Bucky and Faith Discuss "WASP Inhibitions"
(January 1977)(Faith is sitting in the hallway of the hospital, filling out a chart and obviously distracted, when Bucky comes through the door looking ready to fall over from exhaustion. He sits down next to her.)
FAITH: Oh, hi.
BUCKY: Can I sleep on your shoulder?
FAITH: (tries to laugh) Right this minute?
BUCKY: For the next hour. I am so tired I don't even know where I am. I checked on the Peterson boy, the petit mal - he looks better than I do.
FAITH: (looking him over) As a matter of fact, he does.
BUCKY: (laughs) Listen, he'll outgrow his problem, I may not survive mine.
FAITH: Hey, doctor, you're not getting enough sleep.
BUCKY: I'm not getting enough anything, honey. (they laugh) I take that back. So, how are you.
FAITH: I'm alright.
BUCKY: Really? I mean with, uh...
FAITH: I love Pat and I'm willing to do whatever I can to help him say no to Delia's emotional blackmail.
BUCKY: Well, that's a very grown-up attitude.
FAITH: Well, with Delia in the picture, we don't need another childish reaction. I've thought about it and I've come to the conclusion that, if this is Pat's baby, he has to take responsibility for it and I have to accept that, no matter what form it takes. I've told Pat that if he wants us to bring it up or wants to share in the raising of it, then that's okay with me.
BUCKY: You're willing to take on the baby?
FAITH: If that's what Pat wants.
BUCKY: That's quite an offer.
FAITH: Well, I have to make it as easy as I can for him to extract himself from Delia's clutches. Then, if he can't, he's more attached to her than I'd like to think - or he wants to admit.
BUCKY: God, you just sound so clinical about it.
FAITH: I'm trying to be rational about it, that's all.
BUCKY: Well, aren't you mad?
FAITH: At whom?
BUCKY: At Pat, at Delia.
FAITH: Yeah, I guess so. Sure.
BUCKY: You don't act like it.
FAITH: I can't go around having tantrums all over the place.
BUCKY: It doesn't hurt?
FAITH: Yes. It hurts.
BUCKY: You know, I wouldn't bring this up if I weren't exactly the same way. It's all those...WASP inhibitions, all that self-control. You know, if there's one phrase that's imprinted on my brain, it's my mother looking at me quite quizzically and saying, "Buckminster, please, we can't continue until you get some self-control!"
FAITH: (smiles) "A lady doesn't raise her voice."
BUCKY: "It is not necessary to inflict your temper on other people."
FAITH: "Modulate your laughter, darling, that was a screech!"
BUCKY: Even better, uhm, "Men don't cry."
(She nods.)
BUCKY: You should be feeling more, Faith.
FAITH: (vulnerable) I do feel things. It's just that I have a hard time showing them.
BUCKY: Like everyone else - except the Ryans.
FAITH: Oh, yeah, the Ryans aren't like us, thank God. (smiles) It was Frank who taught Jill how to open up, and Pat... (on the verge of tears, puts her hand on her throat) I'm sorry, I...I can't talk.
BUCKY: Oh, come on, don't hold back, that's what's wrong.
FAITH: (crying) I know expressing feelings is good for you, but I'm still not very good at it.
BUCKY: That's what we're supposed to be learning, you and I.
(He puts his arm around her and she breaks down, crying on his shoulder.)
FAITH: Is this better?
BUCKY: (nods) Much better.
FAITH: Oh, there's gonna be a flood of tears in bed tonight.
BUCKY: Punch your pillow. Pretend it's Delia.
FAITH: Thanks for doing this. I needed it.
BUCKY: It's my pleasure.
FAITH: She's not gonna get him, Bucky. You'll see.
BUCKY: Yeah.
FAITH: (as if convincing herself as well as him) He'll see through her. Just wait.
(The next scene is Delia putting on perfume and then taking a bottle full of painkillers, just in time for Pat to come and rescue her.)