U-Turn
(Stray Dogs)
Screenplay by
John Ridley
and
Richard Rutowski & Oliver Stone
NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS
AND SOME "OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS
SOFT COPY.
EXT. SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT SOUTHWEST - DAY
BEGIN TITLES OVER:
It is early morning and already hot. INSECTS drone, crackle,
and scurry for shade. PRAIRIE DOGS burrow to escape the sun.
We can see the heat shimmering off the surface of the Earth.
On a dusty highway, a pair of VULTURES dine on a dead coyote.
One of them snags an intestine and tugs a few feet of it out of
the carcass.
In the distance, where a long, dusty road meets the horizon, a
small shape appears -- a Sixty-four-and-a-half Mustang
convertible, its top down. Its candy-apple red burns like a
brilliant fireball under the sun. As the car drifts closer, we
see steam escaping from under the hood. Sammi Smith's "Please
Help Me Get Through The Night" plays on the car's radio.
INT. BOBBY COOPER'S MUSTANG - DAY
At the wheel, ignoring impending disaster, BOBBY COOPER, young,
good-looking, fiddles with the RADIO dial, annoyed only to find
country stations. He's been driving since noon yesterday and it
shows -- along with a heavily-bandaged left hand resting on the
steering wheel. He finds something by Pearl Jam or Smashing
Pumpkins and he cranks it. He pops a Percodan with his good hand
as, in the shimmering distance ahead, he sees black shapes in
the road and lays on the horn.
BOBBY
Get off the goddamn road!
EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY
As the MUSTANG powers by, the VULTURES move off the shoulder,
silently watching.
INT. MUSTANG - DAY
The RADIO blares as BOBBY fights to stay awake. His attention is
caught by blue and red lights flashing in the oncoming lane. He
sits up as the POLICE CAR (SHERIFF POTTER inside) closes
quickly. The SIREN starts faintly, then SCREAMS as the cruiser
roars past at speed.
BOBBY
Fuck you!
There is a loud pop from the front of the Mustang and a thick
cloud of steam now pours from the hood. The temperature gauge
now starts rising.
BOBBY
No!...Not now!...Shit!
A couple of SEMIS roar past in the opposite direction,
buffetting the Mustang with their air waves.
EXT. FORK IN THE ROAD - DAY
The car rolls into a fork in the road, limping with the droop of
an animal that won't make another hundred yards.
One sign on the larger road says "GLOBE" is 29 miles away. The
other sign, on the lesser road, tells us "SUPERIOR" is only 2
miles. A third sign confirms his destiny with "Gas, Food, 1
Mile."
BOBBY seems to have no choice. He aims the car down the lesser
road towards "Superior, Arizona."
EXT. OUTSKIRTS SUPERIOR - DAY
The car rattles on its last legs, as BOBBY mutters incantations,
noticing a old, ghostlike MINING COMPANY at the base of the
mountains overlooking the TOWN. It's deserted now, no one
visible, the gates shut, but in its vast, dark bulk, we sense
the ancient richness and power of this town. Bobby moves on.
EXT. HARLIN'S GARAGE - DAY
Down the road from the MINING COMPANY, BOBBY'S CAR pulls into a
small GAS STATION, made of weather-beaten wood, its windows long
since dusted over. The pumps themselves look to have been
manufactured in the early fifties. Above the station is a sign
so faded it's barely readable: HARLIN'S.
Bobby gets out of the car and with great care, favoring his
bandaged left hand which seems to give him a great deal of pain,
he opens the hood. A plume of steam hits him in the face.
BOBBY
Oh shit!
Bobby looks around for someone, anyone. After a few moments he
reaches into the car and blows the horn. He waits, then blows
it again. From out of the station walks DARRELL - a
slow-looking man in coveralls caked with grease and dirty. He
looks the part of a yokel.
BOBBY
You Harlin?
DARRELL
Nope. Darrell.
BOBBY
Harlin around?
DARRELL
He's up at the Look Out.
Darrell points a scraggly finger at a plateau in the distance.
BOBBY
Will he be back soon?
DARRELL
Doubt it. He's dead. The Look Out's a
cemetery.
BOBBY
You own this place?
DARRELL
Yep.
BOBBY
Then why do you call it Harlin's?
DARRELL
'Cause Harlin used to own it.
BOBBY
But he's dead.
DARRELL
So?
Bobby is confused, but chooses to drop the matter.
BOBBY
You want to take a look at my car? I think
the radiator hose is--
DARRELL
Damn. Gonna be another hot one today.
Sometimes I don't even want to get out of
bed. Course don't want to get out for the
cold one's neither. Then of course the
clouds come in...
Darrell mops his brow with a greasy rag. It doesn't so much
wipe the sweat as it does streak his forehead with dirt.
BOBBY
Look, Harlin, I've got places to be.
DARRELL
Darrell--
BOBBY
OK. Darrell... Could you just take a look
at my radiator hose. It's busted.
Darrell is clearly upset at being cut off. He leans into the
car and looks at the engine.
BOBBY
So?
DARRELL
It's your radiator hose. It's busted.
BOBBY
I know it's busted. What did I just tell
you?
DARRELL
Well, you know so much why don't you just
fix it yourself?
BOBBY
If I could do you think I'd be standing
here wasting my time. Can you fix it, or
do I have to go somewhere else?
DARRELL
Somewhere else? Mister, somewhere else is
fifty miles from here. Only other gas
station down in town closed 3 years ago
when the mine got shut...
BOBBY
Okay, I'm stuck. You happy? Now can you
fix it, or not?
DARRELL
Yeah, I can fix it.
BOBBY
Great!
DARRELL
Gotta run over to the yard and see if I can
find a hose like this one, or close enough.
Gonna take time.
BOBBY
How much time?
DARRELL
Time.
BOBBY (rewinds his watch)
What time is it now?
DARRELL
Twenty-after-ten.
BOBBY
Jesus. Twenty-after-ten and it must be
ninety already.
DARRELL
Ninety-two. Course half hour from now
might be seventy-two. These clouds move
around a lot.
Bobby wipes the bandaged hand across his forehead.
DARRELL
What happened to your hand?
Self-consciously Bobby quickly drops his hand to his side.
BOBBY
Accident.
DARRELL
You got to be more careful. Hands is
important. Let me show you something. When
I was a kid, now I don't know if you can
still see it, but I gashed my fingers in a
lawnmower.
BOBBY
I'm very interested in this but is there
someplace...
DARRELL
Diner up a piece. Not much, but us simple
folk like it.
BOBBY
I'll be back in a couple of hours. And be
careful with her, will you?
Darrell slams down the hood.
DARRELL
Just a car.
Bobby reaches into the car, pulls out a small ugly gym bag which
he slings onto his shoulder and moves to the trunk, pops it open.
BOBBY
It's not just a car. It's a sixty-four and
half Mustang convertible. That's the
difference between you and me, and why you
live here and I'm just passing through.
The trunk lid rises in the air, partially blocking Bobby from
Darrell, acting as a partition between them.
BOBBY
Now do you mind? I got to get some stuff
out of the trunk.
He throws the car key to Darrell who takes the hint, spits
grotesquely into the dirt, scratches his nuts, and walks back
to the shack.
Concealed by the trunk lid, Bobby pulls out a GUN (a .9mm black
Baretta), wrapped in a t-shirt, from the top of the bag. Perhaps
we see a flash of green money, lots of it. Sports pages and
betting sheets are piled inside. With a look around, Bobby takes
the gun and stashes it underneath the rubber mat in the trunk.
Briefly we notice a towing ROPE under the mat. There is a small
travel bag, from which he peels a fresh bottle of Percodan,
quickly taking two, as well as the sports page.
INT. HARLIN'S GARAGE - DAY
DARRELL watches out of the darkened office through the front
window, as BOBBY slams the trunk and starts walking down the
road, with the bag on his shoulder.
EXT. DESERT ROAD - LATER
BOBBY walks along a dusty patch of road into town past a sign
saying "SUPERIOR - HOME OF THE GOLDEN DOOR RETIREMENT
COMMUNITY." As he walks on, a pair of MOTORCYCLERS roar past on
their Harleys blanketing him in a cloud of DUST. He shouts
after them, but his words are lost under the whine of the cycle
engines.
EXT. SUPERIOR MAIN STREET - DAY
BOBBY hits town, such as it is: The Freeway left here a few
years back. There are only a few little stores: A general
store, a catalog outlet, a post office that doubles as a bus
depot. All of them built for the desert heat. The busiest spot
in town seems to be the truckstop/diner with a few 18 wheelers
parked outside it.
At the corner of one street sits an old BLIND MAN dressed in
raggedy clothes, perhaps an Indian. His SEEING-EYE DOG lies next
to him. He's talking to TWO OLD MEN, veterans perhaps, Indian or
Spanish. They both have missing limbs and slide off with furtive
alcoholic looks as Bobby passes. The Blind Man yells out in an
American Indian accent.
BLIND MAN
Hey! You there!
BOBBY
You want something, old man?
BLIND MAN
Don't call me old man. Ain't you got
no respect, boy?
BOBBY
You want something?
BLIND MAN
Yeah I want something. I want you to run
over to that machine and get me a pop.
BOBBY
You can't do that yourself?
BLIND MAN
Hell no, I can't do that myself. I'm
blind. Can't you see that?
BOBBY
I'm sorry, I didn't--
BLIND MAN
What'd you think I was doing out here
with these glasses on? Sunnin' myself?
BOBBY
I don't know. I thought you were keeping
the sun out of your eyes.
BLIND MAN
I ain't got no eyes. You want to see?
BOBBY
Christ no!
BLIND MAN
Lost my eyes in Vyee-et-nam. Lost them
fighting the commies. Fought the war and
lost my eyes fightin' the commies just so
you can come around here and make fun of
me.
BOBBY
I said I was sorry.
BLIND MAN
Don't be sorry. Just run over there and
get me my pop before I die of thirst.
BOBBY
Yeah, sure. You got change?
BLIND MAN
Change? You want my change? I fought the
war and lost my eyes just so I could give
you my change?
BOBBY
All right, old man. Christ.
Bobby walks across the street to a very old soda machine; it has
bottles instead of cans. The blind man shouts to Bobby.
BLIND MAN
Get me a Dr. Peppa! I don't want no Colas.
Colas ain't nothing but flavored water.
Bobby puts change in the machine and pulls out a bottle of Dr.
Pepper. He starts back to the blind man.
BLIND MAN
Don't forget to open it for me. I can't be
opening my own bottle.
BOBBY
Christ!
Bobby goes back to the machine and opens the bottle, then walks
back to the old man who pours a splash on the ground.
BLIND MAN
A little for Mother Earth. I'm about fifty
percent Indian, you know. To all our
relations.
He takes a hearty swig of the soda.
BLIND MAN
Ah! Just what I needed! Want some?
The blind man holds the bottle out to Bobby. A string of saliva
runs from his lips to the bottle's neck.
BOBBY
I'll pass.
Bobby reaches down and pets the old man's dog. Flies buzz around
both the dog and the Blind Man.
BOBBY
I think you'd better give your pooch a sip.
He looks sick.
BLIND MAN
That's 'cause he's dead.
Bobby jumps back.
BOBBY
Oh, Jesus.
BLIND MAN
I hope you wasn't pettin' him none, was
you?
BOBBY
What the hell are you keeping a dead dog
around for?
BLIND MAN
He's only just dead. What was I supposed
to do with him? I can't take him away
anywhere. And nobody wants to take him for
me. Do you?
BOBBY
Hell no!
BLIND MAN
See. Ain't nothing I can do but keep him
here beside me. That's where he belongs
anyways. Me and Jesse, that's my dog, not
anymore, but me and Jesse we been pals
since the war when I lost my eyes. He was
just a pup then... a companion that's
loyal, that'll keep coming back to you no
matter how much you kick him...I miss him.
(as Bobby moves away) I'll see ya later,
unless I come across something worse.
Bobby noticing a beautiful woman down the street, GRACE McKENNA,
compulsively turns and catches up to her. She is dressed better
than the usual t-shirts and tank tops of this town -- perhaps a
mail-ordered dress or a mother's hand-me-down. With her raven
hair and caramel skin, it is obvious she is Native American. Her
arms are full with an awkward package she can barely manage.
BOBBY
Can I give you a hand, beautiful?
GRACE
I'm just going to my car?
BOBBY
That's right on my way.
GRACE
My mother told me never to accept offers
from strangers.
BOBBY
My name is Bobby. Now I'm not a stranger
anymore. See how easy it is for us to get
to know each other, beautiful?
GRACE
Do you have to call me that?
BOBBY
I don't know your real name.
GRACE
Maybe I don't want you to.
Grace stops walking.
BOBBY
Maybe, but if you didn't I think you would
have kept on walking.
GRACE
You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?
BOBBY
I like that about me, beautiful.
GRACE
It's Grace.
BOBBY
May I carry your package, Grace?
Grace hesitates, then gives the package to Bobby. He has
trouble with it himself.
BOBBY
Jesus.
GRACE
You sure you can manage?
BOBBY
I got it.
GRACE
Do you want me to carry your pack for you?
Bobby blurts out emphatically.
BOBBY
No!
He catches himself, and softens a bit.
BOBBY
No, I've got it.
GRACE
What happened to your hand?
BOBBY
Accident.
GRACE
You should be more careful.
They start walking towards Grace's car.
GRACE
It's very nice of you to help me. That
package is kind of heavy, and it's so hot.
BOBBY
No trouble at all, really.
They get to a car and Bobby puts down the package.
BOBBY
Wasn't nothing.
GRACE
Oh, this isn't my car. It's down a ways.
I should have parked closer. I just didn't
think it would be so heavy. I could drive
up.
BOBBY
That's all right. I got it.
Bobby takes up the package and they begin walking again. The
package seems to have gained weight.
GRACE
It's just new drapes and curtain rods. If
I had known it was going to be so heavy I
would have had them delivered up to the
house.
Bobby struggles with the package. Sweat starts to sheet his
face.
BOBBY (panting)
That a fact?
GRACE
I just got tired of looking at the old
drapes. My mother made them. Had them long
as I can remember. You ever seen something
and just knew you had to have it?
BOBBY (straining)
Yes, I have.
GRACE
'Course they cost a little more than I
should really be spending. But, damn it, I
don't hardly ever do anything nice for
myself. I deserve nice things.
BOBBY (can hardly talk)
I ... can't ... argue ...
They arrive at a JEEP SAHARA.
GRACE
This is it.
Bobby practically drops the package. He is covered with sweat.
GRACE
Thank you, Bobby.
BOBBY
You're welcome, Grace.
GRACE
You're not from around here, are you?
BOBBY
Why you say that? Just because I help a
lady with her package?
GRACE
You don't have that dead look in your eyes
like the only thing you live for is to get
through the day.
BOBBY
I just drove in this morning.
GRACE
Drove into Superior? What for?
BOBBY
Didn't have a choice. My car overheated up
the road.
GRACE
You're lucky you didn't break down in the
desert. Day like today, you'd be dead in no
time. When you leaving?
BOBBY
Not until my car's fixed. I don't know how
long that's going to take.
GRACE
And here I've made you all hot and sweaty.
Grace steps to Bobby and places her hand against his chest. She
rubs away some of the sweat. They look at each other a beat. A
POLICE CAR, seen earlier, pulls up beside them from behind and
idles. SHERIFF VIRGIL POTTER is a weathered, handsome,
middle-aged man with suspicious eyes, black haired in contrast
to Bobby's sandiness.
SHERIFF
Morning Grace.
GRACE
Morning Sheriff. Got my drapes.
SHERIFF
Well it's about time. Looks like you found
yourself a helper too.
Bobby wants to shrink behind the drapes.
GRACE
Well, he offered, and I just couldn't
refuse. His car overheated.
SHERIFF
Oh?
Bobby turns to the Sheriff and forces a smile.
BOBBY
Morning, officer.
SHERIFF
Son.
(beat, to Grace)
Little excitement out at the reservation
this morning. Wayne and Dale Elkhart were
up drinking all night and then Wayne starts
chasing Dale around the desert with his
shotgun. BIA handled it. I went by for
backup.
GRACE
Anybody hurt?
SHERIFF
Hell, no. That Wayne can't shoot when he's
sober, much less drunk. He's lucky he
didn't kill his own danged self.
(beat)
Well, anyhow, you stay cool. Nice meeting
you, son.
BOBBY
Same here, officer.
The Sheriff drives on. Pause. They look at each other.
GRACE
Well, I guess I could use some help
getting this box into the house. Not far.
You could shower, get something cool to
drink.
Bobby considers the offer, but there's not much considering to
do.
BOBBY
Well, I could use something cool.
EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY
BOBBY rides along with GRACE in her JEEP.
GRACE
Where you coming from?
BOBBY
All over. Chicago, Houston, Detroit. Just
lately Dallas.
GRACE
You've been around.
BOBBY
I guess I've got wander in my blood.
GRACE
Where you headed?
BOBBY
I don't know. I have to make a stop in
Vegas. Business to finish. Then maybe
I'll head to Santa Barbara. I might be
able to pick up some action there.
GRACE
So, what is it you do, Mister...?
BOBBY
Cooper. Bobby Cooper. Oh you know, whatever
pays best. Little bartending, used to teach
tennis, played a little competition ...
(drops it).
GRACE
I never played tennis. You just travel
around Bobby-- no direction, no steady
work. You must like taking chances.
BOBBY
If you're going to gamble, might as well
play for high stakes.
GRACE
What happens when you lose?
BOBBY
I pack up and go somewhere else.
GRACE (wistfully)
Somewhere else. I've never been anywhere
else. Just once. Years ago. Went to the
State Fair. It was nice, but it wasn't
nothing.
BOBBY
I couldn't stay in this place. I wouldn't.
I'd just pick up, do whatever I had to do,
and get out.
Grace looks to Bobby and smiles.
GRACE
Sometimes I feel the exact same way.
INT. GRACE'S BEDROOM/BATHROOM - LATER - DAY
BOBBY, naked, steps into the shower and turns on the water. It
shoots from the shower head and cascades over his body. As the
water falls over him we hear a Russian accented voice:
VOICE(V.O.)
I want my money.
Bobby press his left hand against the white tile to steady
himself. His hand is curled in such a way we cannot see his
pinky or ring finger. Bobby leans back in the shower. Just as
he does:
EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT
It is raining hard. Matching the backwards motion of the last
scene BOBBY is thrown violently against a brick wall, facing
out.
VOICE(V.O.)
I want my money.
BOBBY
Look, I'll get the money! You don't want to
do this!
VOICE (V.O.)
Take two for now. One a week, punk...
Bobby is being pressed against the wall by two muscular GOONS.
Another MAN stands partially hidden behind the goon's frame.
With one hand one goon flattens Bobby's hand against the brick,
with his other he clips two fingers off with a GARDEN SHEAR. We
see Bobby's face in agonizing pain, then he slides screaming to
the ground until he is framed between the legs of the men.
As Bobby clutches his left hand the rainwater runs in streaks
down his ashen, blank face.
INT. GRACE'S BEDROOM/BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER
We see BOBBY's face reliving the experience as once again we
hear the voice.
VOICE (V.O.)
Two weeks, asshole. Get the money or you
gonna lose your nose and ears.
Bobby has slumped to the floor of the shower, looking to his
left hand, almost crying, unable to tolerate it. As a streak of
blood snakes down the white tile we see that the pinky and ring
FINGERS have been cut off at the joints.
INT. GRACE'S BEDROOM/BATHROOM - DAY
BOBBY, his hand rebandaged, is putting on his clothes.
BOBBY (to himself)
You're still lucky.
As he does he looks at himself in the mirror. He bends to pick
up his shirt which is draped over the gym bag. As he lifts it we
can see, perhaps more closely than at the garage, that the bag is
3/4 filled with money. He closes the bag and stands. In the
MIRROR, hidden in the doorway, he sees GRACE watching him. Bobby
slows perceptibly, but does not try to hide himself. After a
moment Grace walks into the room carrying a glass of lemonade.
GRACE
Thought you might like a refill on your lemonade.
Bobby takes the lemonade and drinks it down. He rubs the glass
against his forehead.
BOBBY
That's good. Cools you right off.
(tentatively) I saw you watching me.
GRACE
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.
BOBBY
I didn't say it bothered me.
GRACE
Did you like it; me watching you?
BOBBY
I guess. I've got an ego same as any man.
GRACE
Good, 'cause I liked what I saw.
Bobby gives a smile as devilish as it is pleasant. Grace slides
an ice cube from the glass between her lips. He notices a framed
picture of GRACE and an OLDER MAN.
BOBBY
Nice place.
GRACE
Thank you.
Grace sits on the edge of the bed. Bobby indicates the picture,
ironic.
BOBBY
Who's that, your father?
GRACE (without much thought)
Stepfather...
BOBBY (coy)
Got a boyfriend?
GRACE
No. Not really.
Bobby senses she's lying but plays along.
BOBBY
Must get kind of lonely for a woman living
by herself in a big house.
GRACE
I guess it must.
BOBBY
What do you do anyway?
GRACE
A little of this, a little of that. Mostly
I tell fortunes.
BOBBY
Where'd you learn to do that?
GRACE
From my father. He was the tribe's shaman.
BOBBY
A medicine man?
GRACE
Those are white words, not ours.
BOBBY
Nice house for a shaman's daughter. You
must be good.
GRACE
Come here.
Bobby goes to Grace and kneels before her. She takes his head
in her hands and looks deep into his eyes. Her voice goes
thick, but soft, like a morning fog.
GRACE
There's something in your past; something
you want to keep hidden. There's a pain.
Something ... someone you can't forget.
And there is something you want very badly.
It seems very far away to you, but you are
determined, and you will do what you must
to get it.
Bobby closes his hands on Grace's and takes them from his face.
He is more than slightly spooked by the accuracy of Grace's
reading.
BOBBY
My face tell you all that?
GRACE
It tells me what every face tells me.
Everybody has a past, they have a pain, and
they have something they want.
(seductively) What is it you want?
BOBBY
The same thing you do.
They silently stare into each other's eyes.
GRACE
Really? I want to hang drapes.
Grace walks from the room. For a moment Bobby stares after her.
He takes an ice cube from his glass and crunches it in his
teeth.
INT. GRACE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
GRACE is standing on a step ladder trying to hang the drapes.
BOBBY notices a photo of Grace with an older INDIAN WOMAN, her
mother?
GRACE
Hold me.
Bobby stands behind her, gently places his hands on Grace's
waist.
GRACE
Tighter. I won't break. You know girls are
a lot tougher than men think.
Bobby holds her tighter as she finished hanging the drapes. His
eyes are transfixed on her ass.
GRACE
There. All done. Lift me down.
BOBBY
What?
GRACE
Lift me down.
Bobby lifts Grace down from the ladder. He holds her, his hands
around her waist.
GRACE
You can let go of me now. I'm safe.(with
a wicked smile) How do they look?
BOBBY
Like you.
GRACE
Beautiful?
BOBBY (kidding)
Like they're made of polyester.
GRACE
I like them. I was sick of looking at this
room. I think they add a little life.
BOBBY
Nothing like a little liveliness.
With a sexy pout Grace loads the next question.
GRACE
No more drapes to hang. Now what should
we do?
BOBBY
I have an idea.
GRACE
And what would that be?
Bobby steps close to Grace and takes her by the shoulders. He
pulls her to him and presses his lips hard to hers. Grace
doesn't respond.
BOBBY
All right, Grace. No more games.
GRACE (innocently)
Games?
BOBBY
You flirt with me, then you run cold. You
lead me on, then slap me down. I don't go
for being jerked around.
GRACE
Really? And what game did you want to
play? You carry my box for me, and I fall
into bed with you?
Bobby grabs up his pack.
BOBBY
I think I can find my own way back to
into town.
GRACE
Maybe I like to find out about a man first.
Maybe I like to know what he's made of.
BOBBY
I'm just flesh and blood, baby. That and a
few memories of bad women; just like most
guys. But you already know that. You read
my mind, remember? Thanks for the lemonade.
Bobby turns to leave.
GRACE
You never did answer my question.
BOBBY
Still playing?
GRACE
That's not an answer. What is it you want?
BOBBY
You know what I want.
GRACE
Maybe I just want to hear you say it.
For a beat Bobby stands and stares hard at Grace. His pack
slides from his shoulder and thuds on the floor. With great
determination, like a beast closing for the kill, Bobby moves
for her. Grace stands firm, ready for him; her head tilts back.
Her breath comes deep and hard.
Just as Bobby is about to reach her, just as he is about to take
her, he is stopped dead by the booming voice of JAKE McKENNA.
JAKE (O.S.)
Grace!
Bobby turns to face Jake: An older man, still large and
formidable for his age.
GRACE (nonplussed)
Jake. I thought you...
JAKE
Who the hell is this!?
BOBBY
Who the hell are you?
JAKE
I'm her husband.
BOBBY (shocked whisper)
Husband ...?
JAKE
Now who the hell are you, and it better be
good, or God help me I'll break you in
half.
BOBBY
Easy, chief. I... I was helping your wife.
I met her in town. She needed a hand with
her drapes. That's all.
JAKE
Didn't much look like you were hanging
drapes.
BOBBY
I swear to you that's all that happened. I
haven't so much as set foot in your
bedroom.
JAKE
A lot that means.
BOBBY
Grace, tell him.
Grace says nothing. She picks up a glass of lemonade and sips
at it coolly.
BOBBY
Damn it, Grace! Tell him.
GRACE (coyly)
If he says that's what happened, Jake, it
must be true.
JAKE
Oh yeah, and I suppose you didn't have
anything to do with it Grace, he just
wandered up here by hisself. I got a mind
to put you over my knee and paddle your
ass raw!
BOBBY (to Grace)
You bitch! Is this what it's all about? You
sucker me up here so you can watch the two
of us beat the shit out of each other over
you? You both... Forget it! (heads for the
door)
JAKE
Where you going!
BOBBY (exiting)
'Scuse me, you want to take my head off,
mister. I won't even try to stop you. I
deserve it for being an idiot. But if
you're not, I think I'll be on my way...
Ow!
Jake punches him in the nose.
JAKE
You can't just walk in here and walk out,
you sonufabitch! I'm gonna tear you a new
asshole!
BOBBY
You broke my nose!
JAKE
It ain't broke.
It probably isn't, but it bleeds. Bobby feels the blood and then
sees it on his shirt.
BOBBY
Goddamn it! I'm... you're lucky I don't sue
you.
JAKE (opens the door)
Get goin' Junior.
Bobby glares back at Grace who gives him a maddening little smile.
BOBBY
You people are crazy!
He storms out holding his nose.
EXT. DESERT ROAD - LATER - DAY
BOBBY, holding a handkerchief to his nose which has stopped
bleeding, hauling his bag on his shoulder, walks back to town
along the side of the road. Already he is caked with a mixture
of sweat and dust, looking up at the relentless sun that beats
down on him.
BOBBY
Fuckin' shithole!
A CADILLAC slows beside him, JAKE driving.
BOBBY
What the fuck do you want?
JAKE
I'll give you a lift, son. Too hot to be
walking... People die out here, y'know.
Bobby continues walking.
JAKE
Aw, you're not still upset about that love
tap, are you? If I meant you real trouble,
I'd have given it to you by now. Get in,
lad. Come on. Get in.
Bobby gets in.
JAKE
After you huffed off, Grace lied so bad, I
got so pissed off, I pulled down her pants
to paddle her ass raw and finger-fucked it
instead. Sorry I lost my cool like that.
It's a funny thing, women.
BOBBY
Yeah...
JAKE
Say, what happened to your hand?
BOBBY
Accident.
JAKE
You've got to be--
BOBBY
Yeah, I know. More careful.
JAKE
I guess we've never been introduced proper.
Jake McKenna.
BOBBY
That's a solid name.
JAKE
I'm a solid man.
BOBBY
Bobby Cooper.
JAKE
"Bobby Cooper." What brings you to
Superior, Coop?
BOBBY
An overheated car.
JAKE
Oh? Darrell taking good care of you?
BOBBY
Darrell's a moron.
JAKE (laughs)
Yeah, he sure is a character. You need any
help with that car now?... Where you
headed?
BOBBY
California...
JAKE
Live there?
BOBBY
Got work. I know a man who's got a boat.
Wants me to sail it for him.
JAKE
You a sailor man? That'd be the life.
Drive across the country, step on a boat
and just sail away. A man could pretty
well disappear like that. Just sail away
until all he was was a memory. I guess a
little place like this would just be a dot
on a map to you after awhile.
BOBBY
I hope so. (beat) Listen, McKenna about
your wife: If I had known she was
married--
JAKE
It wouldn't have made a difference to you,
now would it? Not a wit. Do you know why?
Because you're a man without scruples.
BOBBY
Wait a second--
JAKE
Ah, I can smell it on you.
Jake wipes his hand across the back of Bobby's neck and holds it
to his nose.
BOBBY
Hey!
JAKE
That's the sweat of a man who hasn't an
honest bone in his body. Don't be
offended, lad. A man who's got no ethics
is a free man. I envy that. Beside, how
can I blame you? That Grace sure has a
mind of her own, and a body to match, don't
she? Eh?
Jake nudges Bobby who smiles a nervous smile.
JAKE
She does at that. I knew when I married
her she was a free spirit. A woman with
her looks and a man my age; what was I to
expect? But you see a woman like that in a
town like this and you don't think, you do.
So, I married her. What are you to do, eh?
Women.
BOBBY
Can't live with them, and you can't shoot
'em.
Jake looks at Bobby, his lips curled into a sly smile.
JAKE
"You can't shoot 'em!" I like that.
(laughs) I bet she led you on good, didn't
she? Taking you up to the house to hang
drapes. Oh that's a good one. Bet she had
you hard as a rock wiggling her ass in your
face. I bet you just wanted to pull down
her pants and hog her out. Then me busting
in like some wild bear. Ha! Bet you had a
fire going under you.
BOBBY
Like you don't know.
JAKE
Mad like a dog in heat, I bet you were. I
can tell you got a temper on you.
Bobby gives a little laugh.
JAKE
Bet you just wanted to snap her neck right
then, didn't you? Bet you just wanted to
kill her.
Bobby starts to laugh heartily. Jake joins in, then stops
abruptly.
JAKE
Would you?
BOBBY
Would I what?
JAKE
Would you kill her?
Bobby starts to laugh. Bobby stops laughing.
JAKE
Because I'm sick and tired of her little
games. Because you could do it and drift
away on your boat and no one would ever see
you again. Because I've got a
fifty-thousand dollar life insurance policy
on her, and I would be more than happy to
give the man who does her in a good chunk
of it.
For a moment Bobby sits in silence not sure of what to make of
the offer.
BOBBY
I've done a few things but I'm not a
murderer, Mr. McKenna.
JAKE
How do you know if you've never tried?
BOBBY
This is a joke, right? You just want to
rattle me. Right?
They reach town and Jake stops the car near a small GROCERY
STORE.
JAKE
That's right. Nothing but a joke. That's
all.
Bobby gets out of the car. With a big smile Jake says:
JAKE
Enjoy your stay, lad.
Jake speeds away. Bobby looks after him.
BOBBY
Who are these people?
INT. SMALL GROCERY STORE - LATER
The store is small and dark and empty save for a tiny, older
Mexican WOMAN who is behind the counter. BOBBY enters.
BOBBY
Got any cold soda?
WOMAN
Eh?
BOBBY
Soda. You got any soda?
WOMAN
Hablar slowly, por favor. My ingles no es
bien.
BOBBY
Soda. You know.
Bobby cups his hand and brings it to his mouth pantomiming.
WOMAN
Oh. Something to eat. Si.
She holds up a pack of Twinkies.
BOBBY
Not eat. Drink. What the fuck is drink in
Spanish ... uh, agua?
The old woman's eyes widen. She starts to scream, but quickly
clamps her hands over her mouth. For a moment Bobby thinks the
woman is screaming at what he has said. Then, as if he feels a
presence behind him, Bobby turns slowly to face the TWO
tough-looking, unshaven, tattoo-covered BIKERS. One holds a
gun.
BIKER
That's right, lady. Keep it in you and
nobody gets hurt. That goes for you too,
stud. Gimmie the money. Now!
WOMAN
Eh?
SECOND BIKER
The dinero, Senora. Hand it over.
Bobby shifts his weight trying to hide his pack behind his back.
The woman goes to an old-fashioned cash register and rings it
open. She hands the money to the biker.
BIKER
That's it? Lady, I got kids to put through
school.
WOMAN
Es all I have.
The biker turns to Bobby.
BIKER
Okay, pal. Whatcha got? Give it, now.
Bobby pulls a thick wad of cash ($1,000 plus) from his pant
pocket, tosses it on the counter.
BIKER (thumbing through it, impressed)
Nice...Just who are you beautiful? What
else you got for papa?
Bobby makes a show of pulling out his wallet, flings it to him.
BIKER
Better...you're getting tasty. Now toss the
bag, sweetie.
BOBBY
It's just books.
BIKER
I'm a reader. Toss it.
BOBBY (an entreaty)
It's personal things...family things.
BIKER
How touching...I like family values. Give
it to me.
Bobby takes an unsteady breath.
BOBBY
No.
BIKER
No?
SECOND BIKER
Hey man, forget it. Come on.
BIKER
No?
WOMAN
Senor, give him the bag.
BIKER
That's all right. He doesn't want to give
me the bag...
SECOND BIKER
He's fucking with you man. Shoot him.
BIKER (cont'd)
...he doesn't have to give me the bag.
The biker grabs Bobby's bag. Bobby flinches in anticipation of a
shot but refuses to let go of the bag. The biker swings the gun
hard, clipping Bobby across the forehead. Bobby falls against
the counter and to the floor. The woman starts to scream. The
biker grabs up the pack, then, looking back at the woman, sees a
ring on her finger. He grabs her hand and pulls at the ring.
The woman screams wildly.
SECOND BIKER
Let's go, man.
BIKER
A little extra never hurt, Benji, would you
just relax.
WOMAN
No! No! My wedding ring.
He pulls the ring from the woman's finger and pushes her back.
With Bobby's bag slung over his shoulder he turns to leave.
BIKER
Now we go.
WOMAN
You go to El Diablo!
From beneath the counter the woman pulls a shotgun. The woman
fires A SHOT that rips through the bag and into the back of the
biker. He falls to the ground, very dead, amid a shower of
blood and shredded money.
SECOND BIKER
Bugger! You bitch!
The Second Biker now sees the money floating all over the place
out of the torn bag. His eyes go big with greed as he FIRES at
the old woman, who ducks behind the counter.
The Biker grabs for the bag and what's left of the money, not
expecting the feisty old lady to pop up and unload her SECOND
BLAST into him and the bag.
Whatever was left of the money on the first round is now gone to
shreds along with the bag and the Biker who is very dead.
Bobby is staggered, crawls towards the shreds.
WOMAN (cursing in Spanish)
Hijos de puta. Bayan a comer su propia
mierda en el infierno. (TRANSLATION: Sons
of bitches. Go eat your own shit in hell).
She comes around the counter to his side as he grabs his wallet
and the $1000 cash roll from the dead biker's pants.
WOMAN
I call the sheriff.
BOBBY
No! No police.
Bobby gives her a hundred dollars.
WOMAN
A hundred dollars? No police?
Bobby gives her some more cash. She looks at him. Finally he
gives her the entire wad.
BOBBY
No police until I leave.
Bobby stumbles from the store as the screen burns a bright white.
FADE TO:
EXT. STREET - LATER
BOBBY, dazed and holding his head, sits on the ground next to a
SPIGOT that is dripping water. He cups his hands under the
water and splashes it against his face, lightly wiping the cut
above his eye. The SHERIFF'S CAR goes wailing by on the main
drag. Recoiling from being spotted, Bobby tries to take another
drink. A SCORPION crawls out of the faucet. He jumps back.
EXT. HARLIN'S GARAGE - LATER
DARRELL is leaning under the hood of a car working on its engine
as BOBBY walks up.
BOBBY
Hey.
DARRELL
Hey, your ... what the hell happened to
you?
BOBBY
Nothing.
DARRELL
Don't look like nothing.
BOBBY
Just banged my head. It was an accident.
DARRELL
Another accident? You got to be more
careful.
Bobby rolls his eyes. Then notices the front fenders have been
removed.
BOBBY
What the hell happened to my car?
DARRELL
Bottom hose was shot too. Rotted clear
through. Had to put a new one in. Runs like
a dream now.
BOBBY (suspicious)
How much?
DARRELL
Well ... you got your parts, you got your
labour ... let's call it a hundred-fifty
bucks.
BOBBY
How much!?
DARRELL
Hundred-fifty.
BOBBY
To replace a goddamn radiator hose!?
DARRELL
A goddamn radiator hose in a
sixty-four-and-a-half Mustang. You know
how long it took me to find that hose?
BOBBY
About an hour and a half, because that's
all the longer I've been gone.
DARRELL
Actually, it's been about three hours.
You're the one thinks that car's so damn
fancy. What you expect but fancy damn
prices?
BOBBY
That's a Ford, not a Ferrari. You going to
tell me no one else in this shit hole
drives a Ford?
DARRELL
"That's not just a Ford, that's a
sixty-four-and-a-half Mustang."
BOBBY
What's that got to do with the radiator hose?
DARRELL
I don't know, but "it's the reason I'm living
here and you're just passing through." Now you
owe me a hundred-fifty dollars.
BOBBY
It might as well be fifteen-hundred
dollars, because I don't have the money.
DARRELL
Then you ain't gonna have the car.
BOBBY
Listen, man. I got rolled half an hour ago
for everything I had.
Bobby digs through his bloodied wallet, trying to hide it from
Darrell. He fishes out a five dollar bill. Then digs out a
bloody one dollar bill from his pocket.
BOBBY
I've got five...six dollars.
Darrell snatches the five from him and adds it to a thick wad of
greasy bills he carries in his overalls.
DARRELL
Then you're only a hundred-forty-five in
the hole. You can keep that dollar. Now
why don't you just take your American
Express Gold Card, and call that guy with
the big schnooz on TV and have him send you
the money lickity split.
BOBBY
I don't have a goddamn credit card.
DARRELL
Now that's too bad. I sure hope you know
how to wash dishes or shovel shit 'cause
you're gonna have to work this one off.
Bobby proffers his Movado watch.
BOBBY
Look, I got a Movado. It's worth at least
seven, eight hundred. You could sell it for
that.
DARRELL (studying it)
Who the hell to? Shit, can't see no
numbers.
BOBBY
You don't need numbers. That's why it's
expensive. Look at the gold.
Darrell doubts that, shake his head.
DARRELL
...got no day, got no date. Probably ain't
worth a duck's fart (proffers his own
watch). This one here cost me $3.75 and
it's got every doodad you can imagine. No
sir I'll stick with this (walks away).
BOBBY
You son of a bitch! I'll have my lawyers
shut you down.
DARRELL
You ain't got no credit card but you got a
lawyer. Sweet talk me all you want. Didn't
you read the sign? It says...
BOBBY
What sign? Fuck the sign. I want my car.
DARRELL
I want my hundred and forty-five dollars.
Bobby stands his ground for a moment as if deciding whether or
not to fight for the car, then wheels and walks away.
Darrell looks at him, smirks.
INT. TRUCK STOP/DINER - LATER
It is a little worn diner-type stop one would find on most any
open road: Counter with stools, laminated menus, a Wurlitzer in
the corner belching out country TUNES. Business is slow but
it's the only restaurant in town. There is a SHORT ORDER COOK in
the kitchen, and FLO, a hard-looking waitress is behind the
counter. A couple of regular drivers, ED and BOYD, are seated
on the stools, Boyd is flipping a coin.
ED
One-hundred-thirteen degrees. That was
back in July of forty-seven. That afternoon
it dropped down to forty three! True story.
BOYD
One time last year I remember it went from
98 to 23 same day. Wind, black clouds come
out like...
BOBBY comes out of the men's room and sits at the end of the
counter. He has cleaned himself up a bit but still looks like a
mess. He buries his face in the menu.
BOBBY
You got a beer?
FLO
What kind?
BOBBY
Beck's.
FLO
No Beck's. A-1, Coors...
BOBBY
Heineken?
FLO
No, we ain't got no Heineken. We got
Miller.
BOBBY
Genuine Draft?
FLO
No. Just plain ol' Miller. Now you can
fuckin' take it or you can fuckin' leave
it.
BOBBY
I'll fuckin' take it. To go.
SHORT ORDER COOK
Flo, cheeseburger bleedin'.
FLO
I'll be right back with that beer.
Flo moves off.
BOBBY
...and a waitress named Flo. Christ.
As Bobby stares at the money on the counter in front of him, he
hears, from somewhere outside the diner, the sound of a POLICE
RADIO crackling. He now feels something against his foot. He
looks down and sees a CAT rubbing against his leg. He gives it
a good kick sending it sliding across the floor with a screech.
BOBBY
Fucking cat.
In the background, two teenagers sit at a booth. TOBY looks the
part of a local, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. His hair is
cropped close and he looks to be a senior in high school. His
girl, JENNY, is nondescript, neither ugly nor beautiful. She is
the kind of girl most guys would pass without a second look.
Toby gets up from his booth and goes to the bathroom. After he
is gone Jenny walks to Bobby.
JENNY
Hey, Mister. You gotta quarter for the
juke?
BOBBY
What?
JENNY
I wanna play a song on the juke. You got a
quarter?
Bobby looks at Jenny, then picks a quarter from his winnings and
flips it to her. He can't resist putting a little charm into it.
JENNY
What happened to your hand?
BOBBY
I cut it shaving; I know, I gotta be more
careful.
JENNY
Got any requests?
BOBBY
That country shit all sounds the same to
me.
JENNY
How about I pick one out for you?
Bobby half smiles. Jenny plays a song. Patsy Cline's "Your
Cheatin' Heart." Jenny takes up a stool next to Bobby's.
JENNY
You like Patsy Cline? I just love her.
How come, I wonder, she don't put out no
more new records.
BOBBY
Cause she's dead.
JENNY
Gee, that's sad. Don't that make you sad?
BOBBY
I've had time to get over it.
JENNY
You're not from around here, are you?
Where you from?
BOBBY
Oz.
JENNY
You ain't from Oz. Oz is in that movie.
BOBBY
You're too quick for me.
Toby walks back into the room. He looks at Jenny. He looks at
Bobby. He looks at Jenny talking to Bobby. He loses it.
TOBY
No....No....No I'm seeing but I'm not
believin'...Stop the wedding. This can't
be. Hey! What are you doing with my girl?
Bobby says nothing, ignoring Toby.
TOBY
I axed you a question.
JENNY
Aw, Toby, we weren't doing nothing. We was
just talking.
TOBY
You shut your mouth, girl, and get back
over to our table. (to Bobby) Now, I'm not
going to axe you again, Mister. What were
you doing with my girl?
BOBBY
I wasn't doing anything.
TOBY
That's not the way it looked to me. Looked
to me like you was trying to make time with
her.
BOBBY
Make time? Is everybody in this town on
drugs?
JENNY
Honest, Toby. I just axed him for a
quarter for the jukebox.
TOBY
Stay out of this, Jenny. We got man's
business to take care of. I ain't never
taken no drugs, mister, and ...
BOBBY
Then maybe you should've. Look, pal, I
wasn't making a play for your girl.
TOBY
You expect me to believe that?
BOBBY
I don't care what you believe as long as
you leave me alone.
TOBY
Mister, I'm calling you out.
BOBBY
What? You want to fight? Over her?
Bobby looks Jenny over.
FLO
Toby, you go finish your soda and leave the
man alone.
TOBY (to Bobby)
You know who I am? Toby N. Tucker.
Everyone round here call me TNT. You know
why?
BOBBY
Let's see...they're not very imaginative?
TOBY
'Cause I'm just like dynamite. And when I
go off, somebody gets hurt.
BOBBY
Fine. I was making time with your girl.
Now I'm scared to death and I learned my
lesson. Now can you go away?
TOBY
Not before I settle with you, chickenshit!
BOBBY
Christ, I don't believe this!
TOBY
Stand up.
BOBBY
I wasn't hitting on your girl!
TOBY
Stand up, Mister, or I'll beat you where
you sit.
Bobby sits for a beat. he doesn't need a fight with Toby now
with his damaged hand nor does he need to be noticed either. He
sits there.
FLO
Toby, you stop it now! Can't you see he's
got a hurt hand?
TOBY
Don't you never mind, Flo. This is gonna
be over real quick.
Reluctantly Bobby rises, facing off against Toby, each clenching
their fist and waiting for the other to make the first move.
The tension builds. We see it on the faces of Jenny, Flo and
the regulars. Just then the record on the juke ends and the
needle scratches off. There is the crackle of a police radio as
the door to the diner opens and SHERIFF VIRGIL POTTER walks in.
The tension eases. Toby, mindful of the sheriff, steps closer to
Bobby and whispers menacingly into his ear.
TOBY
You're lucky, Mister. Don't think it's
over. I called you out and I'm gonna see
this through. You hear me? (to Jenny)
Come on, girl. I got half a mind to make
you walk home.
Toby takes Jenny by the arm and pulls her out of the diner.
FLO
My lord, that little baby of yours Virgil,
has gotten cuter'n a bunny's nose.
SHERIFF
What was that all about?
FLO
You know how that Toby is. Thinks every
man he sees is after his Jenny.
SHERIFF
More like Jenny is after every man she
sees.
FLO (to Bobby)
You pay Toby no mind. He just likes to
show off for his girl. Give him a couple
of hours, he'll cool off. Still want that
beer?
BOBBY (tense, seeing the Sheriff)
I'll take it to go.
Bobby holds his hand to his face to cover the cut on his
forehead.
ED
How's it with you, Sheriff?
SHERIFF
Already started out bad. Couple of bikers
from out of town tried to knock over
Jamilla's grocery store this morning. It
was a real shootout.
BOYD
What happened?
SHERIFF
The old witch killed 'em both.
ED
Holy shit!
FLO
Poor thing. Is she all right?
SHERIFF
Sure, when the sons of bitches tried to
steal her wedding ring. That's when she
started shooting. Can't blame her. The
ring was all Carlos left her when he died.
Store's a mess.
BOYD
It's the desert. That's what it is. The
desert makes everybody crazy. Ain't that
right, Sheriff? People go crazy out here.
ED
Come on, Boyd. I've got to make tracks.
That yogurt's got to make Santa Fe before
it spoils.
BOYD
Dr. Pepper don't have that problem.
Ed and Boyd toss a few bills on the counter and exit. Flo
stands near the cash register with Bobby's beer.
FLO
I can't open off-sale for you, sugar.
Bobby pays for the beer ($1.75). Flo opens the register.
FLO
Let me get your change.
SHERIFF
Flo, I'm just gonna help myself to a refill
on the coffee.
The Sheriff reaches around the counter for the pot.
FLO
You be careful now, Virgil.
Just as the words leave Flo's mouth the Sheriff spills the pot.
It shatters against the floor spilling hot coffee everywhere.
Flo runs over to him.
SHERIFF
Son of a bitch!
FLO
Virgil! Now look at what you done! Are
you all right?
SHERIFF
I think I burned my gun hand!
As Flo bends to wipe the counter, Virgil touches her intimately.
SHERIFF (Cont'd)
How 'bout we put something soft on it
later? (a look)
FLO
(quietly) I could put some butter on it,
hon'. (Her normal abrasive voice) It'd
serve you right, you asshole. Put it under
some cold water. Joe, run get a mop and
clean this fuckin' mess up.
While everyone is distracted Bobby notices that the register
drawer has been left open. He looks around to make sure he is
not being watched. Slowly he eases his hand towards the drawer.
It gets closer and closer. As he is about to grab the money
there, the cat - the same one he kicked away earlier - hisses
and claws at his hand. Bobby jumps back startled.
FLO
Shasta! Now why'd you go and scare the
nice man like that? Sorry about that,
mister. Let's see, you want $3.25. (gives
it to him) You try to have a nice day now,
would you?
BOBBY
Sure, I'll try.
With the Sheriff occupied, and the Mexican Jose mopping the
floor, Bobby exits.
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - STREET - DAY
BOBBY begs on the phone.
BOBBY
Cici? Cici, it's Bobby...Bobby
Cooper...Yeah, look, I know it's been a
while, but I'm kind of in a
jam...yeah...One-hundred-fifty
dollars...That's a lie. I called you on
your birthday..Two years ago...I can't help
it if you didn't get the message. Cici,
honey, I don't want to argue. I need you to
wire me the money...Because they're fucking
going to KILL ME! I didn't steal your
CD's...Yeah, well where's my Mr. Coffee.
Cici...Cici...
Bobby slams the phone.
BOBBY
Bitch. Cunt.
JUMP CUT TO:
EXT. SAME PHONE BOOTH - STREET - DAY
BOBBY is on another call, circling a local sports page betting
line.
BOBBY
73-11, this is Pluto. What's the line on
Dallas?
GAMBLER'S VOICE
Pluto. Fucking deadbeat. We head about
you. You owe "the commie" 13 dimes, why you
tryin' to get in my office? Lose this
fuckin' number.
BOBBY
Mike...Mike...you asshole.
GAMBLER'S VOICE
Mike who?
(hangs up)
Bobby, frustrated, clicks off.
JUMP CUT TO:
INT. MR. ARKADY'S OFFICE - DAY
It is the kind of cheesy, temporary office one would expect to
find in a Las Vegas apartment building overlooking the DOWNTOWN
STRIP. MR. ARKADY, dressed in a silk suit with conspicuous
jewelry, sits behind his desk eating lunch and cleaning his
nails. SERGEI, his goon in a shiny polyester shirt, hovers over
his boss helping feed and manicure him. These are the TWO MEN
from Bobby's earlier FLASHBACK. They are dangerous in an
endearing way. Sergei answers the phone. In the background is a
very voluptuous female, obviously from the Middle East. SOFIA.
SERGEI
Da?
MR. ARKADY
Sergei, what are you, a Neanderthal? How
many times do I have to tell you? You
answer a phone "hello," not "da."
SERGEI (nods yes)
Sorry, Mr. Arkady.(into phone)"Hello?"
OPERATOR(V.O.)
I have a collect call from Bobby Cooper.
Will you accept the charges?
SERGEI
Mr. Arkady, deadbeat Cooper's calling.
Mr. Arkady doesn't acknowledge him.
SERGEI
He's calling collect.
At this Mr. Arkady's head springs up. He snatches the phone
from Sergei.
MR. ARKADY (overly sweet)
Bobby, what a surprise. I expected to be
seeing you, not talking to you over the
phone.
INTERCUTS TO:
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - STREET
BOBBY on the phone.
BOBBY
I know, Mr. Arkadin. I know. I was on my
way to you, it's just ... what a day I've
had. I know I'm coming up with a highly
improbable story, and I know you're not
going to believe this, but this ...is...
what happened. I had the money, I swear I
had it. I was on my way to Vegas when my
car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
Mr. Arkady cleans his nails completely disinterested in what
Bobby is saying.
MR. ARKADY
That's a shame, Bobby. A real shame.
BOBBY
And that's not the half of it, Mr.
Arkadin...
MR. ARKADY
"Arkady"
BOBBY
Right, Mr. Arkady. And that's not the half
of it. I got your money, and I go into this
little grocery store in this hicktown to
get something to eat and then... well, it
gets robbed!
MR. ARKADY
...And let me guess. This robber -- he
gets your money.
BOBBY
No. Two of them. Two robbers. And they both
get nailed... get shot by the old lady.
MR. ARKADY
The old lady?
BOBBY
With a shotgun! She kills both of 'em,
and... and the money in my bag gets all
shredded to bloody pieces. Not one bill is
left alive. I mean, what are the odds?
MR. ARKADY (beat, dry)
Pretty long, Bobby.
BOBBY
Mr. Arkady, honest, I ad to beat it outta
there before the cops showed. So now I
don't have a cent to my name. I can't even
get my car out of the garage. I tell you,
Mister... (pause) if it weren't for bad
luck I wouldn't have nay fuckin' luck at
all, you know? (beat, waits) So, I was
wondering if you could wire me a hundred
fifty-dollars so I could get my car out of
this garage, see? The bus depot here has a
Western Union thing. And of course I'll
pay it back with the rest of the money.
MR. ARKADY(V.O.)
Which you don't have.
BOBBY
But which I can get. No problem. Look, I
can sell my car in Vegas. Blue book it's
worth 16 at least. I just need the 150,
uh...
Sergei looks like he's ready to pound heads.
MR. ARKADY (pause)
Where are you?
BOBBY (hopeful)
Uh...a little shithole in Arizona called
Superior. About 200 miles east of Phoenix.
MR. ARKADY (pausing, V.O.)
Superior, hunh?
Bobby suddenly feeling suspicious.
BOBBY(V.O.)
Yeah, if you could send it care of...
MR. ARKADY
...Now, let me get this straight. Two years
you give me problems with your fuckin'
payoffs. Now you owe me thirteen-thousand
dollars, you call me - collect - then ask
me to wire you one-hundred-fifty dollars
just so you can get your car fixed.
BOBBY(V.O.)
A hundred-forty-five would probably cover it.
MR. ARKADY
A hundred and ... Now you listen to me
you deadbeat little punk: I don't care if
you got hit by a truck and run over by a
steamroller. You owe me thirteen-thousand
dollars and I want it. I don't care how
you get it, or where from, but I want it on
my desk tomorrow, or I'll show you what
real bad luck is.
Sergei snaps a pencil he's holding in his hand, which goes
flying by Arkady's head, forcing him to duck.
MR. ARKADY
Do you understand me you little fuck?
BOBBY (snaps)
Oh, fuck you too!
MR. ARKADY
What'd you say to me!
BOBBY
Shit I'm sorry!...you can't believe the
strain I'm under. I'm just under a lot of
strain here.
There is a sharp silence at the other end. Bobby waits.
MR. ARKADY
Bobby, you owed me that 'bread' 4 weeks
ago. Now you tell me you want another week.
That's 5 weeks, Bobby. That's also 5
fingers, cause you and I know it's a finger
a week Bobby. So you got balls. Good--now
you come here tomorrow and you talk to me
real nice and maybe I don't take the other
3 fingers you owe me, you see? Tomorrow --
and Bobby, don't make me come look for you,
okay...have nice day.
He hands the phone back to Sergei.
SERGEI (into phone)
You got that? -- have nice day (hangs up).
MR. ARKADY
The nerva that piece of shit! And look at
you, you Neanderthal -- don't you fuckin'
break pencils, you goombah!
SOFIA
Finger? What are you, a faggot? In my
country a man don't pay we cut off his
head.
Arkady motions Sergei to come close.
MR. ARKADY
Get your ass down to this Superior,
Arizona. Bring me this Bobby Cooper. I
don't think he got the lesson. This is your
last chance, Sergei.
SERGEI
Da.
EXT. STREET - DAY
BOBBY, desperate, stares at the bandage of his wounded hand. It
throbs, holding the hand to his ear.
We hear an OPERATOR'S VOICE:
OPERATOR(V.O.)
Hello?
BOBBY
Hello?
OPERATOR(V.O.)
Are you finished with your call?
BOBBY
Yeah.
OPERATOR(V.O.)
Please deposit an additional seventy-five
cents.
Bobby slams the phone against the hook.
BOBBY
Goddamn rat's ass fuck! Shit! Damn! Damn!
Damn!
He marches from the phone booth, past an old HARDWARE STORE. The
phone falls from the hook and we hear a recorded voice:
VOICE(V.O.)
Thank you for using AT&T.
In the store window, Bobby notices a set of garden shears for
sale.
EXT. EMPTY STREET - LATER DAY
BOBBY walks a bit going nowhere in particular. Looking at his
watch thinking of Mr. Arkady, he shields himself with one hand
from the sun. At the side of an old building, in the bit of
shade it throws, he twists at the beer cap which sticks and
won't turn. Bobby tries again twisting harder -- too hard -- as
the cap jerkily twists off, cutting into his hand as it rotates.
Bobby yells in pain. At the same time the beer comes foaming
from the bottle and spills onto his sleeve. The bottle slips
from his wet fingers and crashes on the ground, emptying. He
clutches his bleeding hand, pissed.
BOBBY
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I hate this fuckin' town!
I hate it! Do you hear me?
(no answer)
Get me outta here, please. I gotta get out
of this place.
As if in answer, a JEEP drives by on the main street. GRACE
looks pretty hot up there in the driver's seat, her eyes, behind
sunglasses, flicking over him but not acknowledging him as she
keeps going.
Bobby's eyes throw back his own hostility at her, but
unfortunately she misses it, as he now notices -- across the
street -- a well-kept building with the most modern decor and
signage, reading "McKenna's Realty Co."
He thinks about it, in a quandary.
EXT. HIGHWAY/CAR - DAY
In a rented convertible, we now see SERGEI racing across the
desert. His jacket off, a man with a mission. He glances at his
watch, eager to get to this "fucking hole in the wall" which is
somewhere on this incomprehensible American map he holds in one
hand.
INT. JAKE'S REALTY OFFICE - DAY
BOBBY squats, looking at a real estate model of a desert
development. JAKE smiles.
JAKE
What can I do for you, lad?
BOBBY
I was hoping we could talk.
JAKE
Talk? About what?
BOBBY
About things. About your wife.
JAKE
Sweet Grace? What about her?
BOBBY
About what you said this morning.
Jake shakes his head as if he doesn't understand.
BOBBY
You said you had an insurance policy out on
your wife. Fifty-thousand dollars.
JAKE
I do.
BOBBY
You said you'd cut that up with the man who
did her in.
JAKE
I did?
BOBBY
Don't play simple with me, Jake. You're a
betting man. You want me to spell it out
for you? I'll kill Grace if you cut me in
on the money.
JAKE
Boy I think this heat's getting to you the way
you're rambling on.
BOBBY
I'm not rambling.
JAKE
You're talking like a madman.
BOBBY
Well then, I guess that qualifies me for
citizenship in this town. You're the one
brought it up. This morning. In your car.
JAKE
Oh, that was just loose talk. Husband
gettin' pissed off. I don't want anybody
dead.
BOBBY
Bullshit. You wanted me to kill her.
JAKE
A man doesn't always mean the things he
says.
BOBBY
You meant it.
JAKE
What makes you say that?
BOBBY
Because you're a slimy bastard who would
have his wife killed just to get his hands
on some money.
JAKE
And what does that make you?
BOBBY
The slimy bastard who's going to do it for
you... (pause) You're a jealous man Jake.
If you can't have Grace to yourself...well,
you're not the sharing kind.
For a moment Jake stares quietly at Bobby.
JAKE
Well, I guess I have what you call a
love-hate relationship with Grace.
BOBBY
You love her, but you hate her?
JAKE
No, I hate loving her. I hate the kind of
person she is. I hate having to tolerate
the little "games" she plays. Like fucking
half of the town behind my back and
laughing at me. The bitch. She loved to
play. She wants me to hit her and when I
hit her she likes it. She tortures me. But
she's family. She's my little girl. My
baby. I couldn't stand to watch her eyes
roll back in her head as she sucks her last
breath, or to see her pretty pink brains
spill from her skull. No. Not me. But you?
You got the killing in you, boy...How much
you want?
A pause.
BOBBY
Make it twenty.
JAKE (stressed, paces)
Twenty-thousand? I don't have that kind of
money. I won't get the insurance until
months after she's dead. I don't imagine
you'll want to be stickin' around after
poor Grace's demise. Twenty-thousand;
that's more money than I could ever get my
hands on.
BOBBY
How much could you get?
JAKE
Maybe ... ten-thousand. And that's a
maybe.
BOBBY
I need thirteen.
JAKE
That's a bit much.
BOBBY
We're not talking about buying a car Jake.
We're talking about killing your wife. It's
thirteen, or it's nothing.
For a moment the two men stand silent. All we hear is the
ticking of a grandfather CLOCK that stands in the corner.
JAKE
You drive a hard bargain, but I had a
feeling you were my boy when I met you.
BOBBY
I'm not your boy. I don't like you. I got
no choice but to do business with you.
Let's just call this a nasty little
marriage of convenience.
JAKE
Don't say that. I had a marriage of
convenience with Grace, and look where
that's lead... Well, looks like we got
ourselves a contract.
BOBBY (sarcastic)
Do we shake hands?
JAKE
If you can't trust the man you've hired to
kill your wife ...? The thing is it's got
to look like an accident; that's the thing.
If it doesn't, then it's no good. I won't
get a dime, and it's my neck that'll be on
the chopping block while you're living it
up somewhere.
BOBBY
How do you want it?
JAKE
How the hell should I know? I've never had
a wife killed before. Jesus Christ! You
want this job, you don't know how to do
this? I guess I should have hired a
professional.
BOBBY
You want to do this yourself? I don't have
to do this, you know.
JAKE
Be quiet, boy. I got to figure this thing.
I'm thinking. It can't be done at the
house. It should be...
Jake walks the office thinking.
BOBBY
Come to think of it, how 'bout some money
upfront?
JAKE
Oh yeah sure. Why don't I buy you a plane
ticket right out of here while I'm at it. I
know you...
(then)
This is what you do: Go to the house to
see her.
BOBBY
(beat)
And tell her what?
EXT. MCKENNA HOUSE - LATER DAY
BOBBY stands on the porch talking to GRACE through the screen of
the front door. The look on his face is sincere. Hers is
skeptical. We see the action take place as we hear Jake's V.O.:
JAKE(V.O.)
...I don't know. Tell her you had to see
her. Tell her you don't care if she's
married or not, you had to be with her.
Sweet talk the woman. A young buck like
you must be good at that. Then ... maybe
shift the conversation. Get her thinking
about that jeep of hers. She loves that
thing. Maybe the only thing she does love.
She'll want to take you for a ride.
BOBBY
I know you're not surprised I'm back here,
cause you can read my mind and all.
She's not surprised.
GRACE (seeing his new cut)
That's some cut. I told you to be more
careful.
BOBBY
Yeah, well I said I was an idiot. Whatta
you say we get out of here, take a drive
somewhere, talk...
GRACE
How do you know he's still not here?
BOBBY
Guys like me take those chances. Let's go.
EXT. DESERT - DAY
GRACE'S JEEP cuts hard across the desert. Grace has a wild,
excited look on her face. BOBBY sits next to her looking
somewhat nervous.
JAKE(V.O.)
She'll take you out somewhere in the
desert. She loves it out there; ridin'
through the red rock and the mesas. So do
I. I guess we got that in common. She'll
ride you out someplace quiet. Someplace
deserted.
FADE TO:
EXT. DESERT - LATER DAY
GRACE has stopped the JEEP on a plateau. BOBBY sits beneath its
shade while Grace walks in the sun seemingly unaffected by the
heat. VULTURES swoop above.
JAKE(V.O.)
There won't be anyone for miles around.
Just the two of you and some prairie dogs.
That's all. You can sweet talk her a
little if you like. Makes no difference to
me. Just put her at ease, make her feel
relaxed -- then do it.
JAKE'S V.O. ends. The scene is now synch with real time.
BOBBY
Are there snakes out here?
GRACE
They hear you comin'. They won't bother
you. Just don't sneak up on 'em.
BOBBY
Doesn't the isolation bother you?
GRACE
Yeah, but I like the sun. I grew up on a
reservation. The sun, the desert; they
like a religion to us. Jake's the same
way. He loves the desert. I guess we're
alike that way. That's about the only way.
BOBBY
You love him?
GRACE
No.
BOBBY
Did you ever?
GRACE
Depends on what you call love. I grew up on
a reservation. A patch of desert in the
middle of nowhere. That's where they stick
Indians, Bobby. That's where they leave us
to die. My brother killed himself when he
was 19 cause he couldn't take it anymore.
There's no hope there... Jake was my ticket
out. Mom and me.
BOBBY
Is that why you're with him?
GRACE
I let him think he was courtin' me, but I
reeled him in like a fish on a line. I
wanted him. I wanted what he could give me,
and I would've done anything to get him. Is
that love?
BOBBY
I'm guessing no.
GRACE
Yeah, I guess you're right.
BOBBY
I take it things didn't much work out the
way you planned.
GRACE
I'm still here, aren't I? See this?
Grace sweeps her hand before her across the expanse of the
desert. The vultures are very much a part of this landscape.
GRACE(CONT)
All this nothing? It doesn't get to Jake
like it gets to me. He says he don't mind
being nothing but a big fish in a small
pond. More like a little fish in a dried
up watering hole.
BOBBY
You could leave him.
GRACE
I don't know how.
BOBBY
Walk away.
GRACE
It's not that easy. Maybe you can take
chances; maybe you can wander around like
some stray wherever you please. I can't.
I don't want to be alone. I need to know
I'm going to be taken care of.
BOBBY
You need a meal ticket is what you mean.
Some guy you can latch onto just long
enough for him to get you out of here.
GRACE
Is that so bad? It's not like I wouldn't
try to make him happy. For awhile, anyway.
I mean, I would ... do things for him. I
guess I'm no good that way. I guess I
tried to sucker you along like that. Do
you hate me for it? I wouldn't blame you
if you did. But maybe it's like you said:
You just got to do whatever it takes to get
out.
BOBBY (soft echo)
Whatever it takes.
Grace steps to the edge of the plateau.
GRACE
I wish I was a bird. I know it's stupid.
Every child says that. When I was growing
up some of the old ones on the reservation
believed people could actually change into
animals. I wish I could.
We see Bobby behind Grace. He stares at her standing on the
edge of the plateau. He rises and walks towards her slowly, but
with deliberation.
GRACE(CONT)
If I was a bird I would fly to Florida; to
Disney World. I always wanted to go there.
I'd fly to New York. Maybe. I guess New
York isn't the best place to be a bird.
I'd fly to St. Louis, then New Orleans, all
over Texas. Then I'd fly to California. I
guess by then I'd have seen it all and I
could die.
Bobby now stands a few feet behind Grace. She kicks a rock and
watches it sail over the lip of the cliff into the nothingness
below.
GRACE(CONT)
They say you don't feel anything. The
shock kills you before you hit the ground.
I don't know how they would know that. But
I heard it's just like flying; straight
down into the ground. I guess if it
doesn't hurt it's a beautiful thing.
Bobby tenses himself. Sweat forms on his brow as he stands
directly behind Grace with his hands extended before him. They
hover just below her shoulder blades ready to push forward.
Suddenly Grace wheels. Startled by Bobby she almost falls over
the edge. Bobby grabs her, her weight still going back.
Grace's life is literally in his hands. She looks down at the
ground far below, then up into Bobby's eyes. She shows no fear,
but instead wears a curious smirk.
GRACE
Hate's a funny thing. Right now I bet you
don't know if you want to kill me, or fuck
me.
Bobby hesitates, then pulls Grace close and kisses her with
great ardor on the lips.
EXT. APACHE LEAP - DAY
On a blanket on the ground, BOBBY and GRACE make love quickly,
hotly, her dress pulled up, his pants down. But Grace is
troubled and pulls out, further frustrating Bobby.
GRACE
No...Stop! I can't!
Her eyes withdraw into another dimension, as she hikes her dress
back up. Bobby comes out of his own head, feels the distance
between them.
BOBBY
What's the matter?...Grace?
GRACE
Nothing.
BOBBY
Don't feel like nothing.
He finishes relieving himself behind a tree, puts his pants back
on.
GRACE
Get out of town, Bobby, as quick as you
can.
BOBBY
Grace, I've been fucked over too many
times, by too many women. You're becoming
the queen of hot and cold.
GRACE
You'd never understand.
BOBBY
Try me.
GRACE
It's just such a mess. With Jake I mean...
BOBBY
Nothing I understand better than a mess.
GRACE (in great tension)
Jake was with my Mom after my real Dad
died.
BOBBY
You mean the Shaman?
GRACE
He was a Shaman...in the mine. We had
nothin' after he died. Jake took us in,
gave us a little money. He used to call me
his "little halfbreed"... He kept Mom on
the side y'know, cause he was married
someplace else. He had kids in Phoenix I
think, no one knew him around here...but
the thing was...you see...
(pause)
...he was raping me the whole time...for
years. He loved to do things to me. Believe
it or not, he used to say he was in love
with my ass. Y'ever been in love with a
woman's ass?
The dominoes are tumbling for Bobby.
BOBBY
Yeah.
GRACE
You're sick too...he loved to do things to
me. Control me. My Mom...it tore her up
cause she couldn't do nothing about it. She
become alcoholic...and the funny thing is--
I liked it. I liked being controlled by
Jake. The truth was as far out and crazy as
he got, I wanted more. I wanted to go all
the way. Women say they don't want to be
taken like, really taken -- that's bullshit
-- they do. The first time he finished with
me, he said I was a woman now. I was 14.
Then he started crying like a baby...wanted
me to hold him. It's a strange feeling to
hate someone so much for so many years, but
still want to hold him, comfort him... They
found my Mom right down there (points) at
the bottom of Apache Leap. She had cactus
needles stuck all over her body and
Virgil...Sheriff Potter said she was drunk
and went insane. But I'll never believe she
ran off that cliff by accident. She was
born on this earth and she loved it. She
was like me. She just wanted to fly away.
Bobby is quietly stunned. A whole world has opened up to him;
and he isn't sure yet where the story ends. There is some force
at work here, beyond his control.
GRACE
After he got his divorce, he forced me to
marry him...but when I saw her body, I
swore to her on my soul that some day I'd
get Jake for what he did to her...
BOBBY
I'm sorry...
GRACE
Yeah. What do you want. Life, right?
(shrugs, stoic) Have you ever been to
California?
BOBBY
Yeah.
GRACE (as if in a dream)
Is it far from here?
BOBBY
Oh yeah. It's far, it's another world.
GRACE
Is it pretty?
BOBBY
Oh yeah. It's beautiful, beautiful beaches.
Blue water and clear skies as far as you
can see.
GRACE (like a little girl)
Would you take me with you?
BOBBY (pause)
I wish I could.
GRACE
Please. I won't hang on you. As soon as we
get there you can dump me. I don't care. I
just want to get out of here.
BOBBY
Honey, baby, I can't. I can't even get out
of here myself. Believe it or not, I need a
lousy hundred and fifty bucks to get my car
back from that crazy mechanic...
GRACE
Darrell? You know he and Jake are...
BOBBY
You don't have any money put away, do you?
GRACE
Jake never gives me more'n twenty bucks at
a time, like a bird in a cage, he don't
want me goin' anywhere...
BOBBY
...you could get me money. I'll get you
out of here.
She looks at him.
GRACE
There's money. A lot.
The words hang there, thick between them.
BOBBY
Where?
GRACE
Jake hides it. In a safe. In the floor. In
the bedroom. He counts it. He loves to sit
there and count it.
BOBBY
What do you mean?
GRACE
At night. He just sits there and laughs and
talks to himself and counts it. I heard
him. My Mom told me he had a hunnert
thousand dollars down there. Maybe more.
Bobby's eyes widen in hope.
BOBBY
In cash?
GRACE
Oh yeah. There's nothing else with Jake. He
don't trust banks. He keeps the money in
the floor right under the bed. He loves it
so much, he wouldn't think of spending any
of it on me. I never seen it but I know
he's got more than a hunnert thousand at
least...
BOBBY
One-hundred-thousand!? That son-of-a-bitch.
GRACE (puzzled)
What do you mean?
BOBBY (ignoring her)
If it's in a safe we'd have to get the
combination--
GRACE
It takes a key. He keeps it on himself all
the time. I mean all the time. It
scratches up against me when we do it.
BOBBY
If the key's on him, how do we get the key?
GRACE
Kill him.
Spoken almost innocently, it hangs there between them. A
silence.
BOBBY
I can't kill, Grace. I can't kill anybody.
GRACE
It's not like he's a young man, Bobby. He's
had time to live. It'd be quick. I mean, he
wouldn't even have to feel it...
(seductively) I mean, sometime in the
middle of the night, when it's quiet...when
he's asleep, you could just come up behind
him when he's pounding on me and...
Grace lays her hands on Bobby, starting to caress him. He
bristles and freezes with fear and disgust.
BOBBY
Shit! Listen to you... Are you crazy,
Grace?
He abruptly pulls away.
BOBBY
Jesus Christ! I think this place is making
me crazy. I was crazy to come back here and
see you. I'm crazy for listening to anyone
in this town, and I'd sure as hell be crazy
if I spent another minute with you.
Grace rises, covering her nakedness, shooting a hand to his
face, like she did when she read his fortune.
GRACE
But it's in you, Bobby. I see it. I see
Death. It's in your heart. Let it out for
me. Let it out...
He's mesmerized. Then:
GRACE
Do it for me, Bobby, you'll never regret
it. I promise you. I'll do anything for
you. Anything.
Bobby pauses, terribly torn.
BOBBY
I...take me back to town...
He turns away, towards the jeep. Grace has a tone of desperation
in her voice.
GRACE
You need the money, Bobby. It's a lot more
than $100,000. A lot more. How are you
going to get out of here? You need the
money. Whatever it takes, Bobby, remember?
Bobby walks past the jeep, on his way back to town alone.
GRACE
Where you going? I'll give you the
ride...Come back! Bobby? It's three miles.
Bobby doesn't look back. Her eyes drift backwards into her
solitude.
GRACE (to herself)
Bobby?...Whatever it takes.
EXT. DESERT/ALONG THE ROAD - LATER DAY
BOBBY walks through the desert parallel to the road, still in a
rage. Desert insects produce a cacophony of drones, buzzes, and
clicks. A rattlesnake darts off a rock into the brush. A VOICE
whispers to him.
JAKE (V.O.)
You've got the killing in you, boy.
Bobby turns and looks around. Just desert. He continues.
JAKE (V.O.)
Next time you'll do just fine.
BOBBY
No!
The screen burns a bright white.
EXT. STREET CORNER - DAY
In a news pot, further down the street from where he was first
seen, the old, BLIND MAN sits with his dead DOG, speaking as if
into camera, sipping on a Dr. Pepper.
BLIND MAN
It's the desert that makes you crazy. The
loneliness out here. Nobody to talk to.
People on the run. Trailer parks. White
trash. I seen some peculiar things on a hot
day. I seen a scorpion sting itself to
death. It just keeps driving its tail into
its body again and again. A little killer
killing itself. Seen a coyote kill itself
too. Just kept on biting and tearing at
its own legs. Near tore one clean off
before it bled to death. And what a white
man'll do when it's freezing one moment,
hot as hell the next. A man could get
hisself killed just for rubbing shoulders
with another (smacking his lips) kiss kissy
kiss. Nice pussy y'see, see it coming. I
don't know what it is about the desert. I
figger it's sort of like putting a kettle
of water over a fire. People is mostly
water. We boil when it's hot. 'Cept when
we boil the water's got no place to go. It
just churns inside of us until we can cool
off. If it's not too late.
BOBBY is now revealed standing next to the blind man, and we
realize the blind man has been talking to him all along. Bobby
sips a Dr. Pepper as well.
BOBBY
You sure seen a lot for a blind man.
BLIND MAN
Just 'cause I ain't got eyes doesn't mean I
can't see.
BOBBY
That a fact?
Bobby noticing now all the little NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS that the
Blind Man keeps around him in a sort of inchoate stall.
BLIND MAN
I can see just fine. For example: You're
a young man who thinks he's got someplace
to be.
A POLICE RADIO crackles, Bobby tensing.
BOBBY
Maybe I do.
BLIND MAN
Or maybe you just think you do. Just
another small town. One guy chasing you.
You go big town. Just gonna have four guys
after you instead. Kiss kissy kiss. It gets
down to one thing -- are you a human being
or are you one of those hungry ghosts out
there never satisfied with nothing? Cause
you gotta remember you can run just as far
as you can, but wherever you go, that's
where you gonna be.
BOBBY
I think I've heard that before.
BLIND MAN
What do you want for free?
BOBBY
You sure got a lot of philosophy, old man.
BLIND MAN
Seems like I do but only cause end of the
day we're all eyes in the same head. And
everything is everything.
BOBBY
What?
BLIND MAN
...And everything is nothing too.
BOBBY (shakes his head)
Maybe one day I'll get to sit on a corner
and spout wise.
BLIND MAN
Think you'll live that long?
Bobby is clearly unnerved by this. Suddenly the blind man
stands, pissed and powerful, sniffing the air with the police
radio in it.
As SHERIFF POTTER cruises by, glancing at Bobby shrinking. The
car goes on up the street.
BLIND MAN
Cocksucker motherfucker! Cops. I hear you.
Always sneaking around. Thinks I can't see
him. Well he's right. Motherfucker. But
that ain't mean I don't know what's going
on around here. They're all cursed. Yes
sir.
BOBBY
Who's cursed?
BLIND MAN
All them miners last century. Hungry
ghosts, killed off all the Indians. Up at
the mine. Earth ran red with blood, think
I'm fooling around here. White sky was on
fire. Grown men cried like babies. I saw a
flash, then darkness descended upon me.
They put me in the joint. Took my eyes. I
cursed them. White people can't seem to
stay away from Indians (grabs his bandaged
hand, smelling the blood). You gotta watch
where ya put your fingers. Pussy pussy
pussy, Indian pussy.
It sounds demented. Bobby, checking him out to see if he's
really blind, walks quietly around him during this monologue and
peeks over his glasses trying to see the blind man's real eyes.
Although he thinks the Blind Man thinks he's on the other side
of him, the Blind Man fools him by suddenly swivelling around
and cranking a gob of spit into Bobby's face as if Bobby were on
the other side.
Bobby, pissed, wipes the spittle from his face.
BLIND MAN (finishing)
...but they gotta know you don't fuck
around with Indians.
BOBBY
I thought you said you lost your eyes in
the war?
BLIND MAN
So now you're going to tell me where I lost
my eyes. You don't think I know where I
lost my eyes? I was there when I lost them.
I lost them in the war. The war in the
joint. There's always wars in the joint.
Cause I was a code talker in the joint and
in the war too.(sniffs) Mmmm, nothing like
the smell of a naked lady. Be careful, boy.
BOBBY
Musta been some bad ass nuclear tests here
in the 50's. This town's all inbreeding.
BLIND MAN
Well, people gotta get by somehow. That's
the curse. The mines done it. All that
uranium, plutonium, fuffonium, fuckononium,
assononium, all that "om"! Everybody's got
a mother. You don't rip up your mother. You
don't rip up the Earth and take everything
out. It's like the Cracker Jack box says,
"the more you eat, the more you
want...."...
BOBBY
I got things to do.
BLIND MAN (offended)
Oh well, go do 'em. You don't see me
stopping you...
Bobby starts to walk away. The Blind Man rattles his tin cup.
BLIND MAN
...But ain't you got a little something for
the infirm?
BOBBY
I'm a little short Pops. I'll catch you
next time.
BLIND MAN
Your lies are old, but you tell 'em well.
EXT. STREET - DAY
BOBBY, depressed, is heading towards Harlin's gas station,
passing JENNY sitting on a corner drinking a soda, almost as if
waiting for him. She runs to him, and follows him, as somewhere
a POLICE RADIO crackles and buzzes.
JENNY
Hey mister. Mister, I just... I just wanted
to thank you.
BOBBY
For what?
JENNY
For defending my honor this afternoon.
BOBBY
I hate to bust your bubble honey, but I
wasn't defending you.
JENNY
But you was going to fight for me.
BOBBY
I wasn't going to fight for you. I was
just going to beat the shit out of your
boyfriend.
JENNY
He's not my boyfriend. I mean, I let him
take me out and stuff, but I ain't spoken
for. Not yet that is.
BOBBY
Get it through your head, little girl; I'm
not going for you. If this Toby likes you,
then if I were you I'd marry him. You're
not going to get much better in this town.
JENNY
That's what I thought until you came riding
in. I saw your car over at the gas
station. It's a cool car. Want to take me
for a ride? Desert's kind of lonely this
time of day.
BOBBY
How old are you?
JENNY
(beat)
Eighteen... Well, I'm gonna be eighteen in
two years, but that don't mean you can't
take me for a ride if you want.
BOBBY
No, I don't want to take you for a ride.
What I want is for ... Hey, you don't
think you can get $150 from your parents,
could you?
From OFF CAMERA we hear TOBY.
TOBY(O.C.)
Mister!
BOBBY
Oh, shit!
Toby moves menacingly up the street towards Bobby.
TOBY
That's right, Mister. You better be
afraid. I told you it wasn't over, but you
didn't listen. Now I find you sneakin'
around with my girl behind my back.
BOBBY
I wasn't sneaking around with your girl.
Would you please tell him?
JENNY
You're too late, Toby. We're going to get
in his fancy car and ride off and leave you
behind.
BOBBY
What the hell are you talking about?
JENNY
What's your name anyway?
TOBY
Oh, that tears it, Mister. I'm gonna bust
you up but good. I'm gonna bust you into a
million pieces and then ... and then bust
those pieces up, and then ... and then
spread them all around. That's what I'm
gonna do. You don't know what you're
dealing with, Mister. I'm crazy. I'm
psycho crazy.
BOBBY
Yeah, I know. You're TNT. Just like
dynamite. When you go off somebody gets
hurt. (at his wit's end) All right. Let's
do this.
JENNY
Toby Tucker, it don't matter to me if you
beat him all up and knock out all his teeth
and he's just drooling and bleeding all
over hisself, 'cause we love each other and
we gonna run off, and I'm gonna have his
love child.
BOBBY
Will you shut up!
TOBY
You gonna pay for that, Mister.
Toby and Bobby square off, sizing each other up and preparing
for a violent confrontation. Just as the two are about to clash
we hear the voice of SHERIFF POTTER from OFF CAMERA.
SHERIFF(O.C.)
Toby!
The two men freeze in their tracks, as Potter drives up fast.
TOBY
Hey, Sheriff Potter.
SHERIFF (tough)
Toby, I just came from your mother's place.
She's worried sick about you. She says she
ain't seen you since this morning.
TOBY
That ain't true, Sheriff. I was home for
lunch.
SHERIFF
Boy, I'm not trying to hear nothing from
you except that you're heading home. Now
run along.
TOBY
Yes, sir. Come on, Jenny.
JENNY
I want to stay.
TOBY
I said come on!
Toby grabs Jenny by the wrist and literally pulls he along. As
she goes she yells back to Bobby.
JENNY
Bye, Mister. Don't go nowhere without me.
I wanna have your love child.
Toby points a vicious finger at Bobby.
TOBY
Next time, Mister. Next time.
Toby and Jenny exit leaving Bobby and the Sheriff alone. Bobby
would also like to exit fast.
SHERIFF
Where ya goin'?
BOBBY
Harlin's.
SHERIFF
Get in.
Bobby has no choice. He gets in.
SHERIFF
Seen you popping up a little bit of
everywhere today. You're not planning on
staying are you?
BOBBY
No, sir. I'm not going to be around long if
that's what you're worried about.
SHERIFF
That's a nasty cut you got there.
BOBBY
Yeah, fell down and hit a rock. Not as bad
as it looks.
SHERIFF
There was a young fellow over at Jamilla's
today when it got hit. Way she tells it he
got whacked around good by one of the
robbers.
BOBBY
Sounds like it. I wish I could help
Sheriff, but I just want to get my car and
get on up the road.
JAKE drives up in his GOLD CADDY. His windows whirr down.
JAKE
Everything all right, Virgil?
He eyes Bobby.
SHERIFF (a little nervous)
Just fine, Jake. Where you going?
JAKE
I was just up at Darrell's. How's the wife?
That little eskimo baby walkin' yet?
SHERIFF
Oh just fine.
JAKE
You haven't seen Grace around, have you?
I'm looking for her.
SHERIFF
No. But if I do, I'll tell her you're
looking for her, Jake.
JAKE (looking at Bobby)
Whatcha got there, some trash?
He drives off. The Sheriff drives on.
SHERIFF
Peculiar, how things happen. A man's car
breaks down. There's a hold up. People die
and all that money -- and now old Jake out
looking for his young wife. And then you
show up...
The Sheriff looks right through Bobby, who knows this is more
than a conversation. He pulls up to Harlin's garage. Bobby gets
out.
SHERIFF
Time's running out, son. I'll be seeing you
in the morning...
With this thinly veiled threat, the Sheriff drives on. As Bobby
watches, feeling the pressure to get out now while he can.
EXT. HARLIN'S GARAGE - LATER DAY
DARRELL is cleaning his tools. Bobby's MUSTANG sits prominently
in the car bay, washed and gleaming, as BOBBY walks up.
DARRELL
Hey there. I was beginnin' to think you
wasn't comin' back... You don't look so
good.
BOBBY
Yeah, well, I've been around the bend a
bit.
DARRELL
One of those days you feel like you been
runnin' in circles and you ain't no closer
to where you tryin' to get than when you
started?
BOBBY
You've been there?
DARRELL
Hell, I've had days I would gladly trade
with a whippin' dog. Ain't much you can do
when you feel like that 'cept tough it out.
BOBBY
You believe that?
DARRELL
You think bad, and bad is what you get.
BOBBY
That's a good piece of advice, Darrell.
DARRELL
No charge.
BOBBY
Listen, Darrell, about that hundred-fifty
bucks for the car, as soon as I get where
I'm going I swear I'll--
DARRELL
Two-hundred.
BOBBY
What?
DARRELL
It's going to cost you two-hundred dollars.
BOBBY
You said this morning the hose was going to
run me one-fifty.
DARRELL
Yep. For the hose. But while you was gone
I replaced a gasket. That's going to run
you another fifty.
BOBBY
I didn't tell you to replace any gasket.
DARRELL
Yeah, but it was shot.
BOBBY
I don't give a fuck! I didn't tell you to
do it! You can't just do unauthorized
work.
DARRELL
Well, now, you just know all there is about
bein' a mechanic, don't you? Didn't you
read the sign.
BOBBY
What sign?
DARRELL
The goddamn sign on the wall. I can't do
unauthorized work? What am I suppose to
do? Just let you ride out of here with a
bad gasket. Then you get in an accident
and get killed. Or worse. Who they gonna
blame then? They gonna blame me, and there
goes my reputation.
BOBBY
What reputation? You're nothing but an
ignorant, inbred, tumbleweed hick.
DARRELL
Is that an insult? Are you insulting me.
BOBBY
Listen you stupid fuck, I want my car.
DARRELL
Listen to me you sorry sonufabitch. You owe
me money, and this car ain't going nowheres
until I get it. And if you take another
five hours I'll find another fifty dollars
worth of work to do on it. Is that clear?
Now get out of here 'fore I call the
Sheriff, who knows me.
Bobby is in a rage. He turns to leave and walks a few paces.
He sees a WRENCH lying on a table. For a second his mind reels,
then he snatches up the wrench and turns ready to smash it down
on Darrell's head. He stops cold. Because ol' Darrell holds a
CROWBAR in a batter's stance ready to smash it onto the Mustang.
DARRELL
You want to play, Mister? I'll play with
you. You want to smash something? So do
I.
Darrell pulls back the crowbar, ready to swing.
BOBBY
No! Okay! Okay!
DARRELL
What's the matter? The fight gone out of
you? I'm just gonna smash a headlight.
Maybe two.
BOBBY (pleading, almost crying)
Please, just leave the car alone!
DARRELL
Mister, you already pissed me off but good.
Darrell lays the tip of the crowbar on the hood of the car, and
drags the tip of the bar across the hood leaving a long scratch.
BOBBY (about to lose it)
Goddamn you! You son of a bitch!
DARRELL
There you go, sweet talking me again.
Darrell begins to laugh. Bobby, desperate, looks to the trunk,
thinking of his gun in there.
His POV -- the trunk. A FLASHBACK of the GUN goes through his
mind.
BOBBY
Look, Harlin.
DARRELL
Darrell.
BOBBY
Darrell. I'll get you your money. I just
have to get something out of the trunk.
Using his TRUNK KEY, he tries to open it but realizes the lock
has been changed.
BOBBY
What the fuck did you do to my trunk?
DARRELL
Well, that key's not gonna work. I had to
pop the lock. You didn't leave me the trunk
key.
BOBBY
And you had to go into the trunk, didn't
you?
DARRELL
When I work on a car, I work on a car.
BOBBY (snaps)
You motherfucker! (etc.)
DARRELL
You can't help yourself, can you mister?
You're out of control.
Darrell starts to laugh. It is a repetitive, almost demonic
laugh that grows louder as the camera slowly dollies in on
Bobby's anguished face.
EXT. STREET - DAY
As BOBBY steps out into the glaring sun, he notices down at the
other end of the town, GRACE'S JEEP parked right outside the
SHERIFF'S OFFICE, empty.
Presently, GRACE and the SHERIFF walk out TALKING, and she gets
in, says a few last words and drives away.
Bobby backs around a corner into a sidestreet. Is she selling
him out? He's very confused, turbulent.
INT. BUS DEPOT - LATER DAY
BOBBY enters the BUS DEPOT. The interior is poorly lit. There
are a few benches for people to wait on, but they sit empty.
Old, faded travel posters hang on the wall. A bored FEMALE
CLERK is behind the counter.
BOBBY
I need a ticket.
CLERK
Where to?
BOBBY
Out of here.
CLERK
But, in particular?
BOBBY
I ... Mexico. You got a bus that goes to
Mexico? That's where I have to go.
CLERK
Mexico is a large country. Where in Mexico
would you like--
BOBBY
I don't care, just get me there.
The clerk is a little put off by Bobby. He seems delirious. She
goes through her schedule looking for a bus.
CLERK
How about Ciudad Juarez? You could take a
local, arrives in two hours, and transfer
in Albuquerque. It'll get you across the
border.
BOBBY
How much?
CLERK
One way, or round trip?
BOBBY
One way.
CLERK
30.55. Twenty more will get you back.
Bobby counts his money.
BOBBY
Twenty-seven, fifty. That's all I got.
CLERK
The ticket is 30.55.
BOBBY (rifling his pockets)
I bought a beer. That was a dollar
something. Then I gave that girl 25 cents
for the juke box. And the blind man...the
soda...I..I'd have 30 if...if...
CLERK
I'm sorry, sir. It's $30.55 for the
ticket.
BOBBY (to himself)
Yeah. Just a little short. Figures. I
just wanted to get out, that's all.
Bobby starts to walk away. Suddenly he turns, runs back at the
clerk, proffers his money, half-crazed, near tears.
BOBBY
Please, ma'am, you don't understand! I have
to get out of here. They're going to come
looking for me. They're going to kill me.
If I can't get this ticket then I'm going
to have to do things to get out of here.
You know what I mean! I don't want to hurt
anybody, I just want to leave. Please. I
can't...I can't.
He's so desperate and in her frightened but neutral expression,
Bobby experiences the only compassion he ever finds in this
whole town.
CLERK
Okay, I'll give you the ticket, sir,
but...just...just, please calm down,
please!
her sane tone reminds Bobby of how far down he's come. He
shrinks, suddenly ashamed of himself. She takes the cash on the
counter, hands him a ticket.
CLERK
Keep your change. Bus three-twenty-three.
Leaves at seven fifty two, tonight.
BOBBY
I'm sorry. It's just ... you know ...
She nods, puts a "closed" sign in the ticket window, disappears.
EXT. BUS DEPOT - LATE DAY
We hear the crackle of the same POLICE RADIO again, OFF CAMERA,
as BOBBY walks out of the depot. ticket preciously held in his
hand, and suddenly reels as he sees SERGEI, about a 100 yards
down the main stretch, slowly rolling into town in his
convertible, looking for guess who.
BOBBY
Holy shit!
INT. SERGEI'S CAR - SIMULTANEOUS
BOBBY turns away, but not fast enough. SERGEI spots him, hits
the pedal.
SERGEI
Got you, shitface! Bobby Cooper. Bobby
Cooper...
EXT. MAIN STREET - SIMULTANEOUS
BOBBY, ducking around a corner, hears the brief "Whoop" of the
sheriff's POLICE SIREN. He glances back.
His POV - sure enough, the SHERIFF'S having a field day. He's
just pulled SERGEI over. At this distance, we catch snippets of
conversation as the Sheriff ambles from his car, checking
Sergei's out-of-state plates.
SHERIFF
Where's the fire sweetheart? Don't know how
they work things in Nevada, but we got
speed limits in this state.
SERGEI
Vat? I am going 5 miles an hour! I am
looking town. I not even moving.
We pop in closer to their conversation -- Bobby relishing this
in his mind's eye. Sergei is constantly looking off to where he
last saw Bobby. But the Sheriff, strangely, pays no attention to
these looks.
SHERIFF
Whoa, what kind of accent you got there?
You one of them Russians?
SERGEI
I am Russian, da! I am also rich Russian,
da? Maybe we work something out, my friend
Sheriff?
SHERIFF
What? You trying to bribe me, mister? Just
cause you Russians ain't commies anymore,
don't think money can buy everything...
Down the street, Sheriff Potter is holding up a concealed GUN.
SHERIFF
What's that? (He grabs the gun)
..."concealed" is a definite no no in this
town, Ivan. You know anything about
Jamilla's grocery store?
SERGEI
What fuckin grocery store, you fucking
shithead idiot! You call yourself a
police...
Sergei looking Bobby's direction.
SHERIFF
Get out of the car, spread them. You can
jawbone all you want or you have the right
to shut the fuck up! You commie
motherfucker. Either way you're goin' to
the can.
SERGEI
I want my lawyer!
Sheriff cuffs Sergei and sticks him in the police car.
Bobby can't help smiling as he turns away to the SODA MACHINE
seen in an earlier scene.
He comes up with the change the bus clerk left him and, dying
for a drink in this heat, inserts the coin. Though still under
considerable pressure from all sides, this lucky break with
Sergei seems like it might be the beginning of something new
today -- some luck.
The icy cold soda bottle shoots out. Bobby raises it to his
lips, about to taste it, about to relax for once. Violently it
explodes out of his hands as he doubles over in blinding pain
from a KIDNEY PUNCH. He stumbles forward into the soda machine,
gasping. The legs of his assailant are close to him, but the
face is unseen.
Bobby doubles his agony as his bandaged left stump takes the
brunt of the blow into the machine, re-opening the wound. Blood
starts to seep through the bandage.
BOBBY
Ow!
Bobby crumples to the ground as TOBY now towers over him with
his fists curled and a snarl on his lips.
TOBY
Get up, Mister! Don't ever let it be said
Toby Tucker beat the living shit out of
someone without giving them a fair chance.
BOBBY (gasping)
What the hell are you doing? You fucking
psycho!
TOBY
I'm doing what any man would do if he'd
been offended. I'm stompin' your ass.
BOBBY
You idiot! You don't even know what you're
fighting over!
TOBY
My honor, that's what I'm fighting over.
Now get up off the ground, or do I have to
whoop you where you lie?
JENNY comes running up the street.
JENNY
Toby! Toby Tucker, leave him alone!
TOBY
You stay away, Jenny. I aim to mess him
up, and that ain't a thing for a woman to
see.
Jenny runs to Bobby and cuddles him where he lays.
JENNY
Don't be afraid of him none. I don't care
what he does to you, we can still be
together.
BOBBY
Get away from me!
Bobby sees his bus ticket on the ground. He grabs for it, but
Toby beats him to it.
TOBY
Now, what's this?
BOBBY
Give it to me!
TOBY
Mexico? You going to Mexico?
BOBBY
I'm leaving. You never have to see me
again. Just please, give me the ticket!
TOBY
This means something to you? Jenny means
something to me.
Toby sticks the ticket in his mouth and chews it up whole.
BOBBY
Nooo!
TOBY (between bites)
I'm gonna beat you so bad you gonna be
eatin' nothing but soup the erst of your
days. Rain dogs is gonna be prettier than
you when I'm done. I'm gonna mess you up
so bad you gonna make your own momma sick.
I'm gonna ...
Toby's words drift to Bobby from a million miles away. The
world around him is like a dream, or a nightmare. A primal rage
wells inside of Bobby that rises up in a howl as he swings the
soda bottle up out of nowhere across Toby's head, smashing him
backwards. Then he lands blow after blow with his right hand on
the boy's face and head.
Jenny screams:
JENNY
Stop it! You're killing him!
Jenny grabs Bobby's arm, literally hanging all her weight on it,
stopping him from striking Toby again.
JENNY
You're killing him! Toby!? Toby!?
Jenny sinks to the ground and cuddles Toby. Bobby stands. He
looks at Toby, then at his bloodied knuckles in disbelief. His
bandage is soaked with his own blood, but his adrenaline numbs
the pain.
JENNY
You killed him! You killed him!
She wails in the background as he backs away, around the corner,
into Main Street, crossing to where the PHONE BOOTH is.
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - LATE DAY
BOBBY is on the phone.
BOBBY
Hello, Grace? It's Bobby.
INTERCUTS TO:
INT. MCKENNA HOUSE - SIMULTANEOUS
GRACE, in the kitchen, is also on the phone.
GRACE (coolly)
I thought you'd be on your way to Vegas by
now. Is there something you wanted?
BOBBY
I wanted to talk.
GRACE(V.O.)
I don't think we have anything to talk
about.
BOBBY
What about us?
GRACE
There is no us, remember?
BOBBY
Except I can't get you out of my head,
Grace.
(beat)
GRACE
Stop it.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Why? Am I making you hot, or does the
truth scare you?
GRACE
Because I know you're full of shit.
BOBBY
I mean it, Grace. I'm getting out of here,
and I want to take you with me.
GRACE (V.O.)
I thought you couldn't get your car.
BOBBY
I could if I had Jake's money.
GRACE (V.O.)
Is that what changed your mind? The money?
BOBBY
I don't give a damn about the money. I
want you, and I want to get us out of this
shithole. There's only one way to do that.
Pause.
GRACE
Are you sure?... About me, I mean?
BOBBY
I came back for you; this morning I came
back. Before I even knew about the money.
You're what I want.
(then)
The only reason I stormed off is because
you spooked me talking about Jake. But
I've had nothing but time to think about
it. It keeps coming back to you and me and
us getting the hell out of here. But we've
got to get the money, baby. We get the
money, I get the car, then we get the hell
out.
GRACE
You said you couldn't kill anybody.
BOBBY
We don't have to kill him. Just knock him
out and tie him up 'till we get away.
(beat)
It was your idea, remember? I'm doing this
for you. I'm doing this so you can
fly...fly like a bird.
Grace bites at a nail and fidgets, but says nothing.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Grace ... Grace?
GRACE
After dark. I'll leave the back door
unlocked.
She quickly hangs up the phone.
Bobby also hangs up the phone, an unreadable expression on his
face.
INT. MCKENNA LIVING ROOM - LATE DAY
JAKE sits in an easy chair reading a paper. Puffs of smoke from
his pipe rise from behind the paper and hang like a cloud over
his head. GRACE stands in the doorway, body stiff and arms
crossed, staring at him.
JAKE
Who was that on the phone?
GRACE
Wrong number.
JAKE
You spent a long time talking for a wrong
number. But then you make friends so
easily. Don't you, Grace?
Grace has no answer for that, so she says nothing. A long
moment passes, then:
GRACE
I put up new drapes, Jake.
JAKE
I know. I was here when your apprentice
was helping you. Remember?
GRACE
You never said anything. About the drapes.
JAKE
They look nice.
GRACE
You haven't even looked at them once.
Jake lowers the paper, looks at the drapes.
JAKE
They look nice.
GRACE
I picked them out for you, Jake. I thought
you would like the colors.
JAKE (softly, admiring)
You look just like your mama when you move
like that against the light.
Grace stares at the CHAIN now visible around Jake's neck that
disappears under his shirt. She knows that hidden there is a
key, and she fixes on it intently.
JAKE
What the hell you looking at, girl?
GRACE
Nothing, Jake. Absolutely nothing.
EXT. DESERT - EVENING
The SUN is setting. It strikes the horizon sending a ripple of
golden light through the sky.
EXT. PORCH OF HOUSE - EVENING
A MAN dances in the evening light with a small child in his
arms.
EXT. CORNER OF HOUSE - EVENING
A DOG and CAT huddle together in sleep.
EXT. POLICE STATION - EVENING
SHERIFF VIRGIL POTTER is tossing horseshoes with his DEPUTIES.
EXT. MCKENNA HOUSE - EVENING
GRACE watches the sun going down outside her house, cradling
herself in her arms. A desert wind gently caresses her.
EXT. STREET CORNER - NIGHT
The BLIND MAN, along with his dead DOG, sits on the side of the
street.
BLIND MAN
Well, that's it. Sun's going down. People
go home, trade stories over dinner.
They'll talk about the day, about the heat,
laugh about something crazy it made them
do. They'll kiss, sleep a few hours, then
do it all over again.
BOBBY now appears next to the blind man holding two Dr. Peppers.
He hands one to the blind man, takes a sip of the other one, and
offers him his own change.
BOBBY
The day wasn't so bad. We all got through
it all right.
BLIND MAN (giving back the change)
Keep it.
There's a suggestion of cockiness in Bobby, feeling his luck
coming back with the night. His humour is enhanced by his POV
down the street:
As DARRELL, with his dilapidated truck, readies SERGEI'S
convertible for towing.
BLIND MAN (OVER)
Ain't over yet. Night is part of day;
separate, but equal. Night is when you let
your guard down; when you see things in the
shadows and hear things in the dark.
BOBBY
Difference between you and me, old man, is
I see the glass half full, you see it half
empty.
BLIND MAN
Night is when you want to sleep, but the
dry heat keeps you tossin' and turnin'.
It's when you wish the sun was bakin' high
in the sky so you could see what it is
you're afraid of.
BOBBY
You afraid of the dark?
BLIND MAN
Afraid of it? Boy, I live in the dark. All
cause of a woman who made me this way.
People are afraid of what they can't see.
I can't see nuthin', so it's all the same
to me. Kiss from a beautiful woman, kissy
kissy kiss, a lick from a dog, slurp,
slurp, the kiss of death (he makes a
strange sound). It's all the same to me.
BOBBY
So, we're all just floating along like
twigs in a stream, so enjoy the ride. Is
that it?
BLIND MAN
More or less.
BOBBY
Not this twig, friend. I got plans.
BLIND MAN
Nothing makes the Great Spirit laugh harder
than a man's plans. We all got plans. I
planned on seeing all my life. I know you
didn't plan on straying into town.
BOBBY
No and I don't plan on sticking around
either.
BLIND MAN
Well, don't say I didn't warn you when
things go your way.
BOBBY
You got a lotta philosophy in you, old
timer but you don't fool me for one second
with all this blind man crap. One minute
you lost your eyes in Vietnam, next it's
the joint. Now it's a woman? I'm hep to
you.
The Blind Man slowly lifts his glasses, showing his EYES at
last. Where his eyes should be are scars and dead flesh. An ugly
sight that even takes Bobby back a step.
BLIND MAN
Used to be a young smartass like you. Then
I got smart with the wrong man's daughter.
Got some acid poured on my peepers for my
trouble. You know human beings ain't always
just human -- they got animals living
inside 'em too...People give spare change
to war heroes not fools. All fools get is
pity. May not have eyes, but I see. And
you, boy?
The Blind Man puts his glasses back on.
BLIND MAN
You got my pity.
BOBBY (doesn't believe him)
Hope she was worth it.
BLIND MAN
Oh, she was worth it. She was worth every
black minute since.
Bobby looks at his watch, gets ready to go, drops a coin into
the Blind Man's cup.
BOBBY
Time's up. Any last words of wisdom?
BLIND MAN
Things ain't always the way they seem. You
got to ask yourself: is it worth it? Day
comes Earthmaker is going to look in your
fucking heart! Then you better know what it
is you're doing. Are you a human being --
or just one of them hungry ghosts out there
floatin' around?
Bobby walks away, smiling.
BOBBY
You are crazy, you know. Be seeing you, old
man.
BLIND MAN
You know I won't be seeing you.
The Blind Man lifts his sunglasses and peers into the cup as if
he sees. We don't really know. He reaches into the cup and pulls
out the coin Bobby tossed in.
BLIND MAN
Cheap bastard. Gives me back my own
money... Well, Jesse, time's up, let's go
for a walk.
The Blind Man now stands up and pulls the seeing-eye dog's
harness. The DOG struggles to its feet and they walk off down
the street together.
INT. MCKENNA HOUSE - NIGHT
GRACE stands by the back door staring at the bolt lock. JAKE
yells to her from another room.
JAKE(O.C.)
What the hell you doin', Grace? Are you
coming to bed, or aren't you?
For a moment Grace's hand wavers above the lock. Suddenly, like
a snake striking, her hand shoots out and unlocks the bolt.
Just as quickly she turns from the door and heads to the
bedroom.
EXT. YARD - MCKENNA HOUSE - NIGHT
A LIGHT is on in the bedroom window. After a moment it dims and
the house is dark, silhouetted against the horizon by moonlight.
BOBBY steps into frame, carrying an iron pipe.
INT. MCKENNA HOUSE/BEDROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
We start close on GRACE -- a KEY slapping against her buttocks
as bedsprings groan. We reveal Grace copulating on all fours
with JAKE from behind.
JAKE
Ya little bitch, you like it don't you! You
like it this way -- rough and hard. Gotta
go fuck around on me, like your Mama, but
you always gotta come home to Daddy, don't
you, cause you know Daddy's the best.
GRACE
Yes, yes, hit me...beat me, please.
JAKE
You been a bad girl, Grace. You took my
heart from your Mama, didn't ya? You
betrayed her! Like you did me. There ain't
no forgivin' ya, girl!
GRACE
Oh no! Oh please forgive me, Papa!
JAKE
You broke her heart! You broke your Mama's
heart. You stole me! That's right. Fuck it
away. But it ain't ever goin' away, cause
your Mama -- she's like a hungry ghost
baby, she won't go away, she won't leave ya
alone.
GRACE
No! No! Please!
He hits her. Harder.
In a strange flashback of his mind, he now sees Grace's MAMA
beneath him, receiving his punishment.
He stops, abruptly. He can't go on. Fear coming into his eyes.
He starts to whimper, begging for his punishment and/or
forgiveness.
JAKE
Oh baby, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry...
(he starts to cry)
I didn't mean to hurt you so bad. It
just...got away...
He drops down, burying his face between Grace's legs.
JAKE
Forgive me, baby, forgive me!
He hides there from the world that he has created, crying to
himself.
Grace has an unreadable expression, but that's certainly not a
new occurrence in their strange relationship.
INT. MCKENNA HOUSE/BACKDOOR - NIGHT
The knob of the backdoor twists and the door opens. BOBBY slips
quickly through the space and into the house quietly closing the
door behind him. It is nearly pitch dark, and he has no
bearings. He steps gingerly through the hall, but in the
darkness he bumps into a table nearly knocking over a lamp only
to catch it just before it crashes into the floor.
INT. MCKENNA HOUSE/BEDROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
JAKE hears the noise. He raises his head and cocks an ear to
the air. She knows who it is, and is concerned; he's too early.
GRACE
What's the matter?
JAKE
You didn't hear something?
GRACE
Yeah, I heard a key slapping against my
ass.
JAKE
There's someone in the house.
GRACE (nervous)
Maybe...maybe the wind blew something over
(encouraging him to continue). Come on
baby, keep going.
Jake climbs out of bed, throwing on some pants, reaching into a
drawer in the chest of clothes, pulling out a small dark
metallic OBJECT.
GRACE (realizing)
What's that? Jake -- where's you get that?
JAKE
Relax baby. Stay here.
He goes to the door. She follows, tries to block the door.
GRACE
Jake, don't go out there. Call the sheriff.
JAKE
Shhhh! Just like your Mama, always scared
of things...
He maneuvers her aside and slips out the door into the corridor.
INT. LIVING ROOM/MCKENNA HOUSE - SIMULTANEOUS
Crowbar in one hand, BOBBY makes his way slowly through the
living room, banging against the edge of a table. He hops
silently in pain, then waits at the door to the next room and
listens. Hearing nothing he slowly pokes his head into the
darkness. A moment later Bobby backs from the door and we see
the barrel of his own black .9mm BARETTA pressed against his
forehead. JAKE appears now, backing him into the living room.
He switches on a LAMP.
JAKE
Well, well. As I live and breathe. I
didn't expect to be seeing the like of you
again. Thought you'd be long on your way
by now.
Jake continues to press the gun to Bobby's head.
BOBBY
That's my gun...(then) That fucking
Darrell!
JAKE
I like Darrell. He may be an idiot, but
he's my half brother. We own Harlin's
together, yeah, that little redneck manages
to get paid no matter how things work out.
BOBBY (realizing)
You been workin' me the whole time.
JAKE
I guess this is what they call "ironee"?
Hunh?
BOBBY
It's not what you think, Jake.
JAKE
No, but it don't matter anyway when you're
lying there with your brains all over my
carpet and I'm telling Sheriff Potter about
this drifter, didn't have enough money to
fix his car. And Darrell happened to find
his gun, and through maybe this drifter
heard old Jake got some money stashed away,
and figgered he might try to break in and
steal it!
BOBBY
Wait a minute. Just listen to me...
JAKE
...And he thought he'd clock old Jake
McKenna and turn his brains into wall
paper...and then maybe borrow $200 or
$20,000, or $200,000...
BOBBY (very serious)
That's not the reason I'm here, Jake.
JAKE
There's another reason? It better be good.
INT. HALLWAY - SIMULTANEOUS
GRACE makes her way down the hall in a nightgown, and now hides
in shadow, listening.
BOBBY (V.O.)
I came for Grace.
JAKE (V.O.)
You came to take my wife from me?
INT. LIVING ROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
BOBBY (sincere)
No. I came to kill her.
INT. HALLWAY
GRACE'S eyes get real narrow and angry.
JAKE (V.O.)
Shhh! Liar.
BOBBY (V.O.)
It's the truth, Jake.
INT. LIVING ROOM
JAKE
That's a thick change of heart from this
afternoon.
BOBBY
Maybe I don't like being played, like she
played us today. Maybe I don't like that
at all, Jake. I'm just pissed enough, maybe
I'll rip the neck off my own grandmother.
JAKE
You have a lot of talk in you, whole lot of
talk.
BOBBY
Damn it, Jake. There is a guy coming to
kill me, and if it comes down to me or
Grace, then I pick Grace. You were going
to give me thirteen-thousand. Give me
two-hundred. I'll kill her and dump the
body where no one will ever find it. She
showed me the perfect place. There won't be
enough left for an autopsy. But I need the
the money. I've got to have the money.
Jake is silent. He takes his time thinking. Finally:
JAKE
She's in the bedroom.
INT. HALLWAY
GRACE, distressed, starts backing off towards the bedroom.
INT. LIVING ROOM
BOBBY stares at the automatic in JAKE's hand.
BOBBY
Wanna give me my gun?
Jake laughs, a "don't even think about it" look.
JAKE
A strangling'll do just fine. Go to work.
Bobby holds up his eight fingers with a "you try" look. Jake
shrugs. Bobby points to the crowbar on the carpet.
BOBBY
How 'bout the pipe?
JAKE (sarcastic)
She's got a slender neck.
Bobby turns and walks towards the bedroom. Jake follows into an
adjoining room.
JAKE
Hold on a second! Come here!
Bobby turns to Jake, who is suddenly extremely upset.
JAKE
How the hell did you know where the
bedroom's at?
BOBBY
What are you talking about!
JAKE (getting closer)
This morning when I came in on you and
Grace, you swore you hadn't been near the
bedroom. Now you make straight for it.
INT. HALLWAY
GRACE returns to listen. This thing is like a seesaw battle of
wills.
BOBBY (V.O.)
Come on, Jake --
JAKE (V.O.)
Don't Jake me boy! It's a big house. You
probably didn't even make it out to the
desert this afternoon...
INT. LIVING ROOM
JAKE has come right up on BOBBY in a rage.
JAKE
...Or did you just ply the afternoon away
between my sheets putting your lips all
over her, you little horndog...
BOBBY (changing tactics)
What difference does it make if I slept
with her? We're gonna kill her.
JAKE
You're right! I don't give a damn about
her. But killing her's one thing. Fucking
her behind my back, that's another!
Suddenly Jake swings his arm, clipping Bobby across the side of
the head with the pistol and opening another bloody gash.
Bobby crumbles to his knees, crying out.
Jake suddenly grabs Bobby by the hair, forcing his face back and
smearing his lips with his own in a vengeful kiss. The blood
from Bobby's wound runs down to his lips and mixes with Jake's
lips.
JAKE
Now you've tasted both of us!
He pulls back the hammer on the gun and levels it at Bobby's
head. Bobby sees it coming, plays his last card on his knees.
BOBBY
O.K.! I admit it! I fucked her! But it's
her you have to worry about, not me! She
wants you dead, Jake. She wants you dead
and she wants your money.
JAKE (hesitates)
What are you babbling about?
BOBBY (talking fast)
Think about it! How do you think I got in
here? Did you hear any glass break? Did you
hear a door splinter?
INT. HALLWAY - SIMULTANEOUS
GRACE listening.
BOBBY (V.O.)
How did the evening end? After you went to
bed did she linger a bit? Maybe just long
enough to leave the door unlocked? Is that
what happened?
INT. LIVING ROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
Like an old rag, JAKE gradually soaks all this up becoming
heavier with the weight of the knowledge.
JAKE
You'd tell me anything to save your
pathetic life.
BOBBY
You know what kind of woman Grace is, Jake.
You know how badly she wants to get the
fuck out of Superior. What's she to you,
Jake; a woman who wants you dead? Let me
kill her. All I want is two-hundred
dollars to get out of here with.
JAKE
Two-hundred dollars?
BOBBY
Two-hundred dollars...I'll do it! I'll
kill her!
A beat. Jake stares down at Bobby on the floor.
JAKE
Sweet Christ, I'd be doing the world a
favor, ridding it of the likes of you. Get
your miserable ass off the floor. You're
positively pathetic... Go on, go kill
Grace.
Bobby slowly stands.
JAKE
I'm not letting you walk for nothing. Two
hundred dollars. Do it, boy. Kill her.
Bobby goes.
INT. HALLWAY - SIMULTANEOUS
GRACE bolts back to the bedroom, the camera following her as she
flies.
INT. BEDROOM HALLWAY - NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)
BOBBY walks it. His POV -- the door. Every step seems freighted.
INT. BEDROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
GRACE is in a quandary. How many seconds before Bobby walks in
to kill her? Or can he really kill her? She's not sure.
She looks around the room frantically. Picks up a lamp, puts it
down. She looks quickly through her closet, rummages below in
the boxes. Suddenly she finds it.
A dangerous looking Indian HATCHET with a feather hanging off
its bindings. It's a formidable piece of iron, quite capable of
splitting a skull or impaling flesh.
Grace hears the footsteps just outside the door. She runs behind
the door.
A moment later, the bedroom door creaks open and BOBBY quietly
enters, approaching the bed. We sense the doubt in his eyes as
to whether he can kill her.
In a reverse POV, Bobby sees the outline of Grace in the bed as
victim...closer, closer. He now lifts the edge of the bedcover
but sees a blanket bunched up to resemble a human figure.
He suddenly hears a foot fall behind him, then he feels her
presence. He spins.
She's directly behind him, hatchet raised. His life is in her
hands.
His eyes, locked in an eternal moment.
Her eyes, the hatchet.
SNAP CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - SIMULTANEOUS
As JAKE, anxiously torn, waits, there is a LOUD CRASH, followed
by SOUNDS of struggle, of murder, of death. Then...
GRACE
Jake!
It is a desperate cry for help. Jake can't help himself. He
breaks into a roaring run down the hall to save his beloved.
JAKE
Grace!!
INT. BEDROOM - SIMULTANEOUS
JAKE bulls into the bedroom. It's a mess, furniture overturned,
sheets and blankets all over the floor. The lights broken.
Waiting for him, face down on the floor, is BOBBY'S BODY in a
pool of liquid. A broken bottle lies nearby. Bobby's body heaves
in its final death throes, and then shudders quiet... Over
there, by the bed, is GRACE, who still clutches the HATCHET.
The look on her face is pure shock.
JAKE
Well...looks like you got him, Grace.
That's good...that's real good. He must of
slipped past me, but you got him. Looks
like that drifter from this morning. Got
to be careful who you make friends with,
sweetheart.
Jake eyes the weapon in Grace's hand.
JAKE
Why don't you put that down? It's all over
now. Put it down.
Grace eyes the gun in Jake's hand.
JAKE
Go on, girl. Put it down.
What choice does Grace have? She lets the hatchet clank to the
floor.
JAKE
Aww, that's my Grace: Not about to let
someone get the best of her. That's what I
love about you. As dangerous as you are
unpredictable.
behind Jake, the lifeless BOBBY rises up from the floor, very
much alive, and clobbers Jake with a golf club. Jake is
staggered, but he's one tough old customer as he manages to spin
slowly, gun still in one hand, as if to fire.
Before he can, Grace grabs up the hatchet from the floor and
drives it straight into his back.
He gurgles, stunned from both sides, but it's like trying to
kill Rasputin. He still has the gun as Bobby jumps him from the
rear, trying to get his neck in a chokehold. The gun FIRES once,
discharging into the wall. The hatchet is ripped from his back.
Grace watches as the two men bang into the walls in a rugged
rodeo-type fight, Jake seeking to dislodge Bobby off his back.
An expression of fear and excitement in her eyes.
Finally the two men go crashing to the ground, rolling around,
Bobby maintaining his stranglehold, but calling to her, his
hands full.
BOBBY
Grace, goddamit, do something!
Jake's eyes rolls up at her like a beaching whale, pleading for
help.
JAKE
Grace...?
She commits. Jumping into the fray, it's not clear whose side
she's really on as the three of them roll across the floor,
strangling, biting, hitting, spitting, scratching, gasping. It's
a Guignol, but the pressure from Bobby's forearm is taking its
toll on Jake. Trying to bite Jake, Grace bites Bobby instead,
but then she scratches Jake's face. Jake is grabbing her hard as
Bobby chokes him, trying to use her to leverage himself away.
But she manages to rip herself from his grip and scrambles on
her knees across the floor.
She grabs the hatchet. And stands, moving back towards the two
men locked on the floor. Bobby looks up at her, hatchet in hand,
no longer sure which way she'll go.
Jake, however, gasping for air, eyes bulging, spittle dripping
from his mouth, looks at Grace with some inner certainty that
she will help him. He gasps the words.
JAKE
Help me, Grace, help...
GRACE
Like you helped her, Jake?
Grace stands there, deciding, the power of the hatchet in her
hands. She raises it suddenly over the two men.
It flashes downwards. Deep into the gut of her husband Jake,
almost transfixing him to the floor.
In the silence that follows, Jake's eyes roll up to meet hers.
But all she has for him is a cold, distant stare.
Jake's head drops as the life rushes out of him. Bobby falls
back from the body puffing and dripping with sweat.
BOBBY
What the hell'd you wait for?
She doesn't answer, turbulence in her face. He rolls Jake's body
off, upset. She may have made it a murder, but he was part of
it, and he feels the shift in himself. They're both in new
territory, feeling an apartness between them.
Suddenly JAKE gasps, still alive! It is too much for Bobby. He
grabs the hatchet and plunges it down on Jake, silencing him one
last time.
Grace is pushing the bed away from the wall, slipping down on
her knees and prying open several floorboards.
GRACE
The money's right here! Get the key!
BOBBY
No! You get it!
He doesn't want to get close to Jake. Grace coldly runs over to
his corpse, ripping the chain, key and all, from the neck. The
action pulls Jake's head up, then she lets it thump back on the
floor. She runs back to the floorboards.
The top of a thick steel floor safe is revealed.
Bobby watches -- his whole life, it seems, hanging on the
outcome.
With the key, she opens the safe. Inside are rolled-up bundles
of cash -- in hundred dollar denominations. She looks up at him,
offering it as she reaches in for more. Bobby also gets down on
his hands and knees and grabs more and more, sucked into the
fever of freedom, far more money than he lost at the grocery
store, overcome now with emotions of fear and freedom.
They see each other.
GRACE
Didn't I tell you?
BOBBY (plunging into the cash)
There must be 150, 200 thousand here!
Goddamnit Grace, you were right!
GRACE
We done it, Bobby. Oh my God!
They laugh excitedly and start kissing, rolling in the stacks of
cash, some of which sticks to Bobby's sweating back. The day
didn't turn out so bad after all for Bobby.
GRACE
Fuck me baby!
BOBBY (looking at Jake)
What about him?
GRACE
Let him watch. I want him to know what he's
missing.
As they consummate their violent relationship for the first
time, Jake's lifeless eyes watch them.
EXT. MCKENNA HOUSE - LATER NIGHT
The LIGHT in the bedroom window is low candlelight, but we sense
something watching them. GRACE's silhouette moves across a
window.
BOBBY now comes out of the house, cautious, walking down the
driveway.
He stops, thinks, and walks back to open the hood of GRACE'S JEEP.
He reaches into the ENGINE and disconnects something, then
closes the hood and walks on.
EXT. HARLIN'S GARAGE - NIGHT
BOBBY walks up to the SHACK near the garage and bangs on the
door. A light goes on in the window. DARRELL shouts out.
DARRELL (O.C.)
What you want?
BOBBY
Open up!
DARRELL (O.C.)
We're closed. Come back when the sun comes
up.
Bobby, in a hurry to get back should Grace pull any tricks,
bangs and kicks against the door. Darrell yanks the door wide.
DARRELL
What the hell ... oh, it's you. Might've
figgered. Listen I got a waitress coming
over. What do you want?
BOBBY
I want my car.
DARRELL
You got the money?
Bobby pulls the money from his hip pocket and hands it to
Darrell. The mechanic fingers it suspiciously.
DARRELL
Two-hundred dollars in hundred-dollar
bills. And this morning you was broke.
BOBBY
That's none of your business. Get the keys.
DARRELL
I don't want no dirty money. I run an
honest business.
BOBBY
Yeah, like Al Capone on tax day. Get the keys?
DARRELL (pause)
Well, there's a $50 overnight storage
charge we got to talk about.
Bobby is ready at first to explode, but then just laughs out
loud. You got to give it to a guy like Darrell. He holds up a
$100 bill.
BOBBY
All I got's a hundred, Darrell. You got change?
DARRELL
No.
BOBBY
Figgers. There's a scratch on the hood and how
much you make selling my gun? Deduct it.
Bobby pulls the hundred back from Darrell's grasp.
DARRELL (going to get the keys)
Don't know nothing about no gun.
BOBBY
Course you don't. Tell me something
Darrell. Forty thousand people die every
day! How come none of them are you?
DARRELL (throws him the keys)
I think you know where to find her.
BOBBY
And the trunk key.
DARRELL (pulls out the trunk key)
Topped off the tank for you. No charge.
Just my way of doing business.
BOBBY (jovial, confident now)
Listen up good, Darrell. I'm getting outta
this shithole. You're staying! And one
little peep outta you -- remember that gun
makes you part of the food chain. Your
prints are all over it. I'd be awful
careful whose rectum I was pointing my
finger in, Darrell.
Bobby hops in the car, a free man. As Darrell glares at him,
bewildered and frightened at the same time.
EXT. MCKENNA HOUSE - NIGHT
BOBBY turns the MUSTANG up the drive. THE HEADLIGHTS cut the
darkness and land on an empty patch where Grace's jeep had been
parked. Bobby jumps from the Mustang and runs around
frantically. His look is devastated. He falls to his knees,
about to sob when:
GRACE opens the front door and pokes her head out, putting out
several suitcases.
GRACE
Bobby? What the hell's the matter with
you?
BOBBY
I ... nothing. I just stubbed my toe on
a rock. Hurt like hell.
GRACE
I got the money all packed. I put the jeep
and his caddy in the garage. People'll
think maybe me and Jake went away. Buy us
some time...I know a back road we can take.
BOBBY
Good thinking. (looking at her four bags)
What's all this?
GRACE
I'm not coming back.
BOBBY (accepting)
Awright, let's go. I want to be fifty miles
from here before the sun comes up.
GRACE
Funny thing; the jeep wouldn't start. I had
to push it.
BOBBY (dryly)
Funny thing... I'll get the bags.
EXT. MCKENNA HOUSE - LATER NIGHT
Bobby's MUSTANG is backed towards the front of the house. We
see a silhouette of BOBBY and GRACE carrying something wrapped
in a BLANKET and dumping it in the trunk.
EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY - NIGHT
A lone pair of HEADLIGHTS illuminate the night as the Mustang
cruises through the dark. As the lights brighten the screen we:
FADE TO:
INT./EXT. MUSTANG - NIGHT
GRACE sits next to BOBBY peering out the windshield, clutching
the money in a backpack. She's humming an Indian song.
BOBBY
I can't see it.
GRACE
It should be just up ahead. Hold on ...
there! There it is!
A SIGN illuminated by the HEADLIGHTS. It reads: YOU ARE
LEAVING SUPERIOR. THANKS FOR VISITING.
Grace lets out a scream of joy, leans over and hugs him.
GRACE
Oh, God! I can't believe it. I'm out.
I'm finally out!
The MUSTANG begins to swerve along the road.
BOBBY
Hey! Take it easy. Want to get us killed?
GRACE
You don't know what it feels like to be
free of that place.
BOBBY
I don't know about that?
GRACE
You spent a day in Superior. I wasted my
entire life there. I feel like someone just
took a million pounds off my shoulders.
BOBBY
We've still got some dead weight to get rid of.
GRACE
Can't we just dump him fast someplace?
BOBBY
I want a place where only the vultures will
find him...(then) It'll be over soon,
Grace.
GRACE
Then will you take me on your friends' boat
with you?
BOBBY
I'm not sailing his boat.
GRACE
But I thought --
BOBBY
We're going to buy a boat of our own baby,
and sail it wherever we want to go.
GRACE
Anywhere?
BOBBY
What the hell? Why not? Where should we go?
GRACE
Hawaii. I've read all about it. I've
dreamed of going there and just lying on
the beach while the water licked up against
my feet. Oh, God. I'd kill to go there.
BOBBY
You already have.
She gives him a funny look.
BOBBY
You know I thought you'd left me back
there.
GRACE
What are you talking about?
BOBBY (emotional)
When I got back from the garage, and your
jeep wasn't there, I thought you'd gone and
left me and taken the money.
(off her look)
...Cause I never had any luck with women,
Grace. You don't know what I been through.
The shit I've taken. I thought you were
like the rest of 'em... but when you came
out of the house... well you're here Grace
and we might be starting in the shit but
we're starting where I never been --
together with someone -- together with you
Grace.
She responds with a luminous smile.
GRACE
I love you Bobby.
He looks back at her with trust and love in his eyes.
BOBBY
We're gonna pull this off, Grace.
Just then a HEADLIGHT rakes them from the rear as we hear,
again, the ominous crackle of a POLICE RADIO and the short
brutal "Whoop" of the siren, as Sheriff Potter's VEHICLE rolls
up quickly behind them. Grace's face is caught like a surprised
deer in the headlamps.
GRACE
Oh, my God!
(then)
Don't stop!
Bobby is in a bind. The siren whoops again. The lights flash to
highbeam.
BOBBY
He must've seen us swerving on the road,
that's all, just gonna give us a ticket for
swerving...
But even Bobby has trouble believing that as the POLICE VEHICLE
pulls out sharply alongside his and SHERIFF POTTER motions to
him aggressively to pull over on the shoulder.
SHERIFF (into loudspeaker)
Pull over, goddamnit, pull over!
GRACE
Keep going!
She seems to be panicking. Bobby pulls over.
BOBBY
Fuck this!...Just shut up, Grace. We done
nothing! Be cool. Let me do the talking. He
doesn't know anything.
His vehicle pulled up on the shoulder in front of them, the
Sheriff gets out, shining his power flashlight into their faces.
BOBBY (starts)
'Evening Sheriff, sorry bout that but this
jackrabbit...
Bobby has no time to react as the Sheriff is suddenly there at
his window, jerking his door open, angry. A GUN in his hand,
pointed at them, his eyes on Grace.
SHERIFF
You had to fuck him, didn't you!
GRACE (nervous cool)
I would never do that to you, baby... He
killed Jake -- said he'd kill me if I
didn't come with him. All he wants is the
money.
Bobby looks at her. He cannot believe what he just heard.
BOBBY
What!
SHERIFF (flipping, yelling)
Don't lie to me!
Grace knows the jam is up.
GRACE
OK...but he never made me cum! Really
Virgil, I was only doing what I had to do
so we could be free. Just like we talked
about. It meant nothing.
A pause. Virgil wants to kill her, but he also wants her back
badly.
BOBBY
You fucking him too Grace? Is everybody
fucking everybody in this town?
She ignores him. Her attention on the backpack with the money
between her legs -- the gun is there, inside an outer flap of
the bag.
SHERIFF
You fuck this guy -- get him to do your
dirty work and you think you can take the
money and dump me?
GRACE
No baby, you got it wrong.
SHERIFF
This road don't go to Globe, Grace -- where
were you going to meet me?
His flashlight on the four suitcases in the backseat. She
doesn't have an answer to that one.
GRACE
It's not like that it... Look, Virgil, I
got the money here.
She gets out of the car on her side, comes around to him, the
pack of money slung on her shoulder, hard to see in the dark.
SHERIFF (hurt)
Oh Grace, you can say what you want...but,
I watched you fuck that pervert for years
while you're telling me you loved me? What
happened to going to Milwaukee together?
You and me -- gonna open up the finest
sporting goods store that city ever did
see? Get us a place on the north shore, by
the lake? Season Brewer tickets! Just you
and me, Grace. What happened?
GRACE
All talk, that's all you did was talk, and
all I did was sit around getting older
waiting for you to free me! You never did
nothin' Virgil, you're weak! (pointing to
Bobby) He did!
The Sheriff, deeply wounded, casts a hot vicious gaze on Bobby.
SHERIFF
This is some girl you and me got here
Bobby, yessir, an excellent cocksuck too,
wouldn't you say? (back at Grace)... Course
you had a lotta practice haven't you
darling, going way back to your crazy mama!
GRACE (deadly)
Shut up, Virgil! Take your share of the
money. It's not so bad.
SHERIFF
I don't want the fuckin' money! I'm not
gonna give up everything I got for a lousy
50,000 dollars. It's you. You Grace or
nothing. The whole thing... I want you to
be my wife...(hopeful). What do you way
Grace?
GRACE
You sound just like Jake... I did see into
the future, Virgil, but you weren't in it.
Go back to your family. They love you.
Bobby gets out of the car, misunderstanding the situation.
BOBBY (misunderstanding)
Look, we got more. We got $200,000 at
least. Split it three ways, we all walk
away...
The Sheriff snaps and smashes Bobby with his flashlight,
knocking him to the ground, kicking him again and again,
gathering the psychic force to murder him. Grace tries to
approach.
SHERIFF
Shut up, boy! You don't know shit round
here! (to Grace) Get back. Did she tell you
that story about the bird flying away?
BOBBY (rolling on the ground)
Ow! Look, I ... ow!
GRACE
Stop! Stop it!
SHERIFF (kicking again and again)
Were you going to help her fly away,
asshole? What'd you think, you were the
first boy to drift through this town she
came on to? She tell you the story about
old Jake forcing her to marry him? That's a
good story... How he killed her crazy Mama?
Bobby in bloody agony. Grace stunned that Virgil would reveal
this now publicly.
GRACE
Goddamnit Virgil, stop! Don't!
SHERIFF
...But I bet the story she didn't tell you
was the best story of all. How old crazy
Jake was really her Papa. And she liked
fucking Papa! And now she's killed the
sonufabitch! Just like she's gonna kill
you!
Grace plunges into the pack, pulls the gun and shoots Virgil
across the car in the gut.
GRACE
No...you! You!
The Sheriff flies back onto the road, stunned, not realizing
what's happened.
Bobby watches unbelieving as Grace quietly steps up over the
Sheriff.
She puts the next round in his nuts, a modern fury enacting
ancient wrath.
BOBBY
Grace. No!
The Sheriff is wide-eyed, dying in shock. Grace then fires right
at his head in a coup de grace that blows his brains out the
back of his head.
Grace and Bobby both stare, then Grace jumps into action,
dragging the body. She snaps to Bobby.
GRACE
Help me get him off the road. Into the car!
We'll ditch his car... Get the fuck up!
Bobby stares at her.
EXT./INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT
They're driving. GRACE and BOBBY, wordless, each thinking in
separate worlds. Grace wipes her hands. The bag with the money
between her legs. The Baretta is back in the bag.
BOBBY (finally)
Jesus, did you have to kill him?
GRACE
Get real Bobby. He was gonna kill you and
me.
BOBBY
He was in love with you Grace. He would've
done what you wanted, you could've made a
deal and ...
GRACE
The only deal he had in mind was killing
you for Jake's murder and blackmailing me
into sucking his dick for the rest of my
life... no thanks.
BOBBY
He was a cop, Grace, they never stop
looking for you when you kill a cop...
GRACE
He was a scumbag!... He wanted me, Bobby.
These guys don't let go! Even when they're
dead... (softer) You don't know what it was
like, Bobby. Those two, they were the same.
A silence. The oncoming road.
GRACE
So, aren't you going to ask me?
BOBBY
Ask you what? You mean what kind of
horrifying sick shit is coming next?
GRACE
Don't you want to know...? I bet it's
burning a hole in your brain just now?
BOBBY
Let it go, baby. It's the past. I got a
past...
GRACE
Don't you really want to know? Was Jake my
Daddy? Was I fucking my own Daddy? Don't
you want to know that?
BOBBY (shouting)
What do you want me to say!
She's yelling, emotionally out of control.
GRACE
Yes! I was! I was fucking Daddy! And I
married him!... I married him...okay?
She looks at Bobby, forces him to look at her. Finally:
BOBBY
Why?
GRACE
I don't know why!
She drops back in her seat. Tears come.
GRACE
All I wanted was to be a kid... He took
that from me... They all did... (very
quietly, dangerously) They treated me like
meat. A piece of meat. Fuck me. Blow me.
Bend over. Stick their fingers up my ass...
Fuck them! Fuck the whole town! They
deserved to die!
A pause.
BOBBY
And us Grace? What do we deserve?
GRACE (crying quietly to herself)
"Nin chonk, nin chonk," my Mama used to say
in Apache. "Your worst is doing this to
you," she said, "your worst has killed
you." And "Be go tsee" -- "you will find
out the result of what you have done..."
Just when you think it's over, when you've
gotten away, it begins. Cause you never get
away.
Bobby stares straight ahead at the oncoming road. Can he still
love her? She seems to be reading his thoughts, like she said
she could.
GRACE
It's easy to judge someone else when you
don't know nothing about it... I'm Apache,
Bobby. You don't eat what I eat. You don't
see what I see. Don't judge me.
A silence. Two former lovers in the dark of a car moving through
the strangeness of an Arizona desert at night.
BOBBY
I don't want to think anymore.
GRACE (quietly)
Then drive...
The lights of the car fade until there is nothing but darkness.
THE SUN COMES UP:
EXT. CANYON - END SPOT - DAWN
In the vast reaches of a deserted canyon, where VULTURES circle
in a hot white sky, we find the MUSTANG parked at the edge of a
drop. We hear the SOUND of a body being dragged.
D.J. (V.O.)
...Nobody's sure where it was heading so
fast but the way it hit the semi, it won't
be getting home now! Hey area weather is
gonna be hot! Hot! Hot! Then cold! Cold!
Cold! Just like yesterday. Just like every
day. Some surprise, huh? So if you're
planning on anything, don't. You don't like
the weather, just wait one minute. Got any
brains, get up to Alaska and get yourself
some trailer park where you don't see no
desert for miles and miles...
BOBBY (over)
Right there... Drop it there. I got it.
BOBBY is giving GRACE instructions as they drop SHERIFF VIRGIL
POTTER'S corpse over a drop onto some rocks 30 yards below.
GRACE
See ya, Virgil. God bless.
Bobby pushes him over, his hand hurting. The body crashes below.
It's hard work. They head back for the Mustang, to retrieve
JAKE'S body in the popped trunk. But Grace notices Bobby
glancing at the Baretta now tucked in her waist.
The silence is tense between them, the rocks and gravel
crunching under their shoes as they walk.
GRACE (indicates the gun)
Is this what's bothering you Bobby?
BOBBY
No Grace, my hand's bothering me.
GRACE
You think now that Jake's dead, there's all
that money there and I don't need you
anymore, and I might just sneak up behind
you sometime and...pop!
She pulls an imaginary trigger on Bobby, mimicking the recoil of
a gun. Bobby is nervous.
GRACE
Don't you think I would've done it if I wanted
to? What can I do to make you relax, baby?
BOBBY
You could give me my gun back.
Grace smiles.
GRACE
Why don't we just finish what we started.
She stares down at Jake. She can't help feeling some old
feelings. As Bobby walks back to the front of the car, turns off
the annoying radio. He watches as she softly prays over Jake,
whose face is concealed by the blanket in which he is rolled.
GRACE (after a moment with Jake)
What do you think happens to someone's
spirit when they die?
BOBBY
I think nothing happens. You're dead meat.
That's it.
GRACE
You don't believe in anything do you,
Bobby?
BOBBY
I believe in this moment, that's all. There
is nothing else.
(lifting Jake by the shoulder)
Come on. He must weigh 300 pounds.
Grace leans into the trunk to take his boots when he makes his
move, quickly, closing on her when she's off guard. He slams her
hard in the face, coldly sending her sprawling to the ground,
dazed.
He steps over her and grabs the gun in her waist, checks it.
She puts her hand to her mouth, feels the blood on her finger
tips. She looks at him and laughs a wild crazed laugh that cuts
into Bobby like a knife.
GRACE
You hit me, Bobby? You hit a woman, you
motherfucker! Didn't your Momma ever teach
you anything...?
Her eyes go to the gun in his hand and she stops laughing. Her
calm is extraordinary, as if expecting to die.
GRACE
Well?
For a moment, Bobby does nothing, then he slips the gun through
his belt.
BOBBY
Well, nothing. We dump Jake, we split the
money, then you're on your own.
GRACE
Don't leave me. I want to say with you,
Bobby.
BOBBY
Why? So when the cops catch up with us you
can sell me out again?
GRACE
I was just baiting him! Bobby, I had to
tell him that to get his guard down. Just
like you told Jake you was going to kill
me!
BOBBY
You lied to me all along! Lies, all lies.
Your mother, your father, what story are
you on now? How come the town didn't know
you was his daughter?
GRACE (in pain)
Cause my Mom slept around. A lotta men!
Anybody could've been my father. But we
knew.
BOBBY (not listening)
Well you got what you wanted all along by
fucking me. I wish you had told me the
goddamn truth in the first place!
GRACE (screws out)
I didn't want you to know! Don't you...
unnerstand?
Bobby's got a headache now. It's too much to understand, too
much talk. Too much history has taught him to doubt.
BOBBY
When you're finished with me, I'm next! I
been there, baby. I been there with other
cunts...sorry, not anymore. I'll take you
as far as California. If we can make that.
After that you're on your own. Try Mexico.
With all this bread, you can live like a
queen.
GRACE
I don't want to go to Mexico, Bobby!
Please, I really want to be with you. Don't
blow this. Don't you think I care about
you?
BOBBY
I think you're a lying, back-stabbing
psycho bitch, and one day you'll kill me.
But it's nice to know you cared...
The expression on Grace's face changes as rapidly as the desert
weather, a coldness passing over and through her.
GRACE
You don't know your own mind. It blocks
your heart.
Keeping a wary eye on Grace, Bobby starts hauling Jake out of
the trunk.
BOBBY
Give me a hand.
He wrestles Jake up to a sitting position. He grabs a can of
beer from a warm six-pack in the trunk and shoves it into a
pocket of Jake's coat.
BOBBY
Poor old Jake, a few drinks, a fight with
the sheriff over his wife. And both of 'em
ended up dead.
Grace takes his boots.
BOBBY
Time to go for a walk, Jake.
GRACE
My mother died in this canyon.
BOBBY
Save the Mom routine, will ya Grace. It
doesn't work with me. One, two, three...
They lift the corpse, and with great effort, haul it towards the
edge of the drop. As they pause on the way, Bobby, wary of
Grace's strange coldness, tries to soften the blow of
separation.
BOBBY
Look, it's not so bad we split up. It might
be months before they find these guys. If
at all. I mean with the mountain lions
around here. Remember, if they can't find
no bodies, there's no crime... (She doesn't
respond.) We'll be in Phoenix by noon. Lose
this car, get another one. Texas, Mexico
are big countries, all that money Grace,
you'll meet someone else, you know, there's
a lot of hope with a $100,000...
They lift Jake again, and move to the edge.
GRACE
Hope is a four-letter word.
BOBBY
But we all need that too. Hold him.
He props Jake at the edge, standing, and transfers the weight
onto Grace. Jake's head is on her shoulder.
BOBBY
You make a pretty couple.
It seems he might push them both over but instead takes the gun,
wipes it of his prints, and slips it through Jake's belt.
BOBBY
Won this in a poker game in Reno. God knows
who it's registered to. You shoulda been
more careful, Jake. See you later.
As he takes Jake's weight off Grace and pushes it over the drop.
Grace watches him go, her eyes shifting to Bobby, his back
momentarily to her, also watching. She moves towards him.
Bobby turns, slips on the edge.
BOBBY
Now all we got to do is try and--
He feels a blur of motion, almost like a bird, and he is
falling...falling, his life coming to an end.
Grace is standing somewhere up above, briefly seen. Did she push
him? He doesn't know.
He's stunned as he falls on the rocks next to the bodies of Jake
and Virgil. He screams out in sharp pain. His leg feels broken.
But he is alive.
Grace walks away, cutting it all off, deeply shaken. She must
get away from the past and all these hollow men. She closes the
trunk of the Mustang, gets in the driver's seat, reaches for the
ignition key. Her hand fumbles for it a moment. It isn't there.
GRACE
Shit!
She sits there. Bobby is calling from below.
BOBBY
Grace! Help me, Grace...! We been through
too much together. We've only had one day,
but you and me have been through more than
most people ever will. I know you were
angry at me, and, you know, you were right!
I'm sorry I hit you. I was wrong about
leaving you. You don't belong in Mexico.
She finally gets out and walks back to the edge of the cliff,
looks down.
BOBBY
Thank you. Thank you. I...I knew you
wouldn't leave me, Grace.
GRACE
Bobby? Are you all right?
BOBBY
I busted my leg!
GRACE
Can you make it back up?
BOBBY
Grace -- in the trunk of my car is a tow
rope. It should reach down here. Go get it,
throw it down.
She looks. Of course the trunk is closed. She closed it.
GRACE
Bobby, the trunk...it's locked. Throw the
keys up to me. I'll get the rope.
Bobby's eyes pass over Jake a few feet away, his eyes staring
upwards in death. They take in the gun still attached to his
waist. He knows the trunk wasn't locked when they took Jake out.
BOBBY
I can't throw that far. You got to climb
down here and get the keys. You can make
it. It's the only way Grace.
Grace looks down at the drop. It's a tough descent but she
knows she could make it and get back up as well.
BOBBY
Grace!...Please, Grace! You have to help
me.
Grace takes a look around.
GRACE
Okay. I'm coming. Calm down!
She starts down the cliff face. As she descends, he talks
deliriously.
BOBBY (off)
I knew you'd help me. I knew you wouldn't
leave me baby, cause we're tied together
too close. We belong together always.
Grace makes it to the bottom of the drop, and walks cautiously
towards Bobby.
GRACE (yelling back, echoing)
Bobby! Don't flip out on me. I can't do
this alone. I know you don't trust me, but
you gotta pull yourself together, I'm not
gonna leave you...I never wanted it to go
down like this. It was different with you
Bobby. You had dreams like me. You
listened... I would've gone anywhere with
you, Bobby. We can make this work. I'm
sorry...I really am. I didn't wanna hurt
you.
Can he believe her? She sounds so sincere this time.
She's heading for the body of Jake. And the gun. Bobby knows
that and is already crawling there.
BOBBY (as he crawls)
They're right here, Grace. The keys. Come
get me out of here... Know why else I could
never leave you?
GRACE
Why's that?
BOBBY
'Cause I love you.
Inching closer.
Closer. They meet at the apex of Jake's corpse.
GRACE
And I love you too.
BOBBY
And love's a funny thing. Sometimes I
don't know if I want to love you...
Grace leans close to Bobby. He dangles the keys out in front of
her, but she doesn't reach for them. Her eyes go to Bobby. She
reaches for him. At that instant Bobby's hands shoot out and
clamp hard around her. A sharp gurgle is all that escapes Grace
as Bobby twists the life from her, as Jake leers up at them.
BOBBY
...or kill you.
Grace twists and flails in Bobby's hands, but in spite of his
bleeding stump, he holds her like a bear trap holds a grizzly.
BOBBY
I love you Grace, but I just can't trust
you!
She looks at him, trying to protest, shaking her head. Grace's
flailing goes into overdrive. Somewhere in his semi-delirious
state, Bobby's eyes might notice the gun at Jake's waist is no
longer there.
Grace manages one word:
GRACE
Jake...
BOBBY
He can't help you now, honey!
Bobby is in agony as he kills her, part beast, part lover, he
kills that which he loves.
Suddenly, a SHOT is heard. Bobby buckles with the blast, hit in
the side. He kills her with one last wrenching thrust of his
hands, breaking her neck.
Bobby looks down at Jake's gun, which she clutches in her hand,
and sees the hole in his side and the river of blood that flows
from it. He manages to stand, looks at Jake; their bodies lying
side by side.
Bobby, with great difficulty, claws his way back up the rocks to
the car, his fast-flowing wound staining the white rocks with
blood.
He makes it to the top and, losing more blood, climbs into the
driver's seat. He checks the money in the bag. All there. All
his.
As he pulls a huge clot of blood from his side, the vultures
circle. Perhaps one, smarter than the others, lands close by. It
spooks Bobby but he's okay. He looks in the mirror.
BOBBY
You're still lucky.
He puts the key in the ignition, the engine comes to life.
BOBBY (waves back)
Adios --
Suddenly, the RADIATOR HOSE Darrell installed blows apart
loudly. Bobby knows exactly and immediately what it is as a
cloud of steam now rolls from under his hood. He shakes his
head, frustrated.
BOBBY (sighs)
Oh shit!...(then) Arizona.
He can't help but laugh at his bad luck. As we rise off the
desert floor and take flight with the vultures, eventually
leaving them all as specks of earth in the vast empty canyons of
Arizona.
THE END