Eyes Wide Shut.

BILL
Well, I suppose that most women are
programmed differently from men
ALICE
Oh, yes, I forgot. Millions of years of
evolution - right? Men have to put
their sperm into as many women as
they can, but women stay at home
with pretty pink things and take care of
the children?
BILL
A bit oversimplified but something like
that.
A dispirited smile passes over her face.
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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
BILL doesn't say anything but there is a scornful expression around his
mouth.
The phone rings.