - I know Nikki.
Well, are these kinda sessions closed or?
Only to reporters and weirdos. What are you doing here?
Oh, well, actually, we know Nikki, too.
Really? Oh.
You have to jam with these guys.
- Could we come in? - Yeah, let's go in.
- Yes. - It's freezing.
♪ You know you turn the other way ♪
♪ In a one-way town ♪
♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪
♪ Put your heart in the sky ♪
♪ Put your feet into the grou-ou-ound ♪
♪ Oh oh oh oh oh ♪
♪ Find a way as bright as the sun in your eyes ♪
♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪
♪ You left a tear in the dust ♪
♪ Rotting in your vi-i-i-i-i-i-i-Ines ♪
That was good. Sounded good, okay.
Oh. Hey, the boutique girls.
What do you know? Hey guys, let's take five.
My God. So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?
Well, we didn't get to tell you the other day,
but Abbey here is an incredible-
- I need raw meat! - Chris, you animal.
I gotta get you out to LA with me,
check out Stuart Copeland's new studio, Sacred Grove.
I've been drumming my ass off out there.
It's the best way to stay in shape.
- Are there any fat drummers? - That's funny.
Oh, Buddy Miles, I suppose. - Bernard Purdie.
John Bonham, fat. Pear shaped.
- Towards the end. - I'll give you that.
- What you reading? - Hmm?
Oh, this is, this is the new Nena Gabrelle.
It's her new memoir. - No way!
Yeah, it's very randy stuff.
Not very well written, but very randy.
Theo Marxos is my great uncle, actually.
- No. - Yeah,
and I'm living with his wife Vera in Saugerties right now.
She's my great aunt. - Are you serious?
- Yeah. - You gotta be shitting me.
I'm, I'm a huge, huge Marxophile.
I mean, his writing about America
after the war changed my life.
Hey Nikki, I don't mean to barge in-
Can I just ask you,
did your Aunt Vera mention anything about this book?
No, no, no, no, not at all,
and I'm kind of ashamed to say it,
but I actually haven't read any of my uncle's writing.
But I did find this huge box of Vera's journals
from like way back in the day.
- Oh my God. - Did you read some of those,
I hope? - Oh hell yeah.
I can't put 'em down.
Are you kidding? - Hey, Dora-
Do you know, was, was your Aunt Vera,
was she with him in Korea?
Yeah, and they traveled all the time.
You know, I actually think I'm named
after my, my uncle Theodore.
Dora, Theodore. - So I wanted to say-
Sorry to interrupt. I have a close friend in the city.
He's with DeGraw Publishing,
and I've got a feeling he'd love to take a look at those
if your aunt is interested in publishing them.
- I just wanted to ask- - Oh yeah, that would be huge!
Are you kidding me?
And I'm sure it would take her outta the major,
major slump she's in, you know?
I'm sorry, you guys.
I'm just realizing you're gonna have to skedaddle.
I gotta get the boys back to work.
- Thank you so much. - Great talking to ya.
Good seeing ya. Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Ed, you gonna just sit there or you gonna get the boys?
Yes, sir.
Thank you for the best day yet in Saugerties. Oh my God.
Well, I'm glad one of us had a best day.
Nikki will listen to your music.
I'll be sure of it. As your manager-
Are you delusional? Manage your own life.
God, I felt like such an idiot standing there.
I'm sorry.
No, I'm the one who's delusional to think
that I could sing for Nikki Summers.
Please get out of my car.
Okay.
We found a lonely stretch of sand
and spent our day swimming and making love.
- I'm home! - Teddy caressed me
with his literary brilliance,
reciting poetry and prose
as the water lapped our naked bodies.
It was a shared baptism into a new life together.
After months of traveling,
retreating further So cold.
And further from humanity,
we found our paradise. - Bring me that dead dracena.
I vowed to take care of Teddy.
No! Leave that poor suffering plant alone.
I'll get you some firewood. Where did you get this?
A surprisingly mean-spirited ex sent it to me.
"Vera, damn that Teddy, but he never fooled you.
"Best, George." Damn that George.
Wait, you knew about Nena?
I am going to show you
how to make the perfect gin martini.
I didn't break my toe dancing.
When I got a call from that damn reporter about Nena's book,
well, I pretended to know all about it.
Oh ho ho ho, and then after I hung up,
I kicked the pantry door in. - Oh.
I wondered what happened to that door.
Theodore, moving, writing,
with his little nurse made into ho, his idea of paradise.
Yeah.
Nikki, Nikki.
Hey, Dorothy Dora.
Sit down. How are ya? - Good.
I see you brought the stash.
So listen, I've been thinking,
are you sure your aunt wants to do this?
Hmm? Yeah, of course.
She wants to share it with the whole world.
Okay. That's awfully brave of her.
I wouldn't want somebody digging around in my closet.
That's a whole other story.
But my friend told me he would love
to get his hands on this, so. - Wait, Nikki.
You have to do me a favor if you're gonna take this.
Okay. What's that?
You have to come to the poetry festival next weekend.
Fine, sign me up. The what?
Oh yeah, yeah.
I thought the force majeure was as fascinating
as the.
Yeah, mm-hmm.
Okay, I gotta go, Mom.
Yep, I love you, too. Bye.
Do depressions run in our family?
You are not depressed. You are unhappy.
If I were you, I'd be unhappy, too.
Why are you going to law school, Dora?
Don't know. It'll make my degree useful.
That's one way to go, right? - Go where?
According to you, France!
That is something that I say when someone I know
is about to commit them self to something
that might not be right for them.
I was going to secretarial school. Instead I went to France.
Oh wow. Right now I can't do anything.
I can't go to France. I can't go to Brazil.
I can't go anywhere, so maybe I should just become a lawyer
so I can actually afford to do the things
that I wanna be doing, Aunt Vera!
You're a Wells, Dora. We do not follow a straight line.
Was Dad like me?
He pursued his passions mightily.
So, no, you are not like your dad.
He was in the theater.
When you came, your mother wanted him to quit.
I do know that he loved you and your mom very much.
She never talks about him.
I'm gonna go into the village, okay?
So if you need anything, just call me.
I won't need you.
But you do need me, Aunt Vera,
because you have a broken toe,
and I cannot wait for it to be unbroken!
I told you, I'm a pauper!
I hold a big bag of I can't even afford!
Abbey. - I'm busy.
I'm just returning the clothes.
I didn't eat in them except
when I ate my foot at the music studio.
Prosecco!
Is that how you normally are?
I mean, admittedly, I don't know you that well,
but you got this weird look in your face
as if nothing else mattered.
You completely shut me down. It was awful.
I know, I know. I think it's my nerves.
My mom calls it leaving the planet.
Yeah, I, I didn't mean to do it at all. I'm, I'm so sorry.
- What's that about? - Well, I had a great idea.
I think you should sing at the poetry festival!
That's a big event. You've already burnt me once.
Yeah, I, I know, and that's, that's once too many.
Apparently I'm in drastic need
of some emotional stylation, too.
Pop that baby open. I need it.
- Why? What's going on? - Oh, Dora.
This is the beginning of the end.
- It is? - Yes.
This is the first day of the last 30 days of my 20s.
Oh my God. I'm getting old, darling.
- Shut up! - Yes, I see it.
I, I'm just getting wrinkly all over.
- Let's get outta here. - And go where?
There's nowhere to go.
Doesn't Saugerties have a lighthouse?
Yeah, but it's like way too cold and windy.
Oh, I know!
You should like, we should go out there,
and you should do some like performance out there
- in honor of turning 30. - Like what?
It's totally uncivilized out here.
This is awesome!
- Oh my God! - Be careful.
Okay, start picking up things
that we can like throw into the river.
- It, it'll just blow away. - So what?
Just think of it as like your life up until now,
just blowing away. - It's really depressing.
Getting old is depressing!
Okay, let's go! Come on, ya old maid.
Take some more sticks.
It's so pretty out here.
It's such a good day to come out here!
It's such a cold day to come out here!
- Whoa! This is so cool! - Here's the lighthouse.
Woo!
All right, ready?
Farewell, old days!
Here's to better new ways!
You are like a hawk perched, ready to devour!
The earth, the world, my heart in all its power.
Woo! Thank you, wind, for listening.
Amen. - Amen.
Oh, that train is headed to the city.
- I wish we were on it. - I know.
Sometimes I wish I could get on the throughway,
drive south, and never come back.
- Do it. - I can't.
I have to take care of my stepsister, Tabitha. Wait, here.
- Oh, what a cutie. - Yeah, she's cute,
and she's smart, too.
Her parents, my dad and his on, off, on, off girlfriend,
they don't make the time to take care of her.
- Oh, that's awful. - Yeah, so otherwise,
I would be gone a long time ago.
But you have your music, Abbey. That's amazing.
I mean, I don't have anything except thoughts
about being far away and doing huge things.
But, but how do I get from here to there, you know?
Like, I feel like I'm in this, this all beige waiting room.
Don't worry.
Some idea will creep up on you,
and it might not be huge, but it will feel massive,
and the beige waiting room will just be a memory.
- Hey, is that Nikki? - Nikki?
Whoa.
What are you doing here? This is so weird.
Hey, what, what are you doing here, the two of ya?
- We just made a sacrifice. - A sacrifice?
What kind of sacrifice? What-
It was in honor of Abbey's birthday.
She's a little upset that she's turning 30.
I mean, she's upset because of, because of something else!
30. Oh, your poor little thing, you.
In that case, you might as well just throw yourself
in the river and get it over with.
30.
Believe me, it doesn't matter,
at least until you get to be my age anyway.
For instance, I just, I just finished this record.
Everybody says it's great. - Great!
No, but see, great is overrated. You know what I mean?
Really is. I mean, where's the life in it, you know?
I can't think of the last time that I made a record
that had a track on it that had to grow on the listener
where you listen to it and you think,
"Something's not right,"
but then you listen to it again and again and again,
and slowly but surely,
it grabs you and throws you in the river.
Now the Buddhists, now the Buddhists,
the Buddhists have a saying
that whatever you're doing up until the age of 50,
stop it and do something completely different.
Me, I'm a little late on that one myself, but-
But I thought you said that age doesn't matter.
It's true. I'm talking about the work though.
I mean, if you're not sweating
and working hard at something,
then you're, you're just not living.
Ah. On that note, it's time for this one to go.
Shit. - Ooh!
- Oh, oh, Nikki, Nikki, ooh. - Oh gosh.
I'm all right.
Hi, Aunt Vera! I went to the lighthouse.
Vera?
Aunt, Aunt Vera?
Are you all right? How long have you been out here?
I heard the train. This is nothing like it.
Did you give him the letters, too?
Well, mostly scribbled thoughts.
That's what Theo did when he was gone.
Once, I nearly burned them, but what's the use?
I know 'em all my heart, particularly one.
"Dear Virginia, how are you?"
I can't continue, and all the places that we know,
the people, the deadlines.
Grab my hand like we used to jumping trains,
"and I'll, I'll pull you up, and we'll escape together."
I don't have that letter 'cause Theo never wrote it.
You wanna travel, Dora? I'll give you the money.
Okay, okay.
Because I don't want you here anymore.
DeGraw is interested in my journals.
I wanted you to have the spotlight, not what's her name.
What feeble half-baked brain do you possess
that says it's okay for you
to just serve up my private moments
on a platter to some complete stranger?
You gave him the originals for God's sake!
Not even photocopies? God.
Bye, Aunt Vera.
I know it was stupid, Mom! My bus gets in at two.
What, the test? What, what about the test?
Yeah, I'll take it in Newark! Bye!
Please get in, Dora.
Oh my god, Aunt Vera, I'm so sorry the way I treated you!
There was just no consideration for the other person.
I'm, I'm, I'm turning into my mom! I mean, oh God.
I, I, there was no respect for you or anything,
and, and I'm so sorry.
I'll call DeGraw, and I'm sorry.
Why do you have a trash can? - What are these?
- Nothing, just trash. - What did they used to be?
Some were images from my dreams
and others were just thoughts.
It's junk. It's nothing, it's just throwaways.
Well, they may be a bit rough,
but they're telling, a place where interesting things occur.
You know my poetry club? - No, I can't read these.
Well, not the way they are right now,
but you can work them and read it at the festival.
- No way! No! - If you read, I'll read.
♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪
♪ Ah ha ah ah ah ah ah ♪
♪ Doo ooh ooh ♪
Over and over, break the ice,
rocks like blocks, deep into mud,
thud, blood, crud.
Enough with the rhyming.
- How's the riding going? - Awful.
I mean, I, I feel stuff, you know,
but it's not doing anything
except just rolling around inside me.
You're in a muddle.
It's the worst place to be in everyday life,
but it's the best place to be for creativity.
Listen, every writer that I know,
including your great-uncle,
every writer has trouble writing.
- So what did you do? - Hmm.
You know how men, men have their muses?
Well, a woman can have her muse, too.
Are you saying you had some affair
with a big band musician to help you with your muddle?
Oh, well,
I didn't necessarily say affair, but, well,
I, I, I was always editing and always writing articles
that nobody wanted to publish.
So I needed a little attention,
a lively conversation, you know?
Theo, oh, he was off on his missions,
so I was off on mine, so to speak.
We are so much alike.
♪ Like a lover, like a child ♪
♪ Run for cover, running wild ♪
♪ Rain is falling ♪
Who wants something sweet?
♪ Winter won't be hangin' round ♪
♪ Winter's blown on the ground ♪
♪ Now it's leaving ♪
- Beautiful. - Thank you.
Before dinner?
♪ So long, so long ♪
- Oh. - All right.
For you. - Thank you.
- Ladies.
Mm, mm mm mm. Oh, thank you.
So this is a recipe from the kitchen of Mr. Henry Miller,
of course with some improvisation by Aunt Vera and me.
- Raw onion? - Mm-hmm, among other things.
Isn't it yummy? - Mm-hmm.
The kalamata olives were a really good addition.
Mm, Dora remind me to find a book,
one of my favorites, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
I think you're gonna find his work to your liking.
- Got it. - So should I quiz you
to prep for the test tomorrow? - No, you should not.
What kind of law do you want Dora to practice?
Oh, well I was thinking trial
because of the theater of it,
and she's always been so dramatic.
But I don't know. What were you thinking, Dora?
Tax. Is there a time limit to a poem?
No, a poem has to snake its way out of you
and become the length it becomes.
That sounds uncomfortable.
- It can be. - It can be.
I'm gonna check on dinner.
Excuse me, honey. - Thank you.
"My drifters days are past me now.
I've got so much more to think about,
deadlines and commitments,
"what to leave in and what to leave out."
Mom.
I don't think Aunt Vera has been acquainted
with the great poet Bob Seger.
Oh, I love that song!
"I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."
♪ Against the wind ♪
♪ Still running against the wind ♪
See that, smarty pants?
Anyway, I'm just trying to make a point.
I'm not as insensitive as you think I am.
And when you're making six figures,
you can donate your time and money to a local poets group,
isn't that right?
Well, if that's the path she wishes to take.
Well, it should be. I mean, look at you and me.
Where did the curvy road of the heart take us, Vera, huh?
Down to the pit where it aches, seldom comes up for air.
Well, I can't argue with that.
So put off pleasure for awhile,
knowing that on down the line,
it's gonna rear its luxurious and lucrative head.
Job, money, life. That's the order, Mom?
That's right.
Is that what you told Dad?
- Can I have one of those? - Oh, yes, dear.
I mean, where's the glamour in starving?
I guess it makes you skinny, and that's fashionable,
and okay, we were passionate and starving,
but then you came, and everything changes, everything.
So, so Dad's career wasn't good enough for you.
Your parents had the same career.
- Hot glue and lumber. - God, I miss that smell.
For constructing sets.
But, but getting a real job and moving to Jersey,
that must've stressed Dad out
and probably contributed to his heart attack.
Your father didn't die from a heart attack, Dora.
He fell off a scaffold and died instantly.
What?
I wasn't there.
Before I left, Danny was going on and on
about this unusual and extravagant set.
Why did I leave? I, I can't remember.
It's all so foggy now.
But I came back, and I, I couldn't see him,
and at first, I thought it was because of the, my eyes,
the, going from sunlight into darkness.
It's always hard adjusting.
So I walked down the side aisle,
and I kept trying to find him up there, and then I knew.
He was on the floor and he was all...
No way I was gonna tell that to my little girl.
Heart attack, heart attack, heart attack.
That was it. End of story.
So how was it, honey? - It was good.
Why the heck do you have this? "Frozen Garden."
The festival starts in an hour. Let's go.
Well, the moment we've all been waiting for.
She founded the Saugerties Poetry Club 20 years ago,
and, as passionate as Vera Marxos has been
in helping others with the written and spoken word,
we have never heard her speak.
Well, lucky us. Tonight, she takes the stage.
Vera. - Yeah, Vera!
I am an old fool,
which is not as appealing as when I was a young fool.
But, you know, I think it's all worth it, I think,
and luck is still on my side because I have a chance
to spend time with my great niece, and she is great.
And together, with DeGraw,
we are going to knock that book "Paradise" off the shelves.
And Dora, I want to thank you for reintroducing me
to my muddle because sometimes in life, that's all we have.
This poem is called "All the Things."
"Snow is general over the Catskills."
Garden waits for me like a lover,
contained, lush, yearning, and never satisfied.
Train. You took me here and there.
Ice cold bear. You didn't really care.
You just continued on.
Home.
You will go into other hands,
and they will soon know your creaks and shadows
and your flaky walls and the cobwebs that hang.
I grew comfortable and you grew quiet.
You, in and out, in and out. You never made still my heart.
Oh, how I loved you too much.
Theodore, Ada, Phineas, Betty, Danny, Mother, Father,
"snow is general over the Catskills."
Thank you.
It's a lovely thing. Love you.
- Where are you going? - I can't do this.
- Come on. - No, I can't do this!
It's crazy. - Come here.
What do you mean you can't do this? What's your problem?
You nervous? Everybody gets nervous.
You ever hear that Janice Joplin threw up
before every performance?
All right, so it might have something to do
with the amount of whiskey she drank, but nevertheless,
remember what I was telling you at the river,
or at least trying to tell you down by the river?
I want you to take the one energy that's inside you
that needs to come out and throw it at the audience.
Be a thunderbolt with words.
Make a collision between you and them, or you could bail.
Sorry. Nervous.
This poem is called "Frozen Garden,"
and it is dedicated to my Aunt Vera.
"Nature is sometimes cruel to the seeds we cast,
but some seeds pick up the wind and warm.
Dad, I see you smiling atop the structure of your happiness,
painting the future of your dreams you left behind.
I am here now, step by step,
moving on the set you helped create.
I want to sing my song loud and proud,
but my brain makes the tune a fogged muddle.
The heart is my mostly companion,
traveling along a path not weeded with ease,
beats on as it quivers, its vocals sometimes faint.
I was only 10 when you took a misstep
and didn't understand why you left.
Where?
Your heart did not attack, and I don't see you falling.
I see you finally able to fly.
"You were brave, Dad, and I will be, too."
Thank you.
Well, I wasn't exactly a thunderbolt with words,
but I am struck by two extraordinary thoughts.
Everything fabulous is not so far away from me,
and I understand why my mom wants me to go to law school,
but she should go instead.
♪ Nothing's gonna get in my head ♪
♪ To wrap around those words you said ♪
♪ Oh, now, I just go and dig up the dead ♪
♪ Knowing I can't explain to a searching soul ♪
♪ The ones that you love, you got to let them go ♪
♪ Don't you know that as a bird ♪
♪ It's got to be solo ♪
♪ Just quit fighting the fall, yeah ♪
♪ I saw lightning in the same place far too many times ♪
♪ Sorrow hides behind a plain face ♪
♪ Deep where the sun doesn't shine ♪
♪ 'Cause I don't believe in a coincidence ♪
♪ Into the fires of blissful ignorance I threw my innocence ♪
♪ Haven't seen it since ♪
♪ I saw lightning in the same place ♪
♪ I saw the lightning, yeah ♪
♪ Sorrow hides behind a plain face ♪
♪ I hope you spend your days riding verses on your page ♪
♪ May your life be a Walden Pond swim ♪
♪ Taking showers in the cold ♪
♪ And your glasses filled to their brim ♪
♪ And I hope you treat your heart real nice and real smart ♪
♪ May your life be a Walden Pond swim ♪
♪ Can't be worthless seeing stars ♪
♪ Buying rocky road for me and him ♪
♪ Stay in that water and keep where you are feeling fine ♪
♪ But I'm just the daughter of a man ♪
♪ Who lives on oak and wine ♪
♪ And I swim like my father ♪
♪ And remember hard days driving miles cross county lines ♪
♪ And I've still got those pictures ♪
♪ That I found in a bucket ♪
♪ They're all up on my wall ♪
♪ And I've still got those paintings ♪
♪ That you did for my birthday way back in the fall ♪
♪ And I've still got those pictures ♪
♪ That I found in a bucket ♪
♪ They're all up on my wall ♪
♪ And I've still got those paintings ♪
♪ That you did for my birthday way back in the fall ♪
♪ Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ♪
♪ Mm mm mm ♪