Savage Grace (2) And there she was, standing in the moonlight like a gravy spot in a lace doily. START MOTION BLACK GIRL Black turn you off? SAVAGE GRACE At least you’re coal black so you know who you are; the light skinned ones are all crazy. BLACK GIRL I see that I am dealing with a man of taste. (He has to laugh at that) Quite a performance. SAVAGE GRACE I cant get it into my hands. BLACK GIRL You express yourself very well with your hands. SAVAGE GRACE My feelings, they’re always doing something else. BLACK GIRL What feelings? SAVAGE GRACE How about fear? BLACK GIRL False limb sensations, like an amputee feeling an itch in the foot they cut off. You express everything you feel, but you don’t feel anything at all. SAVAGE GRACE You’re losing your accent BLACK GIRL I know. I try to keep it up. It helps establish trust. SAVAGE GRACE What are you selling? BLACK GIRL Feelings. She opens her hand. Inside is a thing that looks like a white butterfly seen in multiple exposure. It’s impossible to see clearly. SAVAGE GRACE What the fuck is that? BLACK GIRL A soul. That’s what you’re missing. you don’t have a soul. SAVAGE GRACE What’s the catch? . BLACK GIRL Isn’t it obvious, if you have a soul, you can lose it. SAVAGE GRACE Where do I sign? BLACK GIRL That wont be necessary. She slips the butterfly inside his shirt and presses it to his heart. He picks up his guitar and walks back on stage. Suddenly he’s playing better, much better, incredibly better. The rest of the group is too, just trying to keep up. They’re flying and the crowd is in rapture. INT. EVIL JOHN’S APT. O’JOHN Hey, Evil John! But Evil John has managed to hang himself. His toes point straight down. The Rottweillers are at the base of the tree, jaws on their paws and whining worriedly. O’John finds a black felt tipped pen. He walks to the group portrait and inks a large X across the image of Evil John and wrote the date beneath it. He picks up a phone book and looks for Thomas Rozzo. There are 15. He slams the book shut. He opens it again. There are still 15, but only one Thomas J. The book flutters closed. INT. LAW OFFICE (DAY) POV goes through an opening door that has Thomas J. Rozzo, esq. on a brass plate. Rozzo is leading O’John to a rear office. Rozzo is squat and thick. He has a towering hairdo that makes him look like a dwarf. ROZZO So, it turned out there was still time to go back to law school. O’JOHN Better? ROZZO It’s a trap like everything else. So...? O’JOHN Savage Grace. ROZZO Yeah, he was good, the best, that part’s true. Goddamn that man could play. O’JOHN I’ll get a CD. ROZZO No, that’s the thing, you couldn’t can it, he came across live, but on disk he was just one more screamer. Like Coltrane. The passion was real, but musically it was trivial. O’JOHN Savage Grace. ROZZO Yeah. I wish you could have heard him live. O’JOHN I might yet. He’s not dead. ROZZO They say that about everyone. O’JOHN In this case, it’s true. He’s alive. ROZZO That sucks. O’JOHN Seems to be the general opinion. I don’t know why. I thought you made allowances for things like talent. ROZZO You been talking to Evil John, that asshole. He loves everyone, a real degenerate. NO. If Graham is alive, I haven’t seen him. If I did see him, I wouldn’t see him. It’s been great talking to you, goodbye! O’JOHN I don’t understand. ROZZO Why should you? Look, I’ve got a client waiting. O’JOHN You know a red headed woman named Azriel? ROZZO There’s no need for threats. I’m cooperating fully, but think for a minute. He disappears and wants everyone to think he’s dead. Contacting the people he used to know would be the stupidest thing he could do. O’JOHN That’s right, but they all do it. Rozzo shrugs helplessly. ROZZO He had a kid sister a lot smarter than he was. She wouldn’t take any of his money, if you’ll believe that. Her name is Meg. She has a boutique, she had it, I think she still does, a sex shop called The Triumph of Aphrodite, Chelsea, 9th Avenue around 38. O’JOHN That’s Hell’s Kitchen. ROZZO It’s the flower market; they’re open all night. O’John turns to go. O’JOHN But why run? Why fake being dead? ROZZO He was into some weird shit toward the end. O’JOHN Like what? ROZZO Like I expect you’ll find out. O’JOHN Straight answer. ROZZO The record company tried to talk him into committing suicide to boost the sales of his last CD. O’JOHN I don’t believe it. No, I believe it. ROZZO He wouldn’t so, the producer kept trying to kill us. There was a bomb on the plane like with Leonard Skynnerd, things like that. O’JOHN Why didn’t you kill him? ROZZO We did and then no record company would touch us. It was time to quit. O’John gets up, nods vaguely and walks off. EXT. STREET (DEEP NIGHT) The Triumph of Aphrodite: Aphrodisiacs is between 2 wholesale florists. There’s a tall girl of 19 at the back counter. She has a round cheeked cheer leader’s face. She looks like she bakes good apple pie. O’JOHN (V.O.) I found it on 9th Avenue between 2 wholesale florists. A lot of the stores had their lights on and their doors open, but the street looked empty. (He checks his watch) It was 11:30, about 3 hours before the retail florists began showing up to buy their flowers for the day. There was nothing else to do so, I went in. He walks in. MEG Excuse me, but you don’t look like you need an aphrodisiac. O’JOHN I need all the help I can get. MEG Then you don’t like what you’re getting or you lost your confidence. You wont find it here. O’JOHN I thought you were supposed to try to sell this stuff? MEG I do, usually, but you’re a cop. O’JOHN No, I just keep my face blank with people I don’t know. It avoids a lot of trouble in this city. MEG It avoids everything. O’JOHN Do I interest you or are you just practicing? MEG Do you care, Mr…? O’JOHN O’John. I was looking for the owner and you’re too young to be her. MEG No I’m not. O’JOHN Excuse me. MEG Does that mean you did a bad thing and didn’t mean it or you did a good thing and I don’t know it? O’JOHN Why do you play these dumb games? MEG I guess I’m bored and you’re not helping much. O’JOHN I’d like to see you again. MEG Zowie!, Pow!, Zippo Bam! … At least you don’t want to be mothered. The men who com in here. …You remind me of my father, vaguely. O’JOHN That would explain it, but why make it so complicated? MEG It’s not complicated, but you keep changing the subject. O’JOHN I’m looking for Savage Grace. MEG See, that’s what I mean. He takes 3 slow breaths. O’JOHN Let’s solve our problems one at a time. Your brother isn’t dead. I know they always say that about a rock star: it was a publicity stunt or the only way he could escape the trap. This time it’s true. Have you seen him? MEG Only in my dreams O’JOHN There’s a lot of it going around. There’s a woman named Azriel looking for him. She ducks behind the counter and comes up with a pump shotgun. She lays it across the counter pointed at his stomach. O’JOHN (continuing) I changed my mind, I want to be mothered. MEG Get out. O’JOHN Who’s Azriel? It’s clear that he doesn’t know. MEG That’s the name of the angel of death. Look it up! EXT. STREET (NIGHT) He walks out and diagonally across the street and lounges in a darkened doorway. O’JOHN (V.O.) I didn’t have long to wait. She talked frantically on the phone and closed the shop with in 10 minutes. She strides away up 9th into Hell’s Kitchen. He catches up to her. O’JOHN Can we talk? MEG Why do you want to kill my brother? O’JOHN Have you stopped beating your wife? MEG Which one? O’JOHN Right. MEG Make a choice: Which of us do you want, him or me? O’JOHN I have to choose right now? MEG Or I choose for you. O’JOHN I choose you. They pass an over-lit boutique. She points to a dress. MEG What do you think? O’JOHN It sets off your hair, but the color is a bit piercing. MEG That’s why I like to go shopping with a man. (PAUSE) Anyway, you couldn’t find him after all this time. O’JOHN Only if he wants to be found. MEG Strange thing to say. They had pass Lincoln Center and are approaching the fierce looking slums behind it. 3 3RD WORLD MUGGERS appear out of an alley and close in on them, eyes half closed, mouths half open. He puts his hand on his piece and smiles at them. They keep coming. Meg starts to squeak and hangs on his right arm. He throws her off. O’JOHN Not on the gun arm. and passes her around to his left. He has his gun out. The 3 muggers do a 270 degree turn like it was close order drill and saunter off. MEG Yes, there is something to be said for having a man around. INT. MEG’S APARTMENT (VINTAGE BOHEMIAN) Meg’s cat takes one look at him and runs for it. No chairs, lot of cushions. He’s sitting on the floor. She’s in the kitchen brewing an enormous pot of powerful black tea. She pours him some and fills the rest of the cup with cheap brandy. MEG Why didn’t you kill them, you had a perfect excuse. O’JOHN It wasn’t necessary. MEG I would have thought you like that sort of thing. O’JOHN It’s like any other kind of solitaire, you have to play the game by the rules or it takes all the fun out of it. MEG You’re quoting. Educated men use quotes the way ignorant men use clichés, when they’re afraid of the experience they’re having and trying to get some distance from it. O’JOHN Hey, give it a rest, I’ve had a long day. What am I doing here? MEG I’ve been wondering that myself. and she sits down on the floor beside him. She puts her hands on his thighs and eases his knees apart. He doesn’t react. Are you afraid of me? O’JOHN I’m not that smart. MEG Let’s start with a back rub. She turns him on his stomach and climbs on his back. O’JOHN (V.O.) She was good at it. It took a strangely Long time to realize I’d been drugged. Hog tranquillizer because the visions were alive and powerful EXT. STAGE OF A ROCK CONCERT (NIGHT) The group Savage Grace is on stage and things are going badly. The crowd decides to make their own excitement by rushing the stage. At 1st, it’s 1 or 2 at a time and security is beating them back with pool cues. Then it’s 3 and 4 and 5 in a rush and it turns into a war. Savage Grace smashes his guitar and the musicians retreat back stage. Savage Grace takes another guitar off a rack. O’JOHN (V.O.) Apparently he used them up like Kleenex. EXT. BACKSTAGE (NIGHT) SAVAGE GRACE I lost it. EVIL JOHN You never had it, so lie about it. We can get killed out there, you know. It’s not impossible, it has happened. Focus! Evil John walks back on stage with the rest of the group, leaving him alone. They begin to play some driving death rock that cools out the crowd. Gen is there looking even more worried than usual. She starts to speak to him then changes her mind. He doesn’t notice. The BLACK GIRL appears out of nowhere and walks up to him. This time Gen doesn’t walk away. She stands there trembling. BLACK GIRL Quite a performance. SAVAGE GRACE Sold my soul to break my heart. BLACK GIRL That isn’t what happened. More like the Little Mermaid, don’t you think? He has to laugh at that. SAVAGE GRACE I’m convinced. I want it back. BLACK GIRL There’s a price this time. SAVAGE GRACE I’ll give anything, Something white flutters in her hand, something like a white butterfly. BLACK GIRL Anything? That’s quite an offer. SAVAGE GRACE Forget it. BLACK GIRL They’re waiting for you on stage. The noise doubles. The crowd is getting meaner, it sounds like a prison riot. SAVAGE GRACE Alright. All Right ALL RIGHT! He grabs the white butterfly out of her hand and runs for it. The Black girl just stands there, receding fast without walking. Gen looks disgusted and strides off. Something invisible reaches out of a full length mirror and drag her through with a yelp. Very suddenly she’s gone. He doesn’t notice. He picks up his guitar and walks back on stage. Suddenly they’re in synch and the crowd is in rapture. EXT. STREET OUTSIDE MEG’S APT. HOUSE (FALSE DAWN) Rozzo and ANOTHER FREAK are carrying O’John out of the building. He’s semi-conscious, but unable to move. They’re holding him up and pretending he’s drunk. ROZZO Come on, Manny, don’t act that way. People are watching. Meg comes running down the stairs. MEG No, this has gone far enough! This isn’t what I agreed to. Stop it! They ignore her then Vito comes out from behind a car with an army .45 that rattles as he walks and Meg fades into the shadows. VITO Dishway, Black Powah, we got an IQ test design for YOU. FREEZE FRAME O’JOHN (V.O.) Which is kind of inappropriate since the clowns carrying me are both fish-belly white, but maybe that was the intention. They had to stop to think about it and by that time it was over. It usually is. START MOTION Rozzo & Co. put O’John in Vito’s car. Vito takes their watches and money and shoes. VITO Drop the knife! Rozzo & Co. look at each other. Neither of them has a knife. Belatedly they realize the Vito is preparing to shoot them and they take off running, bouncing off each other as they stumble around the corner. Vito laughs, gets in the car and drives. INT. CAGE ELEVATOR O’John sees it upside down. Vito has him over his shoulder, holding him around the knees. The elevator operator giggles and nods approval, giving Vito the Black Power salute. INT. VITO’S OFFICE (DAY) When O’John wakes up. Vito is completing a bail bond contract with an elegantly dressed BLACK COUPLE. Vito and the Black man smile at each other conspiratorially. BLACK MAN Well, I like to do business with one bondsman. BLACK WOMAN Wait!, did you say you were going to need a bondsman again? They exit arguing. As soon as they’re gone and the door safely closed, Vito pulls a .25 automatic out of his watch pocket and blazes away. VITO Now, you little bastard, I’ve been after you for weeks! O’John opens his eyes. Vito fires again. O’John sits up groggily, but Vito is leaping around the room banging away. Vito bends over behind the desk with the .25 in his teeth and holding an apparently dead rat by the tail. He sees that O’John is awake. He tucks the rat under his arm, the tail hanging down his sleeve, and pours a cup of coffee. He holds it out to O’John. He takes it. He tastes it. He pours it out on the floor. O’JOHN Azriel is the client you sent me. VITO You just figured that out? He drops the rat in the wastebasket and turns away. The rat peeps out to check that the coast is clear then runs for it. O’JOHN It’s too late now. He’s skipped, the sister skipped. It’s over. VITO Run? from YOU? She’s probably at home wondering why you don’t call. The O’John sees the bail jumper girl he caught 2 days before. She’s sitting in a straight backed chair with one wrist handcuffed to the door knob of the closet. She’s been beaten. One half of her face is swollen and discolored and she looks like a battered child. Vito is still talking. He didn’t run either. He’s got a pattern going, if he breaks the pattern, he’s naked. Nobody skipped. O’JOHN She’s still here? Why don’t you turn her in? VITO What’s the rush? the hearing’s not for 3 days. GIRL Stop staring at me! She claps her hand over the disfigured half of her face. O’John looks away. O’JOHN All this and she’s worried about how she looks. VITO Yeah, women, God bless ‘em. O’JOHN Let her go. VITO One musical comedy stunt and you think suddenly you’re a nice guy? O’JOHN Let her go. VITO Hey, old buddy, why don’t you grab the girl and shoot your way out.? Pull out your gun, wave it around. Let’s see who’s got the stronger magic. I guess you found out. O’JOHN Tell Azriel I quit. VITO Savage Grace said that too. O’JOHN One question. Why me? VITO A popular question. O’JOHN You want to lose an eye? VITO You’re here and you’re expendable. O’JOHN Then why save my life? VITO You’re a weak man. You like being told what to do and that’s kind of lovable. (He makes loud kissing noises) Now, fuck off. O’John walks out, slamming the door hard enough to give the frosted glass a new set of cracks. VITO (V.O.) The simple pleasures of the poor. INT. CAGE ELEVATOR (SPOOKY AS SHIT) ELEVATOR MAN Don’t say it. O/John nods solemnly INT. ROZZO’S APT. (DARK) The phone is ringing. Rozzo comes in the front door and rushes to the phone in the darkness. ROZZO Hello…Why didn’t you check that you were being followed…Oh, that makes a difference… Yeah, I’m leaving tonight… No, I got an angle, I can head him off of he shows up…I’ll watch out, thank you for nothing. He hangs up. O’John comes out and hits him in the kidneys with a pistol butt. What are you doing? O’JOHN Renegotiating the relationship. He whacks Rozzo in the shins with the gun butt and Rozzo sits down heavily. O’John kicks him in the stomach and Rozzo falls over gasping for breath. O’JOHN (continuing) Tell me about it. Then he sees an invitation next to the phone. It appears to be in Latin, written in an angular medieval hand. He pockets it; Rozzo sees him do it. ROZZO The phone. That was him. Savage Grace. He wants to talk to you about it. O’JOHN Why didn’t you say so before? ROZZO You didn’t give me a chance. Be on the 11:55 copter to Kennedy. From the 63rd Street heliport. O’JOHN Sure, Baby, of course I will. Tell him I’ll be sucking on a bread stick with a bullseye pasted to my forehead. He kicks Rozzo once more and then he leaves. INT. WORKING CLASS BAR (NIGHT) Cab drivers, hookers and small insular group of lab technicians wearing white lab coats. O’John sits down next to one of them, a middle aged black man with the air of a preacher. His name is HENRY. HENRY Where you been, Man? Good to see you. O’JOHN Henry, you studied Latin? HENRY Of course I studied Latin. I studied in a Catholic school in the Islands where, if you were called up on and did not know your lesson, you received a concussion. Omnia Gallia en tres partes divertes est… O’John hands him the invitation. It’s medieval writing, Man. The way they wrote before the cursive script was introduced in the 16th century. O’JOHN Henry, what does it say? HENRY
Copyright © 2001 Angel Obregon |