Dreamwalk (5)
He turns it over.
JOEL
You cheated.
PACO
That's true.
JOEL
It's strange that we can still
dream. I mean, dreams are still
alright.
PACO
Oh, there's always a loophole,
if you know how to play it.
Yeah, you remember that time I
got my hair cut and everybody
JOEL
told me how much younger I looked.
So, I dreamt my mother was still
alive.
She was about 70 when she died,
and she had her hair done and
after that she looked exactly
like this 20-year old WASP
waitress
and I am balling her and I cant
find her clitoris and she is
getting progressively more and
more pissed off.
PACO
That says it all.
GIRL
Murray, can Maurice come
up here?
MURRAY
What is this guy?
a trick, Honey?
GIRL
He wants to bring me
some money.
MURRAY
He can bring it tomorrow
when we got you safe.
GIRL
(to the phone)
No, Maurice.
She starts to cry.
JOEL
She's not as tough
as she looks.
PACO
Neither are we.
JOEL
Yes, we are.
Murray pulls out his wad and hands the girl
some money. He starts counting it.
WILLIS
Oh, that is beautiful, let me
take a picture of that.
MURRAY
For what?, the Internal Revenue?,
fuck you.
PACO
Murray, you're the most evil
man in the world and when I
grow up, I want to be just
like you.
Murray feels that some response
is called for.
MURRAY
Turn out the lights!
Willis frowns slightly, that's
the only movement.
Turn out the lights! I want
to do the job!
Joel puts HIS hand on the light switch.
No signals from anyone. The phone rings.
WILLIS answers it.
JOEL
Right on cue.
PACO
Isn't that a rather desperate
attempt at detachment?
WILLIS
Eldon's coming to get paid.
He's downstairs.
EXT. STREET
JESSE, TIRSO AND LOPE.
A cop copter zooms down between the buildings.
A door gunner is looking for a target. He
sees them and swivels the gun toward them.
They get into the entrance of an office
building just in time.
LOPE
Who the fuck was that?
JESSE
That was a cop copter.
LOPE
That doesn't mean...
JESSE
Yes, it does.
TIRSO
We're sitting ducks out here,
we got to go in and get him.
JESSE
Yeah.
CUT TO:
INT. JOEL’S OFFICE
It needs something to show Joel's
hysterical claustrophobia: roller
skating around the room or peddling
frantically away on an exercise
machine.
The copter hovers outside the window,
but the updrafts keep it swaying and
The door gunner cant get a bead on
Paco. The shot goes wild.
Then a storm of pigeons take off
from tenement roofs frightened by
the sound. The copter tries to fly
above them, but the updrafts flip
it over behind a line of tenements
2 blocks away. Sound of a crash.
WILLIS
That's the problem with today's
army, they think the answer to
every problem is the word
"helicopter".
PACO
It's so true.
MURRAY
Well, that's it. You were at
that bookie joint for a couple
of days weren't you?
GIRL
Yeah, well.
MURRAY
Yeah, well, they get a little
bust this weekend to show
what happens when you dont
play the game. I got to hand
it to you, you were ahead of
us all the way.
WILLIS
Then the 2nd time you circled
back, you were behind us.
GIRL
That's alright, wait until
I start chewing.
JOEL
Dont say that even as a joke.
MURRAY
I'll pay you $50 to do the
job right here.
JOEL
I want out. I dont want
any part of this.
MURRAY
You have something on us
we dont have on you, that
doesn't happen.
WILLIS
We explained that to you,
pretty soon now, we give
up on words.
MURRAY
You can quit tomorrow,
I'll buy out your share.
JOEL
With what? For what?, the book
value of this is nothing.
MURRAY
Just leave the keys in the desk.
Tomorrow.
JOEL
We been in this city too long.
We avoid danger too easily,
with out even thinking about
it so, you stop believing it's
there.
Then something like this goes
down and you discover that your
only defence was that you didn't
have anything that anyone wanted
to bother taking away from you.
PACO
You're about one inch tall, Old
Buddy, you're turning into a bug.
JOEL
There's nothing here worth dying
for because none of it's mine.
PACO
Are you through?
MURRAY
Oh, yeah, he's through.
Noises in the hall. the usual ritual with
the guns. Eldon knocks and walks in.
He and the girl exchange a sad smile.
MURRAY
That's it then.
Murray handcuffs the girl's hand behind
her back then opens the door.
Eldon shows up to get paid. Murray
hands him a huge wad of $100 bills.
MURRAY
Like you said. And, here
like I said.
GIRL
They're going to rape me.
MURRAY
(to THE GIRL)
Your problem is, you got
no sense of history.
(to ELDON)
I got another client for you.
ELDON
Forget it, I've had it.
MURRAY
What's wrong?
ELDON
Nothing, it's just getting
to my head.
As the argument starts, Paco moves behind
the girl to undo her handcuffs.
PACO
(whispering)
Keep your hands behind
your back.
MURRAY
Let's talk outside.
POV follows them out the door.
MURRAY
Now tell me what's wrong.
ELDON
Nothing, like I said.
MURRAY
Look, if it's...
ELDON
The money is fine.
MURRAY
Alright. Good. How'd you
find her?
ELDON
In a bar. In her neighborhood.
She went back to get the money
to get out of town.
MURRAY
Stupid. Why do they all do that?
ELDON
Oh, yeah. She was standing right
next to me. She turned to go and
I saw her tattoo.
MURRAY
Her tattoo? She tries to cowboy
a liquor store single handed, she
kills 2 men who aren't even ugly
and she has a tattoo.
You do not owe respect to a girl
with a tattoo. She's stupid too.
ELDON
I know.
Paco has discreetly cut the phone lines.
MURRAY
So, what're you gonna do?
Divorce cases? What else
can you do?
ELDON
I know.
THROUGH THE HALF OPEN DOOR:
Willis is taking down his pants. Paco is
holding the girl's arms behind her back.
MURRAY
That's all a private dick can
do, divorce work and popping
bail jumpers.
ELDON
I know.
MURRAY
What? Repos? That's better?
Sorry to repossess your pace
maker, lady, but you're three
payments behind.
ELDON
I know.
MURRAY
I got another jumper for you.
ELDON
No.
A sickening scream comes through the wall,
a high thin girlish scream that ends in a
low liquid mumble.
Then male voices muttering in disgust.
Murray puts his arm around Eldon and
starts walking him down the hall.
MURRAY
Hell, what I gotta do this for?
I got a beautiful wife waiting
for me at home.
ELDON
You implying I dont?
MURRAY
Your wife is beautiful.
Your wife is more beautiful
than my wife.
ELDON
But you say she's not home?
MURRAY
Aw, that's what always breaks 2
guys up, some girl who doesn't
mean anything.
GIRL
(screaming through the wall)
Who says I dont mean anything?
ELDON
He means my wife.
Eldon takes off down the hall.
MURRAY
Oh, no! You stay, you have some
thing on me I dont have on you,
that doesn't happen. You have
her too.
ELDON
I already did.
MURRAY
Well, alright. Remember Sam Spade.
Be ironic. Stay drunk. Have a
beautiful secretary with those 1940
nylons with the seam up the back.
And dangly earrings. And a tight
cheap print dress so she looks
available to garbage like you.
ELDON
I dont want to kill you.
MURRAY
You dont ?!, why not?
Eldon is gone. Murray walks back into the
office. Willis is pulling his pants up,
The girl is sobbing softly, Paco is looking
bored and queasy.
MURRAY
That's alright, guys, start
without me.
But nobody moves.
Want to do the rest of it here,
save the cost of a motel?
GIRL
Can I have something to drink?
WILLIS
Yeah, we spent enough money
finding her.
GIRL
Hell, I need it too.
WILLIS
Where?
MURRAY
Take a chair into the closet.
JOEL
I'd rather use the bathroom.
They got paper towels and
everything.
MURRAY
Yeah, go ahead, Dolly.
JOEL
Forget it?
MURRAY
What?!
JOEL
Yuchh!
Murray is marching up and down, fists in his pockets,
obviously trying to squeeze up an erection and failing.
Joel is throwing up in the waste basket.
PAN TO TV ON THE WALL:
It's showing one of the bondage sites on the NET
with the motto:
EVERY RELATIONSHIP IS BASED ON TRUST
PAN BACK TO:
MURRAY
Aw, what I gotta do this for, I
got a beautiful wife waiting for
me at home. I must be crazy to
run around like this. You go
ahead, Councilor, I dont want any.
PACO
I pass. I've got one kidney.
MURRAY
You dont fuck with your kidneys.
PACO
You missed out on a damn good
thing. Anyway, I've got AIDS.
MURRAY
That was the only thing missing.
WILLIS
You're missing nothing.
He offers Paco a cigarette.
MURRAY
This is no way to live, I haven't
seen a movie in 6 months. Willis,
you take her out for a turn.
WILLIS
No, I'm together.
MURRAY
Well, that's it then.
GIRL
Wait a minute, you're not
done already. This thing
hasn't started.
MURRAY
It's over, everyone get dressed.
Everyone is dressed.
GIRL
Look, I caused you a lot of
trouble, I'd like to pay you
back.
JOEL
I believe that.
GIRL
What difference is it you take me
back tomorrow instead of today.
The trial isn't for a month.
MURRAY
Yeah, that was real stupid,
Baby. This was just for the
hearing. You could have been
running around free for
another month yet.
GIRL
Maybe, I can get out again.
MURRAY
You're untouchable now.
GIRL
But you think maybe you can
get me off?
PACO
No.
GIRL
Look, it's not for a month yet,
a whole month. Look, keep me
chained to the bed for a month,
anything!, I dont care!
MURRAY
(to WILLIS)
What do you think?
GIRL
As long as the chain is long
enough for me to get from room
to room.
MURRAY
Naw, too complicated.
The girl breaks away. She dives for
the window and throws it open.
No one tries to stop her. The 4 men are standing
with their heads bowed, solemn and patient. She
hesitates for a moment and then climbs out the
window, slowly and clumsily as though she were
climbing over a fence.
PACO
What floor are we on?
JOEL
14.
MURRAY
This is embarrassing.
WILLIS
You didn't want to go out to
Amagansett, anyway.
MURRAY
The cops will keep us up all
night about this, anyway.
JOEL
Naww, it's a clear case of
temporary insanity.
MURRAY
Yeah, she didn't scream.
The girl climbs back in the window.
She stands with her fists on her hips
and harrumphs loudly. The men notice
she's still there. They are mortified.
GIRL
No, not one step closer or I jump.
MURRAY
I got a feeling this is going
to be one of those days.
JOEL
(without enthusiasm)
Well, oh, yeah. Dont jump.
There is the sound of leather heels on a
marble floor. The sound gets louder.
GIRL
Why not?
PACO
It's over. He's here.
Joel runs to the closet and locks himself
in. He immediately starts trying to break
his way out, with many thumps and grunts.
Paco draws his gun and steps behind the
half open office door. Jesse sweeps into
the room.
Joel is still struggling in the closet.
Jesse stares at it in fascination.
JOEL bursts open the closet door and
stands there grinning wildly.
He's followed out by the 2nd murderer
doing a zombie stagger. The meat
thermometer sticking out of his eye
now reads 68. He's followed in turn
by a moose stuck full of arrows and,
possibly, by ANN BOLYNE with her head
tucked underneath her arm.
We get a glimpse inside the closet.
It looks like Altamira cave. THE BOYS
IN HORNS AND BEAR SKINS are scrambling
for the door. Joel closes it softly
behind him.
JOEL
Jesus, call him Jesse, it
makes him happy.
JESSE
Where is he?
Paco steps from behind the door and shoots
Jesse through the head. Jesse doesn't move.
Paco pushes him slightly and Jesse falls
over like a tree.
PACO
(to the girl)
Alright, you want to walk wanted
for murder or you want the joint,
Which is it going to be?
GIRL
Walk.
PACO
What's her bail?
MURRAY
25,000.
PACO
I pay that, the 3000 you paid
to find her and 5,000 a piece
to sweeten it.
MURRAY
I cant do it, Dolly.
PACO
50,000 even.
MURRAY
That's a police captain for Christ
sakes, that's an assassination
already. We cant cover for you,
we just cant.
Joel sighs and turns up the radio loud.
Paco shoots Murray and Willis in the
stomach. Willis, his spine severed,
leaps over sideways in what would be
a foetal position except that his arms
are half extended.
Reflexing violently, He jerks around
violently in a small circle. His face
is immobile, eyes half focused as if
He were doing something complicated in
his head and doing a good job of it.
Murray drops to a squat and instinctively
reaches for a cigarette, but he's shaking
too badly. He holds the pack out in front
of him, cigarettes flying out with the
shaking of his hand.
Paco picks a one off the floor and puts
it in Murray's mouth, but Murray bites
it through.
Paco shoots Murray and Willis once each
through the head. They fall over dead
without further argument.
The girl has been standing with her hands
crossed protectively over her breasts.
She is hopping rapidly from one foot
to the other. Her face has a wildly
inappropriate expression of cold hauteur.
Joel takes his fist out of his mouth and
wipes HIS hand on HIS hair.
JOEL
Well, I'm convinced.
PACO
Here, Puss, take the gun. You
can buy bullets as soon as you
get to New Jersey.
JOEL
It's empty?
PACO
Yeah, I leave...
Joel draws and shoot at the girl, but Paco
knocks his arm aside in time.
PACO
...the hammer on an empty chamber.
Why did you do that?
JOEL
Why'd I do that? That's 25K
down the drain. Why'd you
let her go?
PACO
You'll catch her again. She'll
go back to her neighborhood
to get the money to get away,
like she did last time.
JOEL
Why should I have to catch
her again?
PACO
It looks better this way.
If you shot her, it looks
like you were in control
of the situation and, if
you were in control, then
you let it happen, meaning:
You did it.
Joel freezes in CPU overload.
Am I going to fast for you?
Are you alright?
Joel doesn't move or change expression.
He's a statue. Paco ignores him and
starts robbing the wallets of the dead.
JOEL
Whadayadoin? leave some
for the cops.
PACO
If we dont rob their wallets,
it's like a signed confession.
He's stealing their watches too.
JOEL
Alright, 50-50.
PACO
50-50, right down the middle.
The 1st murderer enters silently.
He's wearing an English riding habit.
He carries a plumbers' helper and an
inflatable girl doll of the kind sold
in porn stores.
HE hands out sugar skulls as party favors then,
with obvious delight, HE begins arranging the
corpses in a funeral pose.
JOEL
Explain again why you let her go.
PACO
Later, let's go eat first.
JOEL
You just ate.
PACO
Yeah, but all that red meat.
It makes me hungry.
JOEL
It's a problem. But you got
one kidney. Shouldn't you
cut down on red meat?
PACO
I said, it made me hungry, I didn't
say I was going to eat it.
JOEL
You want to harvest their kidneys?
PACO
I dont know how we'd explain that.
JOEL
Explain what? By the time you harvest
their kidneys, hearts, retinas, hip
joints, lungs, livers, bone marrow,
tendons, ligaments, flutes, sackbutts,
psalteries and all kinds of music,
there's nothing left. It's worth a
fortune. You dont know how much
this evening is costing me.
Outside the window, Magritte's Castle of
The Pyrenees is being attacked by a fleet
of dirigibles. A KNIGHT IN ARMOR goes by
in a hot air balloon. He lifts the visor
and it’s the gargoyle on that horse with
a women’s head and a rainbow tail.
He and Paco smile at each other. Paco climbs
up behind him and they fly off into the night.
And that’s all there is.
Copyright © 2001 Angel Obregon |