April 2004
By: Serdar Acar
Script by: Serdar Acar & David Chalk
I wrote this story in Istanbul in 1999. After moving to the States the story changed it so many times. When I was studying acting at HB Studio in 2022, I wanted to adapt it to a play, a friend of mine; Eric Roffman helped writing it to a short play, the script looked good but I didn’t do anything about it, two years later I wanted to make a short film instead, I told David; who was my roommate in a small Manhattan apartment at that time, he liked the story and re-wrote it. This time I was more ambitious, I got the storyboard made for the whole script by a local artist in NYC, at the end it never made to the screen. 😦
BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE PROPER —
(EXT 6th Avenue phone booth, LATE AFTERNOON our protagonist ARTHUR YORK hangs up the phone rather forcefully and shakes his head and looks upset (–the audience should get the impression that he’s reacting to the long voiceover, but really he’s just gotten off the phone with his best friend DAVID SILVER))
(quick cut INT BAR — MR. MILLER’s just finished tea cup is forcefully and noisily but good-naturedly set down on the table. He gives a big smile to the woman across the table from him, SARAH, the BAR owner. He’s smiling because she’s about to read his fortune in his tea leaves.)
(We continue to jump back and forth between these two scenes. At the corner of 53rd & 6th a very nice car pulls up beside ARTHUR.)
(At the BAR SARAH is looking intently at the tea leaves.)
(ON THE STREET — The passenger side windows roll down. A handsome, well-dressed man is in the front passenger seat and calls to ARTHUR.)
JOE
Hey buddy–
(ARTHUR looks up and also notices that in the back seat, also with her window rolled down, a very attractive woman MARY is smiling at him. ARTHUR smiles back.)
(At the BAR)
MR MILLER (laughing)
Sarah, Sarah. You always see good things in there. You always say good things. I feel lucky, very lucky.
SARAH
You are a lucky man, Robert. I’m not doing anything.
(ON THE STREET)
ARTHUR
What’s up?
JOE
We’re kind of lost. Can you tell us how to get to Irving Plaza?
(BAR)
MR MILLER
You’re amazing, Sarah. I’ve been coming here for ten years and you’ve never steered me wrong.
(STREET)
JOE
South of Grammercy Park, west of Union Square, huh?
ARTHUR
Right. If you get to 13th St or 3rd Ave you’ve gone too far.
JOE
Hmm. Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but, you’re not headed that way are you?
ARTHUR
Um, ya, actually I am. I was headed to the dorms on 14th.
JOE
If it’s no trouble, would you mind navigating for us? We’re not from here. We’re from Minnesota. We’ve been here three days, seems like we’ve been doing nothing but driving around in circles the whole time.
ARTHUR
I guess. You don’t look like dangerous criminals.
(MARY opens her door and slides to the other end of the back seat. ARTHUR gets in and shuts the door. We hear the doors lock automatically.)
(BAR)
MR MILLER
You know sometimes I think you’re the one creating my future, instead of God, instead of me.
SARAH
I just tell you what I see. I don’t make things up. And I don’t create the future either. There is a hand that has written all things; I just read what is written. And I don’t always see good things. I have seen bad things in people’s cups. Very bad things. And I didn’t want to tell them. But after I see what happens, I feel guilty anyway. My husband always told me that the only way to see things is to share what I see. If you don’t share, you might stop seeing.
MR MILLER
So if you ever see a bad sign in my future, in my cup — would you try to stop it or would you let me stop it? Would I have any chance to change it? Maybe you would be the one who could change it.
SARAH
I would definitely stop it if I could or I definitely would tell you to stop it. I wouldn’t wait and do nothing like Matthew did.
(INT CAR – driving)
JOE
I’m Joe by the way, and sitting next to you is my friend, Mary. She’s the only one of the three of us with a criminal record.
ARTHUR
Nice to meet you both. I’m Arthur. (to Mary) What’d you do?
MARY
What was I caught doing? I could tell you, but then I’d have to …
ARTHUR
Right.
MARY
You said you were going to the dorms. You go to school here?
ARTHUR
Just finished my third year at NYU.
JOE
Good school. You like it there?
ARTHUR
Not really sure yet. I mean there’ve been some good professors, some good classes.
MARY
You look almost too old to still be in college.
ARTHUR
Ya, I never had to have a fake ID.
JOE
You from New York originally?
ARTHUR
I don’t think anyone’s from New York originally. I grew up in Washington, D.C.
(BAR)
MR MILLER
I remember all the days when you told me that I had to make choices. And whatever I choose ended up being right. The next week I would come back to you, worried about what I had decided. You always looked and told me I made the right choice.
SARAH
Life is about making choices and you did make good choices, Robert.
MR MILLER
You always say, I made good choices. Did I really make them? Did I really deserve all these good things in my life? All this luxury, what have I done to deserve all that? I’ve never had to sacrifice, I’ve never been hungry a day in my life. But what about everyone else? What did they choose? Did they chose?
SARAH
Everybody has a chance to make choices in their lives Robert, at least once, everybody…
(Car stops outside of the dorm on 14th St.)
JOE
Arthur, man, thanks a million, you were a life-saver.
ARTHUR
Ya, no problem. But I really just sat back and enjoyed the ride. You never really asked me for directions.
MARY
(to JOE) I told you he would be smart.
JOE
Ya, about that, Arthur, you have another minute or two?
ARTHUR
Um, okay, but what’s —
JOE
Look, Arthur, no one is trying to screw you here. But we have been following you for a little while.
ARTHUR
Oh.
JOE
We need someone like you. Smart, young, discreet. We have an offer for you. If you’re not interested, it’s no big deal, you can get out here, and you’ll never see us again.
ARTHUR
(voiceover aside) Please let it be something sexual with this Mary girl. (to JOE) I might be interested.
MARY
Good.
JOE
Ok. This is a very easy, very high-paying, one-night only job. And no questions asked.
You with us so far, ARTHUR?
ARTHUR
I think I am.
JOE
We’re going to take a nice scenic drive together. Then we’re going to stop and get out of the car. Our friend here is going to leave with the car for a little while. Mary and I will go take care of something. You’ll wait outside with a pack of cigarettes and a whistle.
ARTHUR
A whistle?
JOE
Yes. You can do whatever the fuck you want with the cigarettes. We’ll need 15 minutes, 20 tops. You only need to blow the whistle if anybody comes by — which they almost certainly won’t — this place is in the middle of fucking nowhere. And for your trouble, this will be yours
(JOE takes out an envelope, shows that it’s full of cash.)
ARTHUR
How much is that?
JOE
Five thousand dollars.
MARY
What do you say, Arthur?
(The doors of the car pop unlocked)
JOE
We don’t want you to do it, though, if you don’t feel comfortable.
(ARTHUR locks the car door and puts his seat belt on)
ARTHUR
I didn’t really have anything interesting to do tonight. And you all seem like lovely people. I’m in.
JOE
(very pleased) He’s in.
MARY
You’ve made the right decision, Arthur. You won’t regret this.
(The car drives off into the sunset and onto the FDR. We follow it on various highways and out to the rich suburbs. as we do…)
ARTHUR (voiceover to himself)
Well, this is kind of fucking nuts. But finally. An hour ago I was bitching to David about how I was going nowhere, my life is shit and nothing interesting would ever ever happen to me —
(FLASHBACK — EXT 6th Ave Phone Booth — ARTHUR’s phone conversation right before the movie started, ARTHUR speaking into the pay phone)
ARTHUR
David, my life is shit and nothing intersting will ever, ever, ever happen to me.
(FLASHFORWARD — INT Car)
ARTHUR
— and now I’m in a fucking Bond movie. (scottish accent) York. Arthur York. Who the fuck are these people? I should probably care. No questions asked. Obviously this is way too good to be true, but what do I have to lose? Finally. This could be how it starts. I mean this could be a complete disaster. Or it could be the best thing ever.
(The car gets off the highway. Mary leans forward in her seat.)
MARY
Hey Joe, you wanna synchronize our watches?
JOE
No.
(The car stops in front of a big gate. It’s dark but it’s clearly a big gate in front of a really big house.)
MARY
Here we go.
(JOE, MARY and ARTHUR get out of the car. The car drives away. MARY takes out of her handbag the pack of cigarettes and hands them to JOE. Joe removes a cigarette and places it in ARTHUR’s mouth. JOE then hands the pack to ARTHUR. Mary takes out a mini gun cigarette lighter and lights his cigarette. She whispers in ARTHUR’s ear)
MARY
You probably won’t need this, but just in case.
(And she slips the lighter into his pocket. She then takes out the whistle which is on a long ribbon which she ceremoniously hangs around ARTHUR’s neck. She then takes a key out of her bag. She unlocks the gate with it. She puts a finger to her lips to signal SHH, then signs OK, then she and JOE creep inside the gate. She taps her watch and then waves goodbye. ARTHUR watches the two of them walk away and then tries to look casual. He smokes for a bit in silence and then starts talking to himself or voiceover.)
ARTHUR
What the fuck am I doing? What the fuck are they doing? It’s ok. I’m having fun. I’m ok. But what the fuck could they possibly be doing?
(VERY GRAPHIC SEX SCENE IN ARTHUR’S IMAGINATION)
It’s got to be something more than just fucking. Who could they be cheating on that they need to go to this much trouble?
(FLASHES OF MOBSTER TYPES, PROMINENT POLITICIANS)
Cheating and stealing, maybe?
(CASH, DIAMONDS, ART)
Cheating, stealing and murder?
(VIOLENT IMAGES)
Maybe Bin Laden’s in there. Maybe she’s giving Bin Laden head. Maybe we’ll all be caught and I will be executed for treason.
(In ARTHUR’s imagination an Army special forces unit tackles him)
(Next he imagines a carload of gangsters, maybe much like the guys who kill Sonny Corleone at the toll booth, who drive up and shoot him)
(Outside the gate, Arthur takes out his gun lighter and lights another cigarette)
(Arthur imagines the van from Back to the Future filled with Libyan terrorists driving by and shooting him)
(Arthur imagines another car coming and himself trying to blow the whistle, but no matter how hard he blows, it won’t make any sound)
(Arthur imagines being attacked by dogs)
(Arthur imagines a cop car driving by)
Has it been fifteen minutes yet?
(We hear footsteps. JOE and MARY are coming back toward the gate, they seem like nothing has happened and aren’t carrying anything. Once outside the gate, JOE hands ARTHUR the envelope. The car drives up. JOE opens the door for ARTHUR. ARTHUR gets in. MARY takes back the whistle and gives ARTHUR a kiss.
MARY (almost in a whisper)
He’ll take you home. It was a pleasure not meeting you. If you mention any of this to anyone, Joe will know. Have a good life. Don’t go spending it all in one place.
(MARY shuts the door. JOE and MARY hold hands and wave as the car starts to pull away. ARTHUR only now notices the video camera half hidden by the gate.)
ARTHUR (half-audible)
Shit.
ARTHUR (in his imagination)
You guys knew about those cameras, right?
DRIVER
Cameras? I just got this car out of the shop. You weren’t supposed to see the cameras, dipshit.
(He turns around and shoots ARTHUR in the head. But this is just in ARTHUR’s imagination again.)
DRIVER
You say something, buddy?
ARTHUR
No, nothing.
DRIVER
So I’m taking you back to Union Square?
ARTHUR
Ya, I guess. No, wait, actually. Um, I was just going to a party there, everybody’s probably passed out by now though. If it’s not too far, can you take me back to my apartment in Brooklyn? Park Slope. Otherwise maybe you can just drop me in the city and I can get a cab.
DRIVER
I gotta check.
(He makes a call on his cell phone)
He says he needs to go to Brooklyn. (to ARTHUR) Where in Brooklyn again?
ARTHUR
Park Slope. 14th & 5th Ave. It’s no big deal though.
DRIVER
Somewhere in Park Slope. Yes, sir. (to ARTHUR again) Park Slope, it is.
(We drive to Brooklyn. The car stops in front of an apartment building in Brooklyn. ARTHUR looks worried because he doesn’t actually live here; it’s his Turkish friend Ali’s apartment and ARTHUR hopes like hell he’s home. ARTHUR gets out of the car and walks up to the door. The car is sitting there, the driver watching to see what ARTHUR does.)
ARTHUR
Shit, the fucker’s not driving away. What the fuck am I going to do if Ali’s not home?
(ARTHUR tries to knock loudly on the door without looking like he’s trying to knock loudly on the door. After what seems like a long time, ALI opens the door a crack.)
ALI
Arthur, what the fuck —
ARTHUR
Ali, please, I need to look like I live here.
ALI
You what?
ARTHUR
Let me the fuck in.
(ARTHUR half forces his way in. He watches through the window as the car drives away.)
ALI
What’s the matter with you? It’s the middle of the fucking night. Jenny’s asleep and she’ll be real pissed if she wakes up.
ARTHUR
Ali, I have to tell you what —
ALI
No, no you don’t. I’m not interested. At least not tonight, I’m going back to bed.
ARTHUR
A–
ALI
Sleep on the couch if you want. Maybe I’ll listen to your crazy shit in the morning.
(INT SARAH’s APARTMENT Late night — SARAH’s waiting up for her 18-year-old daughter SUSANNA to come home. We hear SUSANNA trying to quietly get the door open. She walks in to find SARAH waiting.)
SUSANNA
I’m an adult, I’m in college, you don’t have to wait up like this anymore.
SARAH
Where have you been? You know I can’t sleep unless I know you’re home.
SUSANNA
Jesus. I’m so sick of this.
SARAH
You’re sick of this?
SUSANNA
Just because you don’t have a life, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to go out.
SARAH
You’re my only daughter. There’s a lot of bad people out there. You–
SUSANNA
Mom. You can see the future — if I was going to be raped or murdered, I’m sure you’d have a few months notice, just like with Dad.
(INT ALI’s APT — late night — ARTHUR’s Alone on the couch clearly WIDE AWAKE — quick flashes of his day — before the car pulled up — him in an art gallery — him on the phone with David — the car — everything after)
(INT ALI’s APT early morning — ARTHUR is passed out. Jenny and Ali are trying to leave for work. ALI tosses a blanket over ARTHUR)
JENNY
You have some strange friends, Ali.
(INT SARAH’s APT — SUSANNA’s Bedroom — SARAH kisses Susanna’s forehead)
SARAH
Time to go to work, party girl.
(Susanna groans and covers her head with a pillow)
(INT ALI’s APT it’s dark. A phone rings and rings and rings. ARTHUR finally picks his head up. He notices it’s 3:30 pm. He walks over to the phone and picks it up)
ARTHUR
Hello.
ALI
Arthur, you crazy bastard, you’re still there.
ARTHUR
Where should I be?
ALI
You just woke up?
ARTHUR
Maybe.
ALI
I’ve been calling everywhere trying to find you. What the fuck did you do last night?
ARTHUR
Well, I had a very interesting–
ALI
Arthur, I don’t have time — just listen. I’m not coming back tonight — Jenny’s roommate’s having a birthday party, so I’m gonna spend the night there. The apartment is yours. You leave, just shut the door. But your friend, DAVID called, he said he’s got to see you, it’s important. He said he called the dorm, you weren’t there, he called my cell, anyway I told him, you’re at my place, he said today he’s out of town but tomorrow he’ll be back and you should go see him then. Ok?
ARTHUR
Ok.
ALI
I got to get back to work. Try not to destroy my apartment.
ARTHUR
You’re very hospitable, Ali. You won’t believe —
ALI
Bye, Arthur.
(ARTHUR hangs up the phone. Fills the tea pot with water and puts it on the stove.)
I have $5,000. This is going to be the summer of summers. I think the only reasonable thing would be to spend the day here as a precaution, get drunk and think of ways to spend this wonderful free money. Which is ironic because last week I told David–
(FLASHBACK — INT DAVID SILVER’s APT. ARTHUR and DAVID SILVER are sitting and talking)
ARTHUR (excited and happy)
Listen DAVID, I think I found what I need, remember I was telling you about this monk last week. I will be like him, I will give away my stuff, my books, clothes, CDs, DVD player and I will move to Nepal or Burma. I will change my name as well, everybody will call me Subbhuti. My name will be Subbhuti, I won’t wear shoes, or boots ever, I will only wear sandals. Or maybe I’ll just go efoot, like Borges said when he was 85, remember, if I could come to the world again, I will travel efoot, and swim in the lakes. Ha. Just like he said, and I will wear an orange robe, you know one piece only, it will cost maybe 1 dollar, the whole robe. You know why it will be orange? Because orange gives you peace and it’s relaxing, you told me that. That when you visited India, people looked very happy in those ashrams, and you know what, I won’t worry about my future, because the great spirit will take care of me.
DAVID SILVER
But you always worry about your future. That’s part of your charm. And I bet you’ll be thinking of something entirely different next week.
(FLASH FORWARD — INT ALI’s APT again — ARTHUR sits on the couch and flips on the TV. It’s a nice belly-dancing segment from THE TURKISH HOUR.)
ARTHUR
Maybe I should take belly-dancing lessons.
(The teapot whistles)
(Later in the day — a mostly empty bottle of liquor. ARTHUR is sitting on a Turkish carpet pretending to be flying over the city of New York.)
(Later still — Arthur is asleep again on the couch, passed out under the turkish carpet.)
(EXT Arthur’s drunken dreams which reveal background information about his dreams and aspirations.
EXT Central Park literary statues — Arthur is dressed as a whirling dervish, and whirls and whirls.)
(EXT steps of the New York Public Library, ARTHUR is dressed in a toga and sandles. His friend, DAVID SILVER, also in a toga, is speaking Greek and ARTHUR seems to be straining to understand.)
(EXT Balcony ARTHUR is being held upside down by his legs — JOE has one leg and the DRIVER has the other. We see them let go.)
(INT ALI’s APT Next day late morning or early afternoon. ARTHUR falls off the couch with a loud thud. This awakens him. He rubs his head and quickly cleans up ALI’s apartment. He cautiously looks out the windows and then leaves.)
(We see ARTHUR go and buy a coffee and then go to the car service. In the back seat of the car, he sits in silence. We see the car go over a bridge. Next we see it stop outside a luxurious Manhattan building (where DAVID SILVER lives). ARTHUR pays, gets out of the cab and goes in.)
(INT Hall outside DAVID’s apartment. ARTHUR rings the bell. A moment later, DAVID opens the door and half pulls ARTHUR inside.)
(INT DAVID’S APARTMENT — DAVID locks and bolts the door)
ARTHUR
David, what’s going —
(DAVID hands him a newspaper and looks at ARTHUR intently. ARTHUR looks at the front page — There’s a picture of him with the gun lighter — which looks a lot like a real gun in the picture — and the cigarette at the gate and the headline MURDER IN THE RICH SUBURBS)
ARTHUR
David, I can–
DAVID
Arthur, come on, man, I know you too well; I know you couldn’t have done anything. But we don’t have much time. Two cops were here this morning. Asking about you. They know where you live, where you go to school. But don’t worry–
ARTHUR
Don’t worry?
DAVID
Listen, I’m doing everything I can. You know the kind of connections my family and I have. Take this.
(DAVID hands ARTHUR an envelope with $3,000 in cash)
It’s a few thousand dollars.
ARTHUR
David, I —
DAVID
No time to argue, get out of town, lay low for a few weeks, maybe a month. I’ve talked to your parents. I’ll take care of them, and make sure they don’t worry. Just don’t be a dumbshit and try to go to the airport or call anyone you know. Here take some books too..
(DAVID hands ARTHUR a few books. ARTHUR looks completely dazed.)
But you gotta go now. But trust me — have I ever let you down?
DAVID
No.
(DAVID pulls off ARTHUR’s jacket, and then gives him one that looks entirely different. He takes a hat, puts it on ARTHUR’s head and pulls it down almost over his eyes. He then hands ARTHUR a pair of sunglasses. He opens the door for ARTHUR, ARTHUR puts on the sunglasses and leaves.)
(EXT Street ARTHUR hails a cab and gets in)
ARTHUR
88 East Broadway.
(EXT STREET East Broadway. Arthur gets out of the cab. He walks across the street to an open air stand with a Chinese woman behind the counter.)
CHINESE WOMAN
DC, Philly. DC, Philly, Boston. You want DC?
(ARTHUR looks at his watch. We follow him around the corner where he sees the Kafka BAR and walks in.)
(INT BAR — ARTHUR goes to the table farthest from the window and sits down. He tries to hide behind a menu. The only other customers are two pretty women in their early 20’s, JENNIFER and JESSICA. ARTHUR is close enough to them that he can hear and react to their conversation, which he does.)
JESSICA
You look like you got a lot of sun.
JENNIFER
I got a lot of a lot of things — but why are we meeting here, AGAIN?
JESSICA
I need to talk to her. Again.
JENNIFER
Who? The owner? What is the matter with you?
(SUSANNA comes to their table with their order)
SUSANNA
One slice of cheesecake, one coffee, and one loose tea. Can I get you anything else?
JESSICA
Not right now, thanks.
(SUSANNA goes over to ARTHUR’s table)
SUSANNA
What can I get you?
ARTHUR
Did I hear you say you have loose tea?
SUSANNA
(not very friendly) It’s kind of the specialty of the house.
ARTHUR
I guess I’ll have that then, please. Oh and lots of sugar.
SUSANNA
That’s it?
ARTHUR
For now.
(SUSANNA leaves)
JENNIFER
What’s going on with you? This is about what she said last week?
JESSICA
Do you remember exactly what she said?
JENNIFER
I wasn’t hanging on her every word like some gullible hick from Indiana. But ya, I think I remember the gist of it.
JESSICA
You didn’t think it was freaky how much she knew about me and Jeremy?
JENNIFER
Don’t you ever watch the Discovery Channel?
JESSICA
Come on, she knew too much.
JENNIFER
I just remember she said he was fucking around. Oh, and that the punchline was that she also said that you would to fuck someone else to get revenge.
(ARTHUR lowers his sunglasses at this, and looks intently at JESSICA)
(INT ARTHUR’S IMAGINATION — Small cramped BAR bathroom — ARTHUR imagines himself fucking JESSICA)
JESSICA
Oh! Oh! Revenge is sweet!)
(BACK TO REALITY — INT BAR)
JENNIFER
And now you’re back for more. Why?
JESSICA
Well–
JENNIFER
Wait. Something happened?
JESSICA
You could say that.
JENNIFER
Well, what? And why have you waited this long to tell me?
JESSICA
I didn’t want to ruin your vacation.
JENNIFER
This sounds big.
(ARTHUR is busy half trying to read one of the books DAVID gave him, but half trying not to look like he’s listening intently to the women’s conversation. SUSANNA brings him his tea and goes back to the kitchen.)
JESSICA
Almost everything she said was true. I got home and I couldn’t stop thinking about Jeremy cheating on me.
JENNIFER
Why would you even think it might be true?
JESSICA
That’s not the point. The next day, Jeremy went to work. I felt sick. So I called in sick. And I started checking his stuff. His bags, his clothes. His drawers. His closets, his suitcase. His computer hard drive, his email, under the bed.
JENNIFER
What did you find?
JESSICA
That he really was cheating. I found a picture of a woman in his drawer. Under his clothes, can you believe that?
JENNIFER
That’s it? Did you ask him who she was?
JESSICA
How could I? Right after I told him how I went through every single thing he owned. Oh honey, I was lifting up all the floor boards with a crow because a gypsy BAR owner told me you were a cheating bastard. I’m sweaty as all hell, but I want to have a serious talk about the state of our relationship. Who the fuck is the woman in this picture?
JENNIFER
Maybe it was just an old picture. Did you think of that? It might just be a friend? A family member?
JESSICA
A kissing cousin?
JENNIFER
Just because we’re both from Kentucky, you immediately jump to that? It can’t believe Jeremy would cheat on you, he loves you a lot.
JESSICA
I thought that for three years. How could I be so stupid? There was a note behind the picture: It said: “I won’t forget you.” “I won’t forget you.”
JENNIFER
Ok.
JESSICA
It was in an envelope; he hid it carefully, so I wouldn’t find it. That motherfucker.
(JESSICA is becoming very emotional and crying.)
JENNIFER
Calm down. Seriously. It still doesn’t prove anything
JESSICA
He was absolutely cheating on me. It was so obvious.
JENNIFER
It could be an ex-girlfriend; he might not even remember he has it.
JESSICA
Why are you defending him?
JENNIFER
Why don’t you just ask him?
JESSICA
I couldn’t. But I’m not an idiot, I wanted someone else’s opinion. You were out of town. So, I called his best friend, James. The same afternoon. I thought James would probably know about the girl. And why would he do it? I mean, am I bad in bed? We haven’t been having much sex recently, but it’s not my fault. I love sex.
(ARTHUR chokes on some of his tea, coughs a couple of times.)
JENNIFER
So did James think you were insane, too?
JESSICA
I just wanted to show the picture to him to see if he knew her. That’s all I wanted to do. He came to the apartment at like 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I started talking to him and telling him everything about our relationship, and the more I told him, the more upset I got.
(JESSICA sobs.)
JENNIFER
Honey. Did he know about the woman?
JESSICA
He said he didn’t know. But I was still too upset. I was crying like it was going out of style,
JENNIFER
Kind of like now?
JESSICA
Worse. (sob)
JENNIFER
And who says “like it was going out of style”?
JESSICA
Can I finish my story please or do you just want to criticize my diction?
JENNIFER
I’m sorry, really. Go on.
(JENNIFER pulls the imaginary zipper across her lips and smiles.)
JESSICA
I couldn’t fucking stop crying, and he was trying to calm me down, you know, telling me there’s nothing to worry about. And that’s when I saw the light in his eyes. And it happened.
JENNIFER
What exactly happened?
JESSICA
We kissed. Well, I kissed him first, I think.
JENNIFER
You think?
JESSICA
Well, he definitely kissed me back. It was hot. I’ve never kissed anybody like that in my life. It was so sinful and it felt so good. And then … And then we had sex…
JENNIFER
You what? Really? No, you didn’t.
JESSICA
Yes. I remember it vividly. I had sex with James, Jeremy’s best friend.
JENNIFER
Wow.
JESSICA
Yes I did. In Matt’s room, in his bed, in our bed.
JENNIFER
Oh my God, are you crazy…?
JESSICA
In the beginning, it was good. Just like she said, I felt like I was having revenge, and it felt really good, at first. After a couple of minutes, though: reality. James, this strange man, my boyfriend’s best friend, was actually lying on top of me. I looked at him and I felt empty, not guilty just empty. Everything seemed meaningless, and I didn’t even have fun, and I felt even worse after.
JENNIFER
Jesus. Anything else?
JESSICA
The same night, Jeremy broke up with me.
JENNIFER
How? Who told him? Did you tell him?
JESSICA
James dropped his stupid necklace in the bed. I had been so upset after, I just kicked him out and I didn’t even change the sheets. I took a long, long shower. I totally forgot about it. At night, we were in bed, Jeremy found it under his pillow. He recognized it right away. He just went crazy, I thought he was going to kill me, or James. I thought he was going to kill everybody. He started breaking the plates and stuff. He started yelling and cursing about everybody…
JENNIFER
He didn’t hurt you, did he?
JESSICA
No. He just yelled. Finally, I showed him the picture and the note.
JENNIFER
What did he say? Was he really cheating on you??
JESSICA
All he would say was that I was a stupid bitch. That’s the only thing he would say to me. Then he packed and took all his stuff, clothes and everything and moved to his friend’s house. He hasn’t called and I haven’t talked to him since.
JENNIFER
Un-fucking-believable. What about James?
JESSICA
I called him after Matt left. He started crying on the phone and apologizing.
JENNIFER
Men.
JESSICA
You picked a great week to visit your mother. I didn’t want to talk about this over the phone.
JENNIFER
Well, how are you feeling now?
JESSICA
Ok, but I need to learn more about my future from that woman.
(Susanna comes to the table)
SUSANNA
Anything else?
JENNIFER
Check, please.
(Susanna goes off to get the check)
JESSICA
What are you doing? I wanted the owner to look–
JENNIFER
We’re leaving.
JESSICA
Why? This woman knew. She’s psychic. She knows everything. Why don’t you believe her?
JENNIFER
Look at me: this is not true. It is not real. You can see whatever you want to see. You can do whatever you want to do. Life is like that. If you believe in something… It’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’ve had more than enough.
JESSICA
Enough of what?
JENNIFER
Jesus. Your brief foray into the occult has not had very positive results, so I’m cutting you off. That’s what friends are for.
(SUSANNA brings the check, and JENNIFER leaves some cash. JESSICA looks upset, but when JENNIFER gets up to leave she follows her and they leave together.)
(Time passes visually but sped up. ARTHUR reads and gets another cup of tea. Maybe a small crunchy pastry. A few other customers come and go. We see that it’s now 5;00, and the more attentive members of the audience might realize ARTHUR’s bus is at 6.)
SUSANNA (in the BAR, but shouting into the kitchen where SARAH is)
Mom, can I please get out of here? I’m gonna be late. And there’s like no one left.
SARAH
Almost done, sweetheart. Be patient.
(SUSANNA waits impatiently. She sighs loudly and maybe curses under her breath. She gets her bag ready, starts grabbing her painting tools from a drawer. When she’s ready she slumps down in a chair. SARAH comes out of the kitchen; she’s wearing an apron she got in Florence — the apron is an anatomically correct life-size photo of Michaelangelo’s David, and David’s penis is lined up with Sarah’s crotch.)
SARAH
All done. I still don’t understand why you’re taking such a late class. It’ll be dark by the time you’re done.
SUSANNA (Quoting SPINAL TAP)
“Oh how they danced, the little children of Stonehedge, beneath the haunting moon, for fear that daybreak might come too soon.”
SARAH
Give me a kiss and get out of here.
(SUSANNA kisses her mother.)
SUSANNA
Thanks, mom.
SARAH
I love you.
SUSANNA
I know.
(SUSANNA runs out the door. After a short pause, SARAH goes over to ARTHUR’s table. ARTHUR sets down his book. Without saying anything SARAH sits down in the chair across from him.)
SARAH
Do you have any idea what she just said to me?
ARTHUR
I do. It’s from THIS IS SPINAL TAP. It’s where there’s an 18-inch Stonehendge monument in danger of being trampled by dwarves.
SARAH
That sounds funny.
ARTHUR
It’s a classic.
SARAH
Are you the one who’s been ordering all this loose tea with three sugars?
ARTHUR
Ya, it’s really good. It’s hard to find in the city.
SARAH
You’re killing yourself with all that sugar, though.
ARTHUR
I like it sweet. The sugar makes my brain work faster.
SARAH
I don’t eat or drink anything with sugar. It’s too much for me. And it makes me fat.
ARTHUR
You must not have had any sugar for a long time.
SARAH
Aren’t you sweet to have noticed. I’m Sarah.
ARTHUR
Arthur.
SARAH
This is your first time here, right, Arthur? Do you live in the neighborhood?
ARTHUR
It’s my first time. I live in Brooklyn.
SARAH
Well, Arthur from Brooklyn, be a good boy and finish your tea. When you do I’ll look at your tea leaves. We’ll see what the future holds for you.
ARTHUR
Wow. How much–
SARAH
I never take money. My powers are a gift; I don’t think it would be right to profit from them. So, I only look for people I like.
ARTHUR
I’m honored.
(ARTHUR drinks the rest of his tea. We might see by the clock on the wall that he is getting awfully close to missing his bus.)
SARAH
All done?
ARTHUR
Yes.
SARAH
You ready to let me look?
ARTHUR
I think so.
SARAH
Nervous?
ARTHUR
A little.
SARAH
Your first time?
ARTHUR
Yes.
SARAH
I’ll try to be gentle.
(She looks in the cup. We see her concentrating, and ARTHUR nervously excited.)
Well, I see that you’re a good person; you’ve went to good schools, you were always very attached to and caring towards your cat, you’ve learned a lot, made good decisions.
ARTHUR
What good decisions have I made?
SARAH
Well, let’s see. When you were 17, you were in a proto-Goth metal band, called Deathface.
ARTHUR
Jesus! How could you possibly know about Deathface?
SARAH
It’s a gift. And you stopped playing with Deathface after fourth months because it was pulling your grades down and you also had to focus on preparing for your SATs. That was a good decision. And another was letting your girlfriend’s brother tutor you so you ended up getting a perfect score. You’ve studied hard, you go to a great college, you have good friends. I’m surprised you don’t have a girlfriend now. But now for your future.
ARTHUR
What do you see?
SARAH
Well…
(She seems to be concentrating harder. Her expression changes — because she sees that ARTHUR will die very soon! She tries to look harder and be sure, but ARTHUR notices the change.)
ARTHUR
What is it?
SARAH
It’s not good. Have you been sick recently?
ARTHUR
No, not at all.
SARAH
Oh. Are you in some sort of trouble?
ARTHUR
I don’t — I don’t think so.
SARAH
Listen, you can trust me. If there’s something I can do to help, I want to.
ARTHUR
I think I am in trouble. What do you see?
SARAH
Oh god.
ARTHUR
Am I going to get hurt?
SARAH
You may die.
ARTHUR (agitated)
Soon?
SARAH
Yes. Pretty soon. It looks like ten days, maybe two weeks.
ARTHUR
Jesus.
SARAH
I’m sorry.
ARTHUR
You’re sure?
SARAH
I’ve only seen this a few times. But I’ve never been wrong. My husband, Matthew, and I saw it a few months before he died.
(ARTHUR starts to cry a little, silently.)
SARAH
It might’ve been different with him though. He was a chain smoker; he died of cancer. Maybe there’s a chance to help you. There has to be. What kind of trouble are you in?
ARTHUR
I think I made a bad decision. The police are looking for me, maybe other people too. Bad people. This can’t be happening. How could I be so stupid? God, I feel like I can’t breathe.
SARAH
Calm down. What happened? Why are they looking for you?
ARTHUR
I didn’t do anything. Please believe me. This car pulled up to me two days ago. Two men and a woman. They offered me a lot of money, just to stand outside a house and be a lookout I guess. I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t tell what they did inside, I didn’t hear anything. Two days later I find out the police are looking for me and there’s my picture in the newspaper. What can I do?
SARAH
I’m not sure.
ARTHUR
You can’t see how I’ll die? Or where?
(SARAH looks again. She shakes her head.)
SARAH
Just that you will. In about two weeks. (pause) You have no idea who those people were?
ARTHUR
No, I’ve never seen them in my life. They could be after me. Or it could be whoever they hurt or robbed from. Or the police. I can’t go to the police; then everyone will know where I am.
SARAH
Where can you go?
ARTHUR
Well, I was thinking of heading south. I have a — wait, what time is it?
SARAH
It’s a little after 6.
ARTHUR
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I missed my bus. I can’t go to Virginia, they’ll know my parents live there. I can’t go home, I can’t go back to Brooklyn.
SARAH
No one knows you’re here?
ARTHUR
I came here as soon as I found out. And I’m in disguise.
SARAH
There’s a room upstairs. We haven’t used it for years, but you could stay there.
ARTHUR
Are you sure? I could get another bus tomorrow.
SARAH
I’m sure. I think your best chance though is stay here, stay hidden. I want to do whatever I can to protect you.
ARTHUR
Thank you.
SARAH
I’ll show you the room. You don’t have any bags?
ARTHUR
I left in a bit of a rush.
SARAH
I’ll try to get you some stuff tonight. I can buy you some clothes tomorrow.
ARTHUR
You’re a lifesaver. But why are you willing to help me? Why do you trust me?
SARAH
I have a gift. I can see that you’re a good person. I feel like I have to try to help. You want some more tea?
ARTHUR
Not right now, no. Jesus, I wish I had some pot though.
SARAH
I’m sure Susanna has some around here somewhere, but how ’bout a nice bottle of wine?
ARTHUR
That’d work.
SARAH
We should probably drink it in the kitchen though.
(ARTHUR gathers his few things and walks into the kitchen, followed by SARAH)
(INT Kitchen – SARAH hands ARTHUR a bottle of wine and a corkscrew. SARAH sets out two glasses. ARTHUR opens the bottle and pours.)
(BLACK SCREEN)
(INT BAR Bedroom, as above)
ARTHUR
I’m not ready. What, we’re saying I have between three days and a week?
SARAH
Do you want me to check again?
ARTHUR
No, I’m sure it will be the same as all the others. I’m not ready, but why should I be ready? But fuck it, I’ve come to a decision.
SARAH
What?
ARTHUR
Well, I refuse to spend what could be the last three days of my life feeling sorry for myself.
SARAH
(friendly joking) Is that what we’ve been doing?
ARTHUR
(smiling) No. But when we haven’t been doing — you know what I mean.
SARAH
I do.
ARTHUR
So I’ve decided that so that I won’t spend the last three days of my very sad, very short, very romantic life feeling nauseatingly sorry for myself, I’m going to spend just tomorrow feeling nauseatingly sorry for myself. And, as such, I will be playing Richard II tomorrow, and feeling monumentally sorry for myself, and comparing myself, favorably, to Jesus Christ, and spend all day telling sad stories of the deaths of kings.
(SARAH looks at ARTHUR in silence for a moment.)
SARAH
You are a very nice, very wonderful and very, very strange young man.
ARTHUR (quoting the Princess Bride)
“Good night, Wessley, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
SARAH
Try not to be morbid.
(They hold one another tightly and go to sleep.)
(INT BAR Kitchen — next morning, SUSANNA is getting ready to open, SARAH comes down the stairs and gives her a kiss on the cheek.)
SARAH
Morning, sweetheart.
SUSANNA
Good morning, mother.
SARAH
You didn’t stay out too late last night, did you?
(SUSANNA smirks)
SUSANNA
I’m trying to enjoy this while I can. How many more days until the Nazis come to drag Anne Frank out of our attic?
(SARAH shakes her head)
SARAH
Will you please stop calling him that?
(The door chimes and SUSANNA leaves to greet the first customer of the day.)
(SARAH walks back upstairs)
(INT BEDROOM — SARAH sits on the bed, watches ARTHUR sleep.)
(SARAH slides into the bed next to ARTHUR)
(An hour or so later, SARAH slides back out of bed, walks downstairs)
(INT KITCHEN — SARAH enters from upstairs, SUSANNA comes in from the BAR)
SARAH
Pretty slow again today?
SUSANNA
It doesn’t seem that slow when you’re the only one working.
SARAH
Honey–
SUSANNA
If you’re going to spend all your time up there with your concubine, maybe we could hire some more help.
SARAH
Jesus, how much time do you spend thinking of bitchy things to say to me?
SUSANNA
If you won’t hire anyone else, you could at least have Sally Hemmings pitch in some.
SARAH
I’m trying to protect him. Don’t you understand how serious–
SUSANNA
No, I do. Of course, I do. I think it’s really great. It’s great knowing that if any of my friends are ever in trouble I can send them to you to make everything better by fucking them for a week or two.
(SARAH walks out, clearly upset.)
(We follow SARAH outside through the streets of Chinatown. She walks for a while, maybe to Fulton and Nassau, maybe to Broadway.)
(INT – BEDROOM ARTHUR wakes up alone. ARTHUR sits up in bed. ARTHUR gets up and goes to the door. ARTHUR listens at the door, hears SUSANNA making noise downstairs in the kitchen. ARTHUR picks up a paperback copy of RICHARD II. He sits back in bed with it and reads.)
(A few minutes later, ARTHUR looks up from the book, sets it down. He goes back over to the door. He doesn’t hear anything. He quietly goes downstairs to the kitchen.)
(INT KITCHEN — ARTHUR alone, pours himself a cup of tea. He starts to look for something to eat, but hears SUSANNA coming back, he grabs his tea and rushes back to the door. SUSANNA enters before he can leave.)
SUSANNA
Oh, for fuck’s sake. You know you’re supposed to stay upstairs.
(ARTHUR looks sheepish and guilty.)
SUSANNA
Are you trying to get us all killed?
(ARTHUR shakes his head NO.)
SUSANNA
Go back upstairs, I’ll bring you some breakfast soon.
(ARTHUR leaves)
SUSANNA (to herself)
Asshole.
(SUSANNA puts some toast and half a grapefruit on a tray. Then she unbuttons part of her shirt and tries to look provocative in the mirror. When she’s satisfied she walks upstairs with the tray.)
(OUTSIDE THE BEDROOM DOOR — SUSANNA knocks a ridiculously complex secret knock. She then opens the door part way, bends over, and slides the tray across the floor into the room. Doing this she shows a lot of skin. ARTHUR watches from his bed and tries not to react.)
SUSANNA (whispers)
Hey Anne.
(ARTHUR looks up but doesn’t respond.)
SUSANNA
There were these guys asking about you this morning.
(ARTHUR doesn’t take this seriously.)
SUSANNA
I told them I would suck their cocks if they promised not to hurt you too badly.
ARTHUR (deadpan)
Thanks, I appreciate that.
(SUSANNA smiles)
SUSANNA (suggestively)
Anytime.
(SUSANNA shuts the door and walks back downstairs.)
(SARAH walks into a shoe store.)
(INT Shoe Store — SARAH looks at shoes. SARAH tries on a pair. SARAH buys the shoes.)
(EXT Streets — Sarah walks by the big statue of Lin Tse-hsu in Chatham Square where Park Row meets East Broadway, carrying a bag with the shoes she bought. She stops for a moment and looks at the statue. The statue looks back at her. She smiles and walks on.)
(INT KITCHEN — SUSANNA is talking on the phone.)
SUSANNA
So I’ll see you the day after tomorrow. Thank you so much.
(SUSANNA hears SARAH coming towards the kitchen.)
SUSANNA (hurried)
OK, I gotta go. Bye.
(SARAH walks in just as SUSANNA hangs up the phone a little too quickly and a little too loudly.)
SARAH
Who was that?
SUSANNA
Nobody.
SARAH
Nobody who?
SUSANNA
What did you get?
(SARAH takes out the box and opens it. SUSANNA takes out one of the shoes and examines it. She puts it on her hand to see how it looks.)
SUSANNA
They’re nice. Good choice.
(She hands the shoe back to her mother who puts it back in the box.)
SARAH
Thanks. You okay by yourself for a little while longer?
SUSANNA
Sure.
(SARAH gives her daughter a hug and walks upstairs with her shoes.)
(INT BEDROOM — SARAH walks in, ARTHUR is still reading in bed.)
ARTHUR
Hey.
SARAH
Hey. How are you feeling?
ARTHUR
I don’t know. Not too bad, I guess.
SARAH
No, Richard II today?
ARTHUR
I’ve decided to postpone it until tomorrow. I want to do it right.
SARAH
Good, I’ve kind of had a shitty morning.
(SARAH sits next to ARTHUR. He puts his arm around her, and she lays her head on him.)
(TRANSITION Shots — EXT BAR Raining)
(BAR from EXTERIOR, we see inside SARAH closing up.)
(EXT BAR, we see the lights go out)
(INT BEDROOM — we see SARAH and ARTHUR wearing less or no clothes, asleep in each other’s arms.)
(ARTHUR’S DREAM — EXT STREET PHONE BOOTH from the beginning)
ARTHUR (talking into the phone)
What must the King do now? Must he submit?
The King shall do it. Must he be depos’d?
The King shall be contented. Must he lose
The name of king? A God’s name, let it go.
(INT BEDROOM — ARTHUR has rollen off the bed and falls with a thud. This wakes him. SARAH groans in her sleep, but does not wake up.)
(ARTHUR walks to the mirror)
ARTHUR (talking to his reflection in the mirror)
For that our kingdom’s earth should not be soil’d
With that dear blood which it hath fostered;
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect
Of civil wounds plough’d up with neighbours’ sword;
And for we think the eagle-winged pride
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy,
(ARTHUR walks back to the bed, looks at SARAH sleeping)
ARTHUR (whispering)
set on you
To wake our peace, which in our country’s cradle
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;
Which so rous’d up with boist’rous untun’d drums,
With harsh-resounding trumpets’ dreadful bray,
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,
Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace
And make us wade even in our kindred’s blood-
(ARTHUR turns back to the mirror)
Therefore we banish you our territories.
(ARTHUR leaves the room, puts a note for sarah, quietly shutting the door behind him)
(EXT BAR, ARTHUR quietly leaves the BAR. It is around dawn.)
(ARTHUR walks throught the streets of Chinatown. Few people are out, but he nods to the workers he sees, maybe they are laying out fish. As he passes them, he speaks softly to himself.)
How he did seem to dive into their hearts
With humble and familiar courtesy;
What reverence he did throw away on slaves,
Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
(ARTHUR keeps walking. He comes to Chatham Square and the statue of Lin Tse-hsu. He speaks to the statue.)
ARTHUR
The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he;
His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be.
So much for that. Now for our Irish wars.
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns,
Which live like venom where no venom else
But only they have privilege to live.
And for these great affairs do ask some charge,
Towards our assistance we do seize to us
The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables,
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess’d.
(ARTHUR walks on.)
(INT BEDROOM — SARAH wakes up. She feels for ARTHUR with her hand, realizes he’s gone.)
SARAH (calling)
Arthur?
(With no response, she gets up, gets a robe, goes downstairs.)
(Kitchen)
SARAH
Arthur?
(SARAH goes into the BAR, flips on a light.)
SARAH
Shit.
(BEDROOM — SARAH getting dressed quickly, finds the envelope calling SUSANNA on her cell phone.)
SARAH (into the phone)
Pick up. Fuck. Sweetheart, call me as soon as you get this. He’s gone. Please, call me, I need you to help me look for him.
(EXT Battery Park — ARTHUR reaches the spot he has been walking to, by the water. He falls to his knees by the water’s edge.)
ARTHUR
I weep for joy
To stand upon my kingdom once again.
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses’ hoofs.
As a long-parted mother with her child
Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,
So weeping-smiling greet I thee, my earth,
And do thee favours with my royal hands.
(ARTHUR stands)
ARTHUR
Feed not thy sovereign’s foe, my gentle earth,
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower,
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder,
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign’s enemies.
(Intercut with ARTHUR’s monologues are shots of a worried SARAH walking through downtown searching for ARTHUR. Here we see her in Chinatown, perhaps passing the statue again.)
ARTHUR
O that I were as great
As is my grief, or lesser than my name!
Or that I could forget what I have been!
Or not remember what I must be now!
Swell’st thou, proud heart? I’ll give thee scope to beat,
Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me.
(EXT Street SARAH walking and calling SUSANNA again on her cell phone. Maybe she is walking by the Bull statue on Broadway. We hear the phone ring and ring, and the beginning of SUSANNA’s voicemail greeting.)
SARAH
Fuck.
(The scene shifts back to ARTHUR maybe he’s still at the water, maybe he’s closer to Castle Clinton.)
ARTHUR
I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world
And, for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it. Yet I’ll hammer it out.
My brain I’ll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented.
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders: how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls;
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune’s slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars
Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endur’d the like.
Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
(Back to SARAH who is approaching through Battery Park. She sees ARTHUR from afar — if he left the water, he is back by it now. Her face shows how relieved she is to see him. She wants to yell to him and starts to, but thinks better of it. As she gets closer ARTHUR turns and sees her. He smiles.)
SARAH
Arthur, I was–
(They embrace. ARTHUR says his next line while still holding her)
ARTHUR
Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay-
The worst is death, and death will have his day.
SARAH
Oh Arthur. We have to get out of here.
ARTHUR
No matter where-of comfort no man speak.
Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.
Let’s choose executors and talk of wills;
And yet not so-for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives, and all, are Bolingbroke’s.
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the ren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
(SARAH gives ARTHUR an Are you serious? look, but he is serious and they literally sit on the ground)
(SARAH’s cell phone rings. She can’t help giggling. ARTHUR smiles a bit but tries to stay in character. SARAH digs the phone out of her bag.)
SARAH
Arthur, I’m sorry.
(SARAH sees it’s SUSANNA calling. She gets up and walks a few steps off.)
SARAH (into the phone)
Hi, sweetie. — No, I’ve found him. We’re in Battery Park. — Susanna don’t get–
(SARAH looks upset. SUSANNA has hung up on her. ARTHUR approaches her from behind.)
ARTHUR
Come on, our queen; to-morrow must we part;
Be merry, for our time of stay is short.
(ARTHUR hands her the paperback copy of RICHARD II open to the lines he wants her to read.)
SARAH
You don’t think you’re taking this a little far?
(ARTHUR presses the book into her hands and gives her a sheepish, entreating look.)
SUSANNA (from fairly far off)
You crazy motherfucker!
(SUSANNA, who we now see is walking fast towards ARTHUR and SARAH)
ARTHUR (to SARAH)
The time shall not be many hours of age
More than it is, ere foul sin gathering head
Shall break into corruption.
SARAH
Arthur, I think we should go.
(SUSANNA is in front of them now, she is so pissed off she is shaking. She stands for a while unable to find words. SARAH feels very awkward. There is a long awkward pause.)
SUSANNA (to SARAH)
Mom!
SARAH
Susanna, I don’t know what to do.
SUSANNA
(To SARAH) So, what you’re going to just play Shakespeare in the park and wait until he dies or gets us all killed. (To ARTHUR) Why don’t you just get on the Staten Island Ferry with the rest of the garbage. What exactly did you do anyway?
ARTHUR
And must I ravel out
My weav’d-up follies? Gentle Susanna,
If thy offences were upon record,
Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop
To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,
There shouldst thou find one heinous article,
Containing the deposing of a king
And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,
Mark’d with a blot, damn’d in the book of heaven.
Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me
Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,
Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity–yet you Pilates
Have here deliver’d me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.
SUSANNA
Bravo. How much longer do we have to sit through this performance. If you’re fucking suicidal, why are you dragging us into it? What did we ever do to you?
ARTHUR
Mine eyes are full of tears; I cannot see.
And yet salt water blinds them not so much
But they can see a sort of traitors here.
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the rest;
For I have given here my soul’s consent
T’undeck the pompous body of a king;
Made glory base, and sovereignty a slave,
Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.
SUSANNA
What the fuck does that mean? What is the point of this? Is this making you feel good?
SARAH (interrupting, reading)
Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth
Have any resting for her true King’s queen.
But soft, but see, or rather do not see,
My fair rose wither. Yet look up, behold,
That you in pity may dissolve to dew,
And wash him fresh again with true-love tears.
(SUSANNA exasperated makes her self comfortable on the ground. There is a silent agreement to lounge in the grass and continue the performance. SARAH sits downs and ARTHUR lies on his stomach.)
ARTHUR
Lions make leopards tame.
SUSANNA
Fuck you.
SUSANNA
That sounds awfully religious for someone who’s fucking a fortune teller.
SARAH
Susanna!
SUSANNA
I wonder though, how well did he know these gangsters that will come and kill him for whatever he did to them?
ARTHUR
O villains, vipers, damn’d without redemption!
Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man!
Snakes, in my heart-blood warm’d, that sting my heart!
Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas!
Would they make peace? Terrible hell make war
Upon their spotted souls for this offence!
SUSANNA
Oh come on, you must have done something to have deserved this.
ARTHUR
Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind
To help him to his grave immediately!
The lining of his coffers shall make coats
To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.
Come, gentlemen, let’s all go visit him.
Pray God we may make haste, and come too late!
SUSANNA
That’s awfully cryptic, Annie. Can’t you break character, just for a minute. Come on, one line in your own voice.
ARTHUR
A king, woe’s slave, shall kingly woe obey.
Yet I well remember
The favours of these men. Were they not mine?
Did they not sometime cry ‘All hail!’ to me?
So Judas did to Christ; but he, in twelve,
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.
SUSANNA
Jesus Christ. Come on, really, cheer up, Annie. Just because my mother’s never been wrong before, doesn’t–
ARTHUR
She does me double wrong
That wounds me with the flatteries of her tongue.
Discharge my followers; let them hence away,
From Arthur’s night to Bolingbroke’s fair day
SUSANNA
It is getting lighter and lighter out. And easier for cops and robbers to see us. Easier for them to kill us. All of us.
ARTHUR
Part us, Susanna; I towards the north,
Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime;
My wife to France, from whence set forth in pomp,
She came adorned hither like sweet May,
Sent back like Hallowmas or short’st of day.
SUSANNA (to SARAH)
He’s calling you wife because that’s what it says in the script, right?
SARAH
Yes, dear.
SUSANNA
You piece of shit. Can we go now? Obviously she’s not leaving without you.
ARTHUR
So two, together weeping, make one woe.
SUSANNA
This is so uncool. You find this attractive?
(ARTHUR gets up. He is ready to leave.)
ARTHUR
We make woe wanton with this fond delay.
Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say
(SUSANNA and SARAH gets up too. ARTHUR starts walking; they follow him.)
ARTHUR (talking as he walks)
Twice for one step I’ll groan, the way being short,
And piece the way out with a heavy heart.
Come, come, in wooing sorrow let’s be brief,
Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief.
One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part;
(ARTHUR kisses SARAH)
ARTHUR
Thus give I mine, and thus take I thy heart.
SUSANNA
Oh for fuck’s sake.
(ARTHUR and SARAH start walking again; SUSANNA follows.)
(Time fades. We see the three of them go back into the BAR. ARTHUR goes upstairs. SARAH and SUSANNA work in the BAR. Outside time passes, cars and pedestrians speed around at sped up speeds. The sun sets over the river. The BAR lights close.)
(Now late at night. INT BAR Kitchen — ARTHUR is in a chair drunk off his ass. SARAH is sitting beside him sipping wine, but not totally trashed.)
SARAH
I’m exhausted. I have to go to bed. Come up with me.
ARTHUR
Full of tears am I,
Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.
(ARTHUR takes another drink from his glass)
(SARAH gets up and kisses ARTHUR on the forehead)
SARAH
Good night, sweet prince.
ARTHUR
That’s the wrong play.
My care is loss of care, by old care done;
Your care is gain of care, by new care won.
The cares I give I have, though given away;
They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.
SARAH
Good night.
(SARAH goes upstairs)
(ARTHUR stands up)
ARTHUR
Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind
To help him to his grave immediately!
(ARTHUR stumble/crawls to the bathroom.)
(INT BATHROOM — ARTHUR looks at himself drunkenly in the mirror)
ARTHUR
Have I not reason to look pale and dead?
All souls that will be safe, fly from my side;
For time hath set a blot upon my pride.
(ARTHUR curls up beside the toilet)
ARTHUR
Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high;
Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.
(ARTHUR passes out)
(EXT BAR morning – SUSANNA unlocks the front door)
(INT BAR kitchen — SUSANNA sets down her bag, walks to the bathroom. She opens the door and sees ARTHUR. She is somewhat amused. She gives ARTHUR a light kick.)
SUSANNA
You’re not dead, are you, Annie?
ARTHUR
Blehhhhh.
SUSANNA
I should be so lucky.
ARTHUR (mumbling)
Sht thdr.
(SUSANNA shuts the door.)
(TIME PASSES — The clock on the wall shows it’s 3 pm, the bathroom door opens. ARTHUR steps out gingerly to find SUSANNA sitting in the kitchen.)
SUSANNA
You look like shit.
ARTHUR
I feel like shit.
SUSANNA
Does sleeping beauty die in the end?
ARTHUR
Is Sarah here?
SUSANNA
No, she’ll be back in a few hours.
ARTHUR
Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday and everything.
SUSANNA
What do you want to do to make it up to me?
ARTHUR
It was really nice being outside again.
SUSANNA
It’s good that you appreciate the little things now.
ARTHUR
I need to get out of here for a little while.
SUSANNA
I won’t tell. But aren’t you afraid of getting recognized or shot and killed?
ARTHUR
I won’t be gone long and I’m going to wear my disguise.
SUSANNA
Great.
(ARTHUR goes upstairs)
(EXT streets of Chinatown — ARTHUR is walking around in his somewhat ridiculous disguise.)
(INT Chinese restaurant, Arthur eating, he notices a very large clear plastic bag filled with fortune cookies. His eyes get big.)
(EXT BAR ARTHUR tries to look casual and like a delivery man. He enters the BAR.)
(INT BAR – there is only one or two customers. None of them look up as ARTHUR walks in and to the back.)
(INT BAR Kitchen ARTHUR walks in and SUSANNA looks up.)
SUSANNA
What is that?
ARTHUR
It’s a bag full of fortune cookies.
SUSANNA
I can see that. What, you wanted a second opinion? My mother’s not good enough for you now?
ARTHUR
Don’t tell her. Do you want help me open them?
SUSANNA
Ya. But we at least need some Tsing-Tao.
(SUSANNA gets some Chinese beer out of the refridgerator. They drink and open fortune cookies.)
SUSANNA
“Consolidate rather than expand your business in the near future” in bed.
ARTHUR
“You will make a fortune with your friend.”
SUSANNA
In bed. “Everything will now come your way.” You don’t even need to say in bed after that one.
ARTHUR
“You can open doors with your charm and patience.”
SUSANNA
“The great joy in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
ARTHUR
“Don’t let doubt and suspicion your progress.”
SUSANNA
In bed.
ARTHUR
“You have at your command the wisdom of the ages.”
SUSANNA
In bed. Wait. This one says, “Arthur will die tomorrow morning!”
ARTHUR
It doesn’t say that. Does it?
(SUSANNA hands it to him.)
ARTHUR
It says “Sing and rejoice, fortune is smiling on you.”
SUSANNA
“The great joy in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” We already got that one.
ARTHUR
“To one who waits, a moment seems a year.”
(Time Passes. EXT BAR — SARAH comes in.)
(INT BAR Kitchen — SARAH walks in to find her kitchen littered with empty fortune cookies and beer bottles.)
SUSANNA
Good, you’re back.
SARAH
What did I miss?
(SUSANNA gets up to leave, shakes some fortune cookie shells off her bag.)
SUSANNA
Annie will tell you, I have a hot date.
(SUSANNA gives her mother a kiss.)
SUSANNA
It was fun babysitting you, Annie.
(SUSANNA pats ARTHUR on the head. We follow SUSANNA out the door.)
(EXT outdoor restaurant tables. SUSANNA is sitting with MR. MILLER having margaritas.)
SUSANNA
So I have this friend.
MR. MILLER
My dear, that sounds exactly like you’re in some awful sitcom wanting to tell me about yourself but you don’t want me to know you’re really talking about yourself.
SUSANNA
Well, it is about me, but this really is a story my friend told me.
MR. MILLER
Okay. Go ahead, dear.
SUSANNA
She told me about some guy she knew who was getting a divorce. The woman he married used to be his best friend’s girlfriend. And he hated her. He was convinced she was a whore. and he wanted to prove it to his best friend by sleeping with her. And then he ended up not only fucking her but marrying her. And then she left him for someone else.
MR. MILLER
Was this someone else also trying to prove something?
(SUSANNA giggles)
SUSANNA
I don’t think so.
MR. MILLER
What does this story have to do with you, dear?
SUSANNA
I want to prove something to my mother.
(INT BAR Kitchen — SARAH is sitting at a candlelit table. ARTHUR is cooking.)
SARAH
Are you sure you know how to cook? I don’t want you giving yourself a fatal case of food poisoning.
ARTHUR
Then you better taste this.
(SARAH takes a bite.)
SARAH
Wow.
(They kiss.)
(NIGHT — SUSANNA and MR. MILLER are walking by the water at South Street Seaport arm in arm. No one else is around.)
SUSANNA
So you haven’t talked to Mom in two weeks?
MR. MILLER
That’s right. I guess she was pretty busy last week.
(SUSANNA stops walking, so MR. MILLER does too.)
SUSANNA
And before that she didn’t tell you about any big choices you’d be faced with soon? Anything exciting that would happen?
MR. MILLER
No, why?
SUSANNA
Just wondering. So she didn’t tell you that I would do this.
(SUSANNA’s hand moves to MR. MILLER’s crotch.)
MR. MILLER
Oh dear. I–
SUSANNA
Shh. I really, really want to do this.
(SUSANNA kneels. MR. MILLER holds on to a railing tightly.)
MR. MILLER
I’ve always tried to make good decisions.
(INT BAR Kitchen – SARAH and ARTHUR are finishing desert.)
SARAH
The tiramisu tastes especially good tonight.
(ARTHUR kisses SARAH. He lifts her and carries her upstairs.)
(INT Kitchen — early morning — ARTHUR is putting two cups of tea on a tray. SUSANNA comes in.)
SUSANNA
Breakfast in bed?
(ARTHUR nods.)
SUSANNA
That’s sweet.
(ARTHUR starts to go upstairs.)
SUSANNA
Arthur, wait. Do you think that I’m a bad person?
(ARTHUR sets down the tray.)
ARTHUR
You seem nice enough.
SUSANNA
There was this guy I used to go out with. One day, well, we were always sort of arguing or bickering about something. And this day, I had been talking a lot I guess or something. And we had been walking around and shopping a lot. And I was tired and I wanted to get a coffee and a pastry. And he was all bitchy and wanted to wait outside. So I went in and got into line. And I looked back and the motherfucker was running away. I went outside and saw him taking off at full speed a block and a half away.
ARTHUR
When was this?
SUSANNA
It was about two years ago. Do you think people should run away from me?
ARTHUR
This is why I would never go out with a man. They’re pretty much all shit. I can’t imagine how you deal with it.
SUSANNA
I don’t think I deal with things very well. I went down on my mother’s best friend last night.
ARTHUR
Seriously?
SUSANNA
Yes. Mom’s probably wondering why her tea is taking so long?
ARTHUR
Um, ya. Okay.
SUSANNA
Good talk.
(ARTHUR takes the tray upstairs.)
(SUSANNA goes to set things up in the BAR.)
(INT BAR bedroom — ARTHUR and SARAH are sipping tea. They are in the middle of an awkward silence. ARTHUR is upset.)
SARAH
You look terrible.
(SARAH feels ARTHUR’s forehead)
SARAH
Why don’t you try to go back to sleep.
(SARAH gets up and takes the cups and tray. She tucks ARTHUR in.)
(SARAH leaves the room. ARTHUR closes his eyes.)
(SARAH walks down the stairs but stumbles. She drops the cups and they both break. She sits down on the stairs and starts crying.)
(SUSANNA comes in to see what’s happened. She doesn’t say anything to her mother but starts cleaning up the broken cups.)
(ARTHUR’S DREAM — NIGHT Battery Park — ARTHUR and SUSANNA are on a blanket. surrounded by candles. SUSANNA twirls a parasol as they kiss passionately. After a while, ARTHUR moves and reveals that SUSANNA is very pregnant. ARTHUR feels her stomach, but reacts in a frightened way, as if he is only just now realizing that she is pregnant. SUSANNA keeps twisting the parasol.)
SARAH’s voice
Arthur. Arthur.
(INT BAR Bedroom — SARAH is sitting on the bed by ARTHUR.)
SARAH
Arthur.
(ARTHUR wakes up.)
SARAH
I think you were having a bad dream.
ARTHUR
Oh fuck. Jesus.
SARAH
It’s okay; everything’s going to be okay.
ARTHUR
No, fuck, no, it’s not okay. I have to go.
SARAH
No, you don’t.
ARTHUR
I can’t stay here forever. I have to face this. I’m going to go see my friend, David; at least see what’s going on, where things stand. I’ll be careful.
SARAH
You have to do what you feel is right.
ARTHUR
Of course.
(ARTHUR kisses SARAH’s hand.)
(INT BAR Kitchen — SUSANNA is finishing cleaning up when ARTHUR comes down)
ARTHUR
I’m leaving.
SUSANNA
You piece of shit.
(ARTHUR smiles)
SUSANNA
I was thinking about you today. I have this friend from Columbia. We were talking about fortune telling, because of Mom and all. She told me a story about a fortune teller in Columbia who saw this woman’s death and told her exactly when it would happen. So the woman went home to her house and was scared shitless on the day it was suppossed to happen. So she just stayed in her house and waited and waited. Then the hour came and you know what?
What?
SUSANNA
She didn’t die. But still she was worried so she stayed in her house. Just kept watching reruns for hours. I think she watched kids shows from Ecuador about a boy who had the super power of being able to turn into a puma to fight crime.
ARTHUR
And?
SUSANNA
So after about four hours, she decides it’s safe to leave the house. She steps out of her house and she’s hit by a truck and dies.
(ARTHUR smiles and shakes his head. SUSANNA smiles. ARTHUR leaves)
(EXT BAR — ARTHUR walks out and very carefully and obviously looks both ways before crossing the street.)
(EXT street — ARTHUR hails a cab and gets in)
(EXT street — ARTHUR gets out at DAVID SILVER’s building)
(INT Hall — ARTHUR goes up to DAVID’s door — but somebody else opens it”)
This is the phone number. You a friend of his?
ARTHUR
Yes.
NEW TENANT
Kind of a weird guy, he moved out kind of in a hurry. But a nice enough guy. Tell him I said hello.
ARTHUR
I will.
(EXT. STREET—SAME PHONE BOOTH) Arthur on the phone to David)
(ARTHUR gets a taxi)
(The Taxi pulls up at the same gate as before. It’s still afternoon, but ARTHUR is pretty sure it’s the same place. The taxi drives off. The DRIVER from that night opens the gate, only now he doesn’t have a mustache. ARTHUR is a bit freaked out.)
DRIVER
Relax, David’s right inside. Come on follow me.
(EXT Front door of the house. ARTHUR is not sure if he’s about to get a bullet in the back of the head.)
(EXT FRONT DOOR — REALITY)
DRIVER
You look a little pale.
(The door opens. It’s DAVID SILVER. DAVID looks scared and serious and doesn’t say anything for five or ten seconds. ARTHUR looks very nervous. Then DAVID smiles and laughs.)
DAVID
Arthur, good buddy, how the hell are you?
ARTHUR
David–
DAVID
You look like hell. Come on in we’re having a party.
ARTHUR
You’re having a party? David, I have been–
DAVID
Arthur, relax, come on in, get a few beers in you and you can tell me all about it.
(ARTHUR looks puzzled but he and the DRIVER follow DAVID inside.)
(INT House living room. The only other guests in the living room are ALI and his girlfriend JENNY on the couch.)
ALI (very amused)
Hey, Arthur.
ARTHUR (dazed)
Hey, Ali. Jenny.
DAVID (yelling to the other room)
Where’s Arthur’s beer?
(We see a beer bottle pressed against ARTHUR’s back)
VOICE
Don’t move.
(ARTHUR is startled)
DAVID
Arthur, I think you’ve met Joe and Mary a few weeks back.
(ARTHUR turns around to see it’s MARY with the beer in his back and JOE is also poking his head in from the other room. ARTHUR realizes the whole thing was set up by DAVID. He holds and rubs his nose like the kid from “Dazed and Confused.” Then he takes the beer from MARY, opens it and plops down in a chair with it.)
MARY
I guess we got him pretty good.
DAVID
I’d like to propose a toast to our guest of honor here, my dear, dear friend Arthur York. Arthur, I’m sorry, man, but if I had to listen to you tell me one more time how your life was shit and nothing interesting would ever happen to you… So we did this for you. Because you are a special, talented, caring, not bad-looking human being. I want you to appreciate what you have and use it. You need to be active not passive. You can’t wait until you’re sure you know what you’re meant to do. Keep making, searching, living, looking, whatever. Keep on keeping on. This was for you, Arthur. You wanted your life to be different; I tried to make that happen for you. To Arthur, everybody.
(DAVID walks over to ARTHUR. ARTHUR stands up and waves his fist jokingly. DAVID offers him his hand to shake. ARTHUR takes his hand and pulls him into a hug.)
(MARY hits a button on the stereo and dance music starts. MARY grabs ARTHUR’s hand and they dance. ALI and JENNY dance also. DAVID and JOE sit and talk and laugh. Time and the party pass visually.)
(EXT GATE — DAVID SILVER and ARTHUR smoking. DAVID SILVER is playing with the cigarette lighter gun and laughing slightly.)
ARTHUR
David, I seriously thought I was going die.
DAVID
That’s not the worst thing in the world. At least you know it’s over now.
ARTHUR
Still I spent two weeks hiding in Chinatown thinking my life was over.
DAVID
I pictured you hiding out in motels in some dinky towns in Florida. I had this image of you doing this STRANGER THAN PARADISE thing, maybe going to Cleveland first, and then Florida. But how would you get to Cleveland? That’s why I thought Florida, definitely Florida. I really thought you’d go somewhere warm.
ARTHUR
Sure you did. What possessed you to do this?
DAVID
One of my Turkish friends, he’s always telling these stories. Occasionally they’re interesting. He claims someone in Turkey did something similar to him. Sort of forced him to take a crazy vacation by giving him money and convincing him that the police were after him. He spent his days hiding in mosques writing poetry, going from town to town, riding trains. It sounded like what you needed.
(ARTHUR flicks his cigarette butt.)
ARTHUR
I need another beer.
(ARTHUR goes in.)
(INT Kitchen — ARTHUR gets a beer out of the fridge. As he’s opening it, MARY enters.)
MARY
You okay?
ARTHUR
Ya. I don’t know.
MARY
I guess it’s kind of a lot to take in.
ARTHUR
Right. I don’t know. I just don’t understand why David would have done everything with Sarah.
MARY
Who’s Sarah?
ARTHUR
The fortune teller.
MARY
What fortune teller?
ARTHUR
The fortune teller who kept telling me I was going to die. You don’t think that’s kind of fucked up?
MARY
I don’t think David had anything to do with that. He’s been acting the whole time like me, Joe, the driver and Ali were the only people who knew about this.
ARTHUR
Are you sure?
MARY
Well, ask him, but I’m pretty sure.
ARTHUR
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
(ARTHUR leaves.)
(ARTHUR meets DAVID just as he’s coming in the front door.)
ARTHUR
You had Sarah tell me I was going to die, right?
DAVID
Sarah?
ARTHUR
Come on, David, this shit isn’t funny.
DAVID
Arthur, I don’t know any Sarahs. Wait, no, I think there was this Canadian girl I knew England. Her name might have been Sarah.
ARTHUR
You knew nothing about the BAR Kafka?
DAVID
Arthur, I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
ARTHUR
Jesus Christ, I feel so nauseous.
DAVID
I’m sorry , Arthur, once you left my apartment I didn’t plan anything for you. What happened?
ARTHUR
You didn’t hire an attractive woman in her forties to read my fortune and tell me I would die in two weeks, and then start fucking me?
DAVID
That’s what you’ve been doing for two weeks?
ARTHUR
Oh my God.
(ARTHUR chugs the rest of his beer and goes back into the kitchen for another.)
(INT Kitchen — ARTHUR walks past MARY and to the refridgerator for more beer.)
MARY
That’s quite a story.
ARTHUR
I don’t know what to think. I would never believe in this sort of thing, but I don’t know. The combination of thinking everyone was out to get me. She really seemed to believe what she was saying. Other people there believed her and what she told them came true. She knew the name of the band I was in when I was 17. I don’t even think my mother rememembers that. Fuck. But this is crazy right? There can’t possibly be two distinct sets of people trying to fuck with my head all at the same time, can there?
MARY
Probably not.
ARTHUR
So what do I do?
MARY
Well, do you want to spend the rest of your possibly very short life looking over your shoulder, afraid to get into cars with strangers?
ARTHUR
Maybe not.
MARY
You basically have two choices: believe it or don’t believe it. Either way if it’s going to happen it’s probably going to happen. But I think you believing it can only make it more likely to happen. There’s a part in “Crime and Punishment” that says that a condemned man, an hour before he is to be executed, thinks that he would rather live on a six inch ledge above a bottomless abyss for a thousand years, that that would be better than death.
ARTHUR
Sounds right. But… on the off-chance that I am about to die, would you want to grant a dying man’s–
(FLASH INTO ARTHUR’S IMAGINATION — EXT CENTRAL PARK — ARTHUR and MARY are sitting together on a log by water. ARTHUR may be playing the banjo, they are in the middle of singing “THE RAINBOW CONNECTION”)
ARTHUR AND MARY (Singing)
La-da-da-dee Da-da-doo, A-da-da-da-da-dee-da-doo
(INT KITCHEN — REALITY)
MARY
What about your forty-something soothsayer?
ARTHUR
I don’t see a future there.
MARY
And you think this I’m-about-to-die thing could work twice in two weeks?
ARTHUR
I don’t know, could it?
MARY
Not with me.
ARTHUR
Oh. Okay.
MARY
But if you make it another week or two, call me.
ARTHUR
One more thing to live for.
(ARTHUR goes into the other room. MARY takes a sip of her beer and shakes her head.)
(EXT Backyard — DAVID and ALI)
ALI
I fucked an older woman once. She was forty. It was couple of years ago. She made me forget who I was. I was like the king. It was the most beautiful longest day ever in my life.
Ya?
ALI
Ya. I met her at the park, you know, it was a very nice Saturday, just like this afternoon, I am enjoying reading a book and the weather is beautiful, and I see this beautiful woman. She is sitting on a bench right next to mine. We started talking. I don’t know who started first… And hours passed by and we really loved talking to each other. I took her to dinner that night and we kept talking. After dinner I asked her to come to my apartment and she does. I don’t remember talking to anybody else in my life that long, not like stupid things, like nice and important things, 3rd world countries, politics, us presidents, homeless people, books, films, plays, songs. It was just awesome. And it seemed like she understands everything I say. And finally I kiss her. I kind of get lost in her lips. She had the most beautiful lips. And sex. It was like crazy. You could think she never had sex in her life. She was just eating me, holding me tight, pinching, punching, and biting, I saw her tears, it was amazing, and it was like for 2 hours nonstop. Non-stop.
ARTHUR
Keep going.
ALI
It was like being eaten by a wild animal or something. And when she came you would not think this is a human being coming. She sounded like a lion. Wow. Imagine?
ARTHUR
I can imagine. Sounds pretty nice. What happened after the sex?
ALI
It was like 9 at night or something. She said she had to tell me something very important. I got scared you know, I thought maybe she had a disease or something. And she tells me that she is married. Married (pause). I was shocked. And I said: so what…I mean you did this once and you can surely do it again. She says I don’t think that would be appropriate for me to see you again. I love my husband very much… Love your husband? So what was that then, right?
ARTHUR
Right. I don’t understand people at all.
ALI
Anyway, I was surprised you know. I mean how can you love your husband and have sex like that. She said, I don’t know what it is but I needed to have this experience in my life and I had it now. Thank you and thank God, it was wonderful. It was one of the most wonderful 6-7 hours I had in 10 years.
ARTHUR
Did you fall for her?
ALI
No way. But I liked her a lot. I mean look at the circumstances. (Getting upset) You are finally thinking that you found a woman who has everything you need. everything and she is 15 years older than you besides that she is married, married; you cannot do anything about it. That’s just fucking bad man. It’s too bad.
ARTHUR
You miss her.
ALI
To tell you the truth I do.
ARTHUR
I understand you man. You have a nice girl; you are still lucky, you know. Does Jenny know about this.
ALI
Of course, not. She’d cut my fucking balls off.
JENNY (from inside)
Ali, it’s time to go!
(ALI and ARTHUR clink their beers.)
ARTHUR
Good luck.
ALI
You two.
(They go inside together.)
(INT Living Room ALI and JENNY say goodbye to DAVID and leave. )
ARTHUR
I should get going too.
DAVID
You sure? You can stay here, if you want.
ARTHUR
I really want to sleep in my own bed.
DAVID
I can’t argue with that. I’ll walk you out.
(EXT GATE — DAVID is standing by the car. The back seat window rolls down — ARTHUR is inside.)
DAVID
Be careful.
ARTHUR
Do you think I need to be?
DAVID
No. Well, probably not.
ARTHUR (seriously)
Thank you, David.
DAVID
Anytime. What are friends for? Relax, you’ll be fine.
ARTHUR
I know.
DAVID
See you soon.
(DAVID waves and backs away. ARTHUR waves and the car pulls out.)
(The car drives, stops at the train station.)
(ARTHUR riding the subway.)
(EXT street Union Square — ARTHUR jogs up the steps and out of the subway and onto the street. He looks happy and unafraid. ARTHUR goes to a pay phone, puts in a few coins. We hear the phone ring four times.)
SARAH’S VOICE ON THE PHONE
BAR Kafka.
(ARTHUR hangs up the phone.)
(ARTHUR steps out to cross the street. He turns and sees a car is heading straight at him. The screen BLACKS OUT and we hear a horn and screeching breaks.)
(The screen turns bright ORANGE. There is a ten second pause of silence.)
(EXT street — ARTHUR is OK. The car has stopped just in front of him. He pauses for a second and looks stunned. Then he slams his hand down on the car hood.)
ARTHUR
(to the car) I’m walking here! (to himself) Jesus fucking Christ.
(ARTHUR continues his walk across the street but as he crosses the dividing line he looks in the other direction and now he is about to be hit by a large truck. The screen turns bright YELLOW. After another ten second pause — The CREDITS.)
Serdar Acar 