les sequelles - Cillian Murphy & Thomas Shelby

19. Too Eager To Learn

too eager to learn - tommy shelby

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'How the fuck am I supposed to know all of these, Tommy? Look at that.' Finn whined to his brother as he pushed the paper to him. Tommy took it and started to read, 'Read this quotes and write who said them. What? School stuff has changed a lot since I went there, ey? I don't know, find someone to help you.' He spoke but his little brother's attention was somewhere else. Finn was looking at the woman who sat at the table next to them. She was a natural beauty at her mid-twenties and she was there since they came to the pub. She was with her friend but that very called 'friend' was snogging with a man in front of her.

Tommy didn't see what was Finn doing so he continued to read as Finn's eyes met with the woman. She looked at him and held the gaze as Tommy read out, 'Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.' Finn heard him this time as a genuine smile spread over her face, she heard him, too. She turned her eyes to older Shelby, 'You like Dickens?' Tommy's gaze left the paper and turned to her, 'Excuse me, what?' He said after a long silence, Finn was excited to see what happens next. 'Forgive me for listening, I didn't intend to do that. I asked because you just quoted from Charles Dickens.'

She waited for him to speak. 'It's okay. I didn't know it belonged to him, it's my little brother's homework.' Tommy explained and Finn smiled to her, she smiled back. 'I'll be so glad if you help me do it.' He said as Tommy finished his whiskey, 'What is it exactly?' She asked curiously, tapping to table with her fingers. 'I need to find who wrote those quotes.' She listened to Finn and nodded, 'Okay then.' She turned to Tommy, 'Would you mind reading them aloud?' He was a bit shocked with her request but didn't say anything and started to read as Finn wrote down the answers to his notebook.

'To be able to forget means sanity.' His voice was sharp and clear. 'Jack London.' She answered and waited for the next one. 'Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.' She thought for a minute before answering, 'Jane Austen. What's now?' Finn wrote the name, he was impressed with this young woman's knowledge. 'Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.'

'Oh, Tolstoy.' She smiled kindly as Tommy cocked an eyebrow at her, 'If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.' He looked at her with expectation, not believing that she'll know the answer. 'Émile Zola.' He squinted and read the next one, 'Sometimes I don't understand how another can love her, is allowed to love her, since I love her so completely myself, so intensely, so fully, grasp nothing, know nothing, have nothing but her.' She smiled kindly, 'I'd love to know that teacher. Goethe, by the way.'

'How can you know all of these?' Finn said with wide eyes and slightly parted mouth. She chuckled, 'Interest and curiosity? I wanted to be a writer once, not that I can be one though.' Her smile faded with the mention of her dream and of course, Tommy noticed. 'Why aren't you?' A little small covered her lips as she stared at the floor, 'My parents didn't want.' He frowned, 'And you agreed?' She looked at him for a moment before turning her eyes to her feet, 'Whatever, it was a stupid idea.' Thomas wanted to tell her that it's not a stupid idea and she should do something to make it happen but he stayed silent. 'Well, is it done?'

He looked at the paper, hesitated but then spoke, 'Who are you really, and what were you before? What did you do and what did you think?' She frowned and started to think. Finn was surprised, Tommy saw his face and shot him a look. 'I... can't remember. Is it due to tomorrow? I can try to find if you want.' Finn turned to his brother and saw him nodding slowly, 'No, it's not. But I have to go somewhere, how about telling Tommy?' She nodded, 'It's okay for me. Where can I find you?' Tommy lit a cigar and took a puff before answering, 'You can come 'ere, whenever you want.'