so when it comes to anything complicated about the boy, she deflects to her husband, who seems
to always be in a good mood, and who is totally patient, no matter how badly Oscar behaves.
Things become harder on September 11, 2001 because Oscar’s father is attending a breakfast
meeting in the restaurant on the top floor of the South Tower.
Thomas Schell is lost in the
tragedy.
From that point on, the job of raising Oscar is falling upon the shoulders of Oscar’s
mother.
Daytime:
Oscar
is riding in the back of a long black limousine.
It is actually a funeral limo, and
this is the day of the funeral for Oscar’s father, Thomas.
Oscar, thinking:
So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were built down?
They could be underneath
the skyscrapers for living people that are built up. You could bury people one hundred
floors down, and a whole dead world could be underneath the living one. Sometimes
I think it would be weird if there were a skyscraper that moved up and down while its
elevator stayed in place. So if you wanted to go to the ninety-fifth floor, you'd just press
the 95 button and the ninety-fifth floor would come to you. Also, that could be extremely
useful, because if you're on the ninety-fifth floor, and a plane hits below you, the building
could take you to the ground, and everyone could be safe, even if you left your birdseed
shirt at home that day.
I've only been in a limousine twice ever. The first time was terrible, even though the limousine
was wonderful. I'm not allowed to watch TV at home, and I'm not allowed to
watch TV in limousines either, but it was still neat that there was a TV there. I asked if we
could go by school, so Toothpaste and The Minch could see me in a limousine. Mom said
that school wasn't on the way, and we couldn't be late to the cemetery. 'Why not?' I asked,
which I actually thought was a good question, because if you think about it, why not?
Even though I'm not anymore, I used to be an atheist, which means I didn't believe in
things that couldn't be observed. I believed that once you're dead, you're dead forever,
and you don't feel anything, and you don't even dream. It's not that I believe in things that
can't be observed now, because I don't. It's that I believe that things are extremely complicated.
And anyway, it's not like we were actually burying him, anyway.
Oscar: There are more people alive now
than have died in all of human history.
But the number of dead people is increasing.
One day, there isn't going to be
any room to bury anyone any more.
Cut to:
Funeral ceremony in the cemetery, Oscar, his mother, others
Priest: ...father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us all with the gift of...
Oscar is sitting in the limo, playing with the car window, talking to his grandmother, who listens
to him, as patiently as she can.
