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Stark (quietly): Much more mine. I don't know what happened. I thought about these things a lot these past few months. You expect many things from marriage, but I can't give them. I feel a moral obligation but I don't know what to do. These scenes go on. We're always worried ... we're two machines …

Stark: I thought of you all last night. I was walking on the boardwalk and I thought of you. Do you know what the waves are saying?

Cleo: What?

Stark: Your name ...

Cleo: Well, were you walking alone?

Stark: No.

Cleo: With your wife?

Stark: Yes ... (There is a pause; Cleo walks to…

Prince (suddenly turning, hand on door knob, pointing his cane at Stark and lowering his voice to a near whisper): Iceberg, listen ... why don't you come up and see the world, the sea gulls and the ships to Europe? (Coming back into the room.) When did you look at another woman last? The year they …

I mention these things to explain the gap in my childhood where a father figure should have been, and my lifelong difficulties with exerting even a tiny amount of self-discipline. The thing is, I could never identify with a figure who had any real authority. My mother was the one with the authority…