"Is there someone else?"
"This is not about anyone else. This is about us." "That's
not answering the question." "This is about us."
"It's a yes or no question. Is. . there. . someone. . else?" "No."
"Liar. "Vbu've been coached, haven't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Someone's been coaching you on what to say."
"This is about us. Not about anyone else."
"See? There you go again."
"Why do you have to make this harder?"
"I'm not making it harder. I have to get a cigarette."
"I have to go to sleep. Why won't you let me sleep?"
"You don't deserve to sleep."
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"You haven't done anything right, either."
"Thank you for making Mr. Big a nicer guy."
This was said to Carrie at the end of the closing dinner for the
acquisition of the $80 million golf-clothing manufacturing company. The dinner was held at "21." The statement was made by Keemi Tailon, a non— American investment banker who worked for Goldman, Sachs & Company. He held up his glass of port and made the statement as a sort of toast to Carrie. He was drunk. Mr. Big wasn't. Mr. Big "never got drunk." He said he didn't like to be "out of control." After the statement was made, Mr. Big held Carrie's hand for about twenty seconds. The conversation then moved on to the usual round of jokes.
That was in June, and by then the statement was meaningless almost to the point of being an embarrassment to the two major players.
By then, it was already over.
By then, disgust, self-loathing, and hatred had set in.
By then, the female golf pro was calling, but Mr. Big had yet to say, "I want to be with someone normal. I want to have a normal life."
Because at that point, on the surface, everything seemed status quo. Everything except the weather.