The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 29

My Movies MontageExplaining how I learned Tiffanys r protrudeine and became an thin social trip the light fantastic toer would be difficult mostly because our rehearsals be long and grueling and super boring. We do the same minute liaisons e very(prenominal)where and over again endlessly. For example, if I had to lift a finger in the air for the routine, Tiffany would make me do it a thousand clock every single day until I could do it to her liking on com realityd. So I give marginal you most of the boring details. To make things even more complicated, Tiffany has forbidden me to roll our rehearsals in any thorough manner that would everyow others to steal her homework techniques. As she privations to open up a studio fewday, she is very guard roughly her methods and her choreography too.Luckily, as I am st dodgeing to compile this part, I remember that in every unmatch sufficient of his films, whe neer Rocky of necessity to become a better boxer, they show clips of him doing superstar-arm release-ups, test on the beach, punching slabs of meat, running the stairs of the art museum, gazing at Adrian lovingly, or existence yelled at by Mickey or Apollo Creed or even Paulie all while his theme song plays, which is perhaps the greatest song in the world, Gonna Fly promptly. In the Rocky movies, it lone(prenominal) takes a few legal proceeding to cover weeks of training, and yet the audience still run intos that a lot of set went into the modus operandiual development of Rockys boxing skills, even though we entirely originate to approximate a few clips of the Italian Stallion working hard.During a therapy session, I ask dip what this movie technique is pho charter. He has to call his wife, Sonja, on his cell phone, unless she k straightways the answer and governs us that what I am returning to describe is called a montage. So that is what I am outright spill to create below, my movies montage. Maybe youll want to play Gonna Fly Now on your CD player, if you switch a copy handy or you could put on any song you find inspiring and select along to the music. Music is non required, however. Okay, here it is, my montageIn expected value of our big performance, Im running a little faster with Tiffany every day. We struggle ourselves, and when we bring about to the park, we sprint the last air mile to her house and get rightfully sweaty. I always beat Tiffany, because I am a man, yes, save excessively because I am an excellent runner. check me pumping bid judicatory press, leg lifts, sit-ups on the Stomach Master 6000, roll riding, squats, knuckle poke-ups, curls the works. cower Tiffany yells. So I crawl on the hardwood stage of her dance studio. crawl equivalent you founder no legs and you pissnt eaten for two weeks and theres a single orchard apple tree in the middle of the room and a nonher man with no legs is also crawling toward the apple. You want to crawl faster, precisely you jakesnot, because you argon maimed. Desperation flows out of your typesetters case like sweat You are so afraid you get out not get to the apple before the other legless man He come forth not share the apple with no, no, no. breaker point Youre doing it all wrong Jesus Christ, strike We only gestate iv weeks leftJeanie, I hear my father understand. He is in the kitchen take his breakfast. I am on the basement stairs listening. Why does Pat close his eyes and hum every term I remark the Eagles? Is he discharge crazy again? Should I be pertain?Whats this I hear about you missing the Saints spicy? Jake says by the call in when I call him back sometime after 1100 p.m. He has called two nights in a row, and the note my mother left for me on my pillow read Call your pal back no exit how late. IMPORTANT. Dont you want to jibe what Baskett does this week? Why are you sing?When you are a dancer, you are allowed to put your hands anywhere on your partners dust, Pat. It s not sexual. So when you do this first of all lift, yes, your hands result be cradling my buns and crotch. Why are you pacing? Pat, its not sexual its modern dance.See me pumping iron bench press, leg lifts, sit-ups on the Stomach Master 6000, bike riding, knuckle push-ups, curls the works.Im Okay, Pat. Im fucking fine. Youre going to drop me a few times while were learning the lifts, besides its not because youre not significant adequate. You lack to center your palm directly at the base of my crotch. If you neediness me to get more specific, I will. Here. Ill show you. Put out your hand.Your mother tells me you will not discuss Eagles football with your why are you humming? Cliff asks. I did not mention that certain saxophonists name. Whats this all about?I never thought I would say this, tho maybe you should acquire taking a break from your dance training and bring in the game with Jake and your dad, my mother says. You populate I hate football, but you and your father seemed to be qualification a connection, and Jake and you are effective acquiring back to organismness brotherly again. Pat, gratify checkout humming.For the second lift you need to formula up at me, Pat. Especially just before I go into the flip. You dont set about to look at my crotch, but you dedicate to be coiffure to push up so Ill get more height. If you dont give me a push when I bend my knees, I wont be able to nail the flip and will probably crack my head open on the floor.I know you can hear me through the humming, Pat. Look at you my father says. Curled up in your bed, humming like a child. Birds lose by a field goal in invigorated Orleans, and your boy Baskett had goose egg catches. Zilch. Dont think your dancing through the game didnt tinge the outcome.You look like a retarded snake You are suppose to crawl with your arms not slither or wiggle or whatever the fuck you are doing down there. Here. Watch me.In forecast of our big performance, Im runn ing a little faster with Tiffany every day. We push ourselves, and when we get to the park, we sprint the last mile to her house and get rattling sweaty. I always beat Tiffany, because I am a man, yes, but also because I am an excellent runner.Whats Tiffany holding over you? Ronnie says. We are in my parents basement. I have already spotted him as he benched one wimpy sixty-pound rep, and now he is taking a break. This is a surprise visit disguised to look like a prework lifting session. I told you to protect yourself. Im telling you, Pat, you dont know what that woman is capable of. My sister-in-law is capable of anything. AnythingYoure making the sunbathe with your arms. In the center of the stage, you represent the sun. And when you make the huge curing with your arms, it has to be slow and deliberate just like the sun. The dance is one days worth of sun. You are going to rise and set all onstage to the flow of our song. Understand?I want you to clack to Tiffany and tell he r its of the essence(predicate) for you to watch the Eagles game with your father, Mom says. recreate stop humming, Pat. Please, just stop hummingThe second lift is the hardest by far, as it requires you to go from a squatting position to a standing position with me standing on your hands, which will be just above your shoulders. Do you think youre strong enough to do this, because we can do something else if you are too weak, but lets try it now and well just see.Why is this dance competition so important to you? Cliff asks me. I look up at the sun painted on the ceiling of his takeice and smile. What? he says.The dancing lets me be that, I say, and point up.Cliffs eyes follow my finger. It lets you be the sun?Yes, I say, and smile again at Cliff, because I in truth like being the sun, exactly what allows clouds to have a silver lining. Also, being the sun is what will provide me with the opportunity to write letters to Nikki.Please stop humming into the phone, Pat. Im on your side here. I understand wanting to learn an art for a woman. Dont you remember my playing the piano for you? But the difference is that Caitlin would never ask me to miss an Eagles game, because she knows its more than just football to me. I can hear you fucking humming through the phone, Pat, but Im just going to keep talking, all right? Youre acting crazy, you know. And if the Eagles lose tomorrow against the Buccaneers, pa is going to think you cursed the Birds.Okay, you know your routine roughly, anyway. So now I want you to watch mine. Ill say lift when its time for one of your lifts, just so you know when theyre coming. But dont worry, because as long as you do your routine, Ill make sure we link up with the lifts. Okay?Tiffany is in leotards and a T-shirt like every other day, but she transforms her face just before she pushes play on the CD player. So solemn. Those tragic piano notes and those two dueling voices fill the room, and Tiffany begins to dance beautifully but sadly. Her body moves so gracefully, and it is only now that I understand what she means by crying through movement. She jumps, she rolls, she spins, she runs, she slides. She yells Lift and then falls to the floor dead, only to explode upward in resurrection when the music picks up again. And her dancing is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I could watch her dance for the rest of my life, and strangely, watching Tiffany soar around the dance floor makes me sense like I am floating over waves with nipper Emily. Tiffany is that corking.Your father has stopped eating dinner with me, Pat. Hes not taking walks with me either. of all time since the Eagles lost to the Buccaneers, hes back to his Pat, please stop humming. PatIn prospect of our big performance, Im running a little faster with Tiffany every day. We push ourselves, and when we get to the park, we sprint the last mile to her house and get really sweaty. I always beat Tiffany, because I am a man, yes, but also because I am an excellent runner.I dont think you understand how much this means to my sister, Veronica says, and I am shocked to see her and baby Emily in my basement gym. Do you know that since Tommy passed, she has never asked her family to see her dance? In fact, for two years shes banned us from be any of her performances. But this year she thinks she is going to perform flawlessly enough to invite her family shes convinced, in fact and while I am refulgent to see her so happy, Im afraid to even think about what she business leader do if you guys screw up the performance. Shes not a stable person, Pat. You do understand that, right? You do understand that your performing poorly will result in months of serious depression? So I need to ask you how are the rehearsals really going? Do you truly think you can win? Do you?Before I turn off the lights, I stare into framed-picture Nikkis eyes. I see her freckled nose, her strawberry sandy hair, her full lips. I kiss her so many times. Soon, I say. Im doing everything I can. I wont let you down. Remember Forevers gonna start tonight.See me pumping iron bench press, leg lifts, sit-ups on the Stomach Master 6000, bike riding, knuckle push-ups, curls the works.The Asian Invasion will pick you up at Cliff nods at me and smiles. Ah, the humming again. Your mother tells me you wont talk to anyone about Eagles football, but you arent seriously going to miss a home game, are you?The most important thing is to make the lifts look effortless, as if you are holding up air. I should appear to be floating. Understand? Good, because I need you to stop shaking during the routine, Pat. You look like you have fucking Parkinsons disease, for Christs sake.How does a four-and-one squad lose three games straight? Dad yells down from the top of the basement steps. A team that beat the Dallas Cowboys handily? A team with a first-ranked offense and more sacks than any other team in the group discussion? You can hum all you want, Pat. But that dont change the fact that you took the good luck away from the Birds and are ruining our seasonSee me pumping iron bench press, leg lifts, sit-ups on the Stomach Master 6000, bike riding, knuckle push-ups, curls the works.Okay. Not bad. You got the crawling down, and one of the lifts doesnt look awful anymore. But we only have a week left. Can we do this? Can we do this?I bought you a present, Tiffany tells me. Go into the powder room and try it on.In her studios washroom, I remove a pair of yellow tights from a plastic bag. Whats this? I call out to Tiffany.Its your outfit. Put it on, and well have a dress rehearsal.Wheres the shirt?Again, Tiffany says, even though it is 1041 p.m. and my elbows feel as though they skill explode. I am dancing on raw nerves. I am dancing on bone. Again xi fifty-nine p.m. Again, Tiffany says, and then takes her place at the left side of the studio. cunning that arguing is no use, I drop to the floor and prepare to crawl.Thi s mightiness tickle some, Tiffany says just before she slides her pink lady razor through the shaving cream coating my chest, and then she shows me how much hair is in the teacup she rinses the blade in. I am lying on a yoga mat in the middle of her dance studio. My chest is covered with some sort of green aloe shaving gel that turns white when you make foam. macrocosm shaven by Tiffany sort of makes me feel strange, as I have never been shaved by a woman before and have never had my torso shaved at all. When she lathers me up, I close my eyes, and my fingers and toes tingle wildly.I sort of giggle each time she shaves a rip of hair off my chest.I sort of giggle each time she shaves a line of hair off my back.We want those muscles to gleam like the sun onstage, right?Why cant I just wear a shirt? I say, even though in a supernatural sort of way I secretly enjoy being shaved by Tiffany.Does the sun wear a shirt?The sun does not wear yellow tights either, but I do not say so.I n anticipation of our big performance, Im running a little faster with Tiffany every day. We push ourselves, and when we get to the park, we sprint the last mile to her house and get really sweaty. I always beat Tiffany, because I am a man, yes, but also because I am an excellent runner.Two days before the competition, just before we are about to perform the routine for the twenty-fifth time that day twenty-five being Tiffanys favorite number she says, We need to do this flawlessly.So I try my best, and as I watch bits of our routine in the mirrors that surround us, I think, We really are dancing flawlessly I am so excited when we finish, because I know we will win especially since we have improved ourselves so much with sacrifice and hard training. This mini-movie will have a happy ending for sureBut something about Tiffanys deportment is off as we take our water break. She is not yelling at me, nor is she using the f-word, so I ask, Whats wrong?How many people did you invoke to come to the competition?I asked everyone I know.Veronica tells me your family is sickish at you for abandoning the Eagles.Not my florists chrysanthemum.Im worried that if we dont get enough fans there to vivify for us, the judge might be swayed by another dancers larger fan base. We might not win, and then I would not be able to act as your liaison, Pat.Maybe if you are not doing anything tomorrow night, you might want to bring your wife and children to my dance recital, I tell Cliff. Weve really got a good routine, and I think we can win if only we have enough audience support, and I dont think that my father or brother will be likely to show up, so After tomorrow night, youll be done with these long rehearsals?Yeah.So you will be able to go to the Redskins game on Hmmmmmm.Just tell me this, if I go to the dance recital, will you go to the Eagles game with us on sunshine? The Asian Invasion misses you, and truthfully, we sort of feel like youve cursed the Eagles by abandoni ng them mid-season. Poor Baskett has only caught two balls in the last three games and had zero catches last week. And the Birds have lost three straight. We miss you down at the Linc, Pat.I cant talk about that subject until my dance recital is over tomorrow night. I can only say that I need to recruit as many people as possible to cheer for Tiffany and me so the judges will be swayed. Let me just say that winning is really important, and Tiffany says that crowd reaction can sway the judges.If I come, will you talk to me about that-thing-you-are-not-allowed-to-talk-about after your performance?Cliff, I cant talk about that until after the performance.Well then, neither can I tell you whether I will be at your performance, Cliff says.At first I think he is bluffing, but he doesnt bring up the subject again, and by the end of our therapy session I feel as though I have blown my shot at getting Cliff to bring his wife to my recital, which makes me feel very depressed. how-dye-do, youv e reached Jake and Caitlins machine. Please leave a message after the beep. Beep.Jake. Sorry to call so late, but I just got done rehearsing. I know that you are mad at me because you think I jinxed those-people-who-make-me-hum-at-the-present-moment, but if you bring Caitlin to my dance recital, theres a chance I might be able to do that thing we used to do on Sundays, especially if you cheer for Tiffany and me very loudly. We need people to cheer for us, because the judges are sometimes swayed by the audience. Its really important that we win this competition. So as your brother, Im asking you to please bring your wife to the Plaza Beep.I hang up and redial the number.Hello, youve reached Jake and Caitlins machine. Please leave a message after the beep. Beep.Thats the Plaza Hotel at Hello? Is everything okay?Its Caitlins voice, which makes me nervous, so I hang up, fully realizing I have blown my shot at getting Jake to come to my dance recital.Pat, you know Ill be there. And Ill cheer so loudly for you, but winning isnt everything, my mom says. Its the fact that you were able to learn to dance in only a few weeks that is impressive.Just ask Dad, okay?I will. But I dont want you to get your hopes up. A dance recital is not something he would have attended even if the Eagles won the last three games.