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MARVALYN. Oh. Sorry about that. We're goin' through a rough patch. Happens. Sorry. What is it like?
STEVE. What?
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MARVALYN. To not feel pain.
STEVE. I don't know. I don't know what it's like to hurt, so ... I don't know. I don't really feel.
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MARVALYN. Is this ... how you were born?
STEVE. Yeah. I don't have fully developed pain seensors. They're immature, my brother Paul says //, and because they're immature --
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MARVALYN. How do he know that?
- MAN. Oh, he reads,
- >MARVALYN. But--<
- and because they're immature, my development as a human being has been retarded, he says,
- > MARVALYN. But --<
- but he teaches me what hurts, though.
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MARVALYN. Why??
STEVE. So I won't ruin myself. I have to know what hurts, so I know when to be afraid. See, my mind can't tell me when to be afraid, 'cause my body doesn't know what being hurt is, so I have to memorize what might hurt.
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MARVALYN. Okay ...
STEVE. And I have to memorize what to be afraid of. Things like bears. And guns and knives. And fire. And fear -- I should fear fear itself -- and pretty girls ...
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MARVALYN. Pretty girls?
STEVE. Yeah.
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MARVALYN. Why should you be afraid of pretty girls?
STEVE. Well, 'cause my brother paul says they can hurt you 'cause they make you love them, and that's something I'm supposed to be afraid of, too -- love -- but Paul says that I''m really lucky, 'cause I'll probably never have to deal with love, because I have a lot of deficiencies and not very many capacities as a result of the congenital analgesia.
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MARVALYN. Wait, what do you mean you're never gonna have to deal with love //
STEVE. 'Cause I'm never gonna know what it feels like, Paul says.
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MARVALYN. Well, how does he know that?
STEVE. 'Cause it hurts.
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MARVALYN. It shouldn't.
STEVE. And, plus, I have a lot of deficiencies and not very many capacities.
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MARVALYN. You know what, a lot of people do. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Are you all right? Are you okay?
STEVE. Well ... is there any blood?
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MARVALYN. No ...
STEVE. Any discoloration?
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