John
From Cincinnati
Episode 6
(Open is Cass’s hotel room, Cass is
alone. She is running the video that she shot the day before. She is nervous,
fidgeting and pacing about the room. Finally she turns off the video, then
starts pacing the room some more. She smokes a cigarette, then starts looking
for munchies. She pulls some junk food from the fridge, and some mini-bottles
of booze. More pacing, drinking and eating follows. We leave her on the bed
with a candy bar)
(Cut to the Yost house, Cissy is on
the phone in the kitchen)
Cissy: Oh, I
guess I’m a stick in the mud. Just ‘cause every degenerate in America jerks off
to his mother’s videos, and she only showed up to make money off of Shaunie
being in the papers, (We see Shaun in his bedroom, listening to her,) why
would I think she couldn’t help him through his teen years? (We hear a door
close in the background) Well, I hope it’s pumping at Salsa Puedes, Mitch.
I hope you catch some real soul-searchers. (She hangs up, and we see Shaun
entering the kitchen.) Good morning.
Shaun: You
didn’t have to shout about her, Gram.
Cissy: Did I
wake you up?
Shaun: I knew
already. (He slams a DVD case down on the kitchen table, she picks it up and
we see it’s one of Tina’s porn videos. Shaun goes out the door)
Cissy: Where
did you get this? (She runs out the door after Shaun.) Shaunie!! (He’s
heading down the driveway with his skateboard)
Shaun: You
hurt my feelings, Gram, You did. (She watches him as he skateboards away
down the street)
(Cut to Linc’s hotel room as he is
counting out a stack of $100 bills for Tina and tosses it on the nightstand)
Linc: There’s
an extra grand for telling me how it was.
Tina: You
think you might have had a good time?
Linc: That’s
it, I think I might have.
Tina: You
fucked me cross-eyed. I never took a cock that big, and you handle it like a
champ.
Linc: (Laughing)
My god, the
perfect woman.
Tina: (pauses)
Do better than you
did with Butchie.
Linc: With
Shaun? I don’t think I’ll get the chance.
Tina: You sure
you want to?
Linc: Stick
around. Help me think.
Tina: Yeah,
that’s what I’m good at. (She gets up to leave, pauses and looks at the
money on the nightstand and walks past it.) I had a good time. (leaves).
(Cut to Joe’s “compound” in the
bush. We see someone under a sort of a blanket tent, and hear a lighter
flicking. Smoke is rolling out from under the blanket and we hear someone
inhaling. John’s voice comes from the background)
John: Don’t be
afraid, Joe. (Joe gasps and throws the blanket back. Smokes billows out as
Joe scrambles and grabs his sidearm, then points it in the direction of the
voice. We see John approaching through the bush with arms outstretched.)
Joe: That’s a
good way to get another fatal injury there, frat boy. (stands and holsters his
gun) How did you get through the wire? How did you find this place? Look, I
got close on to 500 plants less than a week from harvest, within 100 yards from
here and I, uh, it makes me fuckin’ nervous.
John: Justice
must be served, Joe. The vato must get his due.
Joe: The one
that stabbed you? Well, if there ever was a crime that cried to heaven for
redress, it’d be getting gutted and left in a ditch.
John: The
police should be involved.
Joe: Well, as
far as that, I uh, I flinch from it in principal.(Joe picks up a hunting
knife and looks at it)
John: You saw
enough of that shit over there. Bill should be involved, Joe.
Joe: Bill
Jacks?
John: “I got
my eye on you!”
Joe: Him and
me served around the same time.
John: Different
units, Bill’s good people.
Joe: I don’t care how much you say, that I’m thinkin’ frat boy, I’m still not givin’ up herb. (John mimics taking a hit from a joint. Joe gets up and motions John to follow him to his van)
John: Zippy
told Bill we’d be over.
(Cut to the surf shop as Kai is
stocking a shelf. Cissy walks in)
Kai: Hey. No
fire trucks headed to your house last night, I figured that had to be a plus.
Cissy: Did he
stop here?
Kai: Shaunie?
Cissy: Who
else would I be asking about?
Kai: No. Is he
surfing?
Cissy: He took
his skateboard. He didn’t take his wetsuit.
Kai: Well I
wonder if maybe he’s skating?
Cissy: Could
you go see?
Kai:
You busy
Cissy? Time for your ball-buster booster shot?
Cissy: Will
you go look for him or not?
Kai: I guess I
probably will. Is he gonna hit me with a brick when I find him?
Cissy: He
loves you.
Kai: Did you
talk to him after I left?
Cissy: He was
asleep.
Kai: Well did
you tell him this morning she was there?
Cissy: He
heard me say some things about her on the phone to Mitch.
Kai: Was one
of them that Tina had been to the house the night before to see Shaunie?
Cissy: He
heard me say she made dirty movies, and he storms out of the house.
Kai: He knows
she makes dirty movies, Cissy. That idiot friend of his gave him one.
Cissy: Well he
is barred from the store.
Kai: Are you
sure he didn’t hear you say Tina’d been there?
Cissy: I
didn’t say she’d been there, Kai. Which of those piss-pots gave him her fuck
film?
Kai: Are you
sure he was asleep the night before?
Cissy: What
are you talking about?
Kai: What I’m
talking about is if he knew Tina came to see him, and he didn’t get to look at
her, maybe that’s why he’s upset.
Cissy: Well
maybe if you’d go and fuckin’ ask him, we’d know.
Kai: Didya
happen to hear from Butchie?
Cissy: No. Big
surprise. Why?
Kai: For my
website. Me and the Yosts, information I don’t give a fuck about. (getting
ready to leave)
Cissy: You ask
Shaun what he wants. Does he want to see her? Is that what he’s such a little
jerk about?
Kai: How can
anyone help you Cissy, when you won’t see what’s right in front of you?
Cissy: Which
is what?
Kai: Which is,
who ever you don’t drive away runs away on his own. (she leaves)
(Cut to Bill’s house. Joe and John
are seated on the couch as Bill approaches them with a tray of tea. We hear the
birds squawking)
Joe: How do
you stand the constant cheeping?
John: Every
one hatched in this home.
Bill: (surprised
at John) Be aware
if you speak in that voice again I will break every bone in your body.
Joe:
What’s
you policy on guests smoking herb?
Bill: Not
permitted. And your smart-assed friend here with his Charlie McCarthy
imitations skates on very, very, very thin ice...
Joe: How about
in the back year?
Bill: …which
I’m liable as not to pound his head through, with my fist, and hold him, gagging
and thrashing beneath the surface of, till he drowns.
Joe: (nodding)
The ice.
John: (sipping
his tea and speaking in a soft voice) Chamomile, Billy, wonderful.
Bill: He’s
imitating my wife, who has passed! Oh for Christ’s sake! (Bill is sobbing, very
upset.)
Joe: What the
hell are we doing here? (Zippy
squawks)
Bill: Go
ahead, Zip, you’re the big cruise director. Entertain them while I get back my
composure.
John: (Still
in the soft voice)
This young man, who’s had his eye on you, wants the vato
who gutted him to face arrest.
Bill: Oh god,
are you OK honey? A-a-are you in discomfort?
John: No
Bill: Is he
lying to me, to his own purposes?
John: No
Billy.
Bill: (sobbong)
Oh, for Christ’s
sake. (pauses) Get out of here, both of you.
Joe: (to
John) Come on. (they
start to leave)
Bill: I’ll do
what you want. Just let me get my composure.
(Cut to Cass’ hotel room, she is
lying on her bed)
Cass: Where is
my food? Where is my food! (There’s a knock at the door, Cass gets up) Come
in! (Room service guy wheels in a big tray stacked with plates of food, Cass
directs him where to put it. She signs for the food) Thank you! (As she
starts to eat, she’s looking over at her computer and camera) Oh, that
looks good.(Turning to the camera) Fucking drum circle. (she starts
clanging a fork against a steel plate cover and dancing around the room)
(Cut to the Snug Harbor. We see
Palaka in the empty pool, brushing the walls. Ramon is sweeping the pool deck.
Next we see Dickstein and Butchie laying out a shuffleboard court with stakes
and strings next to the pool. Then cut to Freddy outside his room with his
cellphone, then back to Butchie and Dickstein)
Dickstein: If….
If those strings are not drawn taut, Butchie, there may as well be no strings.
Butchie: Watch
me tighten these babies, Meyer. (Dickstein is not happy with Butchie’s work)
Dickstein: No,
no, no, I’ll do it. Tha-thanks for the offer. You might want to wait for the
painting phase.
Butchie: Paint,
I huff.
Dickstein: Then
that wouldn’t be a good phase either.
(Cut back to Freddy, who is hanging
up his phone)
Freddy: Motherfucker.
(He turns to watch Butchie and Dickstein as Barry approaches with a hanging
flower bowl in each hand)
Barry: How are
you today?
Freddy: What?
Barry: How are
you? A morning pleasantry.
Freddy: How
would you be, drowning in lowlifes?
Barry: I’m
sure I’d be gasping for air. (He suddenly hands Freddy one of the flower
bowls) For your room. (Barry walks away)
Freddy: Hawaii, I’m saying, I was talking on the phone.
Barry: Oh yes.
(As Barry turns away again, Freddy drops the flower bowl on the sidewalk)
Freddy: (To
himself) Don’t ask
if you don’t wanna know.
(We see Dr Smith riding his bike up
to Butchie and Dickstein)
Butchie: Hey
doc!
Smith: Hey.
How’s your friend feeling?
Butchie: John? Well, he’s got his balls in that blonde
girl’s chin, so if he’s not doing good, shame on him!
Smith: And
your boy?
Butchie: Boy’s
doing good as far as I know.
Smith: There’s
lots of quick healers in this zip code.
Butchie: Oh
yeah! (Smith wheels over towards Palaka and Ramon)
Palaka: (Still
has his wrist duct-taped) Doctors! Patient’s in critical pain… “Call Monday. I’m playing golf.”
Ramon: Yeah, I
don’t know what you’re talking about. (Smith approaches)
Smith: How you
feeling?
Palaka: Good,
fine, thanks for asking. You giving me a small surprise, doc.
Smith: (nodding
to Palaka’s wrist) What
do the x-rays show?
Palaka: My
x-rays? What’d they show?
Smith: Yeah.
Palaka: Everything’s
good, you know. Healing up good, like gangbusters you know? Thanks for asking,
very much. Appreciate that.
Smith: Which
bones did it turn out were broken?
Palaka: What?
Smith: Which
bones in your wrist? Which of your metacarpals?
Palaka: Oh,
most, if not all.
Smith: But
they decided not to cast it?
Palaka: Well,
you know how they are.
Smith: My
sense would be you should have a cast on that.
Palaka: Yeah
well, chocolate-vanilla, doc, right? You know? You had your chance, and then
you didn’t, so…
Smith: The
textbook approach would be not to cast a patient before an x-ray.
Palaka: Yeah
well, push comes to shove, fuck all of ya.
Ramon: Whoa,
whoa!
Palaka: Ya
know….won’t let a sleeping dog lie!
Butchie: Take
it easy, Palaka! (Freddy hears this and comes over)
Freddy: What’s
going on? You starting trouble?
Palaka: Never
mind, never mind! An acquaintance sustains a fracture, provides his boss entree
to ask after a stranger’s condition….
Ramon:
Maybe
you should get out of the sun now.
Palaka: (Kicking
things around in the pool) Yeah, you and me we could both contract fatal fucking dysentery before
anybody gives a first flying fuck!
Freddy: Hey!
Palaka: Excuse
me, I got to clean the “4”.
(We hear a car roaring into the lot, and see Cissy in her Mazda come screeching in and skidding up to the motel. Butchie sees her and goes over towards her)
Butchie: (to
Dickstein) Hold my
string. (as he and Cissy are walking
towards each other, Barry is back with more hanging plants.)
Barry: In some
situations, “You moron piece of shit.” May be heard as a blessed solicitude.
Butchie: What?
Barry: Hello,
Mrs. Yost.
Cissy: Ya,
hello. I need to talk to Butchie.
Butchie: You
two know each other?
Barry: I’m
sure your mother doesn’t remember me.
Cissy: Ya,
sorry.
Barry: But she
expressed what I took for a kindness, a number of years ago.
Cissy: (to
Butchie) Can we
talk please? (Butchie motions her to his room)
Butchie: He’s
probably confusing you with someone else. (They pick their way through the
stakes and strings)
Dickstein: (nodding
to Cissy) Cissy.
Barry: One
mother’s rebuke of her son, even if vile and obscene, may be taken as kindness
by another whose mother is not at hand.
(Back at the pool)
Smith: Why
don’t we go take some pictures of your wrist, and then I can put a cast on
after.
Palaka: Thanks,
but no thank you. I’ll take care of it my birthday after next.
Smith: Well… (turns
to walk away)
Freddy: Hey,
hey, wait! (to Palaka) Look at me, I’m talking to you. Apologize to him!
Palaka: I’m
scrubbing the pool tile.
Smith: No
apology is necessary.
Freddy: (to
Smith) You shut
up. (now to Palaka) I jump down there, you’ll be scrubbing your own
brains off those tiles.
Palaka: Well I
definitely better climb out then huh? Who better than the source of my fracture
to force me to give up enjoying myself?
Smith: Forcing treatment on a person isn’t my idea of good practice.
Freddy: No one
asked for your ideas. Just take him to
get his wrist fixed, or you’re liable to need treatment yourself.
Smith:
Your
speech pattern inclines toward the megalomaniacal.
Freddy: I also
grind my fuckin’ teeth at night. But I’m not your fuckin’ patient.
Smith: (to
Palaka) I’m happy
to take you if you want to go.
Freddy: (pulls
out his keys) Here,
drive my car. Unless you wanna ride on his handle bars.
Smith: Just
follow me.
Palaka: I’m
gonna follow a bicycle?
Smith: It’s
not far.
(Cut to the interior of Butchie’s
room)
Cissy: I want
Tina to see Shaun.
Butchie: Which
one of us was high last night, ma? (laughing)
Cissy: I was
not fuckin’ high last night!
Butchie: I’m
just saying, unless I was loaded, Tina saw him.
Cissy: And I’m
saying …
Butchie: You
mean with his eyes open? Is that what you’re saying?
Cissy: I
fucked up this morning. I said things. I – I mean, I said the truth. I was
talking to your asshole father on the phone and Shaunie heard me talk about
her.
Butchie: He
was listening in on the call?
Cissy: Oh, you
fucking moron.
Butchie: Well,
I guess you were yelling.
Cissy: I hurt
his feelings. He walked out, I hurt him so bad.
Butchie: How
bad was what you said?
Cissy: That
she was a whore, porn queen piece of shit.
Butchie: Oh.
He is 13, ma. And Tina’s tapes get around. You know, there’s half a chance that
it wasn’t fresh news.
Cissy: He
already had one of her tapes.
Butchie: There
you go!
Cissy: He
didn’t even open it, you moron! It was still in it’s wrapper. I only came to
ask you to get in touch with her.
Butchie: She
left I.B., ma. I asked if she was staying last night.
Cissy: What
business did you have asking if she was staying?
Butchie: I
don’t know.
Cissy: I’ll
never see him again.
Butchie: Come
on…
Cissy: You
didn’t see his face.
Butchie: You
want me to go looking for him?
Cissy: I asked
Kai.
Butchie: Yeah
that’s … that’s good. I have her number – Tina. You want me to try her on the
phone?
Cissy: Isn’t
that what the fuck I came to ask you? (She leaves abruptly. As she is making
her way back through the stakes and strings outside, she says: ) What is
this bullshit? (We see Dickstein and Barry standing and watching her leave)
Dickstein: I’m
afraid of my fiancée. (Cissy races her engine and peels out of the lot)
(Cut to Tina, driving in her car,
she is tearful, wiping her eyes. She pulls up to a stop light and a guy in a
pickup truck pulls along side her. He looks over and recognizes her)
Guy: Hey
Tina!. How’s your ass? Got all your tapes! Came to most of ‘em. (She looks
away as he drives off)
(Cut to Butchie in his room as he
talks to himself, pacing around his room)
Butchie: I am
gonna get high. I’ve been fuckin’ high in my life.
Higher than any other fuckin’ asshole I know!. (He’s dialing his cellphone,
it’s ringing) And I am gonna get twice as high as I have ever been.
(Cut to Joe’s van, sitting in the
bush. We can see the US/Mexico border fence in the distance. Joe, Bill and John
are sitting in the van, listening to the radio as Joe is looking around with
binoculars)
Radio: Do you
avoid having guests in your home? Do you make excuses to them when you know
you’re ashamed of your flooring?
John: Are you
ashamed of your flooring?
Bill: I would
like to know our motive, and our specific purpose and I will not directly ask a
moron.
John: I would
like to know our motive!
Bill: Jesus
Christ! Jesus Christ!
Joe: I found
him stabbed near this road. And vato was in his vocabulary.
Bill: He
doesn’t have a vocabulary. He’s a human parrot.
John:
I’m a
human parrot!
Joe: And being
a human parrot, and him now saying “vato”, the more likely we’re in the right
neighborhood.
John: “Fried
brain pothead!”
Bill: My
fucking fibromyalgia is in upheaval!
John: Justice
must be served.
Joe: Quiet,
John.
Bill: I’ll
give him justice with my two bare hands! Justice…on the border with Mexico.
Joe:
I think
we may all need a spliff. (reaches for a joint)
Bill: Well on
that I take no position.
John: I’ll
carpet four rooms in your house.
Bill: Would you
at least turn the radio off? (Joe turns it off)
(Cut back to Tina’s car as her
phone rings)
Tina: Hello?
Butchie: (agitated,
pacing around his room) Where the fuck have you been?
Tina: My
cellphone just rang.
Butchie: Oh
did it just ring, you fucking cunt, I’ve been calling you for the past 20
minutes!
Tina: It just
rang, Butchie!
Butchie: Did
it just ring, or were you sucking some nigger’s prick?
(She hangs up the phone and slams
it down. Butchie paces for a moment, then re-dials)
Butchie: (mumbling
to himself) Yeah,
don’t answer it. Don’t answer, I will find you wherever you are and I will cut
your fucking cunt out of your body. (Tina picks up)
Tina: I’m not
going to listen to that shit, Butchie.
Butchie: Don’t
… don’t fucking hang up on me, Tina. Alright, don’t you fucking hang up. All
right, just let me try to figure out what the fuck I’m trying to do here. OK,
listen to me. Listen to me. I apologize. All right, listen to me. Shaunie needs
to see you. Or, Cissy wants you to see Shaunie.
Tina: I can’t
come back, Butchie.
Butchie: What?
You gotta go suck some nigger’s prick? Don’t – don’t hang up! Don’t, don’t hang
up! Fuck. Listen to me. Shaunie’s feelings are hurt, OK? He’s upset.
Tina: About
what?
Butchie: His
feelings are hurt, OK, he’s lost. She doesn’t know where he is.
Tina: That I
came to see him?
Butchie: No,
no, he wants to see you.
Tina: What’s
he upset about?
Butchie: Jesus
Christ! What the fuck do I know? Huh? What the fuck do I know about it? I can’t
even get fuckin’ high here.
Tina: Are you
high, Butchie?
Butchie: Fuck
you! Al right, fuck you! Why don’t you go mind your own fucking business and go
suck some nigger’s prick.
Tina: I’m
coming back there. Don’t get high Butchie, Don’t let Shaun get hurt.
Butchie: What
the fuck do I care? (He hangs up and throws the phone. He’s crying) Oh,
fuck!
(Cut to Kai’s trailer. We see Cissy
enter and start searching around the trailer. She looks in cabinets, then
checks around and under the mattress. Finally she finds her gun, picks it up
and leaves.)
(Cut to Joe’s van. We see them
still sitting there, Joe is scanning the land with his binoculars, John is
imitating Joe. Joe spies someone walking through the brush with a back-pack.)
Joe: There’s
someone down in that bush. (He hands Bill the binoculars and points to the
place) How’s that reefer treating you?
Bill: Believe
me, I’ve smoked more reefer than Carter made little liver pills. (Hands the
binoculars to John) Confirm the sighting, trooper.
John: I’ll
confirm it, trooper. (He takes the binoculars and looks over at Joe with
them. Bill re-directs him to the man in the bush)
Bill: See that
guy there?
John: I see
that guy.
Bill: Did he
stab you, yes or no.
Joe: You know
what that’s gonna make him say.
John: He
stabbed me, yes or no.
Bill: This
could end in fisticuffs.
(John suddenly puts down the
binoculars and looks concerned)
John: Better
she tries to kill me and fails than tries to kill herself. (John’s head
falls to the side and he’s unconscious)
Bill: Unconscious.
(Cut to Cissy in her kitchen at the
Yost house. She’s studying the revolver. Suddenly she looks out the window to
see John standing there looking at her. She grabs the gun)
John: Cissy
Yost!
Cissy: What?
John: Are you
sitting in your kitchen on 7th street, thinking of blowing off your
head with your gun you got back from Kai’s trailer? Have you completely run out
of whatever let you put up with your asshole husband for 31 years…do you feel
that everything you ever touched in your entire life, you turned to shit and
mud? Are you ashamed, Cissy, that once when Mitch was on one of his bullshit
retreats and you were loaded on acid and Butchie was 13 and he’s just won his
first contest and you were so proud of him for not being Mitch, and you went
into his room and he was whipping his skippy, then you said: “Let me show you
how to do that.” (John starts motioning the “jerk-off” motion. Sissy gasps
in shock, then freezes for a moment. She looks back at John and he starts the
jerk-off motion again. Cissy grabs the gun and points it at him, then pulls the
trigger several times. The gun is empty) Have you wanted to kill yourself
every day since, Cissy? And not even known it? And turned yourself into the
worst ball-buster known to man, so no one would be with you, and you wouldn’t
have to be afraid that you’d ever do something like that again. That’s how
ashamed of yourself you were? (Cissy breaks down and sobs) Do you think
now Shaun, who you loved so much and tried to make a life for, now you turned
around and hurt his feelings so bad? (sobbing, she shakes her head yes) Do
you hurt so bad, you want it to just quit and be over? Everything? (She’s
nodding yes) Well, let me tell you about our offer, Cissy. We prefer you
don’t. We wish you wouldn’t. Our offer is: keep going, feeling just as
miserable, or worse. Hold the gun under the spigot and turn the water on. Spare
Shaun finding you dead in the kitchen. And as a bonus, you’ll also receive …
his love. Act now, Cissy. Baptize that fucking pistol! (She takes the gun and holds it under the
running tap. As she looks up again, John has vanished)
(Cut to a café. We see Dickstein
sitting and eating with his fiancée, Daphne. )
Dickstein: Instead
of catering to a walk-in trade, I’d be attorney to a single client.
Daphne: A
homosexual psychopath.
Dickstein: “Psychopath”
is harsh.
Daphne: Lottery
winners or not, Meyer. Men who hire their attorneys at gunpoint are
psychopaths.
Dickstein: The
salary he’s offered, exceeds by $12,000 my income in any calendar year since
graduation.
Daphne: Well what
if his relatives try to have him committed?
Dickstein: I
don’t think he has any living relatives. And, I would contest that motion. (A
guy who has been in the background during this scene, sitting at a computer,
suddenly bursts out: )
Dwayne: Ah!
Jerri: What
now, asshole?
Dwayne: I rent
this station for $6 an hour…
Daphne: Isn’t
this pleasant?
Dwayne: …in
order to access and maintain my website, not spend 45 minutes out of every hour
scanning for viruses with outdated software.
Jerri: Here’s
an idea then Dwayne, I’ll reimburse you $4.50, you take it and buy rat poison.
You bring it here to me, and I’ll mix it with your wheatgrass.
Dwayne: My Yost
website got 10,000 hits last night. It – it’s from Butchie’s son, but the
overflow for Butchie could be huge. (We see that Dwayne is looking at
www.YostClan.com )
Jerri: Imagine
if he still surfed?
Dwayne: That’s
Butchie’s lawyer filing for bankruptcy.
Jerri: (whispering)
He must also do
criminal work.
Dwayne: You
know what? Just go away, OK? Just go away please. (She goes behind Dwayne and
pulls her tank top over his head and face) Are you done? Any time you’re
ready.
Daphne: I want
to meet him, this Barry. I want to meet all of them. Your new friends.
Dickstein: All
right. Um … fine. (They get up to leave, Dickstein leaves cash on the table)
Jerri: (to
Dwayne) $5 tip!
He’ll get a migraine later. (She wets her finger and sticks it in Dwayne's
ear)
Dwayne: I asked
you not to do that.
(Cut to the Snug Harbor. We see
Ramon and Barry by the pool, Ramon is raking. In the background we see Butchie
talking on the phone)
Butchie:
You’re asking me to go back to her empty-handed Kai.
Ramon: (to
Barry) You know,
raking is very relaxing. You wanna feel? (hands rake to Barry)
Barry: Of
course. Hmm. Doesn’t the Yost boy skate
as well as surf?
Ramon: It’s
how he gets around on land.
Barry: Suppose
we were to not fill the pool?
Ramon: Tell me
now before I go for the hose.
Barry: Hmmm
Ramon: OK,
that’s good. (takes the rake away from Barry)
Butchie: Kai,
I call Tina, “what time are you getting here” Tina says: “What time is Shaunie
getting to Cissy’s?” And I say “Oh, Shaunie? Well Kai can’t even get Shaunie
out of the fucking bowl to ask Shaunie if he’ll fuckin’ go to Cissy’s.”
Barry: Young
Henry Kissinger.
Butchie: Jesus
Christ! If Shaunie’s in the bowl, he can’t hear what you’re saying to me Kai. (Cut
to the skate bowl where Kai is watching Shaun) So why are you whispering to
me so I can’t hear what you’re saying?
Kai: I said,
I’m not getting Shaunie in the car, Butchie, without telling him where I’m
taking him.
Butchie: Who
told you not to tell him where you’re taking him?
Kai: I’m not
taking him to Cissy’s until I know Tina’s gonna meet him there!
Butchie: Tell
him Tina’s gonna meet him!
Kai: And Cissy
said she’s gonna host the lunch?
Butchie: Look,
if Cissy says she want’s Tina to see Shaunie, why wouldn’t she want her to see
him in her own fucking house Kai, now….(We see Freddy peeking out from his
room at the goings on) I – I don’t wanna ask her to host a lunch until I
know that Shaun’s in the car with you!
Kai: I better
not get in that house, Butchie, and have Cissy freak out in front of Shaun
again, ‘cause then he’ll never want to fucking go back there.
Butchie: Thank
you. Thank you very much. (He hangs up) Oh god. I gotta get fuckin’
high!
(We hear a saxophone blaring from
across the parking lot. It’s Freddy, by his room, playing his rendition of “My
Favorite Things”. He plays a little fanfare then stops)
Freddy: That’s
how I relax! All right?
Ramon: Was he
tuning up or was that a tune?
Barry: Rogers
and Hammerstein. Not their best phase.
(Cut back to the skate bowl where
Shaun is working out on his skateboard)
Kai: Shaunie!…Shaun!
(He skates over to her) Your Gram sent me. She feels bad. She wants to
know if you wanna see your mom.
Shaun: At my
Gram’s?
Kai: Yeah, at
your Gram’s Shaunie. Your Gram’s the one trying to make it happen.
Shaun: She
hurts everyone’s feelings.
Kai: Your
Gram’s your Gram, Shaunie.
And hurry up and decide, I got work to do at the
U.N.
Shaun: I don’t
want to see her at my Gram’s. (Turns around and starts skating again)
Kai: Shaunie!!
(he skates back over) Who financed your video, Shaunie, with her own
money? And who got you in that contest? And who’s been there for you every
fucking minute of your life? (He skates around for a bit, then skates around
to meet her. They walk off toward her Jeep.)
(Cut to Snug Harbor. Butchie is
outside and watches Tina drive into the lot)
Butchie: Whoa!
(We see Ramon and Barry taking turns at the rake) Hey! Calling my mom.
Tina: Where’s
Shaun?
Butchie: Kai’s
taking him to my mom’s. Uh…thanks for coming back.
Tina: Why is
she taking him to your mom’s?
Butchie:
‘Cause that’s where you’re gonna see him. (Cissy picks up her phone)
Cissy: Hey
Butchie.
Tina: Why does
it have to be at her house?
Butchie: Hey,
mom? Hold on for a second. (To Tina) ‘Cause that’s where it’s gonna be.
Tina: You said
you wanted me to see Shaun, Butchie. And your mother wanted me to, are you
saying your mother wants to make friends with me?
Butchie: God
sakes, god sakes, I don’t know what I’m saying! Just let me talk to my mother! (to
Cissy) Yeah, mom, Tina’s here and she wants to know if you can host a lunch
for her and Shaun.
Cissy: What?
She asked you to ask me that?
Butchie: Yeah,
she’s here right now with me.
Cissy: I’m not
fucking talking to her.
Butchie: No …
I mean, yeah. She’s taking a piss. But she is here and she’s ready to come
over.
Cissy: What
does that mean, she wants me to host a lunch?
Butchie: What
do I know? Just lay out some tuna fish or whatever the fuck you do.
Cissy: She’s
got some balls.
Butchie: Yeah.
What do I know? Anyways, is that the message?
Cissy: What?
Butchie: That
you wanna have her over for lunch!
Cissy: I’m not
hosting any fucking lunch, Butchie. I’ll leave the fuckin’ stuff.
Butchie: Sure,
leave it out. She’ll appreciate it. You know, you got a previous fuckin’
commitment. (Hangs up) (to Tina) Yeah, that’s fine.
(Cut to the Yost house. We see Shaun
in his room as Tina and Cissy are talking in the kitchen)
Tina: How does
he like his tuna fish?
Cissy: With
salt …and pepper. Pickles and lemon juice. Two tablespoons of mayo … is how I
make it. (Cissy heads for the door.) I don’t know how he likes it. I
never asked him. (She leaves Tina alone in the kitchen and goes outside)
(Cut to Kai entering her trailer.
She seems to notice that something is amiss, and immediately goes to look for
the gun under her mattress. It’s not there, she grabs her keys and leaves
again)
(Cut back to the Yost house. We see
Cissy is sitting in Mitch’s fort, smoking a cig. Next we see Shaun in the
kitchen, he’s watching Tina fixing the tuna salad. They are silent. Outside on
the street, we see Butchie pacing up and down the sidewalk. Cissy creeps out of
the fort and down the stairs, trying to see what’s going on in the house. As
she does this, Butchie is creeping up the driveway, also trying to see inside
the house. Finally they spot each other, and Cissy hurries back up the stairs
as Butchie hurries back out to the street. Kai pulls up in her Jeep next to
Butchie.)
Butchie: Hey!
Kai: Your
mom’s got a gun.
Butchie: Yeah,
my dad’s always in the tree house. She’s afraid of burglars.
Kai: Before
you and Tina came over last night, she had that gun out, Butchie. I took it
away from her, but then I just found out she went to my trailer and got it
back. It’s alright about the gun, I unloaded it. But I don’t know if it’s
alright that she wanted to go and get it.
Butchie: Well
I don’t think she’s gonna hurt herself.
She just looked at me in the eye like
she had centuries of ball-busting left in her.
Kai: (looks
over at Tina’s car) You
driving Tina?
Butchie: Yeah.
What did I do with my chauffeur’s cap? I walked down to see how things were
going, ‘cause I’m 2 fuckin’ blocks away. Give me a ride back, I’m exhausted. (They
get in the jeep and leave)
(Cut to Snug Harbor. We see Freddy
loitering outside his room. Palaka drives up in Freddy’s car and gets out with
a new cast on his arm. Next we see Dickstein and Daphne at the shuffleboard
diggings, she is sitting in a lawn chair watching Dickstein. )
Daphne: This
is so much fun!
Dickstein: I
explained it to you before, I made a commitment.
Daphne: No,
I’m just saying, this is so much fun. I’m so glad we reconciled.
(Palaka comes up to them,
brandishing his new cast)
Palaka: Hello.
Hello. Hi, pleasure, yeah. Just returned from the clinic, Dickstein. Yeah, it’s
not my idea of fun, but, here I am!
Dickstein: Daphne,
my fiancée.
Daphne: Hello.
Palaka: Pleasure.
Yeah, it’s not something I’d want to do every day, medical treatment, but you
know it’s also something not to be afraid of … if …. Excuse me, excuse
me. (We see Dr Smith riding in on his bike. ) There’s the assassin!
There’s the murdering cutthroat who treated me! And the prison torturer from
the Abu Ghraib prison. (We see Ramon and Barry bring out fixings for a
barbeque)
Smith: Any
changes?
Palaka: Oh,
uh, well … it’s achy. You know, throbs, somewhat … somewhat. Little bit …
uh…it’s fine. (Smith looks at the arm, looks at Palaka and then Freddy, then
rides silently away)
Dickstein: (to
Daphne) Physician.
Daphne: Oh, we
should bring his mother and your mother here so they can both “shep naches”.
Palaka: (with
Freddy now) Do my
cast the first honor, please? (Hands Freddy a Sharpie, Freddy writes
something on the cast. Palaka looks at it and laughs.) That’s funny, it’s
very good. Right.
Freddy: I
played my saxophone before.
Palaka: Oh,
jeez. You all done? Did you pack it back up?
Freddy: Maybe.
(Cut to the Yost kitchen. Tina is
still working on the tuna salad as Shaun watches from a distance)
Shaun: So …so
you think you’ll be here a while?
Tina: I’m not
sure. (more silence as Tina brings the bowl over to the table)
Shaun: Should
we make one for my Gram?
Tina: Sure. (She
starts making sandwich)
(Cut to Snug Harbor. Ramon is manning a barbeque with assist from Barry)
Ramon: Hot
dogs, hamburgers, potato chips. Hot
dogs hamburgers, seconds will be available. Who’s hungry? (All the denizens
of the motel are loitering about and drifting toward the grill. We see John
appear at the shuffleboard diggings. Nobody appears to see John, or hear him)
John: If my
words are yours, can you hear my father? Can Bill know my father, keeping his
eye on me? Can I bone Kai, and Butchie know my father instead?
(We see Butchie and Kai arriving. John walks over to room 24 and goes inside. We see John come out of room 24 carrying a very dead guy in a suit. He sits the dead guy down behind Butchie and Kai. None of the folks are seeing this)
John: My
father’s shy doing his business. Kai helps my father dump out. Bill takes a
shot. Shaunie is much improved. Joe is a doubting Thomas. Joe will save not
Aleman. Joe will bring his buddies home. This is how Freddy relaxes. Cup of joe
and Winchell’s variety dozen. Mitch catches a good wave. Mitch wipes out. Mitch
wipes out Cissy. Cissy shows Butchie how to do that. Cissy wipes Butchie out.
Butchie hurts Barry’s head. Mr Rollins comes in Barry’s face. My father runs
the mega millions. (As John speaks, we see all the people milling about, but
nobody appears to hear John or see him.)
(Cut to the bush, we see Joe’s van
at sunset. John is still passed out as Joe and Bill are keeping watch)
(Cut to Cass’ hotel room. John
enters without knocking)
Cass: Boy, we
got some … we got some interesting footage, John. Yeah, really got some great
ideas on what we could do with that.
John: I need
your camera, Cass.
Cass: (holding
up her keys) Safe
in the trunk of my car, John. (He
takes her hand and leads her out of the room. Note that her video camera is in
fact sitting on the computer desk)
(Cut to Linc on the street, he’s
looking in a surf-shop window. We see a “Stinkweed” sign in the window.
Reflected in the window, we see John approach from behind. Linc does not appear
to be seeing John)
John: Time to
get back in the game, Linc Stark. (Linc does not seem to have heard
anything. He turns and starts to walk off. We see him reflected in the window
as he turns back again. We can also see Cass in her Porsche on the street
behind Linc, she is alone in the car. Cass starts the car and drives off.)
(Cut to Snug Harbor. Night time,
everyone is eating their burgers and dogs. John is there again, though nobody
seems aware of his “presence”.)
John:
Fur is big.
Mud is big.
The stick is big.
The word is big.
Fire is huge.
The wheel is huge.
The line and circle are big.
On the wall, the line and circle are huge.
On the wall, the man at the wall makes a man from
the circle and line.
The man at the wall makes a word on the wall, from
the circle and line.
The word on the wall is my father.
(Cass and Linc have appeared at the
motel. Cass seems to be the only person who is aware of John’s presence and his
speech. John approaches Cass and touches her on the cheek. Then he leads her to
the carousel horse and leaves her there. She watches him)
John: The
zeros and ones make the word in Cass’ camera.
In the word on the wall that hears my father in
Cass’ camera, the good one Mitch catches doesn’t wipe Cissy out.
(Dr Smith seems to be aware that
something is going on. He appears to be watching Cass as she watches John.)
John: In the
word that hears my father, Cissy shows Butchie something else.
In my father’s word, Cissy shows Butchie and Shaun.
In my father’s word, Tina raises Shaun at lunch.
In Cass’ camera, Butchie lays the cord out for
Barry, and Mr Rollins watches, and he doesn’t come on Barry’s face.
In Cass’ camera, Butchie knows Kai has kept the
faith.
In my father’s word, the wave lifts them up.
(John now draws the “monad symbol”
in the dirt with his foot. We see Bill has “arrived” and is getting out of his
truck. Palaka is coming out of Freddy’s room, and is yawning. He carries
Freddy’s sax in his arms)
Palaka: I
think you overcame a milestone in stride. Next thing it’s 4 hours later and
you’ve been napping. Unrecognized stress. (Hands the sax to Freddy)
John: In Cass’
camera, Bill doesn’t bump his head on the stairs. (Bill’s spiral stair has
appeared in the parking lot, he walks over to it.)
Bill: I cannot
do this. (He starts to climb the stairs.) I can not do this. I am
skating on very thin ice.
John: In Cass’
camera, as long as he’s being stupid, Bill gives Lois a kiss.
(Freddy has walked over to Bill’s
stairs, he seems to be the only person who can see Bill. When Bill gets to the
top of the stair, he pulls out a harmonica as Freddy starts to play his sax.
Bill starts playing blues riffs on the harmonica.)
John: In his
word in Cass’ camera, the internet is big. 9-11 is big, but not every towelhead
is eradicated.
In his word, we are coming 9-11-14.
In my father’s word, Bill sees how Freddy relaxes.
In Cass’s camera, Ramon wants to know who’s hungry,
in the courtyard and room 45.
In my father’s word to come in Cass’ camera, Dr.
Smith calls ocean properties.
(We see that the computer guy from
the café has appeared. Also Joe and the thug who stabbed John have appeared.
Bill and Freddy are making music together)
John: In
Cass’s camera to come, my father stares not Aleman down, and Freddy sees Bill
much improved.
You will not note my father’s word, nor remember
Cass’ camera, but you will not forget what we did here.
(We see an image of the entire Yost