Man 1:
Good evening to you, sir.
Man 2:
Good evening.
Man 1:
Will you please state your name for the record.
Quentin:
(Long pause). My name is Quentin…Quentin Joss.
Man 1:
Thank you, uh excuse me. (Toward someone in the distance, off camera) Terry, could we get a bit more light in here please?
Quentin:
(Light slowly grows in the room) I was quite content with the way it was.
Man 1:
Oh. Well you know, it felt like we were in a dungeon or something.
Quentin:
(Smiles) That has always been humanity’s approach to darkness. They fear it. They avoid it at all costs. They don’t understand it and the sacredness of that tranquility it provides, a kind that you can’t find anywhere else in life. There is beauty in those shadows.
Man 1:
I see.
Quentin:
So, where do we begin?
Man 1:
Why don’t you start at the beginning?
Quentin:
(Pauses) It was a long time ago.
Man 1:
That’s alright. We have a bit of time.
Quentin:
Very well.
Man 1:
What is your first memory?
Quentin:
(Pauses again) I’ve lost track.
Man 1:
You’ve lost track of your memories.
Quentin:
Well, there have been a lot of them. My earliest memories seem more like feelings.
Man 1:
How do you feel now, Mr. Joss?
Quentin 1:
I feel tired.
Man 1:
Do you feel wise?
Quentin:
I am one of the wisest men you will meet.
Man 1:
I see. Is that natural or learned?
Quentin:
Beg your pardon?
Man 1:
I mean, would you say that you carry an innate capacity for knowledge and wisdom, or was each learned through experience?
Quentin:
(Another pause, much longer) Both.
Man 1:
Quentin Joss. That is really your name?
Quentin:
No.
Man 1:
I didn’t think so.
Quentin:
You are sharper than you think.
Man 1:
What is your real name?
Quentin:
Well, I do have many.
Man 1:
Ok, what is the first name that you ever went by?
Quentin:
You wouldn’t understand it.
Man 1:
How do you mean? Was it in another language or something?
Quentin:
(Again, a pause) Yes and no. Is it really worth getting into, doctor?
Man 1:
Ok. What would you like to talk about, Quentin?
Quentin:
Let’s talk about why I am here.
Man 1:
Very well.
Quentin:
I was thrown in here this morning because I called myself something, or someone, rather…
Man 1:
What do you think, Mr. Joss?
Quentin:
…Now you think I am delusional, and ‘Quentin’ will do just fine.
Man 1:
You could just tell me your real name.
Quentin:
I’ve decided not to. I did that once already and as you can see it got me in a bit of trouble. (He smiles while still showing clear signs of exhaustion)
Man 1:
What do you think will happen?
Quentin:
Why ask what you already know, doctor?
Man 1:
You can call me Carl.
Quentin:
Ok, Carl. As I was saying before, you think I am delusional. Really there is no such thing.
Carl:
You mean our patients here are not suffering from any sort of mental deficiency?
Quentin:
Well, I wouldn’t call it a deficiency. The human mind is rooted in something way beyond your understanding.
Carl:
I see. I gather that being who you are has granted you a profound bit of insight.
Quentin:
Well, no, it has nothing to do with any of that.
Carl:
That’s right. It’s because you’ve lived a long time.
Quentin:
(Directs his gaze down toward a distant corner, smiling somewhat ambivalently) Too long.
Carl:
Is there a God?
Quentin:
Well of course. You don’t get me without God, right?
Carl:
Explain to me what you’ve been doing here Quentin.
Quentin:
Where?
Carl:
Here, on earth. In life. The realm of human existence according to modern understanding of space and time.
Quentin:
I’ve been wandering. I’ve been learning. I’ve been aging, and yet I can never die. I will never die.
Carl:
Do you want to die?
(Quentin gives a long pause as if the question has never before been asked of him)
Quentin:
Well. After enough time, when you feel that you have learned everything there is to learn. What is left? You’ve fallen in love. You’ve fallen out of love. You know what it is like to gain and to lose. To win and to fail. And throughout all this time, throughout all this learning and traveling, no matter what you do, there is no way in getting around the fact that you are getting older. You are on a track that should only end in one way. It must end, eventually.
It doesn’t. Life continues. And so…you wander. And you fall down into this fantasy, this vision that you will someday find something that shakes you from your existence. You wander, longing for something you haven’t seen before. Something that will change you. Something that will give you some sort of hope; hope that there is more to people than what you see and more to life than what you’ve felt.
Carl:
Have you found it?
(Looks up and cut)
Ren Michael 