Unexpectedly, Milo - Matthew Dicks [91]
“I’m sorry,” Lily began, backing toward the door when Milo failed to respond. “I didn’t mean …”
“No. I mean, no, you should. I mean, it’s fine. Please. Sit down.”
“Thanks. I’m Lily, by the way.”
“Yeah, I saw your badge. Nice to meet you. I’m Milo.”
Lily took up a position on the other side of the bench from where Eugene had been sitting, and a moment later, Eugene reentered the room, cutting off any further discussion. He switched off the lights and resumed his position on the bench, sandwiching Milo between him and Lily.
“I hope this isn’t too weird,” Lily said as Milo raised the remote control and pointed it at the DVD player. “I just thought it would be fun.”
“Not weird at all,” Milo said, thinking otherwise. “We’ve been watching for a little while, though. Do you want me to rewind?”
“You didn’t ask me if I wanted to rewind,” Eugene said.
“No. Don’t be silly. I’ve seen the movie before. Go ahead and hit play.”
Milo did. On screen, Butch Cassidy, played by Paul Newman, and the Sundance Kid, played by Robert Redford, were lounging on a balcony above their favorite saloon, basking in their presumed invulnerability. None of the men gathered in the street below was willing to answer the sheriff’s call for a posse, meaning there would be no pursuit after the outlaws’ recent train heist. Milo knew that this was the high point of the film for Butch and Sundance, the moment at which everything seemed good and right. In less than fifteen minutes, things would drastically change for his beloved bank robbers.
Moments later, the voice of the sheriff was replaced by that of a bicycle salesman, who was taking advantage of the gathering crowd to pitch his new device.
“Who would buy a bicycle when the streets are all dirt and stuff?” Eugene asked.
“Be quiet!” Lily said, raising her finger to her lips.
On screen, the scene had shifted to a small farmhouse outside of town. Sundance and his lover, Etta Place, were sharing a moment together in bed. Though the scene was hardly racy by today’s Hollywood standards, the mere implication of sex, in combination with his companion and their current seating arrangement, made Milo think again of Christine. What would she think of all this? He was sitting in a darkened room with a beautiful woman whom he had known less than an hour, watching two people on television roll around in bed together. Regardless of the innocence of his intentions, he couldn’t help but feel guilty, and he was certain that Christine would see it this way, and probably worse. If so, Milo could hardly blame her. He had thought that Thick-Neck Phil and his top-down Jeep and mirrored sunglasses had been bad. But this was downright illicit, even with Eugene sitting to his right. In response to these thoughts, Milo leaned closer to Eugene, increasing the distance between him and Lily. He straightened his back, pulled his knees together (considered crossing his legs for a moment but then thought otherwise), and folded his hands on his lap, in the hopes that this position would somehow enhance the visual purity of the situation in the event that anyone else walked in.
He knew it was crazy, but it nevertheless made him feel better.
Seconds later, the on-screen action shifted again to the infamous “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” scene, in which Butch takes Etta on an early-morning, dialogue-free bicycle ride around the farm.
“Did you know that Paul Newman did all the bicycle stunts himself?” Milo asked, taking advantage of the absence of dialogue. “The stuntman couldn’t stay on the bike, so Newman did everything except for one fall. A cinematographer had to do that one.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Lily said, eyes still locked on the screen. Milo had hoped that his knowledge of the film might impress her, but Lily seemed utterly uninterested in this cinematic tidbit. A moment later, she spoke again, this time turning to face him. “The thing is, Etta wants to be with Butch. Or at least part of her does. The sensible part.”
“Huh?”
“Etta,” she said, turning