country.
HARDY
Nose picking—it’s about the only industry left.
CASH
Don’t you have any friends?
LOWELL
No.
CASH
What have you done all day?
LOWELL
You know.
CASH
What about that boy who just moved in? That one with the what do you call it—
LOWELL
Weird head? (out) A boy moved to our town. It was a singular experience. No one has moved here since anyone can remember; they only just move out. But he moved in with his family and his weird head. They started a grocery but nobody goes there—ever.
CASH
Don’t say “weird head.”
LOWELL
(to CASH) His ears are too low; have you noticed? Grandpa says it’s from being amphibian. Did you know that we are descended from sea creatures? We’re at the forward end of an evolutionary process, but if something goes haywire in the womb, it’s what happens—a reversion to am-phib-ianism. That’s why you look exactly like a fish before you’re born—because you’re not even a human being yet, just evolving into one, basically.
CASH
A fetus is a human being.
LOWELL
That’s not what Grandpa says.
CASH
Your grandfather is going to Hell.
LOWELL
Hell is completely full.
HARDY
Not even the Pope could get in now.
CASH
Whatever happened to that girl from the apartments? She’s nice.
LOWELL
Her father got arrested.
CASH
He did?
LOWELL
Anyway, their house smells like pee.
CASH
No it doesn’t.
LOWELL
How would you know?
CASH
I just know.
LOWELL
It smells like pee. I’m telling you. All the boys in one room and they all pee the bed; there’s five of them in there. Five boys in one room. You should see it. It’s a dereliction of social mores.
CASH
Is that right?
LOWELL
By the way, is it okay to jack off with another person?
CASH
Oh my God.
LOWELL
Just asking.
CASH
What are you talking about? No it is not okay! It’s not okay.
LOWELL
I thought that would be your reaction. I meant to ask Grandpa, but he won’t discuss sex with me. He says it’s better if I find out on my own through trial and error.
CASH
I can’t talk about this.
LOWELL
That’s alright. I appreciate your candour.
CASH
Candour is not the right word to use, Lowell. Stop eating that peach. Are you doing something that you shouldn’t be doing?
LOWELL
No.
CASH
Then why did you ask about that—business?
LOWELL
I was invited to join a club is all.
CASH
What sort of club?
LOWELL
Just a club.
CASH
Look at me. Come here. Look at me. What do they do in this club?
LOWELL
Mostly they take their clothes off and stuff, but they also play thirty-one and smoke menthols.
CASH
They do not! Who’s in this club?
LOWELL
There’s some guys. And some girls.
CASH
Girls, too?
LOWELL
I don’t know all the exact inside details, Mom. I’m not even an initiate. They told me first I have to pass a series of humiliating personal tests of my character.
CASH
Are kids making you do things you shouldn’t again?
LOWELL
It’s just an innocent blossoming.
CASH
You are not playing cards with a bunch of naked boys and girls. Believe me, there are far more innocent ways of blossoming in this world.
LOWELL
I’m at the sexually curious stage; it’s an awkward and difficult time.
CASH
You’re not at any such stage, young man, any such stage. Sex is for marriage.
LOWELL
