Free The Failure by James Greer

Ed Wood.

23. GUY AND VIOLET RESPLENDENT IN THE FULMINANT GLORY OF THEIR LOVE, LYING ON THE BED IN VIOLET’S APARTMENT THE ONE NIGHT SHE TOOK HIM TO HER APARTMENT, FIVE OR POSSIBLY SIX DAYS BEFORE THE KOREAN CHECK-CASHING FIASCO

    H ad we but world enough, and time, I’d explain the starry sky into a glass of wine we both could drink, and understand.
    -You’re an ass.
    -There’s a difference between borrowing and stealing.
    -It’s not my ambition to be some kind of gangster’s moll. You’re not Clyde. I’m definitely not Bonnie. Stealing and killing don’t turn me on.
    -I can start with a line from Marvell, but if I change its meaning and context, and finish it with an original thought of my own, that’s borrowing. What’s the phrase? Genius borrows, less-than-genius steals. Obviously that’s a paraphrase.
    -The odds of you getting caught are extremely high. Especially with Billy.
    -What’s wrong with Billy?
    -You mean besides the fact he’s an idiot?
    -Okay.
    -Okay what , okay?
    -Okay, yes, he’s an idiot. But he’s not a drunk, or a junkie, or… He’s a good kid. He’s just… he gets things mixed up.
    -At least a junkie’s motivated. At least a junkie has to learn how to be smart, to steal without getting caught.
    -Billy will be fine. It’s not like he actually has to do anything.
    -Billy not doing anything doesn’t scare me. Billy doing something scares me. And he’s perfectly capable of doing something. That’s the problem.
    -That’s one of the problems. The other is you simply don’t trust me.
    -I trust you with some things. I don’t trust you with this.
    -But the definition of love is trust. Mutual trust.
    -The definition of love, Guy, is love.
    -Why won’t you marry me?
    -Because you’re not serious. And if you were serious I wouldn’t hang out with you.
    -I’m serious as a kitten with a beach ball.
    -You need to call off this stupid plan.
    -Too late. Wheels are in motion. As we speak, there are literally wheels turning.
    -If you don’t call it off I might be forced to take drastic action.
    -All action is drastic. It’s just a question of timing.
    -And you’re incapable of taking anything seriously. Because you’re afraid.
    -I suppose that’s true. But I don’t suppose it matters.
    -Why?
    -Because I can’t do anything about it.

24. BILLY EXPLAINS TO GUY, SITTING IN THE BAR, THE ABSENCE OF GREGORY, WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET THEM AT THE BAR, WHICH HE MANAGES, TO DISCUSS DRIVING THE GETAWAY CAR, THREE DAYS BEFORE THE KOREAN CHECK-CASHING FIASCO

    I t’s complicated. He thinks his wife and daughter have been replaced by imposters.
    -Have they?
    -I think that’s something only Gregory would know.
    -Because he’s the only one who knows them well enough.
    -There’s that too.
    -Okay, you’re holding something back.
    -Gregory’s an enlightened person. He has… certain insights.
    -Insights.
    -He’s connected to higher energies than you and me. He gets messages. Important messages. Save-the-planet kind of important.
    -Gregory has information that can save the planet.
    -I believe that to be possible.
    -You believe anything to be possible. You’re a believer. Your name should be Believee, The Boy Who Believes.
    -I’m credulous, it’s true. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad.
    -Of course you don’t. Believee. Note that down somewhere for a T-shirt idea. We need more T-shirt ideas. The Boy Who Believes.
    -He’s got these wedding photos he carries around, and then some current photos, and he makes you look at both sets, and he won’t let up until you agree that the woman in the current photos is clearly a duplicate. And really, by the time you’re done looking, it seems somehow… plausible.
    -What’s the thinking behind this?
    -What do you mean?
    -Well, why would someone replace his family with imposters?
    -I think he thinks it’s to distract him from his mission.
    -I thought his mission was to drive the getaway car for us.
    -Not that mission.
    -Although I’m starting to