Empathy

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Authors: Sarah Schulman
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    STEVE
    Do you want me to bring you some ginger ale?
    Â 
    SYLVIA
    I’m telling you, I’m so mad at that guy.
    Â 
    STEVE
    At who?
    Â 
    SYLVIA
    At that stinking brother of mine.
    Â 
    STEVE
    Because he died?
    Â 
    SYLVIA
    Because he died.
    Â 
    EXT. IN FRONT OF MORRIS’S BUILDING.
    Â 
    IRV and WALTER are standing together outside the house . ANNA stands next to her father holding his coat .

    Â 
    IRV
    I’m going back to Manhattan now, Walter, but I just want to know how you’re feeling.
    WALTER
    I’m angry, Irv.
    Â 
    IRV
    What are you angry at?
    Â 
    WALTER
    I’m angry at you, Irv. You don’t give a shit about me or any of your old friends. You left the Bronx and became a big-shot psychiatrist. I know you look down on all of us. You never call to ask how I’m doing. Then you call me out of the blue to say that Morris is dead. You wanna know why you’re such an asshole, Irv?
    Â 
    IRV
    Why?
    Â 
    WALTER
    Because you’re a snob and a phony. You’re a phony, Irv. You don’t give a shit about any of us and you didn’t give a shit about Morris.
    Â 
    IRV
    Walter, I know you’re angry at me, and I know you think I’ve done some bad things and I probably have. But I also think you’re angry about something else.
    Â 
    WALTER
    You’re right, Irv. I’m angry at myself.

    Â 
    IRV
    Look, anytime you want to come to my office and talk, just give me a call. I always have time for you.
    Â 
    EXT. THE STREET IN FRONT OF MORRIS’S BUILDING.
    Â 
    ANNA and IRV are walking down the block to the car where the rest of the family is waiting .
    Â 
    ANNA
    Pop, why did you let Walter yell at you like that? This is your friend’s funeral. People should be nice to you.
    Â 
    IRV
    So, I helped him out a little bit. He can’t hurt me. He doesn’t even know who he is.
    Â 
    INT. IN THE CAR GOING BACK TO MANHATTAN. SUNSET ON THE BRIDGE.
    Â 
    ANNA
    Hey, Ma. You never told me that cousin Leon is gay.
    Â 
    RUTH
    He’s not gay. He’s lonely.
    Â 
    ANNA
    Oh, come on. Get over it, Ma. You think in the whole family I’m the only one?
    Â 
    IRV
    Anna is right, Ruth. Plenty of lonely people are gay.

    Â 
    ANNA
    That’s not what I said. Stevie, tell them.
    Â 
    STEVE
    Don’t drag me into it.
    Â 
    ANNA
    This is so predictable.
    Â 
    RUTH
    Did you see that expression on Hilda Friedman’s face? I thought she was going to jump into the grave right after him.
    Â 
    IRV
    She was always in love with Morris. For thirty years they used to go out for breakfast together once a month. Even last Wednesday they went.
    Â 
    STEVE
    You two are always thinking about what other people are feeling. I just found out in therapy that most families don’t talk like this.
    Â 
    IRV
    All Jewish families talk like this.
    Â 
    STEVE
    No they don’t. Do you think the people in the other cars are saying, “Poor Irv, this must be so hard for him?” No, they’re saying, “Did you see that dress she wore?”
    Â 
    IRV
    ( Very angry. Suddenly out of control .)

    No they’re not. They’re all concerned. They’re all concerned about how the other one feels.
    Â 
    BARB
    Pop, be careful, you’ll have a heart attack.
    Â 
    IRV
    What are you talking about? Don’t tell me not to die. You don’t die. You don’t die.
    Â 
    BARB
    It’s a deal.
    Â 
    IRV
    This is no time for jokes.
    Â 
    END

Chapter Seven
    When Anna went home at the end of the session, Doc took out his old manual typewriter and began to write up the case. Obviously she was angry at her family. But she tried to avoid it by being superior, by being detached from their prejudice. It all broke down, though, in the last scene in the car where Anna made herself vulnerable to her mother’s homophobia for the millionth time. That’s when she finally felt intimate.
    Doc was more interested in Anna’s

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