Mary and Max (2009)

Scene 3

(In university, Mary publishes her book on Asperger’s syndrome and uses Max as her case study. She sends the book to Max and expressed her hope: to cure it one day. But Max doesn’t take the news well at all.)

Max: Dear Mary Daisy Dinkle, I cannot express myself very clearly at this moment and so I will list my emotions in the order they feel most intense – hurt, confuzzledness, betrayal, discomfort, distress and wheeziness. This last one is not really an emotion, but I thought you should know about it anyway.
Narrator: With her suitcase packed for New York, Mary said goodbye to Damian. She hadn’t been this excited since she’d found a Noblet in the gutter. But her excitement suddenly dribbled away (4) like a chocolate in the sun.
Mary slowly sank into a puddle of depression, self-loathing and cooking sherry. The only color left in her life was her beloved Damian, only an arm’s length away but as distant as the moon.
She lost interest in the world and it lost interest in her as a horrible apparition began to haunt. She started to spend her nights making pompoms and eating two-minute noodles. Each day, with strength and shame, Mary trudged to the letterbox in hope, only to swivel, shrivel and slink back inside.
Damian: My dearest Mary, by the time you read this, I will be on a plane to New Zealand to begin a new life. You probably haven’t even noticed I’d packed my bags. I have fallen in love with my pen friend, Desmond, and I’m going to live on his sheep farm.
It’s been hard to watch you become a remnant of the person I once loved. Your research into m-m-mental illness has been admirable, but your i-idealistic pursuit to remedy it has been misguided. Mary, you have to realize y-you are not a magic beauty cream you can smooth on the world to rid it of (5) its wrinkles.
I love you, Mary, but I love Desmond more. I hope one day your heart will heal and we can be friends. Yours compassionately, Damian.

Vocabulary

1. At one point: For a time
2. Take somebody by the throat: to have a controlling grip
3. Ache to: yearn to
4. Dribble away: to ebb away or vanish slowly
5. Rid of: to remove or do away with.

(By Zhang Dongya)