A SCANNER DARKLY
Written by
Charlie Kaufman
Adapted from the novel by
Philip K. Dick
First Draft
December 20, 1997
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK PAGE DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
POV of someone skimming a hand-written entry. The
corresponding voice-over is offhand, dispassionate. In the
background, children can be heard laughing and playing.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Lately, Jerry Fabin stands all day
shaking bugs from his hair. The
doctor says there are no bugs in his
hair.
The sound of fingers scratching scalp begins and grows louder
through the following montage.
EXT. COCA-COLA BOTTLING PLANT - PRE-DAWN
SUBTITLE: ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, IN THE YEAR 1994
A massive, unlit Coca-Cola sign is eerily silhouetted
against the early morning sky. Antiquated delivery trucks
set out from loading docks, as red futuristic cargo planes,
emblazoned with the Coca-Cola logo, take off from the roof.
EXT. FREEWAY - PRE-DAWN
Birds-eye view of Coca-Cola trucks spreading out through the
city. Coke planes shoot by close to the camera.
EXT. 7-11 - DAWN
A Coke truck pulls into the parking lot.
EXT. SUPERMARKET - DAWN
A Coke plane lands gracefully on the roof of the supermarket.
EXT. MCDONALD'S - DAWN
Uniformed delivery men enter, hauling cases of Coke syrup.
EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAWN
A Coca-Cola truck rumbles slowly past a row of low-income,
plastic pre-fab houses. We hold on one house whose front
lawn is strewn with furniture and cleaning products.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - DAWN
The windows are spray-painted over with silver paint. A
single pole lamp with bare, harsh spot-lights illuminates
the room, which is emptied of furniture, covered in a sickly
green shag carpet, and littered with fast-food wrappers. In
(CONTINUED)
2.
CONTINUED:
the center of the room stands Jerry Fabin, thirty, with wild-
eyes and a long, tangled mass of hair. He is naked, draped
over a metal garbage can, and vigorously scratching his
head. This process continues for an uncomfortably long
time. A Golden Retriever sleeps in the corner.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S BATHROOM - LATER
Jerry Fabin stands under a hot shower. Steam fills the
stall. He scrubs his hair violently with tensed fingers.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - LATER
We hear the shower. Steam pours out the open bathroom door.
EXT. JERRY FABIN'S HOUSE - MID-DAY
The sun is high; the day is bright and hazy. A few hippies
stroll by or sit on front steps, discreetly smoking joints.
We hear the distant sound of Jerry's shower.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S BATHROOM - LATER
Jerry is still in the shower, scrubbing away. He finally
turns it off and steps out, a drowned rat. He dries
himself, wipes the mirror and squints nervously at his
reflection. Tiny bugs hop around on his head. He screams.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - LATER
Jerry lies on the cruddy shag carpet, open volumes of the
Encyclopedia Brittanica spread around him. He scratches
himself as he studies one of the volumes. Insects hop up and
down all over his body, and on the rug. When he exhales, a
cloud of bugs pours from his mouth; he shoos them away.
EXT. JERRY FABIN'S HOUSE - DAY
Jerry heads up the walkway carrying a shopping bag. Several
cans of Raid and other bug sprays poke out of the bag. Bugs
hop around on Jerry. He puts the bag down on the stoop to
scratch himself. He notices tiny bugs chewing the shrubs.
INT. NURSERY - DAY
Jerry consults with a man behind the cash register.
NURSERY CLERK
Eating the bushes? Could be aphids.
(CONTINUED)
3.
CONTINUED:
JERRY FABIN
Aphids! Of course. Y'know, I started
with "A" in my cyclopedia, yet somehow
I must've skipped right over aphids.
It does start with "A", right?
Aphids?
NURSERY CLERK
Yes. Yes, it does, sir.
JERRY FABIN
Boy, those fuckers can really bite.
NURSERY CLERK
Aphids don't bite people.
Fabin just stares at the clerk.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
Scrawled charts depicting the aphid life-cycle now adorn the
walls. As Jerry sprays a can of "Aphid-Off" around the
room, he notices his sleeping dog is covered with the bugs.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S BATHROOM - DAY
Jerry stands in the shower with his dog. Jerry is lathered
head-to-toe and in the process of lathering the dog.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. BATHROOM - LATER
Jerry and the long-suffering dog are still in the shower.
Charles Freck, early thirties and stoned, enters.
CHARLES FRECK
Hey, Jerry, I was in the neighborhood
looking to score, and I thought --
What the fuck are you doing in the
shower with the goddamn dog?
JERRY FABIN
I got to get the aphids.
Jerry turns off the shower, steps out with the dog, and
begins drying him. Freck watches silently, transfixed, as
Jerry proceeds to rub oil, then talc into the dog's coat.
CHARLES FRECK
I don't see any aphids. What's an
aphid?
(CONTINUED)
4.
CONTINUED:
JERRY FABIN
(busy)
It eventually kills you. That's what
an aphid is.
Freck nods sympathetically.
JERRY FABIN
They're in my hair and my skin and my
lungs. The goddamn pain is unbearable.
I'm gonna have to go to the hospital.
CHARLES FRECK
(beat, squints)
How come I can't see them though?
Jerry stops talcing the dog, looks up at Freck.
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - A BIT LATER
Jerry and Freck are on all fours on the carpet. Bugs hop
all around. The powdered-white dog sleeps in the corner.
JERRY FABIN
I'll find an especially big one, cause
they're hard for many people to see.
Jerry grabs a bug from the carpet, throws it in a jar, and
clamps the lid down fast. He shows it triumphantly to Freck.
CHARLES FRECK
Wow! That is a big one!
JERRY FABIN
Help me find more for the doctor to
see.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. JERRY FABIN'S LIVING ROOM - LATER
The two men are still on their hands and knees collecting
bugs. Three jars are already full of hopping insects.
CHARLES FRECK
What do we get for these? I mean,
does the doctor pay a bounty or
something? A prize? Any bread?
(CONTINUED)
5.
CONTINUED:
JERRY FABIN
I get to help perfect a cure for them.
They continue to collect bugs in silence. Jerry starts
scratching himself again, trying not to be too obvious.
JERRY FABIN
Hey, man, you continue while I take a
leak and like that.
Jerry heads to the bathroom. The dog, who has been sleeping
near the bathroom door, skulks to the other side of the room.
CHARLES FRECK
Jerry, these bugs sort of scare me. I
don't like it here by myself.
Jerry stops, holds the door jam for support. He is in pain.
JERRY FABIN
You're a chickenshit bastard, Freck.
CHARLES FRECK
Couldn't you --
JERRY FABIN
I got to take a leak and like that!
Jerry enters the bathroom, slams the door shut, and locks it.
INT. BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
Jerry turns on the shower, climbs in and begins to soap
himself vigorously. Freck is barely audible throughout.
CHARLES FRECK (O.S.)
I'm afraid out here, man.
JERRY FABIN
Then go fuck yourself, man!
CHARLES FRECK (O.S.)
Do these fuckers bite?
JERRY FABIN
Yeah they bite! They're aphids!
CHARLES FRECK
Can I wash them off and wait for you?
Jerry ignores Freck. He scrubs himself intently,
ritualistically, totally absorbed in his task.
6.
INT. LION'S CLUB HALL - DAY
We hear pronounced, rhythmic breathing, as we scan the hall,
which is filled with middle-aged businessmen wearing an
array of brightly colored suits. They are well-fed and dull-
looking. At the podium is another bussinessman, this one fat
in a pink suit and yellow tie. He addresses the assemblage.
FAT BUSINESSMAN
Gentlemen, we have a wonderful
opportunity this afternoon. The
county of Orange has provided us with
the chance to hear from -- and put
questions to -- an undercover
narcotics agent from the Sheriff's
Office.
The fat businessman gestures with a sweep of his arm toward
the camera.
The heavy breathing stops as we angle on what the fat
businessman is gesturing toward: a generic blur of a human
being sitting on stage. The blur is clearly human, but it's
impossible to settle on its facial features. It's as if the
features keep changing.
FAT BUSINESSMAN (CONT'D)
Now you will notice that you can
barely see this individual becuase he
is wearing what is called a "scramble
suit", which he wears during most of
his daily activities of law
enforcement. Due to potential
corruption within the Sheriff's
Department, even this gallant
officer's co-workers and superiors
must not know his "street" identity.
Heavy breathing. Again we're inside the suit. Now we see,
in shadowy profile, the face of the man in the suit. This is
Bob Arctor, early thirties, homely, and looking like a
druggie. He scans the audience disdainfully.
BOB ARCTOR
(under breath)
Nitwits. Pathetic, soulless morons.
We cut to the outside of the suit -- still expressionless.
FAT BUSINESSMAN
This man -- whom we will call Fred,
because that is the code name under
which he reports the information he
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
7.
CONTINUED:
FAT BUSINESSMAN (cont'd)
gathers -- cannot be identified by
voice or by appearance. He looks,
does he not, like a vague blur. This
is because his scramble suit projects
thousands of different human faces
onto your retinas, thus turning Fred
into a veritable Everyman. All things
to all people translates into nothing
to anyone, does it not?
The fat businessman smiles a big, toothy smile. The audience
of straights smiles back, almost in unison.
FAT BUSINESSMAN (CONT'D)
So let's hear it for our vague blur!
The audience erupts into enthusiastic applause. Fred rises
and replaces the fat businessman behind the podium. When he
speaks it is an emotionless computer voice.
FRED
If you saw me on the street, you'd
say, "There goes a weirdo freak
doper." And you'd feel aversion and
walk away.
The audience is silent, blank, their blankness a reflection
of the blankness of Fred's scramble suit.
FRED (CONT'D)
I don't look like you. I can't afford
to. My life depends on it.
Dramatic pause.
FRED (CONT'D)
I am not going to tell you first what
I'm attempting to do as an undercover
officer. I'm going to tell you...
(beat)
... what I am afraid of.
Now the audience is hooked, their eyes wide.
We move inside the suit and watch Bob Arctor watching the
audience, timing the pause for best effect. We hear the
breathing again, and when Arctor speaks, it is in his normal
voice, bored, delivering a memorized speech.
BOB ARCTOR
What I fear, is that our children,
your children and my children...
(pause)
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
8.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR (cont'd)
... I have two. Little ones.
QUICK SHOT OF FAMILY PHOTO OF ARCTOR, HIS WIFE, AND TWO
LITTLE GIRLS
The Arctor in the photo is different, conservative, in a
colorful suit like the audience members. His wife and kids
are smiling and suburban-looking. Their features indistinct,
generic, impossible to recall.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
But not too little to be addicted...
INT. LION'S CLUB HALL - CONTINUOUS
Arctor is speaking from inside the suit.
BOB ARCTOR
... calculatedly addicted, for profit,
by those who would destroy this
society. We do not yet know who these
animals are who pray on our young, but
one day we will.
VOICE FROM CROWD
Sock it to 'em!
The audience concurs. Bob Arctor sighs disdainfully.
Outside the suit, the sigh is heard as a computer-like
exhalation, uninterpretable, lost on the audience.
FRED
We believe there is one source for
Substance D and a diversified
distribution system making it
accessible in all major drug using
areas. It my job as an undercover
officer to attain the confidence of low
level dealers and work my way up
through the network to arrive at the
drug's source. Now, the profits for...
Fred becomes silent, stands there. The audience waits.
Inside the suit, Arctor sweats, can't remember his line. He
looks, panicked, out at the sea of eyes and finally wings it.
BOB ARCTOR
Well, it isn't the profits anyhow.
It's something else... what you see ...
(CONTINUED)
9.
CONTINUED:
Arctor scans the hard audience. He tries a new tack.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
If you were a diabetic, and you didn't
have the money for insulin, would you
steal to get the money? Or just die?
A tinny voice speaks to Arctor through his headphone.
HEADPHONE VOICE
I think you'd better go back to the
prepared text, Fred.
BOB ARCTOR
(quietly into throat mike)
I forgot it.
HEADPHONE VOICE
Riiight. I'll read it to you. Repeat
it after me, but try to make it sound
casual. "Each day the profits flow.
Where they go we will soon determine."
BOB ARCTOR
(quietly)
I got a block against this stuff.
HEADPHONE VOICE
"Then retribution will swiftly follow.
And at that moment, for the life of
me, I would not be in their shoes."
BOB ARCTOR
(quietly)
You know why I've got a block against
this stuff? Because this bullshit is
what gets people on dope.
The audience watches the vague blur mumbling in a computer
voice. They look uneasy. Fred is silent for a moment, then
starts to talk again in his drone.
FRED
"D" is for Substance D. Which is for
Dumbness, Despair, and Desertion, the
desertion of your friends from you,
you from them, everyone from everyone,
isolation and loneliness and hating
and suspecting each other. D is
finally death. Slow Death, we...
(beat)
... we the dopers call it...
(CONTINUED)
10.
CONTINUED:
Inside the suit, Bob Arctor talks.
BOB ARCTOR
(raspy, sad)
... Slow Death. From the head on down.
(beat)
Well, that's it.
Arctor goes back to his seat. The audience is angry.
HEADPHONE VOICE
See me in my office when you get back.
The fat businessman is at the podium diffusing the situation.
FAT BUSINESSMAN
I forgot to tell you that Fred asked
me in advance to make this lecture
primarily a Q and A forum with only a
short introductory statement. So any
questions?
Arctor stands.
FAT BUSINESSMAN (CONT'D)
Oh, wait, it appears Fred has
something else to say. Good, then.
(to Arctor)
Please.
Arctor approaches the podium, upset.
BOB ARCTOR
Just this. Don't kick their asses
after they're on it. Half of them,
especially the girls, didn't know they
were getting on anything at all. See,
the pushers dissolve some reds in a
glass of wine, they give the booze to
an underage little chick, she passes
out, then they inject her with a mex
hit -- half heroin, half Substance D.
(beat)
Thank you.
SECOND VOICE FROM CROWD
How do we stop them, sir?
We're outside the suit now, looking at Fred the vague blur
behind the podium. He talks in a neutral computer voice.
(CONTINUED)
11.
CONTINUED:
FRED
Kill the pushers.
EXT. PAYPHONE - DAY
Charles Freck is on the phone, speaking in hushed tones.
CHARLES FRECK
Can you lay about ten Deaths on me?
TELEPHONE VOICE
Christ, I'm looking to score myself.
CHARLES FRECK
Christ.
(beat)
Christ. Christ Christ Christ.
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S CAR - DAY
Freck drives slowly along a strip-malled Anaheim street. He
passes a Thrifty pharmacy and notices the window display:
bottles of slow death, slow death mixed with speed and junk
and psychedelics. Dayglow signs in the window: "Your
Credit is Good Here" and "Death to the Masses" He looks
again. The window displays combs and shampoo. Freck checks
his rearview mirror, sees a police car following him.
CHARLES FRECK
Fucking goddamn fuzzmobile. What was
I doing? Was I weaving? I don't even
know.
Freck drives very deliberately, his hands gripped, white-
knuckled, on the steering wheel in an attempt to keep the car
completely straight. He tries his best to plaster a non-
stoned, regular guy look on his face. But he's sweating.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
What I'll do is pull over when I see a
parking space. That's it: pull over
like I was gonna pull over anyway.
Like it's totally normal to pull over.
Like I'm going to a store. That's
perfect. Real people do that all the
time.
Freck sees an angle space, pulls over suddenly. The cop car
glides past, apparently having had no interest in Freck.
(CONTINUED)
12.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Fuck. Fucking fuzz. Now I'll never
be able to pull back into traffic.
Freck sighs, resigns himself to waiting in his parking spot
and checking out the young, mini-skirted women walking by.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
(keeping score)
Fox... fox... not a fox... fo...hey, I
know that fox!
Freck opens his car door and jumps out.
EXT. ANAHEIM STREET - CONTINUOUS
Freck hurries after a pretty young woman, nineteen, with
black hair. This is Donna Hawthorne.
CHARLES FRECK
Hey!
Donna realizes that Freck is following her and picks up her
pace. The sidewalk is crowded with people. Donna weaves
through, graceful and fast. Freck struggles to catch up.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Hey!
The light is against her at the corner and while the other
pedestrians wait for the WALK sign, Donna juts out into
traffic, causing a Coke truck to swerve and honk. She gives
it the finger. Freck waits with the others till the light
changes. Then he runs, catches up with Donna, and walks
backwards ahead of her, sweating and panting.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Donna!
She ignores him, keeps walking.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Aren't you Bob Arctor's old lady?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
No.
(pulls out a little pocket
knife, points it at Freck)
Get lost.
He widens the distance between them to avoid getting stuck.
(CONTINUED)
13.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
Sure you are. I met you at his place.
Donna turns and walks directly toward Freck, her little knife
pointing at his stomach. He jumps out of the way.
CHARLES FRECK
Jeez. I just...
Donna keeps walking. Freck shrugs and slouches dejectedly
away. He turns and gives one last glance over his shoulder.
Donna has stopped amid the bustling foot traffic. She is
squinting at him. Freck cautiously approaches her.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
One night me and Bob and another chick
had some old Simon and Garfunkel
tapes. You were filling caps with
high-grade Death, then you laid one on
each of us.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I thought you were going to knock me
down and bang me.
CHARLES FRECK
No. I just wondered if you, like,
wanted a ride or... Bang you on the
sidewalk? In broad daylight?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I thought you might pull me into a
doorway or something.
CHARLES FRECK
I know you. Besides Arctor would
snuff me if I did that.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Well, I didn't recognize you. I'm
sort of nearsighted.
Donna moves a few steps closer to Freck and squints at him.
CHARLES FRECK
You want a ride where you're going?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You'll bang me in the car.
(CONTINUED)
14.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
Nah. Besides I can't get it up these
days. Must be something they're
adulterating all the stuff with.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
That's a neat-o line, but I've heard
it before. Everybody bangs me. At
least they try to. That's what it's
like to be a chick.
CHARLES FRECK
That really sucks.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I'm suing one guy right now for
molestation and assault. We're asking
punitive damages in excess of forty
thousand.
CHARLES FRECK
How far he get?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
A hand around my boob.
CHARLES FRECK
That's not worth forty thousand.
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S CAR - DAY
Freck drives Donna home.
CHARLES FRECK
Listen, you got anything to sell? I'm
really hurting.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I can get it.
CHARLES FRECK
Tabs, though. I don't shoot up.
Needles are a bummer to me.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Sixty dollars a hundred.
CHARLES FRECK
Jeez, man, that's a burn.
(CONTINUED)
15.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
They're super good. Take my word.
CHARLES FRECK
All right. A hundred, then.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Cool. How do I get in touch?
CHARLES FRECK
Charles B. Freck --
Donna pulls a little pad and a pencil from her purse and
writes down Freck's name.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
V. Freck?
CHARLES FRECK
Charles Freck.
She corrects the name. Freck notices that her writing is a
slow and childish scrawl. It makes him sad. Then he steals
a glance at her breasts as she writes.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
658-4412.
She writes down the phone number.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I think I remember you now.
CHARLES FRECK
Hey, you want to go with me to see
Jerry Fabin? I'm hauling some of his
stuff over to the Number Three Federal
Clinic where they took him last night.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I better not. Jerry thinks I
contaminated him originally with those
bugs.
CHARLES FRECK
They're aphids.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Yeah, well, then he didn't know what
they were.
16.
EXT. ANAHEIM STREET - DAY
Bob Arctor, now out of his scramble suit and looking like a
druggie, wanders depressed and aimless along a crowded
street. He passes a McDonald's, a 7-11, a mirrored office
building, pulls a pill box from his pocket, and
surreptitiously swallows two capsules. He studies his
reflection in the office building. Behind him on the street
are the disapproving reflections of passing straights. He
blends back into the flow of foot traffic. A grungy hippy
smiles at him. Arctor nods, passes another McDonald's. He
passes a third McDonald's almost immediately.
BOB ARCTOR
Fucking McDonaldburger's is taking
over.
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - LATER
Arctor dials the phone and takes a bite from a partially
unwrapped McDonald's hamburger. He chews as the phone rings.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
Hello?
BOB ARCTOR
Donna. How you doin'? It's Bob.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
(pause)
Oh. Hi.
BOB ARCTOR
How's your head today, man?
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
Eh. I was bumtripped this a.m. by my
boss. This gray hair bilked us out of
ten bucks. So my boss says it's
coming out of my paycheck!
BOB ARCTOR
Hey, can I get anything from you?
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
(resistant)
I don't know.
BOB ARCTOR
Ten. Just ten.
(CONTINUED)
17.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
Yeah, okay. I'll come over tonight.
Hey, I have this book I want to show
you. About wolves.
BOB ARCTOR
Oh, wow.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You know what the male wolf does when
he defeats a foe? He doesn't snuff
him. He pees on him! Then he splits.
BOB ARCTOR
I peed on some people today.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
No kidding? How come?
BOB ARCTOR
Metaphorically peed, I mean.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
Not the usual way?
BOB ARCTOR
What I mean is, I told this group of...
Arctor realizes he's saying too much. He tries to cover.
He glances at a Foster's Freeze across the street with some
Hell's Angels in the parking lot.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
... biker-types, at the Foster's
Freeze. I was cruising around and
they said something raunchy, so I
turned and said something like --
Arctor has no idea what to say. Suddenly he's exhausted.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
You can tell me, even if it's super
gross. You have to be super gross with
biker-types.
BOB ARCTOR
I told 'em I'd rather ride a pig than
a hog.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
(beat)
I don't get it.
(CONTINUED)
18.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Well, a pig is a chick that --
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
Oh. Okay, well I get it. Barf. Oh,
I forgot to tell you, your roommates,
Ernie What's-His-Name and Barris, came
into the shop today looking for you.
BOB ARCTOR
They didn't try me at my job, did they?
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
I dunno. They said they wanted to use
your cephalochromoscope and it didn't
work. So Barris took it apart --
BOB ARCTOR
The hell you say --
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
And apparently it's been sabotaged.
The wires cut, and sort of weird stuff
like that. Barris said he'd --
BOB ARCTOR
Fuck Barris! That cephscope cost me
nine hundred dollars. I need to get
home right now. But I gotta... Oh,
fuck, man. Fuck fuck fuck Barris!
DONNA HAWTHORNE (O.S.)
You gotta what?
BOB ARCTOR
I gotta run an errand and like that.
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S CAR - DAY
Arctor parks across from the New-Path Drug Rehab Facility, a
converted wood frame house. He checks the police photo of
Erroll Weeks, a.k.a Spade Weeks, shoves it into his glove
compartment, and heads, business-like, toward the building.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK PAGE DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Children play in the background. Someone skims the entry, as
the offhand voice-over reads along.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
The S.O. believes Spade Weeks has lost
himself inside New-Path by posing as a
junky. New-Path strips junkies of all
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
19.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR (cont'd)
i.d. and gives them new names as part
of personality rebuilding process.
It's a perfect hiding place.
INT. NEW-PATH - CONTINUOUS
It's gloomy. There's a lounge area with a couple of guys
reading. An unused ping-pong table. Posters on the wall
such as THE ONLY REAL FAILURE IS TO FAIL OTHERS. Arctor
enters, now playing the junky: strung-out, disoriented. A
pretty girl in a New-Path tee-shirt appears.
NEW-PATH GIRL
Can I help you?
BOB ARCTOR
I'm in a bad place. I wanna turn
myself in for treatment.
INT. FIDDLER'S THREE COFFEE SHOP - DAY
Charles Freck and Jim Barris sit in a booth. Freck plays
distractedly with his glazed doughnut. Barris, in shades,
pulls apart his patty melt, inspecting each ingredient.
CHARLES FRECK
Hey, Barris, I'm thinking of turning
myself in to New-Path.
Barris doesn't seem at all interested.
JIM BARRIS
No shit.
CHARLES FRECK
But it's tough, that cold turkey thing
they do. They watch you night and day
so you don't snuff. But they never
give you anything, like a doctor will,
like Valium or like that.
JIM BARRIS
Hey, what kind of bread is this on the
patty melt, anyway?
CHARLES FRECK
Look on the menu. It explains
everything.
Barris picks up a menu, studies it as he speaks.
(CONTINUED)
20.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
If you go into New-Path, you'll
experience symptoms that emanate up
from the basic fluids of the body,
specifically those located in the
brain. By that I refer to the
catecholamines, such as noradrenaline
and serotonin. You see, Substance D
functions this way: it interacts with
the catecholamines in such a fashion
that involement is locked in at a
subcellular level. Biological
counteradaptation has occurred.
(looks up)
Nine-grain wheat.
INT. NEW-PATH - DAY
Arctor sits in a small room painted institutional green. He
holds a styrofoam cup of coffee in his theatrically shaking
hands. The New-Path girl stares at him, arms akimbo. Two
large impassive guys stand near the door.
NEW-PATH GIRL
You look like hell, mister.
NEW-PATH GUY #1
Yeah. Like real shit. What you been
doing, lying in your own crap?
NEW-PATH GUY #2
Crap lying in crap. How appropriate.
INT. FIDDLER'S THREE COFFEE SHOP - DAY
A cute waitress comes up to Barris and Freck's table.
WAITRESS
So is everything good, fellas?
Freck becomes panicked, paranoid. He frantically chews some
doughnut, tries to appear straight. Barris, in control,
signals to Freck that everything is copacetic.
JIM BARRIS
Say, is your name Patty?
WAITRESS
No.
(indicates name tag over
right breast)
It's Beth.
(CONTINUED)
21.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
(under breath, snickering)
I wonder what the left one's called.
WAITRESS
I'm sorry, hon?
CHARLES FRECK
No. Nothing.
JIM BARRIS
The waitress we had last time was
named Patty. Same as the sandwich.
WAITRESS
That must have been a different Patty
from the sandwich. I think she spells
it with an i.
JIM BARRIS
Everything is super good.
Freck looks over leering Barris's head and sees a thought
balloon in which the waitress is stripping off her clothes.
WAITRESS (IN THOUGHT BALLOON)
(moaning)
Oh, oh, fuck me, Barris. Fuck me...
Freck, nervous the waitress will see the balloon, tries to
get her attention on him.
CHARLES FRECK
Everything is not good with me. I got
a lot of problems nobody else has.
The waitress looks down sympathetically at Freck.
WAITRESS
Oh, no. That's too bad.
JIM BARRIS
More people than you think have such
problems. This is a world of illness,
and getting progressively worse.
The waitress now looks with some confusion at Barris. Freck
glances nervously at the balloon above Barris's head. In it
the waitress is being fucked from behind by Barris.
(CONTINUED)
22.
CONTINUED:
WAITRESS (IN THOUGHT BALLOON)
Oh, oh, oooh oh, Barris...
WAITRESS
(smiling)
So would you guys like to order
dessert? We have fresh peach pie.
Freck can't take his eyes from the thought balloon.
CHARLES FRECK
No! No, we don't want any dessert!
The waitress smiles, nods, and leaves the table. The thought
balloon dissipates.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Fruit pies are for old ladies anyway.
INT. NEW-PATH - DAY
Arctor sits surrounded by the three standing New-Path people.
BOB ARCTOR
This place is the only hope I could
think of. I had a friend come in
here. A black dude, in his thirties --
NEW-PATH GIRL
You'll meet the family later. If you
qualify. You have to be bad off to be
let in here, mister.
BOB ARCTOR
I am bad off.
NEW-PATH GIRL
It's going to be super rough. You'll
gnaw your pillow. You'll foam at the
mouth. You'll dirty yourself the way
sick animals do.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay, but listen, this black guy, my
buddy, goes by the name of Spade, did
he make it here? I sure hope he
didn't get picked up by the pigs on
the way over.
NEW-PATH GIRL
There are no one-to-one relationships
at New-Path. You'll learn that.
23.
INT. FIDDLER'S THREE COFFEE SHOP - DAY
JIM BARRIS
Tell me, why the debate regarding
turning yourself in for residence
therapy at a drug rehab facility?
CHARLES FRECK
My friend Jerry Fabin and his aphids.
JIM BARRIS
(dismissive wave)
Fabin was a special case.
CHARLES FRECK
There's another reason. I'm running
low again, and I can't stand this
always running low and not knowing if
I'm ever going to score again.
Actually, though, I may have a new
source. That Donna chick.
JIM BARRIS
Oh, Bob's girl.
CHARLES FRECK
His old lady.
JIM BARRIS
No. He never got into her pants.
CHARLES FRECK
Really? Can't Bob get it on?
JIM BARRIS
(shrugs)
It's possible Donna's on junk. Her
aversion to bodily contact -- junkies
lose interest in sex, you see, due to
their organs swelling up from
vasoconstriction. And Donna shows
inordinate failure of sexual arousal,
not just to Bob, but to... other males
as well.
CHARLES FRECK
I never shot smack. Needles are a
bummer to me.
JIM BARRIS
(conspiratorially)
But... I can show you how to lay
Donna for ninety-eight cents.
(CONTINUED)
24.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
I don't want to lay her. I just want
to buy from her.
JIM BARRIS
Donna does coke. Anybody who would
give her a gram of coke she would
undoubtedly spread her legs for.
CHARLES FRECK
I wish you wouldn't talk that way.
Besides who has the money to procure a
gram of coke?
JIM BARRIS
I, my friend, can derive a gram of
coke for a total cost to me of under
one dollar. From a product readily
available at your neighborhood 7-11.
CHARLES FRECK
That's bullshit.
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S CAR - DAY
Freck and Barris drive along.
CHARLES FRECK
Which 7-11 store do you prefer to shop
at? The one on Lincoln is nice.
JIM BARRIS
That's a fine 7-11.
CHARLES FRECK
Although what about the one on 8th?
They have the wider aisles. A more
spacious shopping experience.
JIM BARRIS
Let's not forget the one on Katella
with the foxy cashier to hit on.
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
It's a mess. Freck is on the couch smoking a joint. A cat
sleeps in his lap. Another cat and a dog lie on either side
of him. A disassembled cephscope is on the coffee table,
wires exposed. Barris hovers over the dining room table
where he has set up a makeshift chemistry lab.
(CONTINUED)
25.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
What's with Bob's cephscope, his prize
possession of the entire world?
JIM BARRIS
Oh, it's been sabotaged by person or
persons unknown.
Barris holds up an aerosol can of Solarcaine sunburn spray.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
Behold, what they've deliberately done
is mix the cocaine with oil so it
can't be extracted -- they cleverly
call it benzocaine -- but my knowledge
of chemistry is such that I know
precisely how to separate the two.
Barris sprays the entire contents of the can into a baggie.
CHARLES FRECK
This is super unreal. I'm flipping.
Barris shakes salt into the gummy slime in the bag.
JIM BARRIS
Now I'll freeze it, which causes the
cocaine crystals to rise to the top
because they are lighter than air.
Barris pours the slime into a jar.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
Than oil, I mean.
Barris puts the jar in the freezer.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
The terminal step I keep to myself,
but it involves an intricate
methodological process of filtering.
CHARLES FRECK
Even if you do get a gram of coke out
of thisl, I can't use it to get into
Donna's pants. That's like buying her.
JIM BARRIS
You give her a gift she gives you
one. The most precious gift a woman
has.
(CONTINUED)
26.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
You're talking about Bob Arctor's
girl, Barris. He's my friend and the
guy you and Luckman live with.
JIM BARRIS
There's a great deal about Bob Arctor
you're not aware of. Your view is
simplistic and naive, and you believe
about him what he wants you to.
CHARLES FRECK
(defensively)
I do not.
INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
Frank, in a scramble suit, talks to Hank, also in a scramble
suit and studying a clipboard.
HANK
That covers Barris and Freck. Let's
see, I guess we can write Jerry Fabin
off.
FRED
I read his EEG analysis. Fabin's over.
HANK
Good riddance. Any luck locating our
missing pusher friend Spade Weeks?
FRED
New-Path wouldn't tell me shit.
They're very protective of their own.
HANK
Junkies, ex-junkies. It's a club.
(flipping through notes)
What about Donna Hawthorne?
FRED
I keep pumping her for more and more
Death. Pretty soon she'll have to
refer me up to her source.
HANK
Fine. And what's Arctor up to?
We go inside Fred's suit and see the shadowy face of Arctor.
(CONTINUED)
27.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Bob Arctor? He's not doing anything
much. Working at his nowhere Blue
Chip Stamp job, dropping a few tabs of
meth cut with Death during the day.
HANK
That's not what I hear.
Arctor studies the vague blankness of Hank.
BOB ARCTOR
What do you mean?
HANK
We have a tip that Arctor has funds
above and beyond what he makes at the
stamp redemption center.
We move outside the suit and see Fred.
FRED
No shit, Hank. Is that true?
HANK
And according to this information,
Arctor comes and goes mysteriously.
Have you observed any of this?
FRED
Most likely he's with his chick, Donna.
HANK
Most likely? You're supposed to know.
FRED
Yeah, it's Donna. He's over there
banging her day and night. But I'll
let you know. So, who's the informant?
HANK
Hell, we don't know. No voice print.
He used one of those rinky-dink grids.
FRED
Christ, it's that burned-out acid head
Barris doing a schizy grudge job on
Arctor's head. I wouldn't give him
the time of day as an informant.
(CONTINUED)
28.
CONTINUED:
HANK
We don't know it's Barris. Anyway,
there may be more to Barris than meets
the eye. We're looking into him.
Nothing I feel would be of use to you,
at least so far.
FRED
Well, it's one of Arctor's friends.
HANK
Yeah. Undoubtedly a vengeance burn
trip. But we need to know why
Arctor's making these kind of enemies.
FRED
Hank, I don't see this as an avenue of
--
HANK
So I'm taking you off Spade and, for
the time being, I'm assigning you
primarily to observe Bob Arctor.
FRED
(strangled robot noise)
You're assigning me to watch Arctor?
We move inside Fred's suit and watch an uncomfortable,
sweaty Arctor watching Hank.
HANK
Covertly funded, covertly engaged,
Fred. It's worth checking into.
BOB ARCTOR
Fine. So I assume this means you'll
be bugging Arctor's house and car?
HANK
With the new holographic scanner
system. This way you can study
Arctor's every move on the tapes, and
report back to us in detail.
Hank, the vague blur, looks up at Fred. Fred, the vague
blur, returns his look.
FRED
Sounds good, then.
(CONTINUED)
29.
CONTINUED:
HANK
Good. You'll need to get Arctor and
the boys away from the house so we can
install the equipment.
EXT. BOB ARCTOR'S BACKYARD - NIGHT
The yard, lit only by moonlight, is overgrown with weeds and
littered with rubbish. Barris sits on a cracked cement
patio fiddling with some sort of foam rubber and aluminum
foil tube. Freck looks on anxiously. Ernie Luckman, a big
stoner in a football jersey, sits on a decrepit swing set,
looks up at the moon, and sips a beer.
CHARLES FRECK
Why do you need a silencer, anyway,
Jim? I mean, they're illegal.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Law abidance has always been of the
utmost concern to Jim Barris.
JIM BARRIS
In this day and age, with the kind of
degenerate society we live in and the
depravity of the individual, every
person of worth needs a gun at all
times. To protect himself.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Just shut up and fire off the great
eleven cent silencer of our times.
Barris half shuts his eyes and fires the pistol into the
air. It is the loudest report ever heard.
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Arctor jerks awake and reflexively grabs his gun from under
his pillow. Confused, heart pounding, he tries to take in
his surroundings. Dogs bark outside.
(CONTINUED)
30.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK (O.S.)
That's some silencer, man.
JIM BARRIS (O.S.)
What it did was augment the sound
rather than dampen it. But I almost
have it right. I have it in
principal, anyhow.
Arctor sighs, replaces the gun, and gets out of bed.
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Arctor trudges through the pig-sty living room, past the
ratty couch, the broken cephscope, the crooked pictures on
the wall. He disappears into the kitchen.
CHARLES FRECK (O.S.)
How much is a gun like that worth?
JIM BARRIS (O.S.)
Not much. Thirty bucks. I'll sell it
to you.
Arctor reappears, leans against the kitchen door, beer in
hand, and looks at the depressing living room.
JIM BARRIS (O.S.) (CONT'D)
You really ought to have one to
protect yourself, Freck, against those
who would harm you.
ERNIE LUCKMAN (O.S.)
There's a lot of those. I saw in the
L.A. Times yesterday, they're giving
away a free transistor radio to those
who would harm Freck most successfully.
Arctor studies the empty couch.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
It's the same room, but different. It's neat. The pictures
on the wall are straight. A younger, cleaner, straighter
Bob Arctor sits on the couch watching tv with his wife and
children. Through shadow and obstruction, we never get a
clear view of Arctor's family.
(CONTINUED)
31.
CONTINUED:
TELEVISION JINGLE
It's real, it's Coke, it's really,
really real. Really really really...
WIFE
Popcorn and Cokes, guys?
DAUGHTERS
Yay, Popcorn and Cokes!
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S NEAT KITCHEN - EVENING
The catchy, reduntant Coke jingle continues in the
background throughout. Bob Arctor squats down and reaches
into a floor level cabinet to grab a popcorn popper. When he
rises, he hits his head hard on a sharp corner. His
countenance changes dramatically, violently.
BOB ARCTOR
AH, FUCK!!
WIFE (O.S.)
Honey?
Arctor drops to the floor, pressing his hand against his
bleeding scalp.
BOB ARCTOR
FUCKING POPCORN POPPER! FUCK!
Arctor's wife and daughters appear in the doorway. We seem
them from behind, looking at Arctor.
WIFE
Oh my God!
Arctor's wife runs to him. His daughters hover in the
doorway. Arctor looks up at his wife, at his daughters.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK PAGE DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Kids playing in background. A dispassionate Arctor reads
the handwritten entry.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
That pain, so unexpected, so
undeserved, cleared away the cobwebs
in my head. I didn't hate the popcorn
popper, I hated my wife and kids.
32.
INT. NEAT KITCHEN - EVENING
Arctor bleeds, his wife hovers, the jingle persists.
BOB ARCTOR
FUCK!
SHOT OF NEATLY GROOMED BACKYARD WITH NEW SWING SET
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I hated my backyard,...
SHOT OF NEATLY GROOMED FRONT YARD
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
... my front yard,...
Arctor, in shorts, appears pushing a lawnmower.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
... my power mower.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
Arctor sits on the floor bleeding. He looks at his wife and
children, their faces somehow becoming more and more vague.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
All the elements that made up my life
were right there. And nothing new
would ever happen. Like a little
plastic boat that would sail on
forever, without incident, until it
finally sank, which would be a secret
relief to all.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Kids laughing. Camera skims across these handwritten words:
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
So I ended that life and started this
one. Now I dwell in a ugly world...
INT. ARCTOR'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Present-day druggie Arctor returns to bed with his beer.
JIM BARRIS (O.S.)
This one will be totally soundless.
There is another extremely loud gunshot.
33.
EXT. BACKYARD - CONTINUOUS
Barris studies his silencer, perplexed. Dogs bark again.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Jesus, Barris. Y'know, you're
supposed to be fixing the cephscope.
Bob's lying in his bed right now
thinking you're fixing his cephscope.
INT. ARCTOR'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
Arctor lies in bed and writes in his notebook. The voice-
over is different here: It's halting, as if he's composing;
and it's read with immediacy and anxiety.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Now I dwell in an ugly... disordered
world. But this very disorder...
permits... the... unpredictable to --
There's a knock on the door. Arctor slips the notebook
under the mattress.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
Yeah?
Mumbling outside door. Arctor fingers the gun under his
pillow.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
Come in, Barris.
The door opens. Barris enters, shuffling, smiling, sweating.
JIM BARRIS
Hey, Bob. I thought you'd be sleeping.
Barris sits, uninvited, on the edge of Arctor's bed.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
I am here to inform you, Bob, that I
have formulated an initial theory as
to who may have systematically damaged
your cephscope with malice and may do
it again.
Arctor waits. Barris smiles a shit-eating smile.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
(pointing)
You.
(CONTINUED)
34.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Why the fuck would I screw up my own
cephscope?
JIM BARRIS
No, no. You...
(points at Arctor)
... are looking at the person who did
it.
(points at himself)
That was my complete, intended
statement, which I was not allowed to
utter.
BOB ARCTOR
You did it?
JIM BARRIS
I mean it's my theory that I did it.
Under post-hypnotic suggestion. With
an amnesia block so I wouldn't remember
BOB ARCTOR
Oh, Jesus, Barris. Go fuck yourself.
Arctor turns away from Barris. Barris leans in close.
JIM BARRIS
Don't you see, Bob, I've got the
advanced, specialized, technical,
electronic skills. I have access,
because I live here. It all fits.
(beat)
What I can't figure out is my motive.
BOB ARCTOR
How about, you're a fucked-up lunatic?
JIM BARRIS
I might have been hired by secret
forces. It could be as big as that,
Bob. As huge as that.
Arctor reaches under his bed frame and pulls out two tabs of
Substance D. He washes them down with beer, closes his eyes.
BOB ARCTOR
Get lost.
EXT. BOB ARCTOR'S HOUSE - MORNING
Arctor, Barris, and Luckman emerge from the house,
bedraggled and bleary-eyed, and climb into Arctor's car.
35.
INT. ARCTOR'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
Arctor starts the car, begins to pull out of the driveway.
JIM BARRIS
Oh, hold on, Bob. I forgot something.
I forgot my antihistamine capsules.
Arctor sighs, stops. Barris runs to the house. Luckman and
Arctor wait in silence. Finally:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Jim Barris does not have allergies.
EXT. FREEWAY - MORNING
Arctor, Barris, and Luckman drive along.
INT. ARCTOR'S CAR - MORNING
The car pulls to a stop on a residential street. It's a a
cruddy neighborhood. Apartment buildings. Graffiti.
BOB ARCTOR
You guys track down Andy and the hot
scope. I'll pick you up in two hours.
JIM BARRIS
And where are you off to?
BOB ARCTOR
Dropping in on a friend.
JIM BARRIS
Mysterious Bob Arctor.
EXT. HOUSING PROJECT - MORNING
Arctor pulls into the parking lot, gets out of the car.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Kids voices in background. Offhand Arctor reads the entry.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
While in Long Beach today I checked in
on Kim, an addict acquaintance who
lives with dealer Dan Blake. My
intention was to get the latest on
Blake, but also to strand Barris and
Luckman down here long enough for the
scanners to be installed.
36.
INT. TENEMENT HALLWAY - MORNING
Arctor knocks on an apartment door. Shuffling inside. The
chained door opens slightly. An eye peeks out.
KIMBERLY
Yes?
BOB ARCTOR
It's me, Kimberly. Bob Arctor.
Kimberly unchains the door. She has a black eye and a split
lip. Her manner is listless. Arctor enters the apartment
and Kimberly closes the door behind him.
INT. KIMBERLY'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
Arctor looks around. The place is a shambles. There's been
a fight. The windows are broken, there's glass on the floor.
BOB ARCTOR
Are you alone?
KIMBERLY
Dan and I had a fight and he split.
BOB ARCTOR
He beat you up?
KIMBERLY
Thank God he didn't have his knife.
His case-knife, which he now carries in
a sheath on his belt.
Kimberly drops back into a chair and stares blankly.
KIMBERLY (CONT'D)
Why are you here, Bob? I'm bummed, I
really am.
BOB ARCTOR
Do you want him back?
KIMBERLY
Well...
(listless shrug)
Who knows?
Arctor looks out the window at the street.
(CONTINUED)
37.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
How long can you go without?
KIMBERLY
Maybe. Maybe.
Another day.
BOB ARCTOR
Can't you get it anywhere else?
Y'know the name of Dan's supplier?
Maybe you could deal directly.
KIMBERLY
I dunno.
The sound of loud, irregular car pipes. Kimberly stiffens.
KIMBERLY (CONT'D)
Is that him? Fuck. Red '79 Torino?
Arctor looks out and spots a red Torino pulling into the lot.
BOB ARCTOR
Yeah.
A car door slams. Kimberly shuffles to the front door and
triple locks it.
KIMBERLY
Probably has his case-knife with him.
Y'know, he keeps it in a sheath on his
belt now.
BOB ARCTOR
You should call the police.
KIMBERLY
No phone.
BOB ARCTOR
Kim, he'll kill you.
Kimberly shrugs and sits back down, staring blankly, hands
clasped in her lap. Sound of running upstairs. A knock on
the door turning to pounding.
DAN (O.S.)
Open the fucking door!
KIMBERLY
(small voice)
No. I'm with someone.
(CONTINUED)
38.
CONTINUED:
DAN (O.S.)
Fine! I'll slash your tires!
Sound of running downstairs. Kimberly rises, and she and
Arctor watch out the window as Dan, a skinny, short-haired
effeminate-looking guy, appears in the parking lot, crazily
waving a knife in the air.
DAN
(screaming up at Kimberly)
I'll slash your tires, your fucking
tires! And then I'll kill you!
Dan begins slashing tires on Kimberly's old Dodge. This
seems to wake Kimberly up. She shrieks, runs to the door
and frantically begins unlocking it.
KIMBERLY
I got to stop him! I don't have
insurance!
Arctor grabs her, tries to hold her back.
BOB ARCTOR
Tires aren't...
KIMBERLY
(struggling to get free)
My tires!
BOB ARCTOR
That's what he wants you to do.
KIMBERLY
Downstairs. They have a phone! Let
me go!
Kimberly fights loose of Arctor with manic energy.
KIMBERLY (CONT'D)
(unlocking the door)
I'm calling the police. My tires!
(out the door)
One of them is new!
INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
Kimberly is scrambling down the stairs. She arrives at an
apartment door and pounds on it. Arctor is right behind her.
(CONTINUED)
39.
CONTINUED:
KIMBERLY
Open, please? Please? I need to call
the police. Please let me call them.
The door opens. An old man in tie and sweater stands there.
Kimberly hurries past him, goes for the phone, and dials.
BOB ARCTOR
(to old man)
Thank you.
INT. OLD PEOPLE'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
Arctor enters, closes the door and watches out the peephole.
KIMBERLY
(on phone, crazily)
Hi, yeah, my boyfriend and me got into
a fight because of these cowboy boots
which were worth seven dollars. See,
I said, they're mine, and he says, no,
they're mine 'cause you gave them to
me as a present. And I say but I
bought them. Which makes them mine.
Right? So he grabs 'em and I grab
'em, and I rip the backs of them with
this can opener and... yes, I'll hold.
Arctor glances at the old man, who's been quietly studying
him. An old woman in a print dress stands in the dining
room doorway. Kimberly paces on hold, chews a fingernail.
ARCTOR
(to old man)
This must be bad on you.
OLD MAN
It goes on all the time, them fighting,
him saying he'll kill her.
OLD WOMAN
We should have gone back to Denver. I
told you that.
OLD MAN
These terrible fights. On and on.
Smashing things and screaming. And
what's worse, every time --
OLD WOMAN
Yes, tell him about that.
(CONTINUED)
40.
CONTINUED:
OLD MAN
Every time we go out, shopping or to
mail a letter, we step in... what dogs
leave.
OLD WOMAN
(whispering)
Dog doo.
INT. ARCTOR'S CAR - DAY
Arctor drives on the freeway, deep in thought. Luckman's
next to him. Barris is in back grinning in his dark shades.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Dog shit. All that misery and that's
what really upset them.
Arctor chuckles. The car is behind a crawling Safeway truck.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
You ought to pass that truck, man.
The humper's hardly moving.
Arctor comes back into focus, picks up speed, passes the
truck on the left. As he eases up on the gas, the pedal
falls to the floor. The car shoots forward at great speed.
LUCKMAN AND BARRIS
Slow down!
Arctor is panicked. The speedometer is registering eighty-
five, ninety, one hundred. Arctor reaches down, tries to
fiddle with the gas peddle. The car is rocketing right for
a VW van chugging along. Barris and Luckman throw up their
hands. Arctor swerves to the left of the van at the last
minute. They pass it, but a fast moving Corvette had been
about to pass in that lane. It honks, its brakes screech.
LUCKMAN AND BARRIS (CONT'D)
(top of their lungs)
What the fuck?! What are you doing?!
Luckman grabs at the ignition key, and turns it off. Arctor
shifts into neutral, the car begins to slow, and he
maneuvers it onto the shoulder. The Corvette shoots by, lays
on it's horn, continues to do so until it's long gone down
the freeway. The three guys just sit in the car, hearts
pounding. The VW van passes and honks its VW horn.
(CONTINUED)
41.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
What the hell happened, Bob?
They all look down at the still-depressed gas pedal. The
Safeway truck passes and sounds its own basso horn.
EXT. CAR - DAY
Arctor, Barris, and Luckman are looking under the hood.
White smoke drifts from the oil caps. Water fizzles from the
overflow spout of the radiator.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
The linkage from the pedal to the carb
fell apart.
BOB ARCTOR
Shouldn't this locking ring hold the
nut in place?
JIM BARRIS
The idle screw has been turned all the
way out. So when the linkage parted,
the override went up instead of down.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Could it screw itself all the way out
like that accidentally?
JIM BARRIS
No. A special tool would be needed.
A couple, in fact. I have the tools
to fix this, but back at the house.
Is Barris saying he did it?
Arctor looks over at Barris.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
So we'll have to get to gas station
and borrow tools from them.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Hey, man, did this happen by accident
or was it done deliberately? Like the
cephscope.
JIM BARRIS
(still grinning)
It's hard to say.
(glances over at Arctor)
You should've cut the ignition as soon
as you realized what happened.
(CONTINUED)
42.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
For a second I couldn't figure it out.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(spinning and lashing out
with bost fists)
MOTHERFUCKER! Somebody did this
intentionally! They fucking almost
killed us!
Barris pulls out a snuffbox, removies a few tabs of Death,
and swallows them. He passes the snuffbox to Luckman, who
takes a few with a shaky hand, then passes the box to
Arctor. Arctor hands it back to Barris without taking any.
BOB ARCTOR
(irritably)
Maybe this is what's fucking us up,
messing up our brains.
JIM BARRIS
Dope can't screw up a carb-idle
adjustment, my friend.
(holds box out to Arctor)
You'd better take at least three of
these. They're primo, but mild.
BOB ARCTOR
Put the fucking snuffbox away!
Barris smiles, puts it away. Arctor tries to focus back on
the engine. He sways lightheadedly and supports himself
against the car. The hot sun beats down on the back of his
head. Cars whiz by, the traffic noises intensified. He
hears singing, quiet at first, but soon overwhelming. It's
awful, discordant. He looks at Luckman and Barris,
silhouetted against the sun. Luckman says something, but
Arctor can't make it out over the singing and the traffic
noise. An awful smell permeates the air. Arctor sniffs at
it. His face contorts. He feels nauseated, shuts his eyes.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(barely audible above
singing)
Hey, do you smell something, man? A
clue? Some engine smell that --
BOB ARCTOR
(eyes suddenly wide)
Dog shit! Do you smell dog shit?
(CONTINUED)
43.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(eyeing Arctor)
No.
(to Barris)
Were there any psychedelics in that
dope?
Barris smiles and shakes his head. Arctor studies the
engine, sniffs it.
BOB ARCTOR
It's an illusion, right? There's no
dog shit smell. How could there be
dog shit in the eng...
He spots ugly, dark brown stains around the motorblock.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
(freaked)
Dog shit! Dog shit!
(trying to focus)
Oil. Spilled oil. Thrown oil.
That's all. Maybe a leaky head gasket.
Arctor reaches down to touch the dark stain. His hand jerks
back in revulsion.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
Dog shit! Fuck! It is dog shit!
Now he looks around the engine and sees it everywhere: all
over the block, on the wires, on the fire wall. He looks
up, sees it smeared on the soundproofing under the hood.
The smell is overwhelming. He lurches away from the car,
shuts his eyes, staggers. Luckman grabs Arctor's arm.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Hey, man, you're getting a flashback.
JIM BARRIS
(chuckling)
Free theater tickets.
Luckman guides Arctor to the driver's seat, sits him down.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Now just take it easy. Nobody got
killed and now we're warned. It's
okay. It's okay. Everything's okay.
Arctor closes his eyes.
44.
EXT. KIMBERLY'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
Kimberly walks, catatonic and terribly bruised. Dan pops up
and stabs her repeatedly. She falls onto a big wet pile of
dog shit. Barris appears in an apartment window, waving.
JIM BARRIS
Hey, Bob, want a lump of dog shit? To
chew on?
EXT. ARCTOR'S CAR - DAY
Arctor opens his eyes fast. Barris, looking on
compassionately, squats next to him outside the car.
BOB ARCTOR
What, Jim? What'd you say?
Barris begins to laugh and laugh.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(punches Barris on the back)
Leave him alone, man. Fuck off.
BOB ARCTOR
(to Luckman)
What did Barris say just now? What
the hell exactly did he just say?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I don't know, man. I can't figure out
half the things he lays on people.
Arctor again looks at Barris. He is smiling sweetly.
BOB ARCTOR
You goddamn Barris! I know you did
it, screwed over the cephscope and now
my car! You kinky freak mother
bastard!
The smell of dog shit is becoming overwhelming again.
Arctor tries not to vomit. His head swims.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Take it easy, Bob.
BOB ARCTOR
I know it's him, man. I know.
(CONTINUED)
45.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
That doesn't make any sense. He'd
have snuffed himself too.
Barris nods in agreement. He smiles again. Now there's dog
shit coating Barris's teeth. Arctor throws up on the
dashboard, rests his head in his hands
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What was in those tabs you gave us?
JIM BARRIS
Hell, I took some too. And so did
you. Didn't give us a bad trip.
Besides it was so soon. Your stomach
can't even absorb --
Arctor's head jerks up to face Barris.
BOB ARCTOR
YOU FUCKING POISONED ME!
Barris and Luckman look at Arctor.
EXT. ARCTOR'S CAR - AFTERNOON
A tow truck is parked in front of the car. The three guys
are inside, Arctor at the wheel, Barris and Luckman in back.
A mechanic closes up the hood.
INT. ARCTOR'S CAR - AFTERNOON
The three drive along in silence. Arctor is pale, but seems
back in control.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I wonder what's been going on back at
the house.
Arctor glances at Luckman in the rearview mirror.
ERNIE LUCKMAN (CONT'D)
You know, this proves, Bob, that
somebody is out to burn you real bad.
I just hope the house is still there
when we get back.
BOB ARCTOR
Yeah, I hope.
(CONTINUED)
46.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about
that, gents.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Christ, Barris, they may have ripped
off everything we got, or stomped all
our animals, or --
JIM BARRIS
But I left a little surprise for
anyone entering the house. An
electronic surprise, if you will.
Arctor shifts his glance in the rearview mirror to Barris.
BOB ARCTOR
What kind of surprise? It's my house,
Jim, you can't start rigging up --
JIM BARRIS
Easy. Be cool.
BOB ARCTOR
Well, what is it?
JIM BARRIS
If the front door is opened, my tape
recorder starts recording.
BOB ARCTOR
You should've told me.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What if they come in the window or
through the back door?
JIM BARRIS
To increase the chance of them making
their entry via the front door, I
providentially left it unlocked.
They drive in silence.
BOB ARCTOR
Well, they're not going to expect it
to be unlocked, so they'll go in the
window.
JIM BARRIS
But I put a note on the front door.
(CONTINUED)
47.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
You're jiving me.
JIM BARRIS
Yes.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Are you fucking jiving us or not? I
can't tell with you, man. Is he
jiving us or not, Bob?
BOB ARCTOR
We'll see when we get back. If
there's a note on the door and it's
unlocked, we'll know he's not jiving
us.
More silence.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
But they'd probably take the note down
and lock the door after vandalizing
and robbing us. So we'll never know.
It's that gray area again. Damn it!
JIM BARRIS
Of course I'm kidding, guys! Only a
psychotic would leave the front door
open with a note on it.
Silence.
BOB ARCTOR
So what did you write on the note, Jim?
JIM BARRIS
I wrote: "Donna, come on in, the door's
unlocked. We..." The note's to Donna.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
He did do that. He really did it.
JIM BARRIS
This way, we'll know who's been
messing with us, Bob. And that is of
prime importance.
EXT. BOB ARCTOR'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON
The car pulls up to the house. The three guys get out. A
piece of paper is tacked to the door. It reads: "Donna come
on inside; door's unlocked. We've gone to Long Beach for the
day to purchase a stolen cephscope."
(CONTINUED)
48.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Jesus, Barris.
Arctor turns the knob. It's unlocked. He looks at Barris
and shakes his head. Barris grins, shrugs. They enter.
INT. BOB ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Barris studies the room.
JIM BARRIS
Interesting. Everything is exactly as
we left it. They're very clever.
Barris pulls his .22 from the top of the bookshelf. The
animals appear, clamoring to be fed.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Well, Barris, I can see you're right.
There was definitely someone here. You
see, the scrupulous covering-over of
all signs they otherwise would've left
testifies to their --
(farts, heads into kitchen)
Barris, you're one paranoid fuck.
Barris continues to search the room, gun drawn. Arctor
watches him intently, trying to appear uninterested.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Kids voices. We scan across the following entry.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Strange how, now and then, paranoia
can link up with reality.
A hand turns the page.
INT. ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Barris studies a full ashtray on the coffee table.
JIM BARRIS
Look at this!
Arctor and Luckman, who has emerged from the kitchen with a
beer, approach the ashtray. Luckman holds his hand over it.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
A still-hot butt. It sure is.
(CONTINUED)
49.
CONTINUED:
Arctor massages the bridge of his nose. Then, trying his
best to play dumb:
BOB ARCTOR
My God, who was here?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Wait, this is what's hot.
(reaches into ashtray,
pulls out roach)
They lit a joint.
(looking around)
But what'd they do? What the fuck did
they do?
JIM BARRIS
That roach may not be a slip-up.
Maybe they were here specifically to
plant dope, then phone in a tip later.
Maybe there's dope planted all over
this house. We're going to have to go
through and get this place clean.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I'll check the wall sockets. You take
apart the tv and stereo.
Luckman grabs a screwdriver. Barris raises his head sagely.
JIM BARRIS
Wait. If they see us scrambling around
before the raid --
BOB ARCTOR
What raid?
JIM BARRIS
-- then we can't allege, even though
it's true, that we didn't know the
dope was there. Maybe that, too, is
part of their ingenious plan.
Luckman throws down the screwdriver as if it's red hot.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
We're fucked! We can't do anything!
BOB ARCTOR
Did you forget about the recorder, Jim?
(CONTINUED)
50.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
Oh yes. The tape should be extremely
informational at this point.
(pulls it from under couch)
Well, it probably wouldn't ultimately
have proven that important.
BOB ARCTOR
Forget to turn it on, did you?
JIM BARRIS
No. The first thing they did upon
entering was switch it to "off".
ERNIE LUCKMAN
It's off? Fuck! Those fuckers.
JIM BARRIS
They made their move swiftly, before
so much as an inch of tape pasesd
through the recording head.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Now what? Now what the fuck do we do?
JIM BARRIS
You know, Bob, there is one thing you
could do, although it would take time.
BOB ARCTOR
Sell the house?
Barris nods gravely.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Does anybody know a good realtor?
JIM BARRIS
I've got an acquaintance in the field.
Barris and Luckman look at Arctor.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
We should probably act fast, man.
JIM BARRIS
We don't know how fast they're gonna
swoop down on us.
Arctor studies Barris and Luckman, their anxious eyes bore
into him. He sways, gets confused, begins to buy Barris's
scenario.
(CONTINUED)
51.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
What reason should we give for selling?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Yeah, we can't tell the truth. We
need a shuck. Barris, what's a good
shuck?
BOB ARCTOR
We'll just flat out say there's
narcotics planted all over the place
and since we don't know where, we
decided to move out and let the new
owner get busted instead of us.
JIM BARRIS
No. I don't think we can afford to be
that up front. Bob, you say you got a
job transfer.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Where to, though? Where the fuck to?
JIM BARRIS
Cleveland.
BOB ARCTOR
I say we tell them the truth. In
fact, we can put an ad in the Times:
"Modern, three bedroom tract house,
two bathrooms for easy flushing, with
high grade dope stashed in all rooms."
It's a selling point.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
But they'd be calling asking what kind
of dope, and we don't know. Man!
JIM BARRIS
Or how much. Prospective buyers might
inquire about the quantity.
BOB ARCTOR
(slumps back on the couch)
They appear to have us.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Christ, this is awful!
Donna appears from one of the bedrooms, rumpled and sleepy.
(CONTINUED)
52.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Hey, I came in, like the note said. I
waited for you for awhile, then I
crashed. Why are you guys yelling?
The three guys look at each other.
BOB ARCTOR
Did you smoke a joint? Before you
crashed?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Of course. Otherwise I can't sleep.
You shouldn't leave your place
unlocked like that. You could get
ripped off and it would be your own
fault. That's the main reason I came
in when I saw the note. Somebody
ought to be here if the place is
unlocked with a note on it.
BOB ARCTOR
How long have you been here?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Well, you could've taken down the
note, locked the door, and left.
Donna looks at Luckman, trying to figure out what he just
said, then back to Arctor.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Approximately thirty-eight minutes.
Hey, Bob, I got that wolf book, if you
want to see it. It's got a lot of
heavy shit in it.
Barris falls back into a ratty easy chair.
JIM BARRIS
Life is only heavy and none else;
heavy that leads to the grave. For
everyone and everything.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Did you say you were selling the
house? Or was that me dreaming?
BOB ARCTOR
Shit, I hope it was you dreaming.
53.
INT. HANK'S OFFICE - MORNING
Scramble-suited Hank is unrolling a floor plan labeled
"Arctor's House" in front of scramble-suited Fred.
HANK
Here are the locations of the eight
scanners. We transmit to a safe house
down the block from Arctor's.
FRED
That's where I do playback?
HANK
Yeah. And we use also use it for
playback on five other houses. So
you'll be bumping into other
undercover people. Always wear your
scramble suit.
FRED
Fine.
HANK
Make note of the scanner locations.
If they need servicing, you can take
care of it while you're at Arctor's.
As long as nobody's around.
FRED
I'll have to edit myself out, so you
won't see who's fixing the scanners.
HANK
Right. Although we assume you're
Barris, or Luckman, or Freck, or
Arctor or Donna Hawthorne --
FRED
(computerized chuckle)
Donna?
HANK
So don't edit yourself from all tapes,
or we'll deduce who you are by process
of elimination. Leave yourself in in
places. Be creative. Have fun.
FRED
Okay.
(CONTINUED)
54.
CONTINUED:
HANK
This will help greatly in determining
what the hell Arctor's up to.
FRED
We don't know he's up to anything.
HANK
We've got more recent information.
There is no doubt any longer:
Arctor's a phony, a three dollar bill.
So keep on him until we have enough to
arrest him and make it stick.
FRED
You think he's high up in Death
distribution?
HANK
What we think isn't of any importance
to you. You report; we evaluate.
FRED
Well, Arctor is doomed if he's up to
anything. And I have a hunch from
what you say that he is.
HANK
We should have a case on him soon.
Then we can seize his house. I think
you'd like it. It's rundown and
dirty, but it's big. Nice yard. The
installation crew reported it has
excellent possibilities.
FRED
For what?
HANK
Well, the living room gives a view of
the intersection, so passing vehicles
could be graphed and... but Burt
What's-his-face, who headed the crew,
felt that it'd been allowed to
deteriorate so badly that --
FRED
Deteriorate in what way?
HANK
The roof.
(CONTINUED)
55.
CONTINUED:
FRED
The roof's perfect.
HANK
Interior and exterior paint. The
condition of the floors.
FRED
Bullshit. It's all fine.
HANK
Then you recommend we acquire it after
Arctor's arrested and loses title?
Fred just stares at Hank, who holds his pen at the ready.
FRED
I have no opinion.
Fred rises to leave.
HANK
You're not splitting yet. You have to
report to room 203.
FRED
Hank, if this is about the Lion's Club
speech, I've already explained --
HANK
This is something different.
INT. ROOM 203 - MORNING
The room is all white, with steel fixtures, steel chairs, and
a steel desk. Fred is being interviewed by two sheriff's
deputies in full uniform with medical stripes.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
You are Officer Fred?
FRED
Yes.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
And you take Substance D?
Fred is about to respond.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
The question is moot, because it is
taken for granted that in your work
you are required to.
(CONTINUED)
56.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
So don't answer. Not that it's
incriminating, but it's simply moot.
FRED
Look, about the Lion's Club --
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
What this testing session is about
stems from a departmental survey
showing that several undercover agents
have been admitted to Neural Aphasia
clinics in the last month.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
You're aware that Substance D is
highly addictive, are you not?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Don't answer that.
FRED
You think I'm an addict?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Whether or whether not you are an
addict is not a prime issue, as a
blocking agent is expected from the
Army Chemical Warfare Division within
the next five years. What these tests
pertain to is --
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Let's begin with the Set-Ground Test.
Shall we?
Medical Technician #1 holds up a card with a geometric
diagram printed on it.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Within these apparently meaningless
lines is a familiar object that we all
would recognize. You are to tell me
what the object is and...
Fred studies the diagram searching for some recognizable
shape. There is nothing discernible in the diagram.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1 (CONT'D)
... point to it.
(CONTINUED)
57.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
In many of those taking Substance D, a
split between the right hemisphere and
the left hemisphere occurs. There is
a loss of proper gestalting, which is
a defect within both the percept and
the cognitive systems.
Fred continues to study the diagram.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Can you see the form here, Fred? We
need an answer. There is a time limit.
FRED
(hesitantly)
I see a Coke bottle, I guess.
The two technicians exchange glances.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
A soda pop bottle is correct.
Medical Technician #1 puts down the card and makes a note on
his clipboard. He holds up another card.
FRED
Is this about the Lion's Club speech?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Are you getting cross-chatter, Fred?
FRED
Getting what?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Between the hemispheres. Cross-
chatter.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
If there's damage to the left
hemisphere, where the linguistic skills
are normally located, then sometimes
the right hemisphere will fill in.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
To the best of its limited abilities.
FRED
I don't think I'm getting that.
(CONTINUED)
58.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Thoughts not your own, perhaps?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
As if another person were thinking?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Foreign words you don't understand?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
You'll keep your eyes open for
anything like this, won't you?
FRED
Okay.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Good. Now what do you see here?
FRED
A sheep.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Show us the sheep, Fred.
Fred points.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
An impairment in set-background
discrimination gets you into a heap of
trouble -- instead of no forms, you
actually perceive faulty forms.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Forms that aren't there.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Like dog shit, for example.
FRED
I'm sorry, what did you say?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
I'm sorry, Fred, what?
FRED
Nothing. I'm guessing it's not a
sheep. But was I close at least?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
This isn't a Rorshach, Fred. There is
only one right answer. In this case
it's a dog.
(CONTINUED)
59.
CONTINUED:
FRED
It's what? What did you say it is?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
It's a dog.
FRED
Oh. How can you tell?
The technician turns over the card, showing the isolated
outline of a greyhound on the other side.
FRED (CONT'D)
Okay. I see it now. What does it
mean that I saw a sheep? Does it mean
that I'm crazy?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Crazy isn't a psychiatric diagnosis,
Fred.
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S CAR - DAY
Freck drives along in great spirits. He giggles and plots.
CHARLES FRECK
Okay okay okay. So I go to Barris,
"Hey, Barris, I bought a methedrine
plant today," and he goes...
(childish Barris
impersonation)
"Methedrine is a benny, like speed, la
la la. It's made synthetically in a
lab la la la. It isn't organic like
pot. There's no such thing as a
methedrine plant, like there is a pot
plant." Then I go...
(big punchline)
"I meant I inherited forty thousand
dollars from an uncle and purchased a
plant in this guy's garage where he
makes meth. It's a factory. Plant in
that sense... ' Okay okay, I don't
have the phrasing exactly yet, but
when I lay this on Barris, man, I'm
going to get him so good.
EXT. BOB ARCTOR'S HOUSE - DAY
Arctor and Barris, in greasy clothes, are in the driveway
working on Arctor's car. Freck pulls up, gets out of his car
and approaches.
(CONTINUED)
60.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
Hey, Jim, I bought a meth plant today.
JIM BARRIS
How big?
CHARLES FRECK
What do you mean?
JIM BARRIS
How big a plant?
CHARLES FRECK
(confused as to how to
proceed)
Um, well... like, what do you mean?
BOB ARCTOR
How much you pay, Freck?
CHARLES FRECK
Uh, about ten bucks.
BOB ARCTOR
Jim could've gotten it for you cheaper.
JIM BARRIS
They're practically giving meth plants
away.
CHARLES FRECK
This is a whole fucking garage! A
factory! It turns out a million pills
a day!
JIM BARRIS
(grinning)
All that for ten bucks?
BOB ARCTOR
Where's it located, Freck?
CHARLES FRECK
Not around here. Hey, fuck it, you
guys.
Freck leans against the house and pulls out a cigarette.
BOB ARCTOR
(to Barris)
What about the carb?
(CONTINUED)
61.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
Bent choke shaft. The whole carb
needs to be rebuilt.
BOB ARCTOR
Why is it bent?
Barris shrugs. Luckman emerges from the house.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I phoned and they're checking to see
what a rebuilt carb will set you back.
Hey, Freck.
CHARLES FRECK
(pissy)
Hey.
BOB ARCTOR
(to Luckman)
Freck bought a meth plant today.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Cool. How big?
CHARLES FRECK
Fuck off.
JIM BARRIS
(to Arctor)
You could put a four barrel on instead
of a two, while you're at it.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
It would idle too high. And it
wouldn't upshift.
JIM BARRIS
The idling jets could be replaced with
smaller jets. And he could watch his
rpms with a tach. Usually just
backing off the gas pedal causes it to
upshift if the automatic linkage
doesn't do it.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
If he tromped down heavy on the step-
down passing gear to get a lot of
torque suddenly on the freeway, it'd
downshift and rev up so high it'd blow
the whole engine.
(CONTINUED)
62.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
The tach needle would jump and he'd
back off.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
While passing a big semi? He'd have
to blow the engine up or he'd never
get around what he was trying to pass.
JIM BARRIS
Momentum would carry him past.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What about uphill?
JIM BARRIS
What does this car weigh, Bob?
BOB ARCTOR
About a thousand pounds.
Freck, who has been watching this exchange, catches Arctor
wink at Luckman.
JIM BARRIS
Well, you're right then. It wouldn't
have much interia mass.
(calculating on a pad)
A thousand pounds traveling eighty
miles an hour --
BOB ARCTOR
That's a thousand pounds with
passengers, a full tank of gas, and a
carton of bricks in the trunk.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
How many passengers, Bob?
BOB ARCTOR
Twelve.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
That's six in the back and six --
BOB ARCTOR
No. Eleven in the back and the driver
alone up front. The extra weight is
in the back so it doesn't fishtail.
(CONTINUED)
63.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
This car fishtails?
BOB ARCTOR
Unless you get eleven people in back.
JIM BARRIS
Be better, then, to have two three
hundred pound bags of sand in the
trunk. Then the passengers could be
distributed more comfortably.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What about one six hundred pound bag
of gold, Jim?
JIM BARRIS
If you bastards wouldn't rappity-rap
on like a bunch of speed freaks, I
could complete my computations and
tell you how this car with its weight
would handle a four barrel carb. So
shut the fuck up, you assholes!
Luckman stares at Barris, pulls a book from his back pocket.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I'm going to read to you now, Barris.
(reading)
"He to whom it is given to see Christ
more real than any other reality...
JIM BARRIS
What?
As Luckman reads, he walks menacingly toward Barris, who
backs away.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
"...than any other reality in the
World, Christ everywhere present and
everywhere growing more great, Christ
the final determination and plasmatic
Principle of the Universe --"
BOB ARCTOR
What is that, Luckman?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Teilhard de Chardin. "... that man
indeed lives in a zone where no
multiplicity can distress him and
which is nevertheless the most active
workshop of universal fulfillment."
(CONTINUED)
64.
CONTINUED:
Luckman closes the book. He has backed Barris against the
wall of the house. Freck tries to get in between them.
CHARLES FRECK
Cool it, you guys.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Out of the way, Freck. I'm going to
coldcock Barris into tomorrow for
talking to his betters like that.
Luckman brings back his arm to punch Barris. Barris bleats
in terror and runs crazily for the house.
JIM BARRIS
I hear the phone ringing about the
carb. I'll get it.
They watch him go.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I was just kidding.
CHARLES FRECK
What if he comes back with his gun and
silencer?
Arctor and Luckman look dismissively at Freck, and go back
under the hood of the car. Freck stands nervously by his
car, shifting from foot to foot, ready for a quick getaway.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Look, I'm splitting.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Naw, stay, man, you're a brother.
CHARLES FRECK
Naw, I'm cutting out.
Barris emerges tentatively from the house, carrying a hammer.
JIM BARRIS
It was a wrong number, man.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Hey, what's the hammer for, Jimmy-Boy?
BOB ARCTOR
To fix the engine. What else?
(CONTINUED)
65.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
Thought I would bring it with me, since
I was indoors and noticed it.
Freck watches this exchange. He anxiously climbs in his car.
CHARLES FRECK
I'm gonna split. I'll see you guys.
BOB ARCTOR
The most dangerous kind of person is
one who's afraid of his own shadow.
Freck's eyes widen at this statement. He drives off.
INT. FRECK'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
Freck drives along, sweating.
CHARLES FRECK
Did Bob mean me afraid of my own
shadow? But that was turning into a
super-bummer. Where's the chicken into
not wanting to be around that?
Everything's changing, man. Used to be
cool to hang out. Now its totally
dark.
Frank slips in his 8-track of Janis Joplin singing "All is
Loneliness." He cries as he drives.
EXT. JERRY FABIN'S HOUSE - DAY
The furniture has been removed from the lawn. Freck pulls
into the driveway and heads to the house. He knocks on the
door, waits, sniffling. He knocks again.
CHARLES FRECK
Jerry! Jerry! Let me in, man, I'm
truly bummed! I wanna talk!
A couple of hippies on the stoop next door watch Freck.
HEAD #1
Hey, Jerry's gone.
Freck looks over blankly at the hippy. Then it registers.
CHARLES FRECK
Fuck! I can't believe I forgot
Jerry's dead. What is wrong with me?
(CONTINUED)
66.
CONTINUED:
HEAD #1
He's not dead, man. He's in the Number
Three Federal Clinic.
Freck lets this register. He starts to cry again.
CHARLES FRECK
Fuck, I can't believe I forgot Jerry's
not dead. What is wrong with me?
Freck hurries to his car, speeds down the street.
INT. ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Arctor, Luckman, and Barris lounge around, stoned. Arctor
seems relaxed, reclining on the couch and glancing
discreetly at the hidden holo-scanner.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
You seem mellow, Bob. Having to spend
a hundred bucks on a new carb wouldn't
make me mellow.
BOB ARCTOR
I'll cruise the streets until I come
across an Olds, then unbolt the carb.
Like everyone else I know.
JIM BARRIS
Especially Donna. That chick steals
everything she can carry.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I'll tell you a Donna story. One day
she put a quarter in a stamp machine
and it kept spitting out stamps, till
she had like eighteen thousand stamps.
JIM BARRIS
At what individual price per stamp?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Fifteen cents per individual stamp.
JIM BARRIS
That's twenty-seven hundred dollars, if
my arithmetic is correct.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
And so what's Donna gonna do with so
many stamps? She can barely write...
(CONTINUED)
67.
CONTINUED:
Arctor smiles as he watches Luckman and Barris. Their
chatter continues, but goes under as we hear Arctor's V.O.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
The scanners will have miles of this
tripped-out garbage. But it's not the
stuff that happens while I'm here that
matters. It's what goes on while I'm
gone. So I'll split. Then I'll see
what these three clowns are up to.
We again focus on Luckman and Barris's conversation.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
So she ripped off the whole stamp
machine and remounted it, like,
somewhere where the postal authorities
wouldn't spot it and...
Back to Arctor, as his expression shifts to anxious.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
What if I see some awful truth about
the people I care about on these
tapes? What if I see Donna climbing in
the window and ripping me off, or
destroying my stuff? Or some weird,
nightmarish world beyond the mirror...
INT. ARCTOR'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The living room has a monochromatic, dream-like quality to
it. Suddenly Donna crawls in on all fours. There is an non-
human blankness to her face. She sticks her head into the
dog's bowl and eats greedily, making slurping noises.
INT. ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Arctor lurches out of his fantasy, freaked out. Luckman and
Barris don't notice. They're still jabbering away.
JIM BARRIS
You realize our taxes were raised by
her stealing those stamps? It's one
thing to steal auto parts, but when you
steal from Uncle Sam --
BOB ARCTOR
I'm going out to score some beans.
Luckman, is your Falcon running?
(CONTINUED)
68.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(beat, lying)
No. I don't think so.
BOB ARCTOR
Barris?
JIM BARRIS
I wonder, Bob, if you can handle my
car? By that mean there are --
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Fuck, Barris. It's an ordinary six
cylinder. The parking lot jockeys park
it all the time, for God's sake.
JIM BARRIS
There are certain secret devices which
have been incorporated --
BOB ARCTOR
I'll walk.
JIM BARRIS
It's just that it has certain secret --
BOB ARCTOR
Forget it. If I tried to drive your
car, I'd press the wrong button and
float up over the greater L.A. area.
JIM BARRIS
I'm glad you appreciate my position.
Arctor exits.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
You're fucked, Barris. You know that?
INT. SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT
Fred sits in a cubicle and stares at a holo-monitor On it
Barris winds a string around the bowl of a hash pipe while
Luckman watches tv and stuffs his face from a tv dinner. We
hear other tapes being played in other cubicles: stoned
conversations; screaming; high-pitched fast-forward squeals.
Another scramble suit walks by Fred's cubicle and glances at
the monitor.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
You're allowed to fast forward through
the dull stuff, y'know.
(CONTINUED)
69.
CONTINUED:
FRED
Would if I could, but this is live.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
(after a moment, chuckling)
You call that living?
Fred chuckles perfunctorily. Scramble Suit #1 leaves. Fred
continues to watch.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(mouth full of food)
Fucking McDonaldburger commercials.
Suddenly Luckman gags, jumps to his feet, turns to Barris,
signaling wildly. He staggers around, choking. Barris
watches him blankly. Luckman lurches to the kitchen.
FRED
Jesus fuck! Barris!
We see Luckman on the kitchen holo-scanner knocking things
over, grabbing a glass from the counter and trying to fill it
with water. On the living room monitor, Barris camly
continues to wrap string around his hash pipe.
FRED (CONT'D)
(leaping to his feet)
Barris?! Barris!!
Luckman gives up on the water and begins hurling pots and
plates at the kitchen walls trying to attract Barris's
attention. Barris, in the living room, does not respond.
All at once, Luckman falls to the kitchen floor unconscious.
In the living room, Barris smiles a little smile. Fred
watches, paralyzed. Barris casually rises and strolls into
the kitchen. He studies Luckman spread out on the floor.
He looks at the dishes and pots scattered about. Then,
suddenly, he rips off his sunglasses in a faux panic,
working himself up for the frantic 911 phone call. His eyes
widen in horror, he flaps his arms helplessly, runs back and
forth until he starts to pant, then dials the phone.
JIM BARRIS
Operator, I need, I'm not sure, is it
called the inhalator squad or the
resuscitation squad?
OPERATOR
Is someone unable to breathe, sir?
(CONTINUED)
70.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS
It is, I believe, cardiac arrest.
Either that or involuntary aspiration
of a bolus within the --
OPERATOR
What is the address, sir?
JIM BARRIS
The address, the address. let's see...
FRED
Christ! Just --
Luckman heaves violently on the floor. He thrashes around,
throws up the material in his throat, and opens his eyes.
JIM BARRIS
Uh, thank you. No assistance is needed
after all. Good morrow.
Barris hangs up.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
You okay, Ernst?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
I must've gagged. Did I pass out?
JIM BARRIS
Not exactly. You did go into an
altered state of consciousness for a
few seconds. Probably an alpha state.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Fuck. I shit myself.
Luckman stands, unsteadily. Fred relaxes, sits back down at
his console. Luckman splashes himself with tap water.
ERNIE LUCKMAN (CONT'D)
What were you doing while I was lying
there, jacking off?
JIM BARRIS
You saw me on the phone, summoning the
paramedics. I moved into action
immedi --
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Balls.
71.
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
Arctor walks home, deep in thought. A MG speeds by, makes a
screeching u-turn, pulls up beside Arctor, honks it's horn.
Arctor squints inside. It's Donna. He opens the passenger
door, gets in.
INT. DONNA'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Did I scare you? Heh heh.
BOB ARCTOR
I just did a freaky number, not like a
fantasy trip, but... So I'm kinda --
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I have your stuff.
BOB ARCTOR
My stuff?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Your Death.
Donna screeches off too fast, weaves, tailgates a Coke truck.
BOB ARCTOR
Fucking Barris. You know how he kills
you? He doesn't. He waits until a
situation arises where you die, and he
just sits there. In fact he sets you
up to die. I don't know how exactl --
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Do you have the money?
BOB ARCTOR
What?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I need the money right now.
BOB ARCTOR
Sure. Yeah.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I don't like Barris, and I don't trust
him. He's crazy. And you're crazy
when you're around him. You're crazy
right now.
(CONTINUED)
72.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
I am?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Yeah.
BOB ARCTOR
Donna, I know I can count on you to
tell me if I'm getting weird or crazy
or like that. Okay?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Hey, you wanna take me to a concert at
Anaheim Stadium next weekend?
BOB ARCTOR
Right on. Yeah. That sounds --
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I'm gonna bring some really oily hash
and get really loaded. But you have
to wear something neat, not those funky
clothes you sometimes wear.
BOB ARCTOR
I'll wear whatever you say.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I'm taking us to my place. And you do
have the money and you'll give it to
me. Then we'll drop a few of the tabs
and kick back. Maybe you could buy a
fifth of Southern Comfort and we could
get bombed as well.
BOB ARCTOR
Oh, wow. That sounds good.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You know what would be cool tonight,
is to go to the Torrance Drive-in.
They're showing all eleven Planet of
the Apes movies. From 7:30 to 8:00
tomorrow morning.
BOB ARCTOR
Can a drive-in show movies in the
morning?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I haven't seen all the Ape movies in
years. And the last one for longer
than that, the one where they reveal
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
73.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE (cont'd)
all the famous guys in history, like
Nero and Lincoln, were secretly apes...
INT. DONNA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
It's dark. The door unlocks, light from the hall spills in.
Donna enters, flips on the light. There's a trail of
newspapers on the floor.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Stay on the newspaper. I just had the
rug shampooed.
Arctor enters and stands on a square of newspaper. He looks
around. The place is cluttered with piles of stuff
BOB ARCTOR
Do you ever throw anything away?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Someday I'm gonna get married and I'm
going to need all this stuff. When
you get married, you need everything
there is.
Donna slips out of her leather jacket, tosses it on a pile of
jackets, and pads into the kitchen. Arctor follows her,
tiptoeing along the paper.
BOB ARCTOR
How much of what you've got did you
buy and how much did you steal?
INT. DONNA'S KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Buy? What do you mean "buy"?
Donna opens a cabinet, reaches in back, pulls out several
plastic bags of pills. She lays them on the counter, opens
a drawer, pulls out a pipe and some hash, sits at the table
and fills the pipe. Arctor lays money on the table.
BOB ARCTOR
Like when you buy dope. Like a dope
deal. When I mean by "buy" is an
extension into the greater world of
business transactions of what we have
present now, with us, as dope deals.
(CONTINUED)
74.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I think I see what you're saying.
BOB ARCTOR
Like when you rip off those Coca-Cola
truck you tailgate. That's stealing.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
No. It's a form of barter.
BOB ARCTOR
Donna, look, you're gonna get caught,
and if you got drugs in your car when
they catch you, there's nothing I can
do to protect you then.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You protect me? What are you talking
about?
BOB ARCTOR
Nothing. I just... Please take care.
Donna lights the pipe.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
The Coca-Cola company is a capitalist
monopoly. No one else can make it but
them. That's fucking wrong.
(beat)
C'mere, I'll supercharge you.
Arctor sits down at the table.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay, cool.
Donna walks over to him, puffing the hash pipe to keep it
alive. She bends over him and Arctor opens his mouth. She
exhales long and forcefully into his mouth. This is as close
as these two get to sex. Arctor's eyes go soft as he looks
up at Donna.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
I love you, Donna.
Donna looks down at him.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Yeah, I can dig it, you being in love
with me.
(CONTINUED)
75.
CONTINUED:
Donna grins, sits down and takes a hit from the pipe.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. DONNA'S LIVING ROOM - A BIT LATER
Donna and Arctor are stoned on the couch in the dim room.
BOB ARCTOR
Hey, Donna, man, do you like cats?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Dripping little things. Moving along
about a foot above the ground.
BOB ARCTOR
No. On the ground.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Drippy. Behind furniture.
BOB ARCTOR
Little spring flowers, then?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Yes. Little spring flowers. With
yellow in them. That first come up.
BOB ARCTOR
Before. Before anyone.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Yes. Before anyone stomps on them and
they're gone.
Arctor's eyes get wet.
BOB ARCTOR
Yeah. You know me exactly, Donna.
You can read me. No one knows me but
you.
Donna draws on the pipe, but it's out.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
No more.
Her smile disappears.
BOB ARCTOR
What's wrong?
(CONTINUED)
76.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Nothing.
BOB ARCTOR
Donna, can I put my arm around you. I
want to hold you, okay?
Donna's stoned eyes suddenly widen.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
No, you're too ugly.
BOB ARCTOR
What?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
No! Look, I snort a lot of coke; I
have to be super careful because I
snort a lot of coke.
BOB ARCTOR
Ugly? Fuck you, Donna.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Just leave my body alone.
BOB ARCTOR
(putting on his shoes)
Sure. Yeah. You better believe it.
Arctor rises, disappears into the kitchen.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(calling after)
I don't like people to grope my body!
(talking to herself)
I have to watch out for that because I
do so much coke. Someday I'm gonna go
over the Canadian border with four
pounds of coke in my snatch. I'll say
I'm a Catholic and a virgin.
Arctor passes through the room with his bags of Death.
BOB ARCTOR
I'm taking off.
He heads for the door. Donna tries to rise, confused and
half asleep.
(CONTINUED)
77.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You don't have your car. I'll drive
you, man.
(looks for her shoes)
But you can see why I have to protect
my snatch --
BOB ARCTOR
You're too stoned to drive and you
never let anyone else drive that
little roller skate of yours.
She jerks upright and glares wildly at him.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(yelling)
That's because no one else can fucking
drive my car! Nobody else ever gets
it right, no man especially! Driving
or anything else! Listen, you had
your hands down into my --
Arctor is out the door.
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
Arctor hurries through the darkness. Donna pants behind him,
trying to catch up. She does. Arctor keeps walking.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
I'm dreadfully sorry I hurt your
feelings. Okay? I was out of it.
BOB ARCTOR
(muttering)
Too ugly.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Sometimes I get really spaced. You
wanna come back? Or what? You wanna
go to the drive-in? What about the
Southern Comfort? C'mon, I'm sorry.
Arctor stops, stares off for a while. Donna watches, waits.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
They turn and head back to the house.
(CONTINUED)
78.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
That sure is good hash though, huh?
They walk in silence.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You know what I'm going to do someday,
Bob? I'm going to move north to
Oregon and live in the snow. Have a
little house and a vegetable garden.
BOB ARCTOR
You'll have to save up for that.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(glancing up shyly)
He'll get me that. What's-his-name.
BOB ARCTOR
Who?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(sharing a secret)
Mr. Right. He'll drive an Aston-
Martin and take me north in it. And
that's where the little old fashioned
house will be in the snow.
BOB ARCTOR
You sure this'll happen?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
It's in the cards.
A heaviness descends upon Arctor. He stops. Donna stops.
BOB ARCTOR
Hey, man, can I go with you? To
Oregon? When you do take off finally?
Donna smiles up at Arctor. She gently shakes her head "no."
He studies her. Her answer will never change. He shivers.
Donna takes Arctor's hand, squeezes it, holds it. Her touch
fills him. After a moment, Donna lets her hand drop.
INT. ARCTOR'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Arctor enters the dimly lit bedroom followed by Connie, a
skinny girl with hollow eyes and a flat affect. He sifts
through his dresser drawer as she hovers behind him. Finally
he pulls out a baggie with some pills in it. Throughout, we
hear stoned conversation coming from another room.
(CONTINUED)
79.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Here you go.
CONNIE
Thanks, man.
Connie stuffs the baggie into her purse. She sits on the
bed and begins to unceremoniously undress. When her blouse
comes off, we see needle tracks and bruises on her arms.
She pulls a comb from her purse and listlessly combs her
lank hair. She drops the hand holding the comb and begins
to nod. Arctor looks at the tracks, at the pimple on her
cheek. Connie wakes up, sort of, and starts combing again.
CONNIE (CONT'D)
(mumbling)
Do you have a toothbrush I can use.
Aw screw it -- teeth are teeth. I'll
brush 'em. You gotta ...
Connie drones on, but her voice has become so quiet it can't
be heard. Arctor watches her lips work soundlessly.
Finally her voice becomes audible again.
CONNIE (CONT'D)
Who are those guys rattling on and on
out there? Jabber-jaws. They live
here with you, I guess.
BOB ARCTOR
Two of them do.
Connie fixes her dead eyes on Arctor.
CONNIE
You're queer?
BOB ARCTOR
I try not to be. That's why I've
arranged this transaction with you.
CONNIE
Yes, I suppose I'm about to find out.
Connie removes her bra and her skirt.
INT. ARCTOR'S BEDROOM - LATER
The lights are off. The off-screen conversation has stopped.
Instead we hear static from a signed-off tv station. Arctor
is in bed with Connie. Both are naked and partially under
covers. Connie lies rigidly on her back, arms straight down
by her sides. She snores. Arctor moves in and out of
(CONTINUED)
80.
CONTINUED:
consciousness. He opens his eyes, groggily orients himself,
glances over at the woman next to him. It's Donna. He
bolts upright, studies her face. It's still Donna. He
fumbles for the switch on the night table lamp and knocks it
to the floor. The woman next to him sleeps on. He watches
her face. Gradually it begins to turn back into Connie.
Arctor drops onto his back and looks at the ceiling.
INT. SAFE HOUSE - DAY
Fred sits in his cubicle monitoring the scanners. On one
scanner Barris sits in the living room reading a book about
mushrooms. After a moment, he lays the book face down on the
coffee table and leaves the house. Fred watches the empty
living room. He presses the fast forward button. The
sunlight coming in through the living room window shifts as
the day speeds by. The living room door opens. Fred slows
the tape to normal speed. Barris is back at the couch with
a brown bag. He dumps several mushrooms onto the table,
compares them with illustrations in the book. Finally, he
puts one aside, throws the rest in the bag, crumbles the
mushroom, and fills capsules. He dials the phone. An LED on
Fred's console indicates the phone number dialed.
TELEPHONE VOICE
Yeah?
JIM BARRIS
This is Jim.
TELEPHONE VOICE
Who?
JIM BARRIS
With the beard. Green shades.
Leather pants. I met you at that
happening at --
TELEPHONE VOICE
Oh, right. Yeah. That guy. Jim.
JIM BARRIS
Say, have I scored. Psylocybe
Mexicana. A rare hallucinogenic
mushroom used in South American
mystery cults thousands of years ago.
You fly, become invisible, understand
the speech of animals --
TELEPHONE VOICE
Truly? How much?
(CONTINUED)
81.
CONTINUED:
Two other Scramble Suits walk by Fred's console.
JIM BARRIS
Five dollars a cap.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
What's he peddling?
FRED
Mushrooms he seems to have picked
locally.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #2
Certain Amanita mushrooms contain
toxins that act as red blood cell
cracking agents. It takes two weeks
to die, it's incalculably painful, and
there's no antidote.
FRED
What's the statute violation?
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
Misrepresentation in advertising.
Both Scramble Suits laugh their computer laughs and
disappear. Fred goes back to the monitors. The front door
opens and Bob Arctor enters dejectedly.
FRED
Hi, Bob.
BOB ARCTOR
(to Barris)
Hi.
JIM BARRIS
How'd you make out with little Miss
Big Tits?
Barris chuckles.
FRED
Fuck off, Barris.
BOB ARCTOR
Fuck off, Barris.
Arctor passes out of range of the scanner. After a moment,
he reappears on the scanner inside his bedroom. He shuts
the door, removes the bags of tabs he scored from Donna,
looks around the room, then settles on stuffing the bags in
the back of his dresser drawer. He heads out of the bedroom
(CONTINUED)
82.
CONTINUED:
and reappears on the living room monitor. He walks past
Barris. Barris trails him casually
JIM BARRIS
Bob, I'm sorry if I offended you.
Both disappear from the living room monitor and reappear on
the kitchen monitor. Arctor fills the coffee pot with water.
BOB ARCTOR
Where's Luckman?
JIM BARRIS
He left with your jack, so I assume
he's off to knock over pay phones.
BOB ARCTOR
My axle jack?
JIM BARRIS
Y'know, I have a sure fire way you
could get into the pants of Little
Miss Big Tits. For under one dollar.
Fred fast forwards the tape. He stops. Barris and Arctor
are now on the living room monitor. Arctor is fuming.
BOB ARCTOR
Either you pay up your back rent or
get to work fixing my godamn cephscope!
JIM BARRIS
Yes. About that, Bob. I've already
ordered resistors --
Fred fast-forwards again. Now Barris is on the living room
monitor reading about mushrooms and Arctor is on the monitor
in his bedroom, writing in his notebook. The phone rings on
the living room monitor. Barris picks up.
JIM BARRIS (CONT'D)
Yeah?
TELEPHONE VOICE #3
Mr. Arctor?
JIM BARRIS
Yes, this is Robert Arctor.
Inside the Fred scramble suit we see Arctor's eyes widen.
(CONTINUED)
83.
CONTINUED:
TELEPHONE VOICE #3
I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Arctor,
but your check did not clear.
JIM BARRIS
Oh, yes, I've been meaning to call
you, but I've had a severe bout of
intestinal flu, with loss of body
heat, pyloric spasms, cramps...
In the monitor in his bedroom, Arctor continues to write in
his notebook, unaware. In his scramble suit at the console,
Bob Arctor, is freaked out, and writes in the same notebook.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Barris portraying Arctor as coming
off heroin.
JIM BARRIS
I just haven't been able to get it
together to make that little twenty
dollar check good, and frankly I don't
intend to make it good.
BOB ARCTOR (IN SCRAMBLE SUIT)
What?
TELEPHONE VOICE #3
What?
JIM BARRIS
You heard me correctly.
TELEPHONE VOICE #3
Mr. Arctor, those flu symptoms you
describe... I think you're a --
JIM BARRIS
Think what you want. Turn out, tune
out, and good-bye.
Barris hangs up. Fred checks the LED, picks up his phone.
FRED
Get me a name and address on this.
OPERATOR
Englesohn Locksmith, 1343 Harbor in
Anaheim, Loverboy.
Fred hangs up. We move inside the suit to Arctor's troubled
face. He writes in his notebook. The V.O. is disturbed.
(CONTINUED)
84.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
Barris up to something: pretending
to be me... writing rubber checks on
my account... representing me as a
heroin addict. BUT WHAT IS HE UP TO?
INT. SAFE HOUSE - A FEW MINUTES LATER
Fred paces. He passes a wall mirror, glances at his vague
face. He moves closer to the mirror, studies himself.
FRED
Arctor must've burned Barris pretty
bad to deserve this display of malice.
Scramble Suit #1 approaches Fred.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
I was thinking, do you actually know
these losers? Are you in among them?
FRED
Yeah. I'm there.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
You might want to warn them about the
mushrooms. Can you pass it on to them
without faulting your cover?
FRED
I suppose I can lay it on that one.
(indicates Arctor)
Without him flashing on me. He's
docile.
SCRAMBLE SUIT #1
Ugly-looking, too.
Scramble Suit #1 laughs. Fred joins in wholeheartedly.
INT. SAFE HOUSE - LATER
Fred watches the monitors. Arctor's house is quiet. Barris
and Luckman doze in the living room, the television tuned to
static. On another monitor, Arctor is sleeping in his bed
with a woman. After a beat Fred notices the woman is Donna.
We move in close to Fred's ever-changing eyes.
FRED
That can't be right. Arctor has never
done it with Donna. Has he?
(CONTINUED)
85.
CONTINUED:
Fred fast-rewinds the tape, switches it to play. Arctor is
in bed having sex with Connie. Fred sighs a computerized
sigh of relief and fast-forwards the tape. Arctor is now
sleeping next to Connie. Fred watches for a moment. As he
does the face of the sleeping woman transforms into Donna's.
Fred freezes the frame. Then he enlarges the holographic
image so it fills up the space previously occupied by all
eight monitors. The image is now almost actual size. Fred
rises and walks around the console into the projection area.
It's as if he's entering Arctor's bedroom, or a slightly
scaled down, frozen version of it. He approaches the
sleeping couple, bends down and examines the face of the
woman. It is clearly Donna. He stands in Arctor's bedroom
for a while, confused and disoriented, tries to look at
himself in Arctor's bureau mirror. Fred does not appear in
the holographic reflection of the room. He shudders,
returns to the console, brings up all eight monitors, and
turns off the freeze-frame. On the bedroom monitor, Arctor
awakens, and glances over at the woman sleeping next to him.
His eyes widen. He fumbles for the switch on the bedside
lamp, knocks it over. He turns back and stares at the
sleeping woman. As does Fred at the console.
EXT. ENGLESOHN LOCK COMPANY - MORNING
A yellow cab pulls up. Arctor emerges.
INT. ENGLESOHN LOCK COMPANY - CONTINUOUS
A plump old lady stands behind the counter. Arctor enters.
OLD LADY
Yes sir? Good morning.
BOB ARCTOR
Hi, I'm here...
The scene shifts to very slow motion. Everything grows
quiet. Colors become saturated, as in a Raphael painting.
FAR-AWAY VOICE
Ihr Instrumente freilich spottet
mein/Mit Rad und Kammen, Walz' und
Bugel:/Ich stand am Tor, ihr...
The scene shifts back. Maybe a hiccup's worth of time has
passed.
BOB ARCTOR
... to pay for a check of mine the
bank returned. It's twenty dollars.
(CONTINUED)
86.
CONTINUED:
OLD LADY
Oh. All-rightey.
The old lady opens a metal file box and, after a moment's
search, pulls out a check with a note clipped to it.
OLD LADY
Mr. Arctor, is it?
BOB ARCTOR
Yes, I am Mr. Arctor. Nobody else is.
OLD LADY
Okay, sir. That'll be twenty dollars.
Arctor hands her a twenty dollar bill.
BOB ARCTOR
I'm sorry about this, but by mistake I
wrote the check on a closed account.
The lady nods amiably as she writes something on the note.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
Also, I'd appreciate if you'd tell your
husband --
OLD LADY
My brother Carl.
BOB ARCTOR
I'd appreciate if you'd tell your
brother that I was distraught when he
called and I apologize for that, too.
OLD LADY
I believe he said something about
that, yes.
She hands the bad check back to Arctor.
BOB ARCTOR
Any extra charge?
OLD LADY
No extra charge.
BOB ARCTOR
I was distraught because a friend of
mine had just passed-on suddenly.
(CONTINUED)
87.
CONTINUED:
OLD LADY
Oh dear.
His business done, Arctor stands at the counter awkwardly.
BOB ARCTOR
He choked to death alone, in his room,
on a piece of meat. No one heard him.
OLD LADY
You know, Mr. Arctor, more deaths
happen from that than people realize.
I read that if you're dining with a
friend and he doesn't talk for a long
time, you should ask him if he can,
beacuse he may be strangling.
BOB ARCTOR
Yes. That's true. Thanks. And
thanks about the check.
OLD LADY
Well, I'm sorry about your friend.
BOB ARCTOR
Yes. He was the best friend I had.
OLD LADY
How dreadful. I'll tell Carl. And
thank you for coming all the way down.
BOB ARCTOR
Thank you. And thank Mr. Englesohn
for me. Thank you both so much.
Arctor stands there. The two just look at each other.
BOB ARCTOR (CONT'D)
Okay then, thank you.
Arctor backs out of the tiny shop.
INT. CAB - MORNING
Arctor rides in the back with his open notebook and studies
the returned check. He writes in his notebook.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK
We see Arctor writing the following words in the same
handwriting as is on the check. The V.O. is tense.
(CONTINUED)
88.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
A perfect forgery. Barris has my
handwriting down. How many checks has
he written on my account? Evil genius
bastard.
INT. CAB - CONTINUOUS
Arctor looks up, stares out the window, tries to focus.
Something's bothering him. The stores speed by in a blur of
color.
BOB ARCTOR
What if I, Bob Arctor, wrote this
check myself and just don't remember?
EXT. PHONE BOOTH - MORNING
Arctor is on the pay phone outside the Shell station.
BOB ARCTOR
I'm sorry to bother you again, ma'am,
but I was just wondering what address
do you have for that service call?
OLD LADY (V.O.)
Just a minute, Mr. Arctor, I'll check.
OLD MAN (V.O.)
Is that Arctor?
OLD LADY (V.O.)
Yes, but Carl, don't say anything. He
came in just now --
OLD MAN (V.O.)
Let me talk to him.
OLD LADY (V.O.)
Mr. Arctor? It says here it was in
Santa Ana. On Main Street.
EXT. PARTY HOUSE - NIGHT
Arctor is stoned and on the phone in the crowded, smokey,
noisy room. A blonde woman nibbles his ear.
BOB ARCTOR
Yeah, I lost my ignition key.
(pause)
34881 Main Street, Santa Ana...
89.
EXT. SHELL STATION - MORNING
Arctor hangs up the pay phone. He paces, trying to think.
BOB ARCTOR
So, Arctor's the forger, not Barris!
Not deliberately, but because his
brain is slushed on dope. All their
brains are...
The busy intersection slows almost to a standstill. Colors
become saturated. Details seem momentous: A man gesturing
in mid-conversation, a newspaper blowing down the street.
FAR-AWAY VOICE
Der wurme gleich' ich, der den Staub
Durchwuhlt,/Den, wie er sich im Staube
nahrend lebt,/Des Wandrers Tritt...
Back to normal as a car passes with a faulty muffler.
BOB ARCTOR
... slushed and mutually interacting
in a slushed way.
INT. CAB - MORNING
Arctor rides in the back. He stares out the window at the
endless loop of McDonald's, Thriftys, 7-11's.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
But what is Arctor up to? Clearly the
Sheriff's Office has some good reasons
to focus their investigation on him.
No doubt reasons I know nothing about.
My job is to report, theirs to
evaluate.
Arctor lets his head fall back against the seat.
EXT. ARCTOR'S HOUSE - MORNING
The cab drops Arctor off. He heads up the newspaper-strewn
walk to the front door. He eyes the house and the grounds:
The house needs paint, a rain gutter is halfway dislodged.
The yard is overgrown.
BOB ARCTOR
Fucking waste of a perfectly good
house. A family could live here, for
Christ's sake.
(picks up newspapers)
Oughta take it away from this fuck.
(CONTINUED)
90.
CONTINUED:
Arctor arrives at the front door, tries to pull his house
keys from his pocket without spilling the armful of
newspapers. He succeeds, opens the door, enters the house.
INT. ARCTOR'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
The place is a mess. Arctor drops the papers on the floor.
BOB ARCTOR
(for benefit of scanners)
Nobody home, I guess.
Arctor moves through the room in an almost studied way.
There is something stilted about the way he intentionally
avoids looking in the direction of the scanner.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
Kids playing in background. The camera glides across the
following words as the dispassionate V.O. reads along.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
What does a scanner see? Does it see
into the head? Into the heart? Does
it see into me clearly or darkly? I
hope clearly, because I can't any
longer. I see only murk inside and
out.
INT. ARCTOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Arctor rises and pulls a book from the shelf. It is The
Picture Book of Sexual Love. He opens the book, revealing a
photo of a man nibbling a woman's breast. He positions
himself so as to be best picked up by the living room
scanner,then appears to read aloud from the book. We can see
that what he is reciting is not on the page.
BOB ARCTOR
Any given man sees only a tiny portion
of the total truth, and...
Shift to slow motion. Saturated colors. Very quiet.
FAR-AWAY VOICE
Weh! steck' ich in dem Kerker...
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S APARTMENT - DAY
Freck lays fresh sheets on his bed in his neat apartment.
(CONTINUED)
91.
CONTINUED:
CHARLES FRECK
It is no problem how to kill yourself
in the circles in which I hang. When
life becomes more and more depressing
as you watch those you know falling
apart from drug use, just take a large
quantity of reds.
Freck places a bag of reds on the night table.
CHARLES FRECK
Wash 'em down with a bottle of cheap
wine.
Freck pulls a bottle of Thunderbird from the counter of his
kitchenette and places it next to the pills.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
The hard part is choosing the correct
artifacts to be found on you by later
archaeologists. So they know from
which stratum you came and where your
head was at when you did it.
Freck pulls a copy of "The Fountainhead" from his book
shelf, and places it face down and open on his bed.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
I will be found with Ayn Rand's "The
Fountainhead" open by my side to prove
I have been a misunderstood superman
rejected by the masses and so, in a
sense, murdered by their scorn.
Freck places a typewritten letter next to the book.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Also, an unfinished letter to Exxon
protesting the cancellation of my gas
credit card. That way I will indict
the system and achieve something by my
death. Over and above what the death
itself achieves.
Freck lies on the bed and readies himself for the suicide.
He unscrews the cap on the wine, tastes it, reconsiders.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Perhaps a connoisseur wine is in order
on such an auspicious occasion.
92.
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S CAR - DAY
Freck drives, an expensive-looking bottle of wine on the
seat next to him. He anxiously eyes the gas gauge on empty.
CHARLES FRECK
You'll soon be sorry, Exxon, you ever
tangled with Charles B. Freck! Junior!
INT. SAFE HOUSE - DAY
Fred sits in his scramble suit watching a holo-tape. In it
Arctor is pulling a book from the shelf in his living room
and opening it. Fred zooms in to the title of the book. It
is The Picture Book of Sexual Love. Fred zooms back out to
take in the entire scene. Arctor recites, ostensibly from
the book, in a creaky, stagy way.
BOB ARCTOR
Any given man sees only a tiny portion
of Weh! steck' ich in dem Kerker noch?
Verfluchtes the total truth, and very
often, in fact almost perpetually
dumpfes Mauerloch...
FRED
What the fuck is he talking about?
Fred glances at the other monitors. The only other activity
is in Luckman's room, where Luckman lies snoring, sprawled on
his floor, a bag of reds by his side.
BOB ARCTOR
Wo selbst das liebe Himmelschlicht he
deliberately deceives trub durch
gemalte Scheiben bricht!
FRED
He's playing head games with us. He's
shucking us. The fucker!
Fred rises and paces in front of the console, keeping an eye
on the monitors, trying to figure what Arctor is up to. On
the other monitor, we see that Arctor's recitation has
roused Luckman, who sits up groggily and listens to the odd
German-English rant. Luckman picks up an axe, heads to the
bedroom door, and listens there intently. In the living
room, Arctor has put down his book and is sifting through
the pile of mail on the coffee table. He tosses a large
piece of junk mail at the trash can. It misses and crashes
against the wall. In his bedroom, Luckman hears the crash.
He stiffens suspiciously, sniffs the air, raises the axe,
ready to tear into the other room and attack. In the living
room, Arctor reads a piece of mail.
(CONTINUED)
93.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
(regular voice)
I'll be dipped.
Luckman recognizes Arctor's voice, relaxes, puts down his
axe, opens the bedroom door, and exits his bedroom. He
appears on the living room monitor with Arctor.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Hi, what's happening, Bob?
BOB ARCTOR
I drove by the Maylar Microdot
Corporation building.
Luckman casually drops into a chair across from Arctor.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
You're shitting me.
BOB ARCTOR
One of the employees had evidently
tracked the inventory out on the heel
of his shoe. So they were all in the
parking lot with many little
magnifying glasses.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
(yawning)
Any reward?
BOB ARCTOR
They had a reward, but they lost that,
too. It was a little tiny penny.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
How large is the Maylar Microdot
Corporation building?
FRED
Pathetic, soulless nitwits.
Fred sighs, fast-forwards the tape. He watches on the meter
until an hour's worth of tape has passed. He switches back
to play. Arctor is across the room now, sprinkling food
into a fish tank. Luckman is stretched out on the couch.
BOB ARCTOR
About an inch high.
(CONTINUED)
94.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Well, then how can you tell when you
drive past it, if its only an inch?
BOB ARCTOR
They have a really big sign.
FRED
Jesus.
Fred fast forwards again for a long while, then puts the
machine back on play. Now Luckman is on the floor, cleaning
some grass. Arctor sits on the couch strumming a guitar.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What's the sign look like?
Fred fast forwards until five hours have past, then goes
back to play. The living room is cloudy with smoke, as
Luckman and Arctor pass a joint back and forth.
ERNIE LUCKMAN (CONT'D)
Y'know how can you smuggle microdots
into the U.S.? Barris told me. I'm
not supposed to say, cause he's
putting it in his book, "Simple Ways
to Smuggle Objects into the U.S. and
Out, Depending on Which Way You're
Going."
BOB ARCTOR
Oh, just tell me.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
You smuggle it with a shipment of
dope. Like heroin. The microdots are
so small no one would notice.
BOB ARCTOR
That's a decent idea.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Barris had this other idea for
smuggling dope. You know how the
custom guys, they ask you to declare
what you have?
BOB ARCTOR
Right.
(CONTINUED)
95.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Well, you take a huge block of hash
and you carve it in the shape of a
man. Then you hollow out a little
section and put a wind-up motor in.
And a cassette tape. And just before
it goes through customs, you wind it
up and it walks up to the man, who
says, "Do you have anything to
declare?" and it says, "No, I don't,"
and keeps on walking.
BOB ARCTOR
You put a solar battery in it, it
could keep walking for years. Forever.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
What's the use of that?
BOB ARCTOR
Imagine an Eskimo village. And this
six foot block of hash worth... What
would it be worth?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
A billion dollars?
BOB ARCTOR
More. Two billion. So these Eskimos
are chewing hides when this six foot
block of hash comes walking through
the snow saying, "No, I don't" over
and over again.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
They'd wonder what it meant by that.
BOB ARCTOR
Legends would spring up.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Can you imagine telling your
grandkids, "I saw with my own eyes a
six foot block of hash appear and walk
past, worth two billion dollars,
saying, "No, I don't." His
grandchildren would have him committed.
BOB ARCTOR
But, see, legends build. So in a few
centuries it would be, "In my
forefathers' time, a ninety foot high
block of extremely good quality
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
96.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Afghanistan hash worth eight trillion
dollars came at us dripping fire and
screaming, "Die, Eskimo dogs!" And we
fought and fought with it and finally
killed it with our spears.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
The kids wouldn't believe that either.
BOB ARCTOR
Kids never believe anything anymore.
Fred's phone rings. It jerks him out of his focus on the
monitor. He pauses the tape and picks up the phone.
FRED
Yeah?
TELEPHONE VOICE
Fred, we've processed your tests. We
need you to come back for the full
battery. Tomorrow at three. Do you
remember the room number?
FRED
Um... okay.
TELEPHONE VOICE
It's 203. Are you all right, Fred?
Any confusion? Difficulty identifying
persons or objects? Does anything you
see appear inverted or reversed? Any
space-time or language disorientation?
FRED
Um, what? I just... what exactly
have you processed... that is, is this
in regard to the Lion's Club speech?
TELEPHONE VOICE
We'll take all that up tomorrow, Fred.
Dial tone. Fred hangs up and fast-forwards the tape. He
watches as the tape whirs through the machine. He presses
stop, the tape jerks to a halt. Fred breathes hard,
although it comes through the grid sounding oddly
mechanical. He pushes play. Luckman is cleaning grass on
the floor. Barris is in the corner winding string. Arctor
rubs his finger on the lip of a wine glass, making it hum.
(CONTINUED)
97.
CONTINUED:
ERNIE LUCKMAN
... this guy appeared on tv, claiming
to be a world-famous imposter. He
said he'd posed at one time or another
as a great surgeon, a theoretical
submolecular high-velocity particle
research physicist, a Finnish
novelist, a deposed president of
Argentina...
BOB ARCTOR
He got away with it? Never got caught?
ERNIE LUCKMAN
See, the guy never really posed as any
of it. He only posed as a world-
famous imposter. Turns out he just
pushed a broom at Disneyland, until he
read about this actual world-famous
imposter, and he thought, I can pose
as all those things, then he thought,
hell, I'll just pose as an imposter.
Save a lot of time, a lot easier.
Made almost as much money as the real
imposter with books and movie rights.
JIM BARRIS
We see imposters in our lives, now and
then. But not posing as physicists.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Narks, you mean. Yeah, I wonder what
a nark looks like?
BOB ARCTOR
It's like asking what an imposter
looks like. I asked a hash dealer
who'd been busted once what the nark
who busted him looked like --
JIM BARRIS
Looked just like us.
BOB ARCTOR
More so. The dealer dude told me the
nark had longer hair than we do. I
guess the moral is, stay away from
guys who look like us.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
Narks give me the creeps.
(CONTINUED)
98.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
How could a guy do that is what I want
to know, pose as a nark?
LUCKMAN AND BARRIS
What?
BOB ARCTOR
Shit, I'm spaced. Pose as a nark.
ERNIE LUCKMAN
POSE AS A NARK? POSE AS A NARK?
BOB ARCTOR
My brains are scrambled today. I
better go crash.
Fred freezes the tape. He scribbles in notebook.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK
Fred writes in a different handwriting now: choppy, backward-
slanted, crabbed.
FRED (V.O.)
Posing as a nark. What does Arctor
mean?
INT. CHARLES FRECK'S APARTMENT - DAY
Freck sits up in bed in his now electric yellow room,
sipping magenta wine. The walls are dripping.
CHARLES FRECK
I've been burned. These are not reds,
but rather some freaky psychedelic,
the likes of which I have never seen.
The wall across from Freck's bed parts with a sloshing
sound, and an eight foot high creature with many eyes and
ultra-hip clothing appears at his bedside, holding a scroll.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
Fuck. You're going to read me my
sins, aren't you?
The creature nods solemnly and unrolls the scroll.
CHARLES FRECK (CONT'D)
And it's going to take a hundred
thousand million hours, isn't it?
(CONTINUED)
99.
CONTINUED:
CREATURE
We are no longer in the mundane
universe. Your sins will be read to
you ceaselessly throughout eternity.
CHARLES FRECK
Know your fucking dealer, man.
CREATURE
(reading from scroll)
November 14, 1962, 3:08:23 pm: you did
knowingly and with malice aforethought
punch your baby sister Evelyn on the
left side of the head when your mother
was not looking. November 14, 1962,
3:08:27 pm: you did knowingly and with
malice aforethought punch your baby
sister on the left arm when your
mother was not looking. November 14,
1962, 3:08:32 pm: you did...
EXT. BOB ARCTOR'S FRONT YARD - DAY
Arctor is finishing up mowing the lawn. He is intently
focused on the task, but has done an erratic job: the left
side of the yard has been left almost completely unmowed.
Arctor turns to enter the house. We see that the left side
of his face is completely unshaved.
INT. ROOM 203 - DAY
Fred is in the midst of a battery of tests being
administered by two uniformed medical technicians who
resemble the technicians who administered the previous
tests, but are not the same. Fred's head rests in a
contraption that divides his face in half, so his right eye
and left eye can be exposed to different projected images.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #3
Okay, Fred, in rapid succession you
will see a number of objects pass
before first you left eye, then your
right eye. At the same time, on the
panel before you, outlines of these
objects will appear. You are to
match, by means of the punch pencil
you hold in your hand, the outline
with the object. These images will
flash very quickly so don't hesitate
too long. You will be scored for time
as well as accuracy. Okay?
(CONTINUED)
100.
CONTINUED:
FRED
Okay.
Technician #4 flips a lever, the panel in front of Fred
lights up, and we see a wide array of outline drawings: a
hammer, a shoe, a seagull, a camel, etc. Then in rapid
succession, photographic images of these objects and others
flash before Fred's left eye. He tries to keep up.
INT. ROOM 203 - A BIT LATER
Fred, now with an eye patch over his left eye, faces a
screen. On the table in front of him is a wide array of
small objects: A toy boat, a die, a key, a marble, etc.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #4
Now, an image of a familiar object
will be projected, you are to reach
into the group of objects on the table
in front of you, with your left hand --
and pick up the corresponding object.
INT. ROOM 203 - A BIT LATER
Fred is blindfolded, a box with hand-holes in front of him.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #3
Next, you will reach into this box and
touch the object inside with your left
hand. After that you will be shown
three objects visually. They will
somewhat resemble each other and you
will tell us which one most resembles
the item you felt in the box.
INT. ROOM 203 - A BIT LATER
Fred sits with a pile of oddly shaped blocks, which he is
attempting to fit into their corresponding holes.
INT. ROOM 203 - LATER
Fred sits before a table on which are scattered a bunch of
identical plastic birds and one plastic lion. Fred studies
the table, finally picking up one of the plastic birds.
FRED
This is the different one.
Medical Technician #4 makes a note on his clipboard.
(CONTINUED)
101.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #3
Okay, Fred, good. Let us process --
Fred looks up from the table at Medical Technician #3, who
is now Medical Technician #2 from the previous scene.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
-- these test results. And we'll get
back to you within a couple of hours.
Medical Technician #4 is now Medical Technician #1.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Thanks for your cooperation, Fred.
FRED
Thank you. Thank you all very much.
INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT HALL - DAY
Fred walks hurriedly through the hall, past other Scramble
Suits and uniformed police personnel. He enters an office.
INT. HANK'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Hank looks up from his desk.
HANK
Fred, is that you?
FRED
Yes.
HANK
Fred, this is the informant who phoned
in about Bob Arctor.
Hank indicates Jim Barris, sitting against the wall,
grinning crazily and fiddling with a paper clip.
HANK (CONT'D)
We challenged him to appear in person
and he did. Do you know him?
FRED
Sure I do.
(to Barris)
You're James Barris, aren't you?
Barris continues to grin, says nothing.
(CONTINUED)
102.
CONTINUED:
HANK
His i.d. shows him to be, yes.
FRED
What does he want?
JIM BARRIS
I have evidence that Mr. Arctor is
part of a large, secret covert
organization, well-funded, with
arsenals of weapons at their disposal,
probably dedicated to the overthrow --
HANK
That part is speculation. We want to
know what your firsthand evidence is.
FRED
Have you ever been in a mental
hospital, Mr. Barris?
JIM BARRIS
No, I have not, sir, ever been in a --
FRED
Will you sign a sworn notarized
statement regarding your evidence?
HANK
He already has, Fred.
JIM BARRIS
My evidence, gentlemen, which I mostly
don't have with me today, consits of
tape recordings I have made of Robert
Arctor's phone conversations.
FRED
What is this covert organization?
JIM BARRIS
I believe it to be political in
nature, and against this country.
FRED
And what is Arctor's relationship to
Substance D?
JIM BARRIS
When you examine my evidence, you will
undoubtedly conclude that Substance D
is produced by a foreign nation
determined to overthrow the U.S., and
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
103.
CONTINUED:
JIM BARRIS (cont'd)
that Robert Arctor has his hands deep
in the machinery of --
HANK
Can you tells us the name of anyone
else inside this organization?
JIM BARRIS
A Miss Donna Hawthorne. On various
pretexts he goes over to her place and
colludes with her regularly.
Fred laughs his computerized laugh. Barris laughs also.
FRED
Colludes? What do you mean?
JIM BARRIS
I've followed him in my car, sir.
FRED
She's his girl!
HANK
(to Fred)
You think there's nothing to this?
FRED
(shrugging)
Let's look at his evidence.
HANK
(to Barris)
Bring us your evidence.
(to Fred)
Maybe we should send an officer with
him to retrieve it.
JIM BARRIS
There's one more thing. Mr. Arctor is
addicted to Substance D. His mind is
deranged now. He's become dangerous.
FRED
Dangerous.
JIM BARRIS
He's already having episodes such as
occur with brain damage from Substance
D. Deterioration in the corpus
callosum.
(CONTINUED)
104.
CONTINUED:
HANK
This kind of unsupported speculation
is worthless. We'll send an officer
with you to collect your evidence.
JIM BARRIS
But, sirs --
HANK
We'll arrange for an officer out of
uniform, so it won't be conspicuous.
JIM BARRIS
I might be murdered. Mr. Arctor is,
as I say --
HANK
We appreciate your extreme risk, Mr.
Barris. If your information is of
significant value in obtaining a
conviction, then naturally --
JIM BARRIS
That's not why I'm doing this. The
man is sick. Brain damaged from
Substance D. The reason I am here --
HANK
We don't care why you're here. We
only care if your evidence amounts to
anything. The rest is your problem.
JIM BARRIS
Thank you, sirs. Thank you very much.
Barris grins and nods and sweats.
INT. ROOM 203 - DAY
Fred enters. Medical Technician #1 and Medical Technician
#2 look up from their desks.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Fred, is that you?
FRED
Yes.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Have a seat, then.
Fred sits in a chair against the wall. The technicians go
back to their paper work. Fred waits stiffly. Finally,
Medical Technician #2 looks back up.
(CONTINUED)
105.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Fred, we've processed your results.
FRED
Uh-huh.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
You demonstrate something we call a
competition phenomenon.
FRED
(getting up to leave)
Okay. Thank you.
Medical Technician #2 gestures for Fred to sit. He does.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
It's a competition between your left
and right hemispheres. Kind of like
you have two gas gauges on your car,
one says your tank is full, the other
says it's empty.
FRED
Why do I have two gas gauges?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
Substance D. Damage has taken place
in the normally dominant left
hemisphere. The right hemisphere is
attempting to compensate for the
impairment. But the twin functions do
not fuse. Now, we could perform a
right hemispherectomy --
FRED
Will these go away? These gas gauges?
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
It's probably a functional impairment.
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
It may be organic. Maybe permanent.
FRED
Wait. I'm confused. Are you saying
it is organic, or --
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #1
Even if it's brain damage, there are
experiments now in the removal of
small sections of both hemispheres
which seem to abort compete gestalt-
processing.
(CONTINUED)
106.
CONTINUED:
MEDICAL TECHNICIAN #2
But the problem then is the individual
only receives partial incoming sense
data. Instead of having two signals,
he gets half a signal.
FRED
Half a gas gauge? What would that be
like?
INT. HANK'S OFFICE - DAY
Hank and a sweating Jim Barris sit at a table, the
centerpiece of which is a reel-to-reel tape recorder. A
uniformed cop stands at the door.
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (FEMALE)
Look, I can't talk. I'll call you
back.
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (MALE)
This can't wait.
The door to Hank's office opens. Hank switches off the tape
recorder. A scramble suit enters, out of breath in a
computerized-sounding way.
HANK
Fred?
FRED
Yeah. Sorry I'm late. I just...
Hank waves him off, turns on the tape recorder. Fred sits.
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (FEMALE)
Well, what is it then?
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (MALE)
We intend to...
Hank switches off the tape, looks at Barris.
HANK
Would you identify the voices for us?
JIM BARRIS
The female's voice is a Miss Donna
Hawthorne. The male is Bob Arctor.
Hank nods, switches back on the tape.
(CONTINUED)
107.
CONTINUED:
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (MALE)
... half of Southern California
tomorrow night. The Air Force Arsenal
at Vandenberg AFB will be hit for
automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (FEMALE)
What about that disorientation drug
the bikers ripped off for us? When do
we carry that crud up to the watershed
area to --
TAPE RECORDER VOICE (MALE)
The organization needs the weapons
first. The drugged water supply is
step B.
Hank turns off the tape.
JIM BARRIS
I can identify the biker gang also.
HANK
You have more material of this sort?
JIM BARRIS
Much more. Much much more. Much much
much much much --
HANK
Okay, great. What I'm going to do,
Mr. Barris, is impound this material
here for further study. You will be
held in custody, charged with giving
false information. This is, of
course, only a pretext for your own
safety, but the formal charge will be
lodged anyhow. Is that satisfactory?
Hank does not wait for a response, but signals for the
uniformed cop to lead Barris from the room. Barris
continues to grin as he is led away.
HANK
What's your response, Fred, to
Barris's evidence so far?
FRED
Is that my medical report, Hank?
Hank nods, but offers nothing else.
(CONTINUED)
108.
CONTINUED:
FRED (CONT'D)
Well, I think the little Barris played
sounded genuined to me.
HANK
Oh, it's a fake, Fred, for Christ sake.
FRED
You might be right. But I don't
agree. Um, so what does my medical
report --
HANK
It says you're completely cuckoo.
FRED
Completely?
FAR-AWAY VOICE
Wie kalt ist es in diesem
unterirdischen Gewolbe!
HANK
Maybe two brain cells still light up.
FRED
Out of how many, would you say?
HANK
I don't know. I understand brains
have a lot of cells.
Fred looks down.
HANK (CONT'D)
I'll tell you what I'd do, Fred. I
wouldn't go into a federal clinic.
I'd get about six bottles of good
bourbun, go up into the hills, and
just stay there till it's over.
FRED
They tell me it may never be over.
HANK
Then never come back. Can you drive?
FRED
My...
Fred's sense of the room begins to shift. The walls move
toward infinity. Everything slows down. He watches Hank
drum his fingers on the table. It takes forever for the
(CONTINUED)
109.
CONTINUED:
fingers to drop. When they hit, it is with a resounding
"plop." Hank speaks, and it breaks the spell.
HANK
We can get somebody to drive you.
FAR-AWAY VOICE
Ein Engel, der Gattin, so gleich, der
fuhrt, mich zur Freheit ins...
FRED
Sure. Thanks.
(beat)
Tell me, Hank, what do you think of me
now, now that I've burned out?
HANK
I think you're a very good person.
FRED
Thank you very much.
HANK
You want a cigarette?
FRED
No. I'm quitting them, too. I'm
quitting everything.
HANK
Good for you. It's like I tell my
children --
FRED
I have kids, too. Two little girls.
HANK
I don't believe you do. You're not
supposed to.
SHOT OF ARCTOR FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH
Now all the faces, including Arctor's, are gone.
INT. HANK'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
FRED
Maybe not.
HANK
I don't think you're going to make it
in the mountains, even if we get
someone to drive you. Where else
would you like to go?
(CONTINUED)
110.
CONTINUED:
FRED
I don't know. I don't know.
HANK
What about over to Donna Hawthorne's?
I know you're close.
SHOT OF DONNA HAWTHORNE TOUCHING ARCTOR'S HAND
INT. HANK'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
FRED
How do you know that?
HANK
By a process of elimination we were
able to determine you're Bob Arctor.
FRED
(horrified, confused)
Arctor? I'm Bob Arctor? But he's
ugly!
HANK
Nevermind. It's not important.
(into phone)
Get me a Donna Hawthorne at...
(to Fred)
Where does she work?
FRED
Uh, Thompson Jewelers. I'm Arctor?
HANK
(into phone)
... at Thompson Jewelers.
(to Fred)
We should probably get you to a
hospital. Barris poisoned you. It
was really Barris, we were interested
in. That's why we set up the
scanners. He's into something heavy
and sick, and it has to do with guns.
FRED
(massaging temples)
So, wait, you used me to get to Barris?
HANK
We had to get to him, Bob. He's bad
news. We couldn't tell you. We were
afraid you'd spill the beans.
(CONTINUED)
111.
CONTINUED:
FRED
(beat, weakly)
You fuckers. You fuckers.
The intercom buzzes. Hank flips off his voice grid, picks up
the phone. It's the first time we hear his real voice.
HANK (CONT'D)
Hey, Donna? This is a buddy of Bob's.
He's in a bad way. I'm not jiving
you. So could you pick him up, ...
Fred watches Hank, sounding like a head, looking like a blur.
INT. DONNA'S CAR - EARLY EVENING
Donna drives a sick Bob Arctor along a tree-lined road.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Before we go to New-Path, Bob, I
thought maybe we'd drive into the
hills, y'know, look at the city lights.
Donna waits for a response, there is none. She glances over
at Arctor. He rests his forehead against the window. She
sighs. Suddenly he begins to heave and vomit. Donna pulls
onto the shoulder, gets out of the car, hurries to the
passenger side to help Arctor.
EXT. TREE-LINED ROAD - A FEW MINUTES LATER
Arctor is on his hands and knees vomiting. Donna kneels
beside him, holding his forehead. He finishes.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Let's sit a few minutes.
BOB ARCTOR
(so weakly)
Do you have any hash?
Donna looks at him for a second, gets up, fusses around
under the passenger seat, and pulls out a piece of foil and
a pipe. She takes Arctor by the hand.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
C'mon, let's get off the road a little
bit. In case of cops.
Donna and Arctor walk through the trees in silence, arrive
at a clearing, from which the city lights can be seen. She
sits Arctor down, fills the pipe, lights it, and draws. She
passes the pipe to Arctor, but he is shivering and glassy-
eyed. A big, dark stain is forming on his pants.
(CONTINUED)
112.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
Here.
She inhales, leans forward to super-charge Arctor. But he
doubles over, clutching his stomach. He vomits and moans a
crazy song-like moan, attempting to comfort himself. Donna
touches his hand. But he is unaware of it. She sits on a
rock and stares at the city lights below.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
I guess we never know what's in store
for us.
Arctor continues to clutch himself and moan.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
Did you know this dude Tony Amsterdam?
No response from Arctor. Donna relights the pipe, inhales.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
After he saw God, he felt really good,
for around a year. Then he felt
worse than he had ever felt before in
his life. Because one day it came to
him, he was never going to see God
again. He was going to live out the
rest of his life, fifty years maybe,
and see nothing but what he had always
seen. He realized he was going to
have to live on and on with no
purpose. Just a lump of flesh
grinding along, eating, drinking,
working, sleeping, crapping --
BOB ARCTOR
Just... like... the... rest... of us.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
That's what I told him. We're all in
the same boat, and it doesn't freak us
out. But he said, "You don't know
what I saw."
A spasm passes through Arctor, convulsing him. Then:
BOB ARCTOR
Did... he say what it was like?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Spars. Showers of colored sparks.
In the air. Going up the wall.
Wherever he looked. The whole world
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
113.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE (cont'd)
was a living creature. And there were
no accidents. Everything fitted
together to achieve something, some
goal in the future. And there was a
doorway. For a week he saw it
wherever he looked. Always the same
proportions, very narrow. Very
pleasing. That's the word he used.
He never entered it though. Just
looked at it, surrounded by red and
gold light, like the sparks had
collected into lines. Then he never
saw it again his whole, entire life.
BOB ARCTOR
What was on the other side?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
He said it was always nighttime.
Moonlight and water. Nothing ever
changed. Water like blank ink and a
beach. He was sure it was ancient
Greece, that the door was a weak link
in time. Later when he couldn't see
it anymore, he became so frustrated
with the noise and lights and motion
in this world. He'd tell everyone he
met that he lost everything.
BOB ARCTOR
I've lost everything.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
There was a woman on the island. More
like a statue. Of the Cyrenaican
Aphrodite. In the moonlight. Pale
and cold.
BOB ARCTOR
He should've gone through while he had
the chance. You only get one chance.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
He didn't have the chance, Bob. It
was a promise. Something to come.
Something better a long time in the
future. They show us trailers now.
(puts arm around Arctor)
So we'll hold out.
(CONTINUED)
114.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
That's what you're trying to do. With
me now. Show me a trailer. So I'll
hold out.
Donna is quiet, sniffs in some snot.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
You're a good man. You've been dealt
a bad blow. But life isn't over for
you. I care for you a lot. I wish...
Donna's voice cracks. She looks down at Arctor, who seems
only semi-conscious now. She continues to hold him in
silence, rocking him slightly, looking out at the city.
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
You're a good and kind person. And
this is unfair, but it has to be this
way. Try to wait for the end.
Sometime, a long time from now, you'll
see the way you saw before.
A light shines into Donna's eyes. She squints at it, at the
silhouette of a uniformed cop behind the light.
COP
Would you stand, you first, miss, and
show me your identification, please?
Donna lays Arctor gently on the ground. She approaches the
cop, signals him away from the unconscious Arctor, and hands
him her wallet. He studies it in his flashlight beam.
COP (CONT'D)
You're a fed?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Keep your voice down.
COP
I'm sorry.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Just fucking take off.
The cop shines his flashlight into Donna's face, studies
her, hands her her wallet, then takes off. Donna approaches
the unconscious Arctor.
(CONTINUED)
115.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE (CONT'D)
Bob? We've got to get started.
No answer. She tugs at him, trying to rouse him.
BOB ARCTOR
I can't make love. My thing's
disappeared. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
C'mon, they're expecting us. I have
to sign you in.
BOB ARCTOR
But what'll I do if my thing's
disappeared? Will they still take me?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(gently)
They'll take you.
Donna helps Arctor up and walks him back to her car.
INT. NEW-PATH RECEPTION AREA - NIGHT
Arctor lies on the floor, curled up and shivering. Dried
vomit flecks his face. The stain on his pants is bigger
now. Two New-Path staff members stand surveying the
trembling Arctor. Donna kneels at his side.
NEW-PATH #1
What is it?
DONNA HAWTHORNE
It's a person.
NEW-PATH #1
Substance D?
Donna nods.
NEW-PATH #2
It ate his head. Another loser.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
It's easy to win. Anybody can win.
Donna bends down close to Arctor's face and silently mouths
"good-bye." She rises and heads to the door. A staff
member drapes Arctor with a blanket as Donna exits. She
does not look back.
116.
INT. DONNA'S CAR - NIGHT
Donna drives her tiny MG on the freeway in heavy traffic
behind a huge Coca Cola truck. She picks a tape from the
show box in the back. It's Carole King's Tapestry. She
plugs it in and cranks it up loud, then pulls a pistol out
from under the dashboard. She unrolls the window, sticks
the pistol out, and begins firing at the Coke truck. She
hits it several times before the clip is emptied. Broken
Coke bottle glasses and brown liquid splatter her windshield.
This soothes her for a moment, but misery builds up in her
again almost instantly. To relieve it, she floors it and
smashes into the truck with all her might. The impact spins
the MG around. Tires shriek against fender as her car comes
to rest on the shoulder facing against traffic. Water pours
from her radiator. Her headlights dim. Donna gets out of
the car and looks at the Coke truck. It is still grinding
along, seemingly untouched. Motorists gape at Donna as they
crawl by. One guy unrolls his window.
MOTORIST
You want a ride, miss?
She ignores him and heads back on foot to the exit ramp,
squinting into the headlights of the oncoming traffic.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
INT. NEW-PATH - DAY
George, a staff member, addresses the camera as he leads it
down a dormitory hallway.
GEORGE
All right, Bruce, what you'll be doing
here first is the bathrooms.
George stops at a closet door, opens it, and pulls out a
mop, pail, and some powdered soap. He closes the door, and
continues down the hall.
GEORGE (CONT'D)
The floors, the basins, and especially
the toilets. There are three
bathrooms, one on each floor. Okay,
Bruce?
Angle on Bruce. We see that Bruce is Bob Arctor. It is,
however, a different Arctor: hair cut short and unstylish,
nondescript Goodwill clothing, and a mousy demeanor.
(CONTINUED)
117.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
George pushes open another door and enters. Arctor follows.
INT. BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS
Arctor and George stand in a dorm-style bathroom, with
several toilets. George hands the mop and pail to Arctor.
GEORGE
You feel you know how to clean a
bathroom? Start, and I'll give you
some pointers.
Arctor nods obediently, takes the pail to the sink,
sprinkles in some soap flakes, and begins to fill it with
water. He becomes transfixed with the foam forming in the
pail and the roar of the running water. After a while,
George speaks, sounding very far away.
GEORGE (O.C.)
Don't fill it all the way, Bruce, or
you won't be able to lift it.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
INT. LOUNGE - DAY
Arctor sits with a paper cup of coffee. There are others in
the lounge, but they pay him no attention. He stares down
at his coffee, focused on the rising and swirling steam.
Jabbering is heard in the background.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #1
If you could see from inside a dead
person, you could still see, but you
couldn't operate the eye muscles so
you couldn't focus.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #2
Exactly. Just blurry.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #1
Plus, you couldn't turn your head or
your eyeballs. All you could do is
wait and wait until some object passed
by. It'd be a terrible scene.
(CONTINUED)
118.
CONTINUED:
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #2
I think that's what it means to be
dead. To not be able to stop looking
at whatever's in front of you.
INT. MEETING ROOM - AFTERNOON
Arctor sits on a folding chair in a semi-circle of residents
and a staff member. He stares down at his hands. A
portable blackboard is covered with scribbled words, such as
"Goals", "Responsibility", and "Community." A large coffee
urn percolates in the corner, making a "whoop-whoop" sound.
Arctor focuses on this sound, which frightens him.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #3
Living and unliving things are
exchanging properties.
All murmer agreement except Arctor, who just looks down.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #4
That's because the drive of the
unliving is stronger than the drive of
the living.
Whoop-Whoop. The coffee urn gets progressively louder.
NEW-PATH STAFFER
So we are incorporating too much
unliving drive within us. Now,
activity does not necessarily mean
life. Quasars are active, but not
alive. A meditating monk is not dead.
INT. DINING HALL - NIGHT
The room is filled with sad-looking people at collapsible
tables eating dinner off trays. Arctor sits at a table by
himself, and stares down at his steaming soup.
INT. RECEPTION AREA - DAY
A bunch of residents excitedly rifle through a cardboard box
of donated clothing. Arctor stands back from the box and
look at his feet. Mike, a short, stocky man with a pug face
slips into a shirt that looks like an American flag.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #1
Hey, Mike, you're one sharp dude!
(CONTINUED)
119.
CONTINUED:
MIKE
Thanks, man.
Mike fiddles with a belt with two metal rings for a buckle.
He can't cinch it.
MIKE (CONT'D)
(cheerily)
Oh, c'mon, you guys left me the belt
nobody else could work!
(to Arctor)
You know how to do this, man?
Arctor reaches down and cinches the belt.
MIKE (CONT'D)
Hey, thanks, buddy!
Mike touches Arctor's shoulder. Arctor glances at the hand.
INT. MEETING ROOM - MORNING
Arctor sits in the center of the room. A circle of
residents yell at him. A Chinese girl is more shrill than
the others
CHINESE GIRL RESIDENT
You know what he is? A kissy-face!
You're a kissy-face!
NEW-PATH RESIDENTS
(chanting)
Can you fuck yourself? Can you fuck
yourself?
The Executive Director smiles from the circle.
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #1
Let's see you fuck yourself!
CHINESE GIRL RESIDENT
The kissy-facy!
Another female resident flaps her arms and bulges her cheeks
in Arctor's face. The Chinese girls swivels around and
sticks her ass in Arctor's face.
CHINESE GIRL RESIDENT (CONT'D)
Kiss my ass, kissy-facy! He wants to
kiss people, kiss this, kissy-facy!
(CONTINUED)
120.
CONTINUED:
NEW-PATH RESIDENTS
Let's see you fuck yourself, kissy-
facy!
Arctor shuts his eyes, but still hears the screaming. The
Executive Director clears his throat; the screaming subsides.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You pimp. You fuck. You dong. You
shit. You turd. You snot. You
asshole. You vomit. You wart.
We shift to Arctor's POV, looking out at the group and
hearing the Executive Director's chant.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (CONT'D)
You bile. You worm. You maggot. You
pus. You running sore.
The chanting continues, but the actual words become
indecipherable. Mike's voice breaks the chant.
MIKE
(gently)
Bruce?
Arctor looks at Mike's compassionate face.
MIKE (CONT'D)
Bruce, what's the matter? What
brought you here? Can you tells us
anything about yourself? Your past?
NEW-PATH RESIDENT #2
Pimp! What are you, pimp?
CHINESE GIRL RESIDENT
Tell us, you cock-sucking fairy whore
pimp! You ass-kisser, you fuck!
BOB ARCTOR
I am an eye. I am dead. I can only
look at what is front of me.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You turd prick. You weakling. You
puke. You suck-off. You snatch.
The Executive Director continues, but Arctor can't make out
the words as he surveys the cold, hard faces of the group.
Spade Weeks is among them.
121.
INT. NEW-PATH HALLWAY - DAY
Arctor walks down the hall, carrying his pail and mop. He
passes an open door. Inside is a brightly lit room in which
several children play. Arctor watches, transfixed.
INT. DINING ROOM - EVENING
The children sit at a table in an alcove off the main dining
area. Some of the smaller children sit in high chairs and
are being fed by old men. Arctor watches from outside the
alcove. Mike walks by. He smiles.
MIKE
You like kids, Bruce?
BOB ARCTOR
Yes.
MIKE
You can eat with them if you like.
Arctor nods and sits at the end of the table.
MIKE (CONT'D)
You can feed them in a month or two.
After we're sure you won't hit them.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
INT. DINING AREA - A BIT LATER
The table is mostly empty now. Only a couple of straggling
children and Arctor remain. The two old men are beginning
clean-up. One of the children goes, leaving only Arctor and
a wide-eyed little girl.
LITTLE GIRL
What's your name?
Arctor doesn't respond.
LITTLE GIRL (CONT'D)
I said, what's your name? My name is
Thelma. Did you forget your name? If
you forget your name, you can write it
on your hand. Want me to show you how?
BOB ARCTOR
Won't it wash off?
(CONTINUED)
122.
CONTINUED:
LITTLE GIRL
Oh, I see.
(thinking)
Well, you could write on the ceiling
above your bed. Then when you want to
know your name better, you can --
BOB ARCTOR
Thelma.
LITTLE GIRL
No, that's my name. And that's a
girl's name anyway. If I see you
again, I'll give you a name. I'll
make one up for you. 'kay?
BOB ARCTOR
Don't you live here?
LITTLE GIRL
Yes, but my mommy may be leaving.
She's thinking about taking us, me and
my brother, and leaving. 'kay, Bye!
She runs off. Arctor watches after the girl.
BOB ARCTOR
Bruce.
INT. NEW-PATH RECEPTION AREA - DAY
Arctor sits on a folding chair against the wall, staring at
his cup of coffee. Mike walks by in his bright new shirt.
MIKE
Hey, Bruce!
Arctor looks up.
BOB ARCTOR
Are you leaving here?
MIKE
(chuckling)
No, man, I can never leave here. Too
many temptations out there for the
likes of us. No, I'm just going into
town to pick up a donation of semi-
rotten vegetables.
(CONTINUED)
123.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Semi-rotten vegetables.
SHOT OF NOTEBOOK DAPPLED WITH SUNLIGHT
kids laughing in background. We scan the following words,
read offhandedly by Arctor.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.)
For now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I
know in part...
The camera pulls back to reveal that it's Donna reading the
journal. She's sitting at a picnic table outside a
McDonald's. Her eyes move back and forth across the page.
Near her, a group of children laugh and play on a
McDonaldland jungle gym.
BOB ARCTOR (V.O.) (CONT'D)
...but then shall I know even as also
I am known.
That's the last entry. She closes the notebook, takes a sip
of Coke, and watches the children play. A pick-up truck
pulls into the parking lot. Mike gets out, approaches
Donna's table, sits across from her. There's a silence,
then:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
So are they paranoid about him?
MIKE
No. He just sits there all day.
There's really nothing to suspect.
They can't get anything out of him
during the game sessions.
Donna looks off for a moment, sadly.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Well, then, will he be able to act,
when the time comes? Is anything left?
MIKE
You never really know. A memory. A
few charred brain cells flicker on.
People like him are clacking insects.
All reflex. We can only hope he's got
the right reflex.
(CONTINUED)
124.
CONTINUED:
DONNA HAWTHORNE
It was very well drilled into him.
(forlorn)
Such a price to pay. The government
asks an awful lot.
MIKE
Life asks an awful lot.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
(angry)
In this case, the fucking government.
Bob didn't volunteer. He was
sacrificed. He was my friend, y'know.
(beat)
I don't want to be on this assignment
much longer. I just want it over.
Shit. Sometimes I think we're colder
than they are.
MIKE
I see a warm person when I look at you,
Donna.
DONNA HAWTHORNE
Oh, I'm warm on the outside. Warm
face, warm eyes, warm fucking fake
smile. But inside I'm cold all the
time. I am full of lies. I am awful.
Donna gets up and walks away. Mike watches after her.
INT. NEW-PATH HALLWAY - DAY
Arctor opens the door to the room where he first saw the
children. In there now is an old woman trying to juggle. She
smiles at Arctor and he sees that she has almost no teeth.
OLD WOMAN
Can you do this?
She throws the balls in the air to juggle and they fall back
onto her then bounce onto the floor. She stoops over,
spitting and laughing. Arctor is dismayed.
BOB ARCTOR
I can't do that.
OLD WOMAN
I can.
She tries again, fails, laughs. A staffer appears next to
the Arctor in the doorway, sniffs the air
(CONTINUED)
125.
CONTINUED:
NEW-PATH STAFFER
Donna, you need to clean yourself.
You stink.
BOB ARCTOR
(horrified)
Donna?!
The old woman shuffles past Arctor and the staffer.
BOB ARCTOR
How long has Donna been here?
NEW-PATH STAFFER
I don't know. Six months.
BOB ARCTOR
(relieved)
Oh, then it's not Donna. I've been
here a week. And Donna drove me here.
And she was fine: sad-eyed, quiet and
composed. So beautiful. Leather
jacket. That purse with the rabbit's
foot dangling. Just like always.
INT. LOUNGE - DAY
Arctor and Mike sit across from each other over coffee.
MIKE
I think I'm going to try to get you a
job on one of our farms, Bruce. When
you're ready.
BOB ARCTOR
Can I work with animals. I like
animals. Can I work with them?
MIKE
No, I want to try you with crops. I
think that'd be good for you.
BOB ARCTOR
I want to work with something living.
MIKE
The ground is living. Do you have any
agricultural background?
BOB ARCTOR
(searching memory)
I used to work in an office.
(CONTINUED)
126.
CONTINUED:
MIKE
Well, you'll be outside from now on,
sowing, tilling, killing insects. We
do a lot of that with pesticides. But
we're very careful, because those
sprays can poison the crop as well as
the person using them. Eat his head.
The way yours has been eaten, Bruce.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
INT. NEW-PATH KITCHEN - DAY
Arctor is pulling some cleaning supplies from the cabinet
under the sink. He notices something, picks it up, studies
it. It's a bone fragment. He gets frightened, turns to
someone cutting vegetables, and holds up the bone.
BOB ARCTOR
Is this Jerry Fabin?! Is this Jerry
Fabin?!
The person takes the bone fragment, looks at it, and shrugs.
EXT. NAPA VALLEY FARM - DAY
It's a hot, bright day. A car drives in through the gate of
the razor-wire fenced farm, and raises dust as it heads
toward a cluster of wooden houses. It stops and Arctor
steps out, pulling a suitcase after him. He is met at the
car by the farm manager, a middle-aged man with a sun-
creased face. The car drives off.
FARM MANAGER
Your name is Bruce.
BOB ARCTOR
My name is Bruce.
FARM MANAGER
Mike Westaway recommended we give you
a try on the farm. You're going to
work here for a while.
BOB ARCTOR
Okay.
FARM MANAGER
I think you'll like it better here.
(CONTINUED)
127.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
I think I'll like it better here.
FARM MANAGER
You like mountains?
BOB ARCTOR
I like mountains.
FARM MANAGER
Beautiful mountains all around.
The manager points, but Arctor does not look.
FARM MANAGER (CONT'D)
And the air is good.
BOB ARCTOR
I like air.
FARM MANAGER
Yeah, Bruce, we all like air. We
really all do. C'mon, I'll show you
your bunk and get you a hat to protect
your head from the sun.
The manager leads Bruce to the bunkhouses.
INT. BUNKHOUSE - DAY
It's crude with six cots. The manager points to one of them.
FARM MANAGER
This is where you sleep.
BOB ARCTOR
Will I be seeing my friends?
FARM MANAGER
You mean back at the rehab?
BOB ARCTOR
Mike and Thelma and Donna and Jerry
Fabin and Luckman and Barris and --
FARM MANAGER
The farms are closed facilities, so
they can't come visit. Besides you're
not supposed to make any one-to-one
relationships at New-Path. Didn't they
teach you that?
(CONTINUED)
128.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
They had us memorize that as part of
the New-Path creed.
The farm manager studies Arctor's sad, blank face.
FARM MANAGER
But we usually send you back to your
residence-of-origin for holidays. So
you'll be visiting at Thanksgiving if
you do good work.
BOB ARCTOR
Thanksgiving.
FARM MANAGER
All right then. What else?
(looks around, points)
Bathroom there. And you can turn on
and off the light with this cord.
Arctor is no longer paying attention. He's caught a glimpse
of the mountains out the window, and stands transfixed.
FARM MANAGER (CONT'D)
Mountains, Bruce, mountains.
BOB ARCTOR
Mountains, Bruce, mountains.
FARM MANAGER
Echolalalia, Bruce, echolalalia.
BOB ARCTOR
Echolalalia, Bruce, echolalalia.
EXT. CORNFIELD - DAY
Arctor, in a cap and carrying a pesticide sprayer, wades
through the stalks, checking for insect infestation. His
entire focus, his entire consciousness is directed at this
task. His hat blows off, and he bends to pick it up. As he
nears the ground, he notices a second crop growing
underneath, hidden by the corn. It's a small, bright blue
flower, and now that he's close to the ground, he can see it
planted everywhere. He squats there, transfixed. Someone
comes up behind him. It's the Executive Director of New-
Path. Arctor doesn't look up; he just stares at the flowers.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You're seeing the flower of the
future, Bruce. But not for you.
(CONTINUED)
129.
CONTINUED:
BOB ARCTOR
Why not for me?
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You've had too much of a good thing.
So get up and stop worshipping. This
isn't your god anymore.
Arctor keeps staring. The Executive Director reaches down
and holds his open hand in Arctor's field of vision. Arctor
doesn't move his head; he just continues to stare, now at the
Executive Director's hand.
BOB ARCTOR
Gone. The flowers of spring are gone.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
No. You simply can't see them.
That's a philosophical problem you
wouldn't comprehend. Epistemology --
the theory of knowledge.
Arctor stares forever at the palm of the Executive
Director's rich, uncalloused hand, sees every crease.
Finally:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (CONT'D)
C'mon, back to work, Bruce.
BOB ARCTOR
I saw.
The Executive Director chuckles, rises, and heads off.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Back to work, Bruce.
Now that the hand is gone, Arctor stares once again at the
blue flowers. The colors shift, grow more saturated.
FAR-AWAY VOICE
I saw Substance D. I saw death rising
from the earth itself, in one blue
field.
In very slow motion, Arctor picks a blue flower, and puts it
inside his shoe. Shift back to normal speed and color.
BOB ARCTOR
A present for my friends.
(fond smile)
My friends who I'll see soon. At
Thanksgiving.
(CONTINUED)
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