DONNIE (male, 40s)

Magnolia

by Paul Thomas Anderson

(to Brad the barman)

I love you. I love you and I’m sick. I’ll talk to you… I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’m getting corrective oral surgery tomorrow. For my teeth. For my teeth and for you. For you so we can speak. You have braces. Me too. Me too. I’m getting braces, too. For you. For you, dear Brad. And I don’t have any money. And I don’t have any money now… But I’ll get it… I will for you Brad. And I love you, Brad. Brad the bartender… you wanna love me back? Love me back and I’ll be good to you. I’ll be damn good for you. And I won’t be mad if you don’t know who said what. I won’t punish you if you get the answer wrong. I can teach and tell you: Samuel Johnson. Brad I know you don’t love me now- And you wanna know the common element for the entire group, like he asks… I’ll tell you the answer: I’ll tell you, ‘cause I had that question. I had that same question… carbon. In pencil led, it’s in the form of graphite and coal, it’s all mixed up with other impurities and in the diamond it’s in hard form. “Well… all we were asking was the common element, Donnie… but thank you for all that unnecessary knowledge… ahhh, kids! Full of useless thoughts, eh?” Thank you. Thank you. And the book says: “We may be through with the past but the past is not through with us.” And NO IT’S NOT DANGEROUS TO CONFUSE CHILDREN WITH ANGELS.

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