:26:01
...all else will seem eclipsed."
:26:07
If the ghost orchid
was really a phantom...
:26:10
...it was still such a bewitching one that
it could seduce people to pursue it...
:26:14
...year after year
and mile after miserable mile.
:26:17
If it was a real flower,
I wanted to see one.
:26:21
The reason was not that I love orchids.
I don't even especially like orchids.
:26:24
What I wanted
was to see this thing...
:26:28
...that people were drawn to
in such a singular and powerful way.
:26:37
So how many turtles
did you end up collecting?
:26:40
I lost interest right after that.
:26:46
I dropped turtles when I fell
in love with Ice Age fossils.
:26:49
Collected the shit out of them.
:26:51
Fossils were the only thing that made
sense to me in this fucked-up world.
:26:56
I ditched fossils
for resilvering old mirrors.
:26:59
My mom and I
had the largest collection...
:27:01
...of 19th-century Dutch mirrors
on the planet.
:27:04
Perhaps you read about us.
Mirror World, October '88?
:27:07
I got a copy here somewhere.
:27:11
I guess I'd just like to know
how you can detach from something...
:27:14
...that you've invested
so much of your soul in.
:27:17
I mean, didn't you ever miss turtles?
:27:21
The only thing that made
your 10-year-old life worth living?
:27:26
Look, I'll tell you a story, all right?
:27:29
I once fell deeply, you know,
profoundly in love with tropical fish.
:27:35
I had 60 goddamn fish-tanks
in my house.
:27:37
I'd skin-dive to find just the right ones.
:27:40
Anisotremus virginicus, Holacanthus
ciliaris, Chaetodon capistratus.
:27:45
You name it.
:27:47
Then one day I say, "Fuck fish."
:27:50
I renounce fish. I vow never
to set foot in that ocean again.
:27:55
That's how much "fuck fish."
:27:58
That was 17 years ago, and I have
never since stuck a toe in that ocean.