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WASTES

                                            March 21, 2006

One of the better scenes of
"The Deep Blue Good-By" (1964)
(p.52, Fawcet Gold Medal ed.):

       
    Travis McGee has been    
    taking care of a       
    still shakey,        
    neurotic woman who           
    was messed over by                              
    the bad guy.  He                                  
    explains to her that                            
    he's going to go           In other words, he    
    after this guy, and        does the revelation-    
    attempt to steal the       of-secret-identity  
    loot back from him.        scene.              
                                                     
                               
    Instead of the                   
    various standard      
    reactions ("Oh,       
    don't do it     
    Trav, it's          
    *dangerous*!"), 
    she responds:   
    
    "Isn't it a waste?"
    
    "A waste of what?"
    
    "Of *you*!  It seems so degrading ...
     You could be almost anything."
    
    
It isn't a bad question,    
and it's certainly not a                   
bad question to ask this                No sane person    
kind of adventure story                 wants to be     
hero:                                   Philip Marlowe.
                                                           
   How did you get                                     
   stuck living this                       THE_FALCON
   horrible life?   
   You have to be   
   able to do       
   something better 
   than this.       
                    

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