Rio Can Be A Very Dull Town (Excerpt from "Notorious")

As time passes after more emptied cups of coffee, she becomes weaker and weaker, barely able to punctually keep a rendezvous with Devlin in Rio at a park bench. During what she believes is their last meeting, she is exceptionally distant. He suspects that she is ill and "all mashed up," while she defiantly excuses her condition as another hangover from drinking [her thirsting for love turns to a thirsting for alcohol to escape the "dull" life he has commissioned her to have].

Devlin: It gets a bit lonely squatting on a bench all day.
Alicia: Yes, Rio can be a very dull town.
Devlin: What's new?
Alicia: Nothing. What's new with you?
Devlin: Nothing. Any domestic troubles about the other night?
Alicia: No.
Devlin: Any footprints in that sand yet?
Alicia: No, nothing yet.
Devlin: Just a social visit, huh?
Alicia: A little fresh air helps.
Devlin: You don't look so hot...Sick?
Alicia: No. Hangover.
Devlin: That's news! Back to the bottle again, huh?
Alicia: It sort of lightens my chores.
Devlin: Big party?
Alicia: Just the family circle.
Devlin: Sounds quite jolly.
Alicia: It helps life in a dull town.
Devlin: You ought to take it easy on that liquor.
Alicia: Don't you find Rio a little hard to take too?
Devlin: Not a bad town. You look all mashed up. It must have been quite an evening.
Alicia: It was.
Devlin: OK, if you want to play that way, go on and have fun. No reason why you shouldn't.
Alicia: That's right, Dev.

They each disguise their true feelings and concerns for each other, as Devlin pursues another official line of questioning. Despondent about his departure, she tries to get Devlin to express his bottled-up emotions, but he cannot see anything but an unrepentant alcoholic lush before him. She is annoyed when he doesn't mention his leaving, so she returns the midriff scarf he lent her when they first met in Miami. He quips: "Cleaning house, hmm?" Although still wobbly and "tight," she says "goodbye" (with an air of finality) to go "back home."