Look, he even spells out “at!”
Interior, Bistro, Lower Manhattan.
Hal Hartley (early-fifties, laid-back but troubled) sits and frowns at a page deep in the middle of Roberto Belano’s The Savage Detectives. He turns over a page, finishes a chapter, and removes his reading glasses. He contemplates his double espresso. Meanwhile, to his left three casually well-dressed young executives continue a heated discussion…
CHET: It’s outrageous!
LOLA: Let me see.
Chet holds out his mobile device and shows Lola a text message. Their friend, Kurt, paces nearby, scheming distractedly.
CHET: Why text “would you like to meet for drinks at seven?
KURT (stops and turns): Did he spell “seven” or just use a number?
LOLA: He spells it out!
CHET: Now that’s just verbose.
KURT (his suspicions confirmed): Or worse!
LOLA: “Drinks at numeral seven question mark” is like I guess beneath his dignity? Look, he even spells out “at!”
KURT: (fatigued) This is more complicated than I thought.
Hartley decides it’s probably a good time to evaporate. He leaves some bills on the small table and heads for the door with his book. Lola notices him and grabs Chet’s arm…
LOLA: Hey, is that?
CHET: You mean?
LOLA: The guy who made, oh, you know, what’s it called?
KURT: You mean with the girl and the book and the guy from the television repair shop?
LOLA: Something like that. It’s unimportant, really. I was moved, true. But I was young.
* This week Hal Hartley started a blog in the form of a screenplay charting his fictional adventures in the all-too-real world: action, adventure, romance, endless digression, furious debate, shameless self-promotion…