of the year.
What else can I tell you?
I really appreciate
you opening up to me like this.
I know what it's like
to live with a shadow overhead.
What?
Shadow.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
Now, that's a nice melody, isn't it?
- It's good.
- Thank you. Thank you.
Mind you, what do you know?
You don't even like melody.
I never said that.
You prefer the lyrics.
I don't trust you.
Your turn, what's next?
I think that we should get
some breakfast.
Please, come on, we're finally
on a roll here. Listen again.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
There'll be no more rhymes until I'm fed
Please, seriously, seriously.
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I could be inspired
With just a piece of bread
- I have the perfect place.
- Wait a minute.
It's just on the next corner.
- Keep moving and keep writing.
- All right.
I've been looking
For someone to shed some light
- That's good. That's good.
- Yeah?
Shadows and light. You're deep.
Okay, we need two more lines
of Cora verse. What's next?
Soph?
Sophie?
What are you doing?
Nothing.
I thought I saw someone,
but it wasn't him. So it's fine.
- Oh, there he is.
- What?
A very nice picture, though.
That's funny.
Interestingly enough, I mean...
Well, it is a bookstore.
- So, you know, that does happen.
- What?
Gosh, where were we? Okay.
Shadow overhead
Okay, can I just say, with all due
respect, that you are clearly...
What is the word?
- Insane at this moment.
And because, according to Chris,
we have less than 36 hours...
...before Cora goes to do Leno,
at which point my career is over...
...it would be infinitely better for me
if you were sane. So how can I help?
Do you know this book?
Sally Michaels? Yes, yes.
Big bestseller. Yes.
- Have you read it?
- No, of course not.
Last book I read
was The Alex Fletcher Story...
...by the editors
of Teen Dream Magazine.
Why?
I'm Sally Michaels.
I saw that they were giving these
courses on writing at the New School...
...so I signed up.
And my teacher was Sloan Cates.
Brilliant, handsome.
The truth is, I was in love with him.
And we began spending
every minute together.
Which is why I was sort of surprised
when his fiancee showed up.
Yeah, he never mentioned that
he was engaged to a history professor...
...who was on a year-long sabbatical
in Spain.
And when she popped in
for an unexpected visit...
...it sort of turned into a reenactment
of the Inquisition.
And that... And that was that?
That was the end of that?
Yeah. We never saw each other again.
I dropped the class and a year later,
his new novel showed up.
The Sally What's-it novel.
"The tale of a student
with exalted literary aspirations...
...who lures a brilliant writer
into an affair...
...so she can take advantage
of his connections.
But when he tries to break it off,
she devotes herself to ruining his life."
Well, I mean, that obviously wasn't you.
Well, she's a lit major from Long Island,
5'4", my color hair, all my habits.
You know, talks to herself
and asks too many questions.
Her parents founded
a weight-reduction company...
...that now her sister runs.
Well, anyway, I...
Since then, every time I pick up a pen...
...I'm haunted by those words
that he wrote, you know?
"She was a brilliant mimic." You know.
"She could ape Dorothy Parker
or Emily Dickinson...
...but stripped of someone else's
literary clothes...
...she was a vacant,
empty imitation of a writer."
First of all, you can't listen to some jerk.
He's not a jerk.
He's a National Book Award winner.
Well, then, get the best revenge,
write a hit song.
Honestly, I don't think a pop song
is gonna impress Sloan Cates.
Oh, no, of course not.
Pop is just for morons. Forgot that.
- I didn't mean anything by it.
- Brain-dead, or taken too many drugs.
You know what I'd say
to you and Sloan Cates?
You can take all the novels
in the world...
...and not one of them
will make you feel as