Roger Explains to Faith
What Men See In Delia
(September 1977)(Faith is in the Coleridge kitchen making a sandwich when Roger comes up from his apartment carrying a plate.)
ROGER: I have a piece of bree and a nicely aged piece of Stilton(?). May I come in?
FAITH: (laughing) Oh, Roger, your lifestyle is decadent in the grand sense of the word. I've got bologna and American cheese.
ROGER: Ah, but I'm nursing a broken heart.
FAITH: (with mock self-pity) And, of course, I wouldn't know anything about that. Will you tell me something?
ROGER: As long as it doesn't involve a lady's honor.
FAITH: Ha, ha, ha, it doesn't involve a lady at all! Tell me what it is you and Pat see in Delia?
ROGER: (laughs and grins) Are you sure you want the answer to that question?
FAITH: Besides that!
ROGER: Well, I think what I like most about her is her capacity for joy - her child-like ability to just throw herself into something totally.
FAITH: She's fun to be with?
ROGER: It's incredible. I mean, her enthusiasm - the delight she gets from a new experience - but, you know, beyond that, what I think I like best of all is her honesty.
FAITH: (appalled) Honesty?
ROGER: Absolutely.
FAITH: Do you know what you're saying?
ROGER: Delia's one of the most honest people I've ever met - when she's with me. I mean, she doesn't pretend to be interested in anything that doesn't interest or amuse her. She is so uncomplicatedly self-centered, and I love it.
FAITH: (a bit disappointed) Do you think that's what Pat sees in her?
ROGER: No, he's on a different trip altogether. He's trying to save her from herself.
(He smirks, either at the notion that Pat would want to do that or the notion that he would have any success.)
FAITH: (opening the refrigerator) Well, I don't know how much you've been seeing of her recently.
ROGER: Hardly anything.
FAITH: But I'm wondering if she's alright. According to Mary, she's acting a little...strangely.
ROGER: I wouldn't be surprised if she cracked up. I mean, with the total disapproval she gets from the Ryan family, and she hardly sees Pat anymore...
FAITH: And, if there's a hospital strike, she'll see even less of them.
ROGER: You know, I hope that you're doing everything you can to cool that strike talk.
FAITH: No, I wouldn't say I am.
ROGER: Well, Faith, someone's got to talk sense to those people.
FAITH: I know, but...
JILL: (calling from the other room) Hello, anybody home?
FAITH: Hi, we're in here!
ROGER: Faith, a strike won't do anybody any good.
FAITH: Don't talk to me about it.
(Jill enters the room.)
JILL: There's a teenager in my building named Gloria Tablovski who has been dying to babysit for Edmond, so tonight I decided to take her up on it. I came to see if you were here.
FAITH: Well, here we are. How are you?
JILL: Furious. But, I'm not about to unload it on the two of you. In fact, I would rather talk about anything else. So, what's going on?
ROGER: Well, I was just trying to suggest to Faith that she do everything she can to cool the strike talk, and she refuses.
FAITH: (ignoring him) Would you like some cheese?
JILL: Oh, yes, I would love some. You in favor of the strike?
FAITH: No one's in favor of the doctors going on strike. But I am in favor of the administration responding to the grievances of the House Association.
ROGER: Yeah, especially those grievances that would mean relief for Pat Ryan.
FAITH: (infuriated) Yeah, that's it, Roger. I'm one of those empty-headed females whose whole life is wrapped up in a man. I don't care about excessive hours, or impossible workloads, or less-that-perfect patient care - there's not one thought in my mind except about a man!
ROGER: (smug) Such a reaction, I must have hit close to home.
FAITH: No, it's just that I think you confused me with Delia there for a minute. She's the one who's got her whole life centered around Pat, not me! (the phone rings) Your phone is ringing!
ROGER: Right, well you two just stay here and I'll be back up to finish it, okay?
FAITH: I'll be right here.
(He goes back downstairs, and Jill proceeds to go off on one of her tirades, this time about Seneca.)