right, youâre right, I know youâre right.
CUT TO :
EXT. WEST BROADWAY, NEAR RESTAURANTâNIGHT
Harry and his friend Jess coming down the street
.
JESS Â Â Â Â I donât know about this.
HARRY Â Â Â Â Itâs just a dinner.
JESS Â Â Â Â You know, Iâve finally gotten to a place in my life where Iâm comfortable with the fact that itâs just me and my work.
(they walk on)
If sheâs so great, why arenât
you
taking her out?
HARRY Â Â Â Â How many times do I have to tell you, weâre just friends.
JESS Â Â Â Â So youâre saying sheâs not that attractive?
HARRY Â Â Â Â No, I told you she is attractive.
JESS Â Â Â Â But you also said she had a good personality.
HARRY Â Â Â Â She has a good personality.
Jess makes a âprecisely my pointâ gesture
.
HARRY Â Â Â Â ( CONTâD )Â Â Â Â What?
JESS Â Â Â Â When someoneâs not attractive, theyâre always described as having a good personality.
HARRY Â Â Â Â Look. If you had asked me what does she look like and I said, she has a good personality,
that
means sheâs not attractive. But just because I happen to mention she has a good personality, she could be either. She could be attractive with a good personality, or not attractive with a good personality.
JESS Â Â Â Â So which one is she?
HARRY Â Â Â Â Attractive.
JESS Â Â Â Â But not beautiful, right?
Harry glares at him
.
CUT TO:
INT. RESTAURANTâNIGHT
Harry, Jess, Sally, and Marie at a table. A waiter has just brought them drinks. It is clear from the arrangement at the table that Harry is meant to be with Marie and Jess is meant to be with Sally. Jess and Sally are talking to each other, while Harry and Marie carry on their own conversation
.
JESS Â Â Â Â
(to Sally)
    Itâs like whenever I read Jimmy Breslin, itâs as if heâs leaving some kind of wake-up call for the city of New York.
SALLY Â Â Â Â What do you mean by a wake-up call?
They continue talking as we now focus on Harry and Marieâs conversation:
HARRY Â Â Â Â Would I have seen any of your windows?
MARIE Â Â Â Â Well, just a couple of weeks ago, I did a thing with hostages.
HARRY Â Â Â Â Oh, the thing with people in blindfolds.
Back to Jess and Sally, who obviously is not enjoying or agreeing with what he is saying
.
SALLY Â Â Â Â
(to Jess)
    Uh, letâs just say Iâm ⦠Iâm really not a big fan of Jimmy Breslin.
JESS Â Â Â Â Well, heâs the reason I became a writer, but thatâs not important.
A little pause
.
SALLY Â Â Â Â Harry, you and Marie are both from New Jersey.
MARIE Â Â Â Â Really?
HARRY Â Â Â Â Where are you from?
MARIE Â Â Â Â South Orange.
HARRY Â Â Â Â Haddonfield.
MARIE Â Â Â Â Oh.
They all look at each other
.
Then they look at their menus
.
HARRY Â Â Â Â So what are we going to order?
SALLY Â Â Â Â Iâm going to start with the grilled radicchio.
HARRY Â Â Â Â Jess, Sally is a great orderer. Not only does she always pick the best thing on the menu, but she orders it in a way that even the chef didnât know how good it would be.
Sally shoots Harry a look
.
JESS Â Â Â Â I think restaurants have become too important.
MARIE Â Â Â Â Oh, I agree. âRestaurants are to people in the eighties what theater was to people in the sixties.â I read that in a magazine.
JESS Â Â Â Â I wrote that.
MARIE Â Â Â Â Get outta here.
JESS Â Â Â Â No, I did. I wrote that.
MARIE Â Â Â Â I never quoted anything from a magazine in my life. Thatâs amazing. Donât you think thatâs amazing? And you wrote it?
JESS Â Â Â Â I also wrote, âPesto is the quiche of the
C. J. Box
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