'It isn't very good,' Trumper agreed.
Kent unwrapped the cheese as if it were his failing heart. The camera was bad, huh?' he said.
'The whole thing is terrible,' said Ralph.
They sat there, wondering what went wrong.
'It was the fucking camera, wasn't it?' said Kent.
'It's the entire concept,' Ralph said.
'The people are awful,' Trumper said. 'They're so obvious.'
'They're simple,' said Ralph. 'There's nothing complex about the people.'
'How about the girl with her tit-thing, though?' said Kent. 'That was great, wasn't it?'
'It's the politics and the cuteness and the rotten humor that will make it awful in every way,' Ralph said. 'At least that's part of it.'
'Can I see the footage, please?' Kent said. 'At least I should see the damn stuff.'
'You won't even like your camera work, Kent,' Ralph said.
'You didn't like it, Ralph?'
'I didn't like anything,' Ralph said.
'How's the editing?' Kent asked.
'Not fair talking about editing when Tulpen isn't here,' Trumper said.
'It hadn't really been edited yet, anyway, Kent,' Ralph said.
'Yeah, Jesus, Kent,' Trumper said.
'OK, Thump-Thump,' Kent said. 'How's the sound?'
'Adequate,' said Ralph. 'Thump-Thump gets better and better, technically speaking.'
'Right,' said Trumper. 'It's my imagination that goes nowhere.'
'Right,' said Ralph.
'Look,' Kent said. 'Can I please just see the fucking footage for myself?'
So they left him rewinding reels in the studio and walked out onto Christopher Street, headed for coffee at the New Deal.
'All I want to do in a film is describe something worthwhile,' Ralph said. 'I hate conclusions.'
'I don't believe in endings,' Trumper said.
'Right, right,' said Ralph. 'Just good description. But it has to be personal description. Everything else is journalism.'
'If the New Deal is closed,' Trumper said, 'I will absolutely shit.'
But it was open; they sat with two mugs of black espresso with lemon peel and rum.
'Let's scrap the film, Thump-Thump,' Ralph said. 'It's the same old thing. Everything I've done is extroverted, and I need to make an introverted film.'