Joan's at the cash register, closing up the bookstore when someone comes in. She announces, "Turn around, we're closed " Then she sees it's GodFella, so she adds, "For everyone but God." He assures her it won't take long. He's looking for a poem by T.S. Eliot: "It starts, 'April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Mem --' Ooh! Here it is." He basically finds it in the first place he looks. A question: Would God really require the actual book? I mean, it seems like if anyone could memorize poetry He brings it over to her, saying, "'The Waste Land.'" Joan thinks that's perfect for her: "It's like my life." GodFella tells her, "It's all about spring cleaning. Dragging things out into the light. How hard it is to look at our own dirt. How comfortable is it to be in denial. The idea about April being the cruelest month? Cruel in its beauty. Cruel in its insistence upon resurrection." Joan says she's not even annoyed with him: "I'm glad I helped Tuchman. I can even admit that you were right. How's that for progress?" He says it's good, but she's not finished. Joan: "I know. I know. I am never finished. I get that you're not ever going away." He's talking about the cleaning: "There's still a big stain on your carpet." Joan instantly gets defensive about the state of her bedroom, and how you could eat off her floor or perform surgery on it. Frink: "Why does she need to be so literal all the time? That banter is so tiresome." GodFella tells her, "It's not in your room, Joan?" Joan: "Then where is it?" He smiles: "You know." Joan: "Yes, I do know. I just like the sound of my own confusion." GodFella: "You know where it is. It still feels unclean. It's like, uh spiritual spinach in your teeth. Clean it up, Joan. You'll feel better." Don't you hate it when you've got spiritual spinach in your teeth and your deity doesn't tell you? He takes the Eliot and walks out. Joan traces her finger over the cash register and rubs the dust off her fingers thoughtfully. Man. I think she gets to be mad for more than, like, a week.













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