|
|
Mike cocks his head and looks over his
shoulder. Cut to a computer as Mike
sits down and goes to an Internet site where he takes a
"spirituality" test. When he
finishes, it displays a list of religions, with the closest to his answers at
the top. He picks up a nearby pen and
scribbles the list on a piece of paper.
Focus on the paper as he writes and dissolve to
INT.
IRIS'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
"Dogma", as the character Serendipity
speaks.
SERENDIPITY
It’s not about who’s right
or wrong. No denomination’s nailed it
yet, ‘cause they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter
what you have faith in, just that you have faith.
FADE
TO BLACK.
CUT
TO:
INT. HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA – DAY
A white tiled floor. Follow a pair of shoes that walk across it, panning up to a table
they pass. Ron and Mike sit across from
each other at this table, among others.
RON
So what’s the deal with the
license thing?
MIKE
What do you mean?
RON
Well, anytime soon?
MIKE
Man, everybody goes at me
for that. It’s like there’s some law
that was just passed that says you have to get a license when you’re 16. It’s stupid.
RON
So you don’t want to drive
yourself around, even though you coulda tried for the past year?
MIKE
I can bum rides.
RON
It’s ‘cause you’re a
shut-in.
MIKE
I am not.
RON
You are, man! You’re a damn shut-in.
MIKE
Oh, and you’ve got a great
social life?
RON
At least I try.
MIKE
So do I.
RON
Like this band I’m
starting. That’s gonna get everything
moving.
MIKE
Whoa, wait a second. A band?
I can’t believe you, man. You
just bought a guitar two weeks ago, which you still can’t play, I might add,
and now you’re talking about starting a band?
A boy sitting next to Ron
pipes up.
BOY
Not talking about it. He’s already started it. I’m the bassist.
RON
Yeah. Believe it or not, I already have the whole
lineup set up.
MIKE
Alright, who ya got?
RON
Myself as lead singer, Dan
Holden to my left on bass, Paul Levine on guitar, and the lovely Lisa Hagerty
on the drums.
MIKE
OK, and you probably have a
reason for each one, right?
RON
You know me too well. Besides the fact that I know few people who
play each instrument – bass in particular was really hard to find – I go for
fan appeal. Dan here’ll bring in the
thespian crowd, maybe some of the goths, Paul’s gonna attract the stoners, and
Lisa’s on the volleyball team, plus it’s unusual to have a girl drummer, so
that little bit of fake girl-power will bring in legions of girls if it’s
promoted right.
MIKE
Dan was Bert in “All My
Sons.” His part was, like, two minutes
long.
DAN
I had 16 lines.
RON
And he got two good laughs
from the audience.
DAN
Boo-yah! (beat as Ron stares
at him) What? It’s a boo-yahable situation.
RON
There’s no such thing as a
boo-yahable situation.
CUT TO:
INT. ROSA’S – OFFICE – DAY
Paper everywhere. Every flat surface has an accompanying stack
of paper. Otherwise, a nicely furnished
office. Wheeled leather chairs,
non-Ikea desks and shelves. The room
would have a completely all-business look if it weren’t for the paper. Hal and Larry are at the two desks, going
over… paperwork.
HAL
You remember my old college
buddy Roger?
LARRY
Yeah, I think so. What happened to him?
HAL
For a long time, I had no
idea. About six months ago, he called
up and asked if I had a place for him.
LARRY
You told him no?
HAL
I told him yes. He just never followed up on it. Then last week he called again and asked if
the offer still stood.
LARRY
Another yes.
HAL
Right, and he starts today.
LARRY
Well, when were you planning
on telling me?
HAL
Slipped my mind.
LARRY
Your slippery mind. What are his qualifications? Did he even graduate? I thought he was expelled.
HAL
(rummaging for resume) Yeah,
some drug charge. They dropped it
later, so it looks like a bad rap.
(finds it) He was in charge of one of his family’s factories for 6
years. He now owns and ghost-manages
Promenade Video.
LARRY
Does it say “ghost-manager”
on there?
HAL
Yes it does.
LARRY
Oh, great. Very nice.
When’s he arrive?
CUT TO:
EXT. PARKING LOT – DAY
A Cadillac pulls into a space
near the front door of Rosa’s. The
driver opens his door and steps out.
View from behind him as he looks up at the “Rosa’s” sign.
HAL
(v.o.)
Any minute now.
CUT TO:
INT. ROSA’S – RECEPTION – DAY
ROGER, the middle-aged
driver of the car, enters and catches Mike in mid-stride, carrying a pitcher of
water.
ROGER
Excuse me.
MIKE
Oh, one moment, sir, I’ll
get the host.
ROGER
Wait, wait. I’m not here to eat.
(extends hand) Roger
Smith. I’m here to see Hal.
They shake hands. Roger
shakes some water off his hand.
MIKE
Right this way.
CUT TO:
INT. ROSA’S – OFFICE – DAY
Roger enters. Hal leaps up from his chair to greet him.
HAL
Hey, Rog! How’ve you been?
ROGER
Not bad, not bad.
LARRY
(standing up)Hi, Roger. It’s been a long time. When did we last see you? ’68?
ROGER
June ’68.
LARRY
Wow. You just up and disappeared. You and Hal’s roommate.
HAL
Bill Slater.
LARRY
Yeah, yeah, old Bill. Whatever happened to him?
ROGER
Oh, he died about a year
ago.
HAL
Wow.
LARRY
What happened to him?
ROGER
I’m not at liberty to
discuss it. (beat) Oh, just messing with you.
It was a car accident. (awkward pause) So, when do I start cooking?
LARRY
Wait, aren’t you being hired
as a manager?
ROGER
Oh, no. Cook.
LARRY
But you don’t seem to have
any experience in...
ROGER
Hal.
HAL
It’ll be fine, just
fine. He’ll do a good job, won’t you,
Rog?
LARRY
Roger, could I have a word
with my brother?
ROGER
(with a smirk)Asolutely.
Roger exits and Larry takes
in a deep breath.
LARRY
Okay, Hal, this is your restaurant. I sold you my part a while back, but I’ve
still been pretty much the number-two guy.
You’ve steered us right most of the time, and I can normally respect
your decisions as prudent and practical, and I wholeheartedly agree with
them. But now, this is crazy. You’ve hired some old college buddy out of
the blue. We haven’t heard from this
guy in 32 years. In fact, on that
resume, I’ll bet it goes straight from high school in, uh, ’64 or whatever, to
managing the factory in ’94. He makes a
30-year jump of his own. It’s
phenomenal! The guy shoulda been on
Quantum Leap.
CUT TO:
INT. LAUNDRY ROOM – DAY
Roger enters and takes a
look around. He finds a comic book
hidden in the same place we saw Ron stash the music catalog earlier. As he flips thorugh it, Mike enters with the
bucket and again starts filling it with ice.
ROGER
Is this yours?
MIKE
Oh, no. That must be Ron’s.
ROGER
A waiter?
MIKE
A busser.
Roger nods and turns the
page.
ROGER
He likes this, superheroes
and such, fantasy?
MIKE
<hesitantly>
Uh, yeah, a little bit.
ROGER
A little bit... The Silver
Surfer! Heh!
MIKE
Right.
He leaves all too eagerly.
ROGER
Ron. Harmless.
But you? What’s your Kryptonite,
superboy?
<sniff>
View from the top of a
washing machine as Roger tosses the comic book toward the camera. Just before it lands,
CUT TO:
INT. IRIS’S BEDROOM – DAY
The phone landing in the
receiver. Iris sits on the bed, rocking
back and forth and sobbing.
CUT TO:
INT. ROSA’S – OFFICE – DAY
Hal is seated and Larry
standing. Hal rises and walks toward
Larry.
HAL
Larry, you’re my brother, my
best friend, my guardian angel sometimes.
He reaches Larry and now
their faces are only several inches apart.
We see a different side to him now, no longer an apparently lazy fool,
he now calmly seethes. The two maintain
direct eye contact.
HAL
But this is my
decision. I’ve made it. And you do not override it. Few things in life are this simple. And it is that simple.
<pause> Well?
Larry loses his resolve and
his eyes and face drop. He has
submitted to his older brother’s will.
Hal is suddenly much louder.
HAL
Good! Let’s get started then, shall we?
He stops staring his brother
down, pats him on the back, and leaves.
Larry stays, arms akimbo and staring at the floor.
LARRY
Shit.
<pause> Fuck it.
He looks up, straightens his
posture, and saunters out the door after Hal.
CUT TO:
INT. TINA’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
The house is sparsely
decorated. What little there is is all
religious. Tina sits on the couch on
the lap of a man(GARY) in his late fifties or early sixties. The television is on, and some sort of
Christian children’s programming is on.
GARY
Well, I think that’s enough
for tonight.
He turns off the TV.
TINA
Oh, wow, is it 9:45 already?
GARY
Sure is, sweetheart. Go on to bed.
TINA
Okay. Uncle Gary?
GARY
Yes, darling?
TINA
Thanks for coming to
visit. Mom and dad have enjoyed it too.
GARY
Well, you’re welcome, little
lady.
TINA
Uncle Gary?
GARY
Yes, sweetie?
TINA
Did you ever have any big
cases? I mean really big?
GARY
Well, before I had to quit a
few years ago – and don’t get me wrong.
If they’d let me I would have stayed on the force even with this bad
heart. If I died carrying out my duties,
wow, what a way to go! But as I was
saying, before I had to quit there was this one really big case, the biggest
I’ve ever investigated. See, there were
some college students who had started up a crime ring.
TINA
Drugs?
GARY
Yes, drugs, and more. We couldn’t prove a thing, though.
TINA
Did they kill witnesses,
like the mob?
GARY
No, no, they didn’t do
that. They didn’t have to. They seemed to have the entire court system
in their pockets. I couldn’t figure out
how their influence had reached so far.
After all, these were just college students in charge of it. And the leader, he was a snide one. Time and again I tried to have justice
served on him, but with no luck. And
he’d always smile and say, “Back for more, Detective Kolbek?” That was his little catchphrase just for
me. The whole thing started decades
ago, back in the sixties, and it seems to still exist today.
TINA
Wow.
GARY
Scary stuff, huh?
TINA
So what did you call
it? I mean, it wasn’t the Mafia or
anything?
GARY
It acted like it, but it
wasn’t the Mafia, no. It was heard
finding communication between group members and, when we did, the evidence
disappeared. But it seemed like they
called themselves “Panther.”
TINA
They were the Black
Panthers?
GARY
No, just Panther. Apparently, they called the leader Panther
too.
TINA
So you knew who the leader
was, but you still couldn’t do anything?
GARY
Not a thing. The guy disappeared in ’68, I think. Passed on control to an underling and then
just vanished off the face of the Earth.
TINA
No sign of him anywhere?
GARY
None. We thought he was dead. Then, about a year or two ago, the underling
he passed it on to was killed. Looks
like somebody else took over. But we
have no idea who.
TINA
Wow. Too bad you’re not still on the force. You’d catch them, wouldn’t you, Uncle Gary?
GARY
Of course I would. I did.
The problem is hanging on to them.
It seems like if ordinary people commit the crimes they do, they get the
book thrown at them. But these guys are
untouchable. Everything slides right
off.
TINA
That’s incredible.
GARY
Sure is. Now get on to bed.
Tina
leaves the room. Gary watches her leave
and smiles. Beat. A telephone on the end table next to Gary
rings. He picks it up.
GARY:<into
phone>Hello? Yes, she is. Hold on. <in the direction Tina left>
Tina! Telephone for you.
She comes
back into the room and approaches the phone.
GARY
You know, your friends
really shouldn’t call this late.
TINA
I know, Uncle Gary. I know and I’m going to tell them that.
She takes
the receiver. A tearful Iris is on the
other end.
TINA
Hello?
IRIS
Hi, Tina. Sorry to call so late and everything.
TINA
Oh, it’s, it’s okay.
Gary rolls
his eyes.
TINA
What’s wrong? What’s the matter?
IRIS
Something bad has
happened. Something really bad. Could you come over?
TINA
No, I can’t do that, but how
about this? I could pick you up before
school tomorrow and we could go have breakfast somewhere and talk about it.
IRIS
In a public place?
TINA
It’ll probably be
deserted. If it’s crowded, we won’t
go. Okay?
IRIS
Okay. Thanks, Tina.
TINA
No problem, hang in
there. You know who loves you?
IRIS
You do.
TINA
Not like that. I mean who loves you?
IRIS
We can talk about that
too. 6:30 okay?
TINA
Sure is.
IRIS
See you tomorrow, Teen.
TINA
Bye.
She hangs
up.
GARY
Who was that?
Close-up
of Tina’s face. She has a non-malicious
smile and blank eyes.
GARY
Well, who was it?
TINA
A lost sheep.
NEXT 10 PAGES COMING SOONER
OR LATER...