ISHTAR: "Why not? I mean, from the standpoint of the baby..."
TONY: But of course, that was a way of saying, there's nothing wrong with us that we need to patch up, we can go ahead any time, confidently, in our own due time, we'll make this baby... In fact, even before I mentioned buying the boat - it was a terrific piece of luck, this boat coming along, one terrific buy - even before I mentioned buying the boat, I brought up the matter of the baby, I said, why the fuck don't you stop taking those goddam pills for a while, baby, just to see what happens? Or: Dammit why don't you stop taking those fucking pills for a while, and let's see what happens? Or maybe I said: You think you could stop taking those goddam pills for a while, baby? Laughing, of course, and she laughed, she laughed as if it had been the best joke I'd ever made. And did she stop them pills!
Nothing happened.
Nothing.
So, we keep fucking. And fucking. And fucking.
And God did we fuck!
And I get the boat. I get it refurbished. I keep fucking, for once with a purpose. Ever fucked with a purpose? You mean - fucking is it's own purpose. True. But, you know, with a goal, a goal to keep you going... I wouldn't want to do it that way for the rest of my life, but it brings a change... So... nothing...
So, enter Dr Levenson. Looks like we're not going to have a cheap baby, looks like almost everybody we know, it's going to cost us a little bit more effort and money, that's because we're doing well, and we feel better if it costs a little bit more, I don't mind, I mean, compared with the price of a boat... you're kidding...
So, fertility treatment for Ishtar... they call this fertility treatment... It's just a matter of setting this awesome force going...
Fertility makes me thing of goddesses hung all-over with the balls of bulls, in the depth of temples, with torches burning. But Ishtar is a goddess, I always thought of her as of a goddess, I can see in my very private dreams my wife hung to her toes with the balls of sacrificed bulls, when we enter a restaurant, and all the men and all the women look at her, that's what I think of, that's why they look up from their plates like scared rabbits - it's just a matter of getting this awesome force, fertility, going - something to start the reaction, and in a way, I don't feel bad about that, I feel a certain kind of relief knowing that it needs a trigger, that it's in some kind of control, even professional control... My Dad's a doctor... It's alright with me, it's in a way highly reassuring, but I'm getting off my topic... what I wanted to talk to you about...
ISHTAR: Me, hung with the severed testicles of bulls like the statue of Artemis in Ephesus...
TONY: Is that where it was? You know everything, love... Sumptuously hung with the balls of bulls, the beginning of all jewelry - her granddad was a jeweler, in the Diamond District...
ISHTAR: In my hands I've held a rube the size of a pigeon egg. Grandpa kept it in his safe. When I was good, Grandpa couldn't think of anything better to reward me with than taking me to his study where his safe was and say: do you want to hold the ruby, bubbele? That's how he called me...
TONY: That means 'baby' in Yiddish. My parents are Italian, I mean, my grandparents were - we talk to children differently...
ISHTAR: So, before taking the fertility treatment, I had a check up...
TONY: She had a check-up...
ISHTAR (gets up): And they found a lump in my left breast and they said -- the doctor who read the ultrasound looked at me and said, he was East Indian, it's not accurate enough to decide whether it's malignant or not, it's probably nothing, but I think we must make a biopsy, we just want to make sure... Because, Dr Levenson said, your breasts are going to be very stressed by the fertility treatment, you see... We just want to make sure, because, we must, to be absolutely sure... so that we can be sure...
TONY (gets up): It's probably nothing... it's probably nothing... it's nothing... It's going to be alright, Ishtar, love... A has had one done, B has had one done, Mom, Mom has had one done, my cousin Sally, my cousin Molly, my secretary, everybody has had a goddam biopsy, nothing ever shows up on these biopsies, it's just a hell of a way of scaring everybody, they just want to make sure, we want to make absolutely sure, because we can't live without knowing, we are made this way, and then it turns out it's nothing, look at your breasts, Ishtar, look at those breasts, in the mirror, those breasts in my hands, there is nothing wrong with these breasts, how could there ever be anything wrong with these your perfect breasts, Ishtar, your perfectly matched and beautiful breasts, so beautiful they make one cry... Oh, don't cry love, listen, it's some stuff doctors have invented to make money, there's never anything wrong showing up - stop crying, listen, let's get it over with as quickly as possible, let's not wait, I can't wait either for Christ's sake! Let's know right away, and then we'll be at peace again... Think how good we'll feel, then, and then let's go ahead with -- okay, we'll wait a little, and then you can have the fertility treatment... and meanwhile we'll keep fucking...
ISHTAR: I can't say... How do you know...
TONY: Believe me... God, have a look at your breasts... things show up in the breasts all the time... you told me so yourself... God knows what this might be... something to scare us... nothing to worry...
ISH: Stop telling me not to worry, I'm worried... I cannot not worry, I cannot not worry... And there will be a scar...
TONY: A scar is beautiful... a little scar...
ISHTAR: I don't care if it's beautiful... I don't want it... I cannot not worry...
TONY: God, I love your breasts, Ishtar, I love your breasts...
ISHTAR: I don't want it... Tony... I don't want it... (she runs away).
TONY (alone, silent; then shouting): I DON'T WANT THIS FUCKING BOAT...
Darkness.