ALICE Oh, if you men only knew.
The look in her eyes changes, becoming cool and impenetrable, and BILL allows her hands to slip from his.
BILL If we knew -? What do you mean by that?
ALICE (in a strangely harsh voice) About what you imagine, my dear.
BILL Hey, Alice, hey, look at me... The truth. Is there something you've kept from me?
ALICE looks down with a strange smile.
BILL (laughs) You're just trying to wind me up.
ALICE If you say so.
BILL If I say so? Wait a minute. I'm not going to let you get away with that... Seriously... Is there's something you haven't told me?
ALICE stops short of saying something.
BILL Say it.
ALICE nods.
ALICE Well, last summer at Cape Cod - I don't suppose you remember one night in the dining room, there was a young Naval officer sitting near us. He was with two other officers.
BILL As a matter of fact, I don't But what about him?
ALICE The waiter brought him a message during dinner, at which point he left the table?
Bill waits for her to continue.
ALICE Well...I first saw him that morning in the lobby. He was checking in and he was following the bellboy with his luggage to the elevator.
He glanced at me as he walked past but didn't stop until he had gone a few more steps. Then he turned and looked at me.
He didn't say anything. He didn't smile. In fact, it seemed to me that he scowled. Maybe I did the same thing.
ALICE stops for a moment.
ALICE I was very stirred by him. That whole day I lay on the beach, lost in dreams.
She stops.
BILL Go on.
ALICE thinks about how to continue.
BILL stares at her.
ALICE That afternoon you and I made love and talked about our future, and our child.
Later we were sitting on the balcony and he passed below us without looking up.
Just the sight of him stirred me deeply and I thought if he wanted me, I could not have resisted. I thought I was ready to give up you, the child, my whole future.
And yet at the same time - if you can understand it - you were dearer to me than ever, and I stroked your forehead and kissed your hair, and at that moment my love for you was both tender and sad.
At dinner I wore a white rose and you said I was very beautiful. It might not have been just an accident that he and his friends sat near us.
He didn't look up but I actually considered getting up, walking over to him and like someone in a movie, saying, 'Here I am, my love, for whom I have waited - take me.'
Well, it was about then that the waiter brought him the envelope. He read it, turned pale, said goodbye to his friends - and glancing at me mysteriously, he left the room.
ALICE stops for a moment.
ALICE I barely slept that night and woke up the next morning very agitated. I didn't know whether I was afraid that he had left or that he might still be there... But by dinner I realised he was gone and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Long silence
BILL And if he hadn't left?
Alice doesn't reply.
ALICE I don't know.
(αγαπημένη μου ταινία, αγαπημένη μου σκηνή...)
