QUENTIN is determined to solve the problem at hand. 

JUSTIN is too.  Perhaps THEY have maps and have rolled up their sleeves.

JOE is in another room.  HE is scrawling madly on a board, writing and reciting and repeating phrases of general guidance.  HE’s trying to work out an equation, possibly with numbers and lines and arrows and functions.  While QUENTIN and JUSTIN are trying to solve something in a way that is (or, that THEY believe to be) rational, HIS ship has sailed.  HE is effectively a madman.

JOE

Find a good job.  Find a great love.  Be bold. 

QUENTIN

I think we’re closer than we’ve ever been.  I feel like all the work is paying off.  We could learn a dance routine.  We could throw a party…

JUSTIN

We could go to more parties…

JOE

Take any job.  Let love find me.  Be cautious. 

QUENTIN

We could build a structure—

JUSTIN

Freestanding?

QUENTIN

—or a sculpture…

JOE

Form over function.  Quit my job.  Follow my dreams. 

JUSTIN

To look at?

QUENTIN

To use.

JOE

Function over form.  Delay my dreams.  Establish a career. 

JUSTIN

We could dress up, pretend to be other people, and say things that other people told us to say.

QUENTIN

We could write the words for other people to say when they dress up and pretend.

JOE

Find a good job.  Find a great girl.  Practice yoga.  Clean my apartment.

QUENTIN

We could put peanut butter in your hair.

JUSTIN

Why?

JOE

[Calling into other room] In case you get gum in it.

JUSTIN

What?

QUENTIN

Peanut butter gets gum out of hair.  Without cutting!  An ounce of peanut butter.

JUSTIN

Even if I got gum in my hair, it wouldn’t be a whole pound.  Besides, I’m allergic to peanut butter.

QUENTIN

Oh.

JUSTIN

And I’m allergic to gum.

QUENTIN

Well, which allergy is worse?

JOE

Be deliberate.  Think things through.  Stick to a philosophy. 

JUSTIN

Are you sure we’re trying as hard as we can?

QUENTIN

I can’t think of anything else besides thinking, building, feeling, creating, sharing, working and experiencing.

JUSTIN

But are we really trying as hard as we can to do those things?

QUENTIN

We’re talking abou—I see your point.

JOE

Act spontaneously.  Don’t over-think.  Be open to new ideas. 

JUSTIN

I mean… you could become the world’s tallest man!  And I could be your manager!

QUENTIN 

I don’t have it in me.

JOE

Don’t say no.  Learn an instrument.  Find a good job.

JUSTIN

Yes you do.  We’ll just make you a lot taller somehow.

JOE

Find a great girl.  Stand out.  Quit my job.

JUSTIN

You’re amazing.  You can do anything you set your mind to.

JOE

Strive for the positive.  Volunteer. 

QUENTIN

I think it makes more sense to learn about the opera.

JOE

Accept that I’m no different than anyone else.  Act with humility.

JUSTIN

Or be in the opera.

JOE

Avoid the negative.  Read the classics.  Act with certainty.

QUENTIN

[Calling] Joe, are you making any progress in there?

JOE

[To HIMSELF, as before]  Find a good job.  Learn to cook.  [Calling]  I think so!  [To HIMSELF]  Take up running. 

JUSTIN

There’s a pattern here we’re just not seeing.  Some combination of words.  Or a number.

  QUENTIN

We don’t need a quick solution.  We’d rather earn it.

JOE

Find a good job.  Eat better.  Give to charity.  Use the past as a guide.

JUSTIN

We could focus on the recent past.

QUENTIN

Everything is the recent past.

JOE

Forget the past.  Look forward.

JUSTIN

You know, none of this seemed to matter that much when I was dating Johanna.

QUENTIN

This still mattered.  She was a distraction.

JUSTIN

She was a person.  It didn’t feel like it didn’t matter.

JOE

Be content with what I have.  Pretend these are my dreams.

QUENTIN

She mattered, but not as much as this.

JOE

Spend more time alone.  Find a good job.  Be tougher.

QUENTIN

There’s only one thing separating us from everything else.

JUSTIN

That wall?

QUENTIN

Two things.

JOE

Be kinder.  Spend more time with friends. 

JUSTIN

We could date each other?

JOE

Find a great guy.

QUENTIN

That’s not funny.

JUSTIN

It’s not supposed to be funny. 

JOE

Take myself more seriously.

JUSTIN

Jesus Christ.

QUENTIN

We already tried him.  And you’re being homophobic.

JOE

Learn to laugh at myself.

JUSTIN

It’s only homophobic if you think it’s funny.

JOE

Take the moral high ground.  Root out homophobia.  Racism.  Hunger.  Poverty Violence Pollution.

QUENTIN

JOE!

JOE

Sorry!  Find a good job.  Find a great love.  Stop pretending I have the moral high ground.

QUENTIN

We’re losing focus.  We’re regressing.  We were just moving forward.

JOE

Be more competitive.  Take control.

JUSTIN

And that’s the direction we want to be moving?

QUENTIN

It is.  It is.

JUSTIN

Are we in this together?  I forget sometimes.

QUENTIN

Of course.  I’m sorry if I let you ever think that that’s not true.

JUSTIN

You mean you’re sorry you try to control what I think.

JOE

Be more collaborative.  Admit I have no control.

QUENTIN

No, I just need you to understand—

JUSTIN

I mean, I can’t even look at you sometimes given how little you’ve done to help cure cancer.

QUENTIN

I can’t even look at you sometimes given how beautiful you are.

JUSTIN

I can’t even—

JOE

Find a good job.  Love myself.  [JOE moves frantically towards a possible answer.]

JUSTIN

—remember that we’re beautiful sometimes.

QUENTIN

We are.

JUSTIN

We are.

QUENTIN

We really are.  I mean, we.  [Everyone]  And we’re close. 

JUSTIN

You think we’re close?

QUENTIN

I think it and feel it and I am currently experiencing it.

JUSTIN

I really hope we’re close.

QUENTIN

[Increasingly optimistic]  I forgot about hope.  [JOE enters]  Do you have something?  [JOE starts to talk.  Music builds to impossible volume.  Blackout.]

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