Opium (4) LESLIE Did you bang your head or something? THE SAME They're standing by the road in a hitch hiker's pose. Their thumbs point in the same direction as a sign pointing to Beirut. An American armored personnel carrier goes by. It's Viet Nam War surplus, the type with the bird cage armored turrets for the 2 heavy machine guns. It has Israeli markings and it's run by the Christian Militia wearing black hoods and carrying RPG-7's. They haul David and Leslie aboard. Then their leader takes off his hood. It's the colonel. COLONEL Ah, my good friend, consider. To quote Michael Ragon: The Artist is a man of the past because he is prejudiced in favor of the unique object, of the artificial scarcity of his product so as to increase it's price... INT> HOTEL ROOM IN BEIRUT (NIGHT) LESLIE Really, dear heart, I think I should do the planning. You dont seem to have any flair for it. DAVID Tripoli. North. it's about 4 hours from here. There's no war there. There is nowhere else. LESLIE Now? DAVID Tomorrow. There's a bus. There's supposed to be a bus. LESLIE Why dont we fly out? I'm getting tired of cattle cars. DAVID The airport's closed, again. LESLIE Then how do we get out? DAVID I dont know. EXT> HOTEL ENTRANCE (AFTERNOON) They're coming down the steps. LESLIE Let's stop. Take my picture on the steps. DAVID You dont stand still in Beirut or someone decides that you're a target. LESLIE We cant be killed. Isn't that obvious? So, this will just go on forever. On cue, a shot chips the stone at Their feet. He grabs her elbow and hustles her down the stairs. EXT> STREET (DAY) They're getting on a bus with a crowd of locals carrying goats and chickens and the usual peasant paraphernalia. Leslie is feeding a fashion magazine to an intelligent looking goat. In fact, the goat looks vaguely like Trotsky. LESLIE Like a page out of the National Geographic. DAVID Cool it, these people go homicidal if you think they're quaint. INT> BUS (DAY) They ride north from Beirut. DAVID unpacks lunch. Two sandwiches and an apple for each of them. THREE CATS march up and stare at him. He starts feeding them half a sandwich. A CHILD is staring at him. He gives him the other half sandwich. HE keeps feeding the cats. ANOTHER CHILD is staring at him. He gives her his last half sandwich. He holds out the apple to the cats who sniff it and walk away. He's almost about to eat it when the 1st child is staring at him again. He hands over the apple. Leslie has been eating, oblivious of all this. DAVID May I have half your apple? LESLIE What for? DAVID I'm still hungry. She shakes her arm and bounces a switchblade out of her sleeve and into her hand. She flicks it open and cuts the apple. She hands him half. He's about to eat it. an old woman is staring at him. he hands her the half of the apple. David is sorrowful. he skipped breakfast and he's hungry. He lights a cigarette. OLD WOMAN (in French) Smoking is prohibited on the bus. DAVID You talk like a Jew! The bus is stopped by FEYADEEN. They pull THREE ARABS off the bus. TWO OF THE ARABS are wearing crosses. The feyadeen yank the crosses off their necks then line them up against the side of the bus and shoot them. Bullet holes appear in the side of the bus near Leslie's feet. Crying and screaming fill the bus. A vintage Browning 9m appears in David's fist, but Leslie puts a mother's hand on his arm and presses it back down. The feyadeen are questioning the 3rd Arab. DAVID (V.O.) This is exactly what I expected and, now that I see it, I dont believe it. LESLIE (V.O.) They're going to kill him. What are they waiting for? The feyadeen turn the 3rd Arab upside down. Liquor bottles start falling out of him. It's like the clowns at the circus. You dont know how so many of them could fit into that little car. You cant believe how many liquor bottles He had concealed. DAVID (V.O.) I guess they didn't want to break the bottles. The 3rd Arab scrambles right side up and starts talking. And the feyadeen listen. He keeps talking. Finally, he shakes hands all around. They help him repack his liquor bottles and he gets back on the bus. INT> BUS (DAY) DAVID He had to be really cool to get out of that. He gets up and sits down next to the 3rd Arab. Salaam Aleichem. 3RD ARAB Ciao, Baby. DAVID I didn't think you were going to get out of that. 3RD ARAB No problem. Is not to worry, English. DAVID You going to Tripoli? The 3rd Arab nods without looking at him. Where's the American bar? I mean, there's always one. 3RD ARAB I take you, is on my way. DAVID Dynamite. Leslie is watching all this, annoyed at not being the center of attention. David is laughing at something the 3rd Arab said. Now, David is talking and the 3rd Arab is laughing, trying not to laugh and failing. Leslie gives up on them and starts reading the Paris edition of VOGUE. INT> LESLIE’S APT in NY (NIGHT) Sarah is feeding Leslie's 6 cats. They scream and claw at her. She screams back. The cats back off and stare at her with upper class hauteur. She goes back to filling their bowls and the cats march forward righteously. INT> BUS (DAY) Mortar shells start going off around the bus. THE DRIVER speeds up and the bus starts zig-zagging between the sides of the road at 100 mph. LESLIE Are you seeing Sarah when we get back? DAVID Yes. LESLIE You've learned nothing. DAVID If we did, we wouldn't need to keep repeating it. LESLIE You make this shit up as you go along? DAVID Sure. A fat man, a Lebanese business man with a suit tie mustache is smiling at them. He's the type who thinks that hospitality is the highest human virtue and, also, the most fun of anything. FAT MAN You find it frightening? DAVID I would if I believed it, but it's unreal. There's no back- ground music. Obligingly, The fat man turns on a cassette player. It plays the theme from MASH. David smiles. DAVID Thank you. I still need some popcorn. The fat man hands him a plastic bowl of tabouli covered with Saran wrap. The fat man pats his stomach and holds up his hand like a traffic cop. FAT MAN I eat too much. Is that better? Yes, I can see that it is. DAVID Thank you, much better. LESLIE I've decided that Sarah is cute. You must bring her to tea. DAVID She's not into it. LESLIE Just bring her and leave early. DAVID Poor Sarah. LESLIE Poor you, you're going to lose her. DAVID That's alright, as long as she has somewhere to go. THE SAME A shot rips through the top of the bus. 2 FEYADEEN are sitting on a hill watching it. They shoot at the bus for the fun of it. The fat man takes out a WW1 naval Luger, the kind with the 8 inch barrel, the drum magazine and the wooden holster that doubles as a rifle stock DAVID That's a museum piece. It's worth a fortune. FAT MAN Thank you. Which one you like? He nods at the feyadeen DAVID The one on the right, he's uglier. Kill him. The fat man does. FAT MAN Welcome to Lebanon. EXT> ROAD (DAY) The bus bounces down the road on 2 wheels, sometimes on 1. EXT> STREET IN TRIPOLI (NIGHT) Everyone is getting off the bus. David and Leslie and the 3rd Arab flag down a cab and get in together. EXT> STREET (NIGHT) They get out in front of a bar called RICK’S CAFE AMERICAIN. 3RD ARAB He saw the movie too. INT> CAFE (NIGHT) AN ARAB IN BLACK FACE IS PLAYING THE PIANO AND SINGING AS "TIME GOES BY". A YOUNG COUPLE, obviously American are sitting at a table against the rear wall. Potted palms lean over them intrusively. David and Leslie and the 3rd Arab march over. DAVID I hear American and I'm staying. DUANE And welcome. Sit down. They do. DAVID I'm David and this is Leslie. LESLIE Hello. DUANE Duane and Cheryl. DAVID His, where you from? DUANE America. DAVID Ah, yeah, I mean, which coast? DUANE Nebraska. DAVID Yeah, hard to remember there's something in the middle. DUANE Exact center of the United States. LESLIE Dont you feel trapped in there? DUANE Yeah. Oh, yeah. LESLIE We were wondering... DAVID Hush. CHERYL Where do you all hail from? DAVID New York. DUANE Yeah. DAVID Same all over, I guess. DUANE No. DAVID No. What are you doing here? DUANE Well, we ran out of money in Istanbul. CHERYL We got deported on a drug bust. DUANE And we figured to hitchhike as far as we could before we got the consulate to pay our way back. DAVID Makes sense. CHERYL Next stop, Nepal. DAVID Very mellow in Nepal. DUANE You do drugs? DAVID Well, yes. Do you know here we can get any? DUANE Nepal. 3RD ARAB (in French) I know where. DAVID (in French) How long will it take? 3RD ARAB (in French) A couple of hours. DAVID Dynamite. He knows where. I'm going with him. I'll meet all of you back here in 2 hours. LESLIE What do mean?, all of us? DAVID You stay here. LESLIE You think that's safer? DAVID No, not really. Let's go. They leave with the 3rd Arab. EXT> STREET (NIGHT) There is a an incredible baffling maze of souks dominated by the Great Mosque on one side and the Great Crusader Castle on the other. The streets are absolutely deserted. The buildings look uninhabited and the Mosque and the Castle give all of them the look of monuments. It's a full moon and the streets are flood lit with blue light like the crypt scene in a horror movie. They see DARK FIGURES scuttling down an alley or clustered in doorways, whispering furtively to each other and vanishing at THEY approach. You get the feeling that there is no one out at all except thieves and murderers. David and Leslie are getting scared, really scared. They've been through worse in New York, but this is Tripoli. They are very far from home. Their courage is based on a sense of territory, as it usually is They are terrified and walking almost back to back. They arrive at a closed shop with a heavy roll down iron gate. The 3rd Arab bangs on it with a noise like thunder. A shutter pops open on the 2nd floor and THE PROPRIETOR sticks his head out. 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) Business. PROP. (in Arabic) We're closed. 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) It's not that kind of business. PROP. (in Arabic) Tomorrow. He pops back in and slams the shutter. 3RD ARAB (in French) We'll try another place. Leslie nods and they all trudge off. The sky is lit up by an unnecessary flare, but there's no gunfire, no sound at all. The sky goes dark then 2 more flares go off. David and Leslie are holding hands like children. LESLIE It's so quiet. DAVID There's no war here. LESLIE What about the flares? DAVID I dont know. LESLIE They're waiting for us. DAVID Why would they be waiting for us? But the answer is obvious. They're rich, well dressed and pretty. They're going to be robbed raped and murdered. He passes her to his left hand to keep the gun hand free. DAVID (continuing) Just dont let go of may hand, no matter what happens. LESLIE I'm not getting used to this. I just stay scared. DAVID That's why we're here, isn't it? LESLIE Is it, I dont remember. They reach another shop. The 3rd Arab bangs on the gate. 3RD ARAB Business! Business! Business! But there is no reply. He looks at David and shrugs. DAVID (in French) Let's get out of here. (in English) We'll try again tomorrow. EXT> WIDE STREET (NIGHT) There's a lone street lamp 100 feet ahead of them and 100 feet beyond that is A MAN walking toward with them with blood curdling confidence. As they all close in on the one street lamp, They see that it's AN OLD MAN IN BURLAP PANTS, A LEATHER VEST, A SKULL CAP AND HUSH PUPPIES. He looks like the Ayatollah. He reaches the street lamp the same time as they do. He drops to a half crouch and circles them very slowly, staring up at them with horror movie menace. They draw themselves unnaturally erect and circle him slowly, staring down their noses at him with alert hauteur. There is nothing subtle about this. They circle each other with the hysterical intensity of alley cats watching for an opening. When they and the old man have exchanged sides of the street lamp. the 3rd Arab and the old man turn around and start talking to each other at a distance of 20 feet. 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) Old Man, what is your business in the night? OLD MAN (in Arabic) I am a seller of teryak. 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) These Americans wish to buy. OLD MAN (in Arabic) They have money? 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) Look at them. OLD MAN (in Arabic) I see what you mean. You wish to rob them? 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) He has a gun, the woman has a knife. OLD MAN (in Arabic) Follow me. 3RD ARAB (in French) He knows. They follow the old man into a maze of twisting alleys through the cluster of bazaars. The only landmark is the Great Mosque and, every time THEY look up, it's coming at them from a different direction. They reach a 6-pointed intersection and the old man tosses a coin. He walks south then tosses the coin again. He turns west and leads them down the south west street. They're weaving through the alleys after him like the Monsters after Pac Man. They pass a stone flight of stairs. It's interrupted half way up by a wall of iron lattice work. Beyond the lattice is a stone sarcophagus surrounded by burning candles. For a second, it looks like the lid of the sarcophagus moves slightly. The old man kneels at the foot of the stairs and prays in the Christian style. He lights a candle places it on the stairs in front of the lattice and walks off with renewed confidence. SOME DARK FIGURES appear at the mouth of a side alley. The old man casually throws something at them. It's the disdainful gesture of throwing coins to a beggar. But it isn't coins. It's a WW1 white phosphorous grenade. It's 80 years old and it doesn't quite explode. It goes off with a vast whoosh and the side alley is lit up by a quick sheet of flame. The dark figures are gone. About this time, the 3rd Arab is getting scared too. He and David and Leslie are all trying to walk back to back to each other. They reach a corner and again the old man tosses a coin to decide which way to go. LESLIE Does he know where he's going? DAVID Oh, yeah. But he never takes the same route twice. Too dangerous. If he did, the second time they'd be waiting for him. LESLIE But why does he keep tossing a coin? DAVID It's the only way he can be sure that he's not getting predictable. LESLIE No, we're being set up. He wants us disorientated so we'll think passively, like tourists. DAVID When the Watutsis led you out into the jungle, they blindfold you and spun you around first. Disorientation makes you suggestible. LESLIE What are you suggesting? DAVID That you're right. LESLIE Then it's real? DAVID Oh, dear me, yes. LESLIE Who is it? DAVID For us, it's the Arab and the old man. They'll kill us, if they get the chance. They turn down another narrow street. This one is fronted by walled gardens and some discouraged looking trees leaning on the broken bottles set into the top of the walls. The old man stops of a huge riveted steel door set into a blocky stone wall. He bangs the door four times and with incredible strength. It rings like a tuning fork then slowly swings open. There's no one in sight. Then A BALD HEAD WITH A BEARD sticks itself out at the 2 foot level and pops back in. Then A BALD HEAD WITH A MUSTACHE pops out at the 4 foot level and jerks back. Then A HUGE HAIRY HEAD WITH A BEARD AND A MUSTACHE pops out and back at the 6 foot level. Then all 3 heads pop out at the same time and pop back. The old man enters, David and Leslie and the 3rd Arab follow him in. The two bald headed men are about 5'4". The one with the hairy head is about 7 feet tall. The old man draws them aside and they whisper in 4 part harmony. Then he turns back to the 3rd. OLD MAN (in Arabic) 2 kilos? 3RD ARAB (in French) 2 kilos? DAVID (in English) 2 kilos. Everyone is nodding agreement at everyone else. Strictly Sesame Street. And then, from out of thin air, The hairy giant comes up with a bulging raw hide sack. The old man takes it and hold it out. OLD MAN (in Arabic) $10 3RD ARAB (in Arabic) They'll never pay that. OLD MAN (in Arabic) $5. 3RD ARAB (in French) $7. David hands it over and the old man hands him the sack. David opens it. Inside are 30 soft leather bags tied with raw hide thongs. David and Leslie start transferring them to their pockets and shoulder bags. Then one of the packets falls to the ground and comes undone. David drops to a squat and looks at it. He rubs some between his fingers. Inside the bag is a black sticky substance. DAVID (in English) This isn't hash. 3RD ARAB (in English) No, it's teryak. DAVID (in English) What's teryak? 3RD ARAB (in English) Refined opium. David and Leslie start putting the packets away at double speed. David gives $10 to The 3rd Arab and smiles at the old man, DAVID Salaam Aleicham. OLD MAN (in English) Take care, Baby. 3RD ARAB (in English) Let's go. Then the 3rd Arab takes Leslie and David each by the arm and leads them off. They get 20 feet, then stop and look back. The old man and the bearded men are still there, standing in the street and staring at them. David, Leslie and the 3rd Arab walk another 20 feet and look back: Same business, still there and still staring. David & co. turn around and resume walking. Suddenly, an unreasoning terroseizes all of them at the same time and they begin to run wildly through the twisting streets. 2 men in black hoods jump out of a side street and level heavy automatics. David & co. run straight over them and leave them sprawling in the street. David et al are around the corner and gone before the hooded men can recover. They keep running, turning corners at random. The street is cobble stoned and Leslie is wearing stiletto heels, but it doesn't even slow down. She seems to be running without touching the ground, until by luck or a process of elimination they reach the wide main street and, by a miracle, find and flag down a cab. They climb into the back seat, all of them panting uncontrollably. 3rd Arab Le Cafe Americain. Then, in the rear view mirror, they see the old man running toward them. They go crazy with terror. The 3rd Arab screams. GO! Let's go! DAVID Move it Get us out of here! LESLIE Help! Oh, please! I'll do anything! CAB DRIVER It is only an old man. We will wait. LESLIE Please! 3rd Arab Yes! DAVID NO!!! CAB DRIVER We will wait. The old man runs up. He runs in a half crouch, like he was running under a low branch, and pumping his elbows with enthusiasm. He opens the front door, swings himself into the front seat and slams the door with a practiced gesture. He isn't even out of breath. The cab takes off thorough the empty streets and they ride in silence. After a few minutes, The cab driver speaks softly in Arabic to the old man. The old man answers crisply. He says something that makes the 3rd Arab go white, no small accomplishment. After a few more blocks, the cab stops and the old man gets out without paying or looking back. When the cab is safely away, DAVID What did he say? 3rd Arab The cab driver said: Old Man why are you about in the night when there are only bad men in the streets? And the Old Man said: I am a seller of teryak. I went out to visit 3 of my clients, but I found them dead and so, I am returning home. David and Leslie go white. She's clutching a fashion magazine as she usually is. It's the Paris edition of VOGUE with the word PARIS inside the O of VOGUE, but now the cover has changed. The word inside the O is HELL. It’s bright red. She looks at it and throws it out the window. The pages flutter open and show some still shots from the ecclesiastic fashion show in FELLINI’S ROMA. Then she takes David's arm. They sit in the back seat and stare straight ahead. Leslie groans. LESLIE Let me do the talking. END
Copyright © 2002 Angel Obregon |