cowardly.
I used to have a regular soul.
I never dreamed.
I slept too.
Eight nice hours a night.
I was happy.
You know what Tolstoy did
when he was attacked by dreams?
He left his house-
his beautiful house-
his family, his books, manuscripts,
and he went out to the fields
to work with the peasants.
All day long, he pushed the plow.
Cut wheat till his hands bled.
And then he slept.
His dreams just left him alone.
Maybe I should do that.
You know,
work until I just am worn out.
No, Holling.
It was-
He did the crazy thing, you know?
The reckless thing.
Yeah, he broke his bonds, you know?
He broke free.
Dostoyevsky- same thing.
He went out and worked in the fields?
No, no, no, no, no.
He gambled away
everything he ever owned.
"The place chosen for the duel
was some 80 paces...
"from the road on which
their sledges had been left...
"in a small clearing
in the pine wood,
covered with snow that had thawed
in the warmer weather
of the last few days.''
If Pierre hadn't married-
If Helene hadn't cheated-
If Pierre hadn't lost his temper-
Lot of ifs in this life.
The duel itself at our next reading
of War and Peace.
It's ironic, isn't it,
that this parallel universe
we call reality,
we kinda-
we've scripted in our own duel.
It makes you wonder
who's writing this book, huh?
Hey, Ed.
How's it going with Lightfeather?
Really good.
I'm gonna marry her.
- Wow. That's fast.
- You think it's too fast?
No, I think it's, uh-
I think it's great, you know?
Get a marriage under your belt.
Get a- Get a little family started,
couple kids.
That's what life's all about, you know?
Yeah.
I was hoping
you could perform the ceremony.
I was thinking
next Saturday would be good.
That works for me.
I got some really nice
Ramakrishna on the Ur woman that
I think would be great for Lightfeather.
'Cause, you know,
I- I picture her very Ur.
She's a very kind person.
Really nice too.
And strong.
That's why I'm gonna need
another letter.
What for?
Well, for the marriage proposal.
Oh, you mean,
you haven't asked her yet?
Well, it's kind of hard to
think of things to say when she's there.
I need another letter.
Look, sooner or later,
you're gonna have to jump out
on your own with this woman.
All right?
Sooner or later,
you're gonna have to talk to her.
Why?
Why? Because that's, you know-
That's what married people do.
They-They communicate.
All right, uh,
Ward and June Cleaver, right,
lying in those separate twin beds.
How many times did you see June
lean across that bedside table and say,
"Ward, I think you better
have a talk with the Beaver''?
Well, I saw Betty and Vern Kachemak
over here at the Wash 'n Dry.
They were doin'
seven loads of laundry.
They were there for about four hours,
and neither one of them
said a word to the other one.
Well, except for Betty.
She kind of, well, grunted once.
And then Vern went over
and put a sheet of softener
in the spin cycle.
Well, you know,
then again in the animal kingdom,
the male African bush bird
only shows his finest feathers
during the mating rituals.
Once they do the deed, he's history.
You know what I mean?
Let's get you hitched.
All right!
You know, she really liked that stuff
about the motorcycle.
Sometimes, she makes
this funny little noise,
like when you rev an engine too high.
Maybe you could do
something with that.
Joel, you wanted to see me?
Holling, good.
Come on in.
Take a seat.
Listen, I've been reading up
and making some phone calls
about this sleep disturbance of yours.
There's a REM research clinic
in Anchorage.
They're really interested
in your case.
Now, I figure we'll go down,
we'll spend two or three days.
There's a whole battery of tests
that they can run.
Thank you very much, Joel,
but that won't be necessary.
What?
You mean, you've been sleeping?
No, no.
The dreams abated?
No, they're worse than ever.
Well, what, then?
Holling, we have to address