1c2beb941aa7e22acbbf8ce285e0a999d27a493b
movie
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Six-Degrees-of-Separation.html
SIX DEGREES OF
a SHOP WINDOW
 Fifth Avenue socialite Ouisa Kittredge (Stockard Channing) and her art dealer husband Flan (Donald Sutherland), are parents of "two at Harvard and one at Groton". But the narrow world inhabited by the Kittredges and their public status as people interested in the arts make them easy prey for Paul (Will Smith). Paul is a skillful con-artist, who mysteriously appears at their door one night, injured and bleeding, claiming to be a close college friend of their Ivy League kids, as well as the son of Sidney Poitier. Ouisa and Flan are much impressed by Paul's fine taste, keen wit, articulate literary expositions and surprising culinary skill. His appealing facade soon has the Kittredges putting him up, lending him money and taking satisfaction in his praise for their posh lifestyle. Paul's scheme continues until he brings home a hustler, and his actual indigence is revealed. The shocked Kittredges kick him out when it is revealed that they are but the most recent victims of the duplicity with which Paul has charmed his way into many upper-crust homes along the Upper East Side. Paul's schemes become highbrow legend â anecdotal accounts of which are bantered about at their cocktail parties. In the end, Paul has a profound effect on the many individuals who encounter him, linking them in their shared experience.
Fifth Avenue socialite Ouisa Kittredge ( Stockard Channing ) and her art dealer husband Flan ( Donald Sutherland ) , are parents of two at Harvard and one at Groton . But the narrow world inhabited by the Kittredges and their public status as people interested in the arts make them easy prey for Paul ( Will Smith ) . Paul is a skillful con-artist , who mysteriously appears at their door one night , injured and bleeding , claiming to be a close college friend of their Ivy League kids , as well as the son of Sidney Poitier . Ouisa and Flan are much impressed by Paul s fine taste , keen wit , articulate literary expositions and surprising culinary skill . His appealing facade soon has the Kittredges putting him up , lending him money and taking satisfaction in his praise for their posh lifestyle . Paul s scheme continues until he brings home a hustler , and his actual indigence is revealed . The shocked Kittredges kick him out when it is revealed that they are but the most recent victims of the duplicity with which Paul has charmed his way into many upper-crust homes along the Upper East Side . Paul s schemes become highbrow legend â anecdotal accounts of which are bantered about at their cocktail parties . In the end , Paul has a profound effect on the many individuals who encounter him , linking them in their shared experience .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Separation_(film)
Six Degrees of Separation (film)
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<pre>



<b>                           SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
</b>

                                  Written by

                                  John Guare



                                                            April 1992                     

                         

<b>                         1
</b>
<b>          INT KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT LIVING ROOM DAWN
</b>          JOHN FLANDERS KITTREDGE and LOUISA KITTREDGE ("FLAN" and
          "OUISA") , an attractive couple in their 40s, in their night
          clothes are in an uncharacteristic state of shock.
          Some sort of horrible disaster has happened to them.
          THEY survey their living room which under normal
          circumstances would appear to be a serene haven.
          But why are they-so aghast? And terrified?
          Has the apartment been violated?
          The Fifth Avenue apartment, red and cozy, threadbare with
          the legacy of years of kids and dogs running in and out, is
          filled with beautiful objects chosen with care. Even though
          the apartment is 19th Century in feel, a lot of modern
          paintings hang on the walls.
          No. No visible disaster here.
          But then why FLAN and OUISA's emotional state? THEY run
          between the hall and the living room.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Is anything gone?
          OUISA opens the front closet with trepidation. But nothing
          leaps out. SHE sees a mink is still there..

<b>                         FLAW
</b>          How can I look? I'm shaking.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          My god! The Kandinsky!
          0UISA runs into the living room. SHE can see by the
          discoloration on that wall that a painting is missing.

<b>                         OUISA Y
</b>          It's gone! Call the police!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There it is!
          An early abstract painting by Kandinsky leans against a
          Philadelphia Chippendale chair: the painting is wild and
          brilliantly colored.

<b>                         0UISA
</b>          Thank god!
          SHE picks the painting up and flips it around. It's a double
          sided painting. The artist, Kandinsky, had painted in
          different styles on either side of the canvas.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         2
</b>          One side of the painting is geometric and somber; the other
          side is all chaos and brilliant colors.
          OUISA replaces the framed canvas on the wall where it
          belongs, but the side she chooses to display is the
          geometric side. SHE admires it.
          FLAN opens the door from the hall into

<b>          THE OFFICE.
</b>          A computer. Calendars. File cabinets. Bulletin boards with
          prints of paintings tacked on. FLAN checks - the slide
          projector is there. FLAN opens and closes cabinet drawers.
          OUISA appears in the doorway of the office.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We could've been killed.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Don't say that. The silver Victorian inkwell!
          FLAN runs past OUISA down the hall back to the living room.
          OUISA follows HIM back into

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM.
</b>          FLAN looks on an antique table crowded with framed family
          photographs going way back in time and all kinds of
          mementoes.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          How can you think of things? We could have been
          murdered.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I want to know if anything's gone?
          HE picks up an ornate Victorian inkwell capped by a silver
          beaver and looks at it with great objectivity..

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There's the inkwell. Silver beaver. Why?
          OUISA, drained, looks out the window down onto Central Park.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Slashed ---our throats slashed.
          Go to bed at night happy and then murdered.
          Would we have-woken up?
          OUISA screams.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         3
</b>          But it's their pug dog licking her leg.
          OUISA picks up the dog and pets it.
          FLAN remembers something and buries his face in his hands.


<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We have to go to the wedding.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I am in no mood to go to any wedding.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We have to

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          They're your friends

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I beg to differ. They're Your fr -
          FLAN stops, frightened suddenly, listening.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Hello?
          OUISA runs to HIM, terrified. HE holds HER.

<b>                         OUISA (WHISPERS)
</b>          You don't call out Hello unless--
          THEY walk softly to the dark hall.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I think we could tell if someone else was here.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We didn't all night.
          THEY look down the silent dark hall.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>          INT THE WHITE WALL SOMEWHERE ELSE
</b>          We don't know where we are yet but it's certainly not the
          KITTREDGE'S. The rain drumming outside and the distant
          thunder and the soft cool jazz playing makes the air of this
          room with the white wall, wherever it is, claustrophobic,
          even erotic.
          A YOUNG BLACK MAN whose name is PAUL comes into frame and
          leans against this white wall. Right off, you say this
          YOUNG MAN is a winner.
          PAUL frowns, then smiles. Right into the camera.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>
<b>                         (SERIOUS)
</b>          Hello.

<b>                         (FLIRTATIOUS)
</b>          Hello.

<b>                         (QUESTIONING)
</b>          Hello?

<b>                         (SUSPICIOUS)
</b>          Hello...

<b>                         (ELATED)
</b>          Hello!
          Yes.
          Hello.
          SOMEONE OFF SCREEN claps.
          PAUL bows to the OFF SCREEN PRESENCE.

<b>          EXT KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT BUILDING 910 FIFTH AVENUE DAY
</b>          OUISA and FLAN run out of their apartment building, their
          clothes hastily pulled on, their faces swollen with shock.
          THEY run down the side street into

<b>          THE GARAGE.
</b>          Their car is waiting - a Mercedes - FLAN slips the
          attendant a bill. FLAN gets in the driver's seat.
          OUISA gets in the passenger seat.
          FLAN (a statement of fact)
          I'm shaking.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Then I'll drive.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I have to hang on.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         5
</b>
<b>                         T
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Let's just get there

<b>          INT THE WHITE WALL
</b>          The Sound of the rain, the jazz, the thunder.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Bottle of beer.
          Bottle of beer.
          Bottle of beer.
          AN UNSEEN YOUNG MAN OFF CAMERA speaks - elegant phrasing.

<b>                         VOICE
</b>          Bottle of beer.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Bottle- of beer.

<b>                         VOICE
</b>          Very good. You owe me.
          PAUL takes off his shirt. HE's strongly built. HE throws

                         
          the shirt directly into the camera.

<b>          EXT HENRY HUDSON PARKWAY DAY
</b>          FLAN is driving terrifically fast. OUISA puts on a tape.
          MARIA CALLAS sings the death scene from La Traviata.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Be care - !
          A CAR veers by. FLAN swerves his car.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Let me drive!

<b>                         FLAN (FURIOUS)
</b>          Driving calms me!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          When you're in one of these moods you do not
          drive well and I do not want to be killed today.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We could have been killed last night.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Stop saying that!

<b>                         6
</b>
<b>          !
</b>          FLAN pulls himself together. HE moves over to the Slow lane.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I'm driving slowly. See. Slowly.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I went in the room first.
          FLAN looks for signs.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Where's the goddam turnoff onto the Taconic?
          A truck veers and almost hits them.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You didn't see what I saw!
          FLAN puts on brakes.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's that fucking Maria Callas!
          Turn that damn thing off!

                         
          FLAN snaps off the tape deck.
          THEY resume driving.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It's not Maria Callas. It's that truck and you.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And last night.
          THE COUNTRYSIDE speeds by.

<b>          EXT ST PETER'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH LITHGOW, NEW YORK DAY
</b>          LOTS OF CARS parked in front of this sweet rural wooden
          chapel near Millbrook, New York.
          THE BRIDE, 20s, gets out of a limo escorted by her FATHER.
          OUISA and FLAN run up to the BRIDE and kiss her.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Happy is the bride the sun shines on

<b>                         BRIDE (ALARMED)
</b>          You look horrible!

<b>                         OUISA (BRIGHT)
</b>          No no! Could've been killed. All fine!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         7
</b>
                         

<b>                         FATHER
</b>          What?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Wonderful wedding. Wonderful day.
          THEY run into

<b>          THE CHAPEL.
</b>          This.perfect country chapel with a dozen or so rows of pews
          is bedecked with flowers and lit by candles.
          A STRING QUARTET at the side of the little altar plays
          Dvorak's American Quartet.
          THE USHER in morning clothes, greets FLAN and OUISA and
          shows them to their pew.

<b>                         USHER
</b>          Bride's side? Groom's side.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Either side. I can't even remember
          how we met them. Why are we here?
           THEY walk down the aisle, heads down.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Do not make a scene.
          THEY kneel.

<b>                         FLAN (WHISPER)
</b>          Now I lay me down to sleep - the most
          terrifying words  just think of it -

<b>                         OUISA(WHISPER)
</b>          I pray the Lord my soul to keep-

<b>                         FLAN (WHISPER)
</b>          The nightmare part - If I should
          die before I wake -

<b>                         OUISA(WHISPER)
</b>          If I should die - I pray the Lord
          my soul to take -
          COUPLE IN THE PEW IN FRONT turn. A
          MAN, A WOMAN, strangely not unlike FLAN and OUISA, perhaps A
          few years older, perhaps more nautical as if they'd flown a
          in from Nantucket, are named SANDY and CONNIE.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          Is anything wrong?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We were almost murdered

<b>                         FLAN
</b>
<b>                         THROATS SLASHED
</b>          THE PEOPLE in the pew in front gasp.
          FLAN and OUISA are serious.
          THE QUARTET plays The Wedding March.
          EVERYONE stands.
          THE BRIDE and her FATHER walk down the aisle.
          CU OUISA'S FACE lost in thought.
          Bright vivid colors fill the screen. Later we will learn
          they are from a double-sided painting by Kandinsky, which

<b>                         HANGS IN
</b>
<b>          THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM.
</b>
<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>
                         
          Chaos.
          OUISA'S face appears briefly, smiling, then is replaced by
          dark, geometric patterns. The other side of the painting.
          It is lowered to reveal OUISA very serious.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          Control.
          (The painting is flipped.)
          Chaos.
          (OUISA smiles. Flips it again. Frowns.)
          Control.

<b>          BACK IN THE CHAPEL
</b>          OUISA, still frowning at her memory, realizes the wedding
          ceremony is over.
          THE BRIDE and the GROOM run up the aisle beaming at EVERYONE
          to the strains of Lohengrin.
          But even THEY slow down when THEY see the state FLAN and
          OUISA are in.

<b>                         GROOM
</b>          Is everything all
          FLAN snaps out of it, putting on his party smile.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         9
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We always get this way at weddings.
          THE BRIDE and GROOM resume their run up the aisle.
          It's FLAN and OUISA's turn to leave the pew and go up the
          aisle. SHE is stricken.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I do not always get this way at weddings.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We're alive.
          THEY walk up the aisle into the foyer of the chapel.
          SHE puts her head into his shoulder.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Oh, it was awful awful awful awful.
          Then OUISA and FLAN put on their best smiles as THEY pass
          through a receiving line, finally shaking hands with the

<b>          WEDDING COUPLE.
</b>
<b>                         BRIDE
</b>
                         
          Did you say you could have been killed?

<b>                         OUISA (MERRY)
</b>          Yes! Only hours ago!

<b>                         FLAN (MERRY)
</b>          But we're here!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Wouldn't miss it!
          THE BRIDE and GROOM look after THEM.

<b>          EXT THE MILLBROOK GOLF AND TENNIS CLUB DAY
</b>          A spankingly bright and solid country club in Millbrook New
          York situated on the golf course grounds surrounded by lots
          of tennis courts.

<b>          INT MILLBROOK CLUB DAY
</b>          THE WEDDING GUESTS file into the cheery club, all bright
          white and a shade of cheery green that only country clubs
          seem to find.
          MORE GUESTS than could f it into the CHAPEL are here in the
          club waiting for the Bride and Groom.
          FLAN and OUISA hesitate before going into the ballroom.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         10
</b>          THEY stop in the small quiet dark clubby BAR.
          THEY sit at a small table, pulling themselves together.
          SANDY and CONNIE (the people from the pew in front of them)
          come up to THEM. A WOMAN who looks like a dormouse is with
          them. SHE is named JULIA.

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          We hate to pry -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No no. You're not prying

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          But what happened -

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          This is our friend Julia

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Do we know each other?

<b>                         JULIA
</b>          Oh yes through...

<b>                         9 FLAN
</b>          Of course. Haven't seen them in years
          FLAN shakes hands with the new acquaintance.

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          We're worried for you
          FLAN and OUISA look at each other.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Tell them!
          SANDY and CONNIE and JULIA sit down at the small table.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We were having a wonderful evening last night.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          A friend we hadn't seen for many years came by
           for dinner. I don't think you know him -

<b>                         FLAN (PORTENTOUSLY)
</b>          Geoffrey Miller. From South Africa--

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Don't say it so portentously.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         11
</b>
                         

<b>                         FLAN (BRIGHT)
</b>          Geoffrey from South Africa.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Don't be ga-ga.
          (THEY give their orders to THE BARTENDER.)
          Something large.

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          I didn't know Geoffrey was in town.

<b>                         JULIA
</b>          I saw him at Susie Baxter's

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          I wasn't at Susie Baxter's

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          Sandy forgets he was married to Susie Baxter.
          THE WAITER goes.

<b>                         SAVOY
</b>          That's no reason why she can't
          invite me to a party.
          CONNIE whispers to JULIA, her eyes on FLAN.

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          He's an art dealer.
          JULIA nods now that's she's remembered.
          FLAN (hears it)
          Private sales. Purchases.
          OUISA leans forward. Somehow the telling calms HER.
          THE CHUMS lean forward.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We knew Geoffrey

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          through our children when Geoffrey and his
          family all lived in New York.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          They've moved back to South Africa.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He was here in New York briefly on business
          and asked us to ask him for dinner.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         12
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He's King Midas rich. Literally. Gold mines.
          THE WAITER puts down the tray of drinks.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Seventy thousand workers in just one gold mine.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          But he is always short of cash because his
          government won't let its people --

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Its white people --

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          -- its white people take out any money. So it's
          like taking in a War Baby.

<b>                         (TO WAITER)
</b>          Thank you. That one's mine -
          THEY switch drinks.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>           When he called it was like a bolt from the blue
          as I had a deal coming up and was short by

<b>                         OUISA
</b>
<b>                         TWO MILLION
</b>          FLAN puts down his drink.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The figure is superfluous
          OUISA turns to CONNIE.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I hate when he uses the word "superfluous". I
          mean, we needed two million and we hadn't seen
          Geoffrey in a long time and while Geoffrey might
          not have the price of a dinner he easily might
          have two million dollars.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The currents last night were very churny.

<b>                         CUISA
</b>          we weren't sucking up. We like Geoffrey.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         13
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's that awful thing of having truly
          rich folk for friends.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Face it. The money does get in the -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Only if you let it. The fact of the money
          shouldn't get in-

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Having a rich friend is like drowning and your
          friend makes life boats. But the friend gets
          very touchy if you say one word: life boat.
          (THE CHUMS laugh.)
          Well, that's two words. We were afraid our
          South African friend might say "You only love me
          for my. life boats?" But we like Geoffrey.

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          I know who he is now.

<b>                         JULIA
</b>           Lovely man.

<b>                         X
</b>
<b>                         SANDY
</b>          Didn't he invite us to visit him?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It wasn't a life-threatening evening.

<b>                         OUISA -
</b>          Rich people can do something for you even if
          you're not sure what it is`you want them to do.
          THEY turn at the sound of applause.
          THE BRIDE and GROOM have entered the Country Club and our
          table in the bar looks up as THE WEDDING PARTY passes by for
          a moment rushing past the Bar into the ballroom.
          Off in the ballroom THE SMALL ORCHESTRA strikes up "Just One
          Of Those Things" for the ten thousandth time.
          EVERYONE in the club is applauding and OUR TABLE applauds
          too. OUISA starts to rise.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Should we?

<b>                         CONNIE
</b>          Not on your life.
          CONNIE pulls OUISA back down to the table.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         14
</b>
                         
          FLAN signals another round.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Hardly a Life Boat evening -
          OUISA sits, enjoying this.

<b>                         OUISA (SING-SONG)
</b>          Portentous.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          But when Geoffrey called and asked us to take
          him for dinner, he made a sudden pattern in
          life's little tea leaves because who wants to
          go to banks?
          FLAN'S VOICE takes us back to last night

<b>          INT THE KITTREDGE.'S LIVING ROOM NIGHT
</b>
<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          Geoffrey called and our tempests settled
          into showers and life was manageable. What
          more can you want?

                         
          GEOFFREY stands up into the frame, an elegant, impeccably
          British South African, more English than the English, ten
          years older than Ouisa and Flan.
          FLAN and OUISA are both dressed very stylishly and nattily
          tonight. But not trendy, not so it shows.
          FLAN was definitely an athlete and he still keeps himself in
          trim. If HE's in the art world, there's nothing arty about
          him.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Listen.
          OUISA stops doing what she's doing which is rolling out a
          drink trolley with little hors d'oeuvres on plates.
          FLAN stops doing what he's doing which is checking that a
          slide projector is in place on the desk along side the
          silver beaver inkwell.
          FLAN and OUISA both tense.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What's wrong?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         15
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          It always amazes me when New York is so quiet.
          OUISA and FLAN relax and laugh.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          With the kids away, we get used to a lower noise
          quotient.
          FLAN pours a drink for GEOFFREY.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Geoffrey, you have to move out of
          South Africa. You'll be killed.
          Why do you stay in South Africa?

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          One has to stay there to educate the black
          workers and we'll know we've been successful
          when they kill us.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Planning the revolution that will destroy you.

                         
          OUISA sits back on the comfy sofa amazed at the thought.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Putting your life on the line.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          You don't think of it like that.
          I wish you'd come visit.
          OUISA takes her drink and strokes the ears of her dog.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          But we'd visit you and sit in your gorgeous
          house planning trips into the townships
           demanding to see the poorest of the poor. "Are
           you sure they're the worst off? I mean, we've
           come all this way. We don't want to see people
          just mildly victimized by apartheid. We demand
          shock." It doesn't seem right sitting on the
          East Side talking about revolution.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Only small murky cafes for Pepe le Noko here.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No. La Passionaria. I will come to
          South Africa and build barricades and
          lean against them, singing.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         16
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And the people would follow.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          "Follow Follow Follow". What's that song?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The way Gorbachev cheered on the striking coal
          miners in the Ukraine - yes, you must strike-
          it is your role in history to dismantle this
          system. Russia and Poland - you can't believe
          the developments in the world -
           (HE remembers:) "The Fantasticks" (SINGS:)
          "Follow Follow Follow".

<b>                          OUISA
</b>          China.
          FLAN and OUISA (despair)
          Oh.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Oy vay China. As my grandmother would say.
          Our role in history. And we offer ourselves up

                         
          to it.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          That is your role in history. Not our role.
          OUISA ponders this thought.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          A role in history. To say that so easily.
          GEOFFREY suddenly gets up and looks through the telescope by
          the window.

<b>                         GEOFFREY'S POV
</b>          GEOFFREY flashes down nine floors into Central Park. HE
          frowns in puzzlement when HE sees

<b>          A STATUE OF AN ALASKAN HUSKY
</b>          baying up into the sky.
          FLAN and OUISA look at GEOFFREY's back and then at each
          other. How to keep the ball rolling?
          FLAN (to Geoffrey)
          Do you want another drink before we--

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         17
</b>
                         
          GEOFFREY turns into the room.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Wonderful view.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The phrase - striking coal miners - I see all
           these very striking coal miners modelling the
          fall fashions.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Where should we?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There's good Szechuan. And Hunan.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The sign painter screwed up the sign. Instead
          of The Hunan Wok, he painted The Human Wok.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          God! The restaurants! New York has become the
          Florence of the Sixteenth Century. Genius on
          every corner.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I don't think genius has kissed the Human Wok.
          THEY finish off their drinks.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          The new Italian looked cheery.
          FLAN and OUISA
          Good.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We made reservations.
          FLAN looks at the slide projector.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Geoffrey, I'd like to show -
          FLAN'S sentence hangs in mid-air as GEOFFREY follows OUISA

<b>                         INTO
</b>
<b>          THE HALL.
</b>          OUISA burrows in the closet getting her coat and
          GEOFFREY's coat out of the hall closet stuffed with tennis
          rackets and skis and boots.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         18
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          This restaurant - they wrap ravioli up
          like salt water taffy.
          FLAN appears behind HER to help HER.
          THEY both wrestle the coats out of the closet.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Six on a plate for a few hundred dollars.
          And FLAN gets the coats. A clatter of tennis rackets
          falling. GEOFFREY takes his topcoat.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          You have to come to South Africa so
          I can pay you back. I'll take you on my plane
          into the Okavango Swamps -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Did you hear - to take back to Johannesburg.
          out in Eastharpton

<b>                         FLAN
</b>
<b>                         LAST WEEKEND
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          a guy goes into one of the better food stores -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Dean and DeLuca -
          FLAN helps OUISA on with her coat.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          one of the Dean and DeLuca look alikes. Gets a
          pack of cigarettes and an ice cream bar. Goes
          up front. Sees there's a line at the register.
          Slaps down two twenty dollar bills and goes out.
          GEOFFREY doesn't get the anecdote.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We sent it to the Times.
          GEOFFREY smiles politely.
          FLAN and OUISA press a little bit too hard.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          They have the joke page of things
          around New York.

<b>                         IV
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         19
</b>
                         

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          They send you a bottle of champagne.
          THEY all laugh brightly.

<b>          INT MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          THE CHUMS listen enrapt. OUISA is serious.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We weren't auditioning but I kept thinking Two
          Million dollars Two Million dollars.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's like when people say -Don't think about
          elephants' and all you can think about is
          elephants elephants elephants.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Two million dollars Two million dollars.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>           OUISA and FLAN laugh brightly. THE FRONT DOORBELL rings.
           OUISA and FLAN look at each other. Who is that?
          OUISA goes into the hall.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          What ever you do, don't think about elephants.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Elephants?
          FLAN rapidly steers GEOFFREY to a chair, closes the living
          room door, then wheels a projector with a carousel tray into
          place.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Louisa is a dada manifesto. About the Cezanne -
          unless we're careful, it'll be sold and never
          seen again -
          FLAN switches off the room's lights and clicks on the
          projector. The slide projection of a beautiful green
          landscape by Cezanne fills the wall by the door.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         20
</b>
<b>                         0
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Mid-period. Landscape of a dark green forest.
          In the far distance you see the sunlight. One
          of his first uses of a pale color being forced
          to carry the weight of the picture. The
          experiment that would pay of f in the apples. A
          burst of color asked to carry so much-- The
          Japanese don't like anything about it except
          it's a Cezanne--
          And suddenly the door in the wall opens up.
          A YOUNG BLACK MAN supported by the ELEVATOR MAN, (EDDIE)
          appears in the Cezanne forest holding his eyes against the
          projector's light. And OUISA behind HIM.
          FLAN clicks off the projector.
          OUISA switches on the living room lights.
          THE YOUNG BLACK MAN - PAUL - is in his early twenties, very
          handsome, very preppy. His shirt front is ripped and
          bloodied. Fresh blood. EDDIE helps PAUL to the sofa,
          OUISA following at a loss.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>           I'm so sorry to bother you, but I've been hurt-
           and I've lost everything and I didn't know where
           to go. Your children-- I'm a friend of --

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          THE CHUMS are transfixed.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And he mentioned our childrens' names.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And the school where they went.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Harvard. You can say Harvard.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We don't want to get into libel.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          PAUL (exhausted and scared)
          I was mugged. Out there. In Central Park. By
          the statue of that Alaskan husky. I was
          standing there trying to figure out why there is
          a statue of a dog who saved lives in the Yukon
          in Central 'Park and I was standing there trying
          to puzzle it out when -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         21
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Are you okay?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          They took my money and my brief case. I said my
          thesis is in there -
          PAUL looks down. HE sees the blood seeping through his
          shirt.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          His shirt's bleeding.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          His shirt is not bleeding. He's bleeding.
          PAUL holds his mouth, nauseous.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I get this way around blood.
          FLAN (leading PAUL out of the room)
          Not on the rug. Eddie, get the doctor--
           EDDIE turns to leave.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>           No! I'll survive. Please. No doctors -
           PAUL, frightened, looks at FLAN.
           FLAN (To EDDIE)
           We'll call if we need any -
          FLAN helps PAUL out of the room down the hall.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Thank you, Eddie -
          EDDIE goes.
          FLAN, followed by OUISA, supports PAUL into

<b>          THE WHITE TILED BATHROOM.
</b>          PAUL sits on the side of the tub.
          PAUL takes off his blazer and pulls off his ripped shirt.
          His tie is still around his neck. There is a good sized
           knife slash in his side by his rib cage. OUISA and FLAN
          cringe. FLAN opens the medicine cabinet.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         22
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I don't mind the money. But in this age of
          mechanical reproduction they managed to get the
          only copy of my thesis.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Where's the first aid book!
          OUISA runs into their bedroom.
          PAUL looks out the bathroom door into FLAN and OUISA'S
          bedroom. PAUL watches OUISA as she goes into

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM.
</b>          OUISA rummages through her book case and finds her Red
          Cross manual. OUISA turns and sees PAUL sitting on the edge
          of the tub staring at HER.
          FLAN is crouched down, bathing PAUL'S slash.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          OUISA is moved by these events.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           We bathed him. We did First Aid.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S BATHROOM
</b>          OUISA reads from the manual.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The Red Cross advises: Press edges of the wound
          firmly together, wash area with water-

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Yes! I'm doing that - Hold on
          FLAN daubs on mercurochrome.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Owww!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Hold still! Ouisa! I need gauze!
          GEOFFREY pokes his head in the bathroom.

<b>                         GEOFFREY (LEAVING)
</b>          It's been wonderful seeing you--

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         23
</b>
                         
          OUISA (firm but cheery)
          No no no! Stay!

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          My time is so short. Before I leave America, I
          really should call -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You darling old poop -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Have you seen the new book on Cezanne?

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>
<b>                         NO
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          An absolute revelation - this'll only take a mo-
          OUISA rushes out of the bathroom after GEOFFREY.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I need the gauze

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I ran down the hall to get the book on Cezanne,
          got the gauze from my bathroom--

<b>          BACK AT THE KITTREDGE'S
</b>          We watch a flustered OUSIA dart about as she describes--

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          Gave the Cezanne to Flan who wanted the gauze,
          gave the gauze to Geoffrey who wanted Cezanne.
          OUISA mutters under her breath as she dashes down

<b>          THE HALL.
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          two million dollars two million dollars

<b>                         AND INTO
</b>
<b>          THE LIVING ROOM
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         24
</b>
<b>                         0
</b>          GEOFFREY stares at the gauze he's just been handed.

<b>                         FLAK'S VOICE
</b>          ouisa?
          OUISA grabs the gauze out of GEOFFREY's hand.
          SHE runs back down the HALL.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Two million dollars two million dollars--

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S BATHROOM
</b>          FLAN finishes bandaging PAUL's wound.
          OUISA goes into

<b>          HER SON'S BEDROOM.,
</b>          SHE takes a pink shirt from the bureau.

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          PAUL puts on the pink shirt and looks at HIMSELF in the
          mirror.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He's going to be fine.
          GEOFFREY appears in the door with the book on Cezanne.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Lovely book.
          FLAN looks stricken.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Please? Stay?
          GEOFFREY pauses.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Agreed.
          FLAN beams.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And peace was restored.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         25
</b>
                         

<b>          BACK IN THE MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          FLAN holds out PAUL's blazer. PAUL winces as HE lifts his
          arms to put it on.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Your children said you were kind. All the kids
          were sitting around the dorm one night dishing
          the- shit out of their parents. But your kids
          were silent and said No, not our parents. Not
          Flan and Ouisa. Not the Kittredges. The
          Kittredges are kind. So after the muggers left,
          I looked up and saw these Fifth Avenue
          apartments. Mrs. Onassis lives there. I know
          the Babcocks live over there. The Auchinclosses
          live there. But you lived here. I came here.
          OUISA, so touched, turns to FLAN and GEOFFREY.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Can you believe what the kids said?
          PAUL looks at the framed photos on wall of

<b>          0 THE HALL.
</b>
<b>                          PAUL
</b>           But your kids - I love them. Talbot and Woody
           mean the world to me.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He lets you call him Woody? Nobody's
          called him Woody in years.
          THEY come into

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM.
</b>          PAUL looks around happily. HE goes to the wall by the
          mantlepiece and looks at a dark abstract painting.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           They described this apartment in detail. This
          is a Kandinsky! - a double. One painted on
          either side. May I see - ?
          OUISA lifts the painting off the wall and turns it around.
          Even GEOFFREY is taken by the painting.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         0 26
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What makes it valuable is Kandinsky painted on
          either side of the canvas in two wildly
          different styles. One side is geometric and
          somr=r. The other side is wild and vivid.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          My god!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We flip it around for variety.
          OUISA happily turns the painting back and forth to show off
          its two sides. The SCREEN is filled with the bright colors
          then the dark colors.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You like? You like? Chaos? Control?
          Chaos? Control?
          SHE puts on a goofy happy face for the chaotic side and a
          dopey tragic face for the geometric. Yes. We've been here
          before, through OUISA's memory, at the wedding.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's wonderful.
          OUISA leans the painting against a chair, the chaotic side
          showing.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          FLAN turns to JULIA.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Wassily Kandinsky. Born 1866 Moscow. Blue
          Rider Exhibition 1914. He said "It is clear
          that the choice of object that is one of the
          elements in the harmony of form must be decided
          only by a corresponding vibration in the human
          soul". (very spiritual) Died 1944 France.
          JULIA nods. Ah yes.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          PAUL looks around the apartment, so cozy, warm.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's the way they said it would be.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         27
</b>
                         

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Geoffrey had been silent up to now.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Did you bitch your parents?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          As a matter of fact. No. Your kids and I...we
          both liked our parents... loved our--Look, am I
          getting in the way? I burst in here,
          hysterical. Blood. I didn't mean to---
          FLAN and OUISA
          No!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Tell us about our children.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          FLAN (to JULIA)
          Three. Two at Harvard. Another girl at Groton.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          How Harvard?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Well, fine. It's just there. Everyone's in a
          constant state of luxurious despair and constant
          discovery and paralysis.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We asked him where home was

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Out West, he said.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Although I've lived all over. My folks are
          divorced. He's remarried. He's doing a movie.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         28
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He's in the movies?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He's directing this one but he does act.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What's he directing?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Cats.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Someone is directing a film of Cats?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Don't be snooty.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You've'seen it? T.S. Eliot--

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Well, yes. Years ago.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          A benefit for some disease or school---

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Surely they can't make the movie of Cats.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Of course they can.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          They're going to try. My father'll be here

<b>                         AUDITIONING-
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Cats?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He's going to use people.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          What a courageous stand!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          They thought of lots of ways to go. Animation.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Animation would be nice.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         29
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          But he found a better way. As a matter of fact,
          he turned it down at first. He went to tell
          the producers - as a courtesy - all the reasons
          why you couldn't make a movie of Cats and in
          going through all the reasons why you couldn't
          make a movie of Cats, he suddenly saw how you
          could make a movie of Cats --

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Eureka in the bathtub. How wonderful.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          May we ask who --

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          Can it be possible? A FEW MORE GUESTS have joined the table.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           And it was here we pulled up - ever so
          slightly - pulled up closer--

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And he told us.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He named the greatest black star in movies.

<b>                         SIDNEY -
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Don't say it. We're trying to keep this
          abstract. Plus libel laws.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Sidney Poitiers There. I don't care. We have
          to have truth. He started out as a lawyer and
          is terrified of libel. I'm not.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         30
</b>
                         

<b>          INT THE WHITE WALL
</b>          PAUL, leaning against the wall, talks with great vivacity to
          that OFF SCREEN PRESENCE who is the POV of the camera.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Sidney Poitier, the future Jackie Robinson of
          films, was born the twenty fourth of February
          1927 in Miami during a visit his parents made to
          Florida - legally? -to sell tomatoes they had
          grown on their farm in the Bahamas. He grew up
          on Cat Island, "so poor they didn't even own
          dirt" he has said. Neglected by his family, my
          father would sit on the shore, and, as he told
          me many times, "conjure up the kind of worlds
          that were on the other side and what I'd do in
           them." He arrived in New York City from the
           Bahamas in the winter of 1943 at age fifteen and
           a half and lived in the pay toilet of the bus
           station across from the old Madison Square
           Garden at Fiftieth and Eighth Avenue. He moved
           to the roof of the Brill building, commonly
           known as Tin Pan Alley. Washed dishes at the
           Turf restaurant for $4.11 a night. He taught
          0 himself to read by reading the newspaper. In the
           Black newspaper, the theater page was opposite
           the Want Ad page. Among his 42 films are No Way
           Out 1950/ Cry the Beloved Country 1952/
           Blackboard Jungle 1955/ The Defiant Ones 1958/
           Raisin in the Sun 1961/ Lilies of the Field
           1963/ In the Heat of the Night 1967/ To Sir With
           Love 1967/ Shoot to Kill 1988 and, of course,

<b>           PAUSE. (THE OFF SCREEN VOICE JOINS HIM)
</b>          Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.

<b>                         PAUL (LAUGHS)
</b>          He won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field and
          was twice named top male box-office star in
          the country. My father made no films from 1977
          to 1987 but worked as director and author. Dad
          said to me once "I still don't fully understand
          how all that came about in the sequence it came
          about".
          And we hear the OFF SCREEN PRESENCE applauding.
          PAUL bows, happily.
          HE kicks his shoe off into the camera.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         31
</b>
                         

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Dad's not in till tomorrow at the Sherry. I
          came down from Cambridge. Thought I'd stay at
          some fleabag for adventure. Orwell. Down and
          Out. I really don't know New York. I know Rome
          and Paris and Los Angeles a lot better.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We're-going out to dinner. You'll come.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Out to dinner?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Out to dinner.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          But why go out to dinner?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Because we have reservations and oh my god'what
          time is it? Have we lost the reservations and
           we don't have a damn thing in the house and it's
          Sixteenth century Florence and there's genius on
          every block.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Don't mock.
          SHE kisses GEOFFREY.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You must have something in the fridge.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          A frozen steak from the Ice Age.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Why spend a hundred dollars on a bowl of rice?
          Let me into the kitchen. Cooking calms me. What
          I'd like to do is calm down, pay back your kids-

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He mentioned our kids names--

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         32
</b>
                         
          FLAN turns to a NEWCOMER.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Two. Two at Harvard. A daughter at Groton.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          - who've been wonderful to me.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          They've never mentioned you.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What are they supposed to say? We've become
          friends with the son of Sidney Poitier, barrier
          breaker of the fifties and sixties?

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Your father means a great deal in South Africa.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Even Geoffrey was touched.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm glad of that. Dad and I went to Russia once
          to a film festival and he was truly amazed how
          much his presence meant -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Oh no! Tell us stories of movie stars tying up
          their children and being cruel.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I wish.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          You wish?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          If I wanted to write a book about him. I really
          can't. No one would want to read it. He's
          decent. I admire him.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He's married to an actress who was in one of--
          she's white? Am I right?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         33
</b>
                         
          PAUL (painful territory)
          That is not my mother. That is his
          second wife. He met Joanna making
          "The Lost Man". He left my mother
          who had stuck by him in the lean years.
          X had just been born. "The Lost Man"
          is the only film of my father's I can't
          bring myself to see.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to -

<b>                          PAUL (BRIGHT)
</b>          No! We're all good friends now. . His kids from
          that marriage. Us - the old kids. I'd love to
          get in that kitchen.
          FLAN (to Ouisa)
          What should we do?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It's Geoffrey's only night in New York.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>           I vote - stay in.
          OUISA, FLAN and PAUL
          Good!

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We moved.into the kitchen.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S KITCHEN
</b>          THE KITCHEN is large, was built in the 205 when people had
          big dinners at home.
          PAUL opens the refrigerators and freezers.
          PAUL'S actions are synchronous with the words.

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          We watched him cook.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          We watched him cook and chop.

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          He sort of did wizardry

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          An old jar of sun dried tomatoes--

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         34
</b>
<b>           FLAN (VO)
</b>           Left avers - tuna fish - olives - onions -
          It's all dazzling and rapid. FLAN opens the wine. OUISA
          takes dishes and silver out and hands them to GEOFFREY.
          EVERYONE is in a picnic spirit. PAUL fills a large pot with
          water from the tap.
          PAUL (to Geoffrey)

<b>                         YOU'RE FROM
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Johannesburg.
          PAUSE. PAUL Studies GEOFFREY. OUISA and FLAN freeze.
          Is it a tense moment?
          PAUL takes a breath. PAUL puts the water on the fire, eyes
          never off GEOFFREY. Then PAUL resumes chopping onions
          briskly and dropping them into the frying pan.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My dad took me to a movie shot in South Africa.
          The camera moved from this vile rioting in the

                         
          streets to a villa where people picked at lunch
          on a terrace, the only riot the flowers and the
          birds-- gorgeous plumage and petals. And I
          didn't understand. And Dad said to me "You meet
          these young blacks who are having a terrible
          time. They've had a totally inadequate
          education and yet in '76 - the year of the
          Soweto riots - they took on a tremendous
          political responsibility. It just makes you
          wonder at the maturity that is in them."
          PAUL opens a cabinet and takes out a Haitian candelabra that
          obviously hasn't been used since it was brought home as a
          souvenir. PAUL dusts it off.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          it makes you realize that the 'crummy childhood'
          theory, that everything can be blamed in a
          Freudian fashion on the fact that you've had a
          bad upbringing, just doesn't hold water. May I?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Oh, please.
          PAUL pours a brandy.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         35
</b>
                         

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          What about being black in America?
          PAUL scoops a melange of vegetables into a glass dish and
          puts it in the microwave.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My problem is I've never felt American.
          I grew up in Switzerland. Boarding school.
          Villa Rosey.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          There is a boarding school in Switzerland that
          takes you at age eighteen months.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          That's not me. I've never felt people liked me
          for my connections. Movie star kid problems.
          None of those.
          THE WATER boils. HE dumps in pasta.
          The microwave timer goes off. PAUL removes the glass dish.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          But I never knew I was black in that racist way
          0 till I was sixteen and came back here. Very
          protected. White servants. After the divorce we
          moved to Switzerland. My mother, brother and Z.
          I don't feel American. I don't even feel black.
          I suppose that's very lucky for me even though
          Freud says there's no such thing as luck. Just
          what you make.
          PAUL takes the pasta off the boil and drains it, plopping
          the pasta into a brightly colored bowl.
          OUISA, FLAN and GEOFFREY sit at the counter, transfixed.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Does Freud say that?
          PAUL holds out three dishes heaped with food.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Here's dinner. All ready.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Shall we move into the dining room?
          OUISA opens double doors leading into

<b>          THE DINING ROOM.
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         36
</b>          This room has not been in use for a while.
          The overhead chandelier is very bright and harsh.
          A sewing machine is in the corner there.
          Bookkeeping items at one end of the long table.
          Nineteenth century Victorian mythological paintings hang.on
          the walls. FLAN adjusts the rheostat to dim the lights in
          the chandelier.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Don't look at the sewing machine.
          FLAN sweeps the bill things off the table onto a chair.
          OUISA opens the sideboard and takes out four linen place
          mats and silverware and quickly sets the table.
          PAUL takes out matches and lights the Haitian card"e'Yabra.
          FLAN runs into the living room and returns with a vase of
          flowers.
          THEY smile at the appearance of the sudden party in this
          wonderful room.
          THEY sit down. THEY eat. Surprise. It's delicious.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>          Is everything okay?
          FLAN, OUISA and GEOFFREY
          Mmrmmm .. yes.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          This is the best pasta I've ever -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The best!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My father insisted we learn to cook.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Isn't he from Jamaica? There's a taste of--

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          The islands.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Yes. Before he made it, he ran four restaurants
          in Harlem. You have good buds!

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          See? Good buds. I've never been
          complimented on my buds-

<b>                         R
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I am astonished!

                         

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         37
</b>          PAUL leans back and watches them happily.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Where's yours?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          The cook never eats.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The more for us!
          THEY all laugh.
          PAUL leaves the room abruptly.
          FLAN, OUISA and GEOFFREY look at each other.
          FLAN stands.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Hello?
          PAUL returns with the rest of the real in brightly painted
          bowls.

                         

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Seconds?
          THEY laugh and are served.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Have you declared your major yet?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You're like all parents. What's your major?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Geoffrey, Harvard has all those great titles the
          students give courses.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The Holocaust and Ethics?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Krauts and Doubts.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I think we're lucky having this dinner. Isn't
          this the finest time? A toast to you.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          To Cats!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Blunt question. What's he like?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         38
</b>          OUISA reaches for the bottle of wine.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Let's not be star fuckers.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I'm not a star fucker.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My father, being an actor, has no real identity.
          You say to him, Pop, what's new? And he says,
          'I got an interesting script today. I was asked
          to play a lumberjack up in the Yukon. Now, I've
          been trained as a Preacher, but my church fell
          apart. My wife says we have to get mbney to get
          through this winter. And I sign up as part of
          this team where all my beliefs are challenged.
          But I hold firm. In spite of prejudice because
          I want to get back to my wife. Out of this
          forest,back to the church... .' And my father is
          in tears and I say Pop, this i:. not a real
           event, this is some script that was sent to
          you. And my father says ' I' m trying it out to
          see how it fits on me.' But he has no life--he
          has no memory--only the scripts producers send
          him in the mail through his agents. That's his
          past.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          Can it be? The CROWD listening to FLAN and OUISA is even
          larger.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I just loved the kid so much. I wanted to reach
          out to him.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And then we asked him what his thesis was on.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S DINING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          The one that was stolen. Please?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         39
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Well...
          (HE takes a deep breath and leans back in

<b>                         HIS CHAIR)
</b>          A substitute teacher out on Long Island was
          dropped from his job for fighting with a
          student. A few weeks later, the teacher
          returned to the classroom, shot the student
          unsuccessfully, held the class hostage and then
          shot himself. Successfully. This fact caught my
          eye: last sentence. Times. A neighbor
          described the teacher as a nice boy. Always
          reading Catcher In the Rye.
          The nitwit - Chapman - who shot John Lennon said
          he did it because he wanted to-`draw the
          attention of the world to Catcher In the Rye and
          the reading of that book would be his defense.
          And young Hinckley, the whiz kid who shot Reagan
          and his press secretary said if you want my
          defense all you have to do is read catcher in
          the Rye. It seemed to be time to read it again.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I haven't read it in years.
          OUISA shushes FLAN.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I borrowed a copy from a young friend of mine
          because I wanted to see what she had underlined
          and I read this book to find out why this
          touching, beautiful, sensitive story published
          in July 1951 had turned into this manifesto of
          hate.
          I started reading. : It's exactly as I
          remembered. Everybody's a phoney. Page two: "My
          brother's in Hollywood being a prostitute."
          Page three: "what a phony slob his father was."
          Page nine: "People never notice anything."
          Then on page twenty two my hair stood up.
          Remember Holden Caulfield--the definitive
          sensitive youth--wearing his red hunter's cap.
          "A deer Hunter hat? Like hell it is. I sort of
          closed one eye like I was taking aim at it.
          This is a people shooting hat. I shoot people
          in this hat."

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         40
</b>
                         

<b>                         PAUL (CONTINUES)
</b>          Hmmm, I said. This book is preparing people for
          bigger moments in their lives than I ever
          dreamed of.
          Then on p. 89 "I'd rather push a guy out the
           window or chop his head off with an ax than sock
          him in the jaw. I hate fist fights...what
          scares me most is the other guy's face..."
          I finished the book. It's a touching story,
          comic because the boy wants to do so much and
          can't do anything. Hates all phoniness and only
          lies to others. Wants everyone to like him, is
          only hateful, and is completely self involved.
          In other words, a pretty accurate picture of a
          male adolescent.
          FLAN, OUISA, .GEOFFREY are transfixed.
           And what alarms me about that book--not the book
           so much as the aura about it--is this: the book
           is primarily about paralysis. The boy can't
           function. And at the end before he can run
          away and start a new life, it starts to rain and
          he folds. Now there's nothing wrong in writing
          about emotional and intellectual paralysis. It
          may indeed thanks to Chekhov and Samuel Beckett
          be the great modern theme.
          The extraordinary last lines of Waiting For
          Godot--"Let's go." "Yes, let's go." Stage
          directions: They do not move.
          But the aura around this book of Salinger's--
          which perhaps should be read by everyone ut
          young men---is this: It mirrors like a fun
          house mirror and amplifies like a distorted
          speaker one of the great tragedies of our times-
          --the death of the imagination.
          Because what else is paralysis?
          The CAMERA moves closer and closer in on PAUL.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         42
</b>
<b>                         PAUL (CONTINUES)
</b>          The imagination has been so debased that
          imagination--being imaginative-- rather than
          being the lynch pin of our existence now stands
          as a synonym for something outside ourselves
          like Science fiction or some new use for
          tangerine slices on raw pork chops---what an
          imaginative summer recipe--and Star wars! So
          imaginative and Star Trek--so imaginative! And
          Lord of the Rings--all those dwarves--so

<b>                         IMAGINATIVE---
</b>          The imagination has moved out of the realm of
          being our link, our most personal link, with our
          inner lives and the world outside that world--
          this world we share--what is schizophrenia but a
          horrifying state where what's in here doesn't
          match up with what's out there?
          Why has imagination become a synonym for style?
          I believe that the imagination is the passport
          we create to take us into the real world.
          I believe the imagination is another phrase for
          what is most uniquely Is.

                         
          Jung says the greatest sin is to be unconscious.
          Our boy Holden says "what scares me most is the
          other guy's face--it wouldn't be so bad if you
          could both be blindfolded"--most of the time the
          faces we face are not the other guys' but our
          own faces. And it's the worst kind of
          yellowness to be so scared of yourself you put
          blindfolds on rather than deal with yourself.
          To face ourselves.
          That's the hard thing.
          The imagination.
          That's God's gift to make the act of self-
          examination bearable.

<b>          PAUSE.
</b>          FLAN, GEOFFREY, OUISA are very moved.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Well, indeed.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I hope your muggers read every word.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         42
</b>          OUISA (chiding FLAN)

<b>                         DARLING
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          I'm going to buy a copy of Catcher i. the Rye at
          the airport and read it.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Cover to cover

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll test you. I should be going.
          PAUL starts to go. THEY follow.
          THE DINING ROOM opens into

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM.
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Where will you stay?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Not some flea bag.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           I get into the Sherry tomorrow morning. It's not
          so far off. I can walk around. I don't think
          they'll mug me twice in one evening.
          FLAN and OUISA take's PAUL's by the arm and leads him down
          the hall into

<b>          THEIR DAUGHTER'S BEDROOM.
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You'll stay here tonight.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No! I have to be at the hotel at seven AM sharp!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll get you up.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          or Dad will have a fit.

<b>                         QUISA
</b>          Up at six fifteen which is any moment now and we
          have that wedding in Millbrook-
          OUISA pulls back the covers on the bed and puts the dolls on
          the floor.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         4 3
</b>
                         

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There's an alarm by the bed

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Your feet might hang out over the end

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          If it's any problem--

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's only a problem if you leave.
          PAUL takes the alarm and sets the time.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>          Six fifteen? I'll tip toe out.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And we want to be in Cats.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>
<b>                         FLAN:
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's done.
          THEY shake hands.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          I'll fly back. With my wife.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Pushy. Both of you.
          PAUL sits on the bed, testing it.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He's not. Dad said I could be in
          charge of the extras. You'd just
          be extras. That's all I can promise.

<b>                         FLAK
</b>          In cat suits?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No. You can be humans.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          That's very important. It has to be in our
          contracts. We are humans.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         44
</b>
                         
          THEY all return down

<b>          THE HALL.
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          We haven't got any business done tonight.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Forget it. It was only an evening at home.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Whatever you do, don't think about elephants.
          GEOFFREY puts on his overcoat.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Did I intrude?
          FLAN and OUISA
          No!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm sorry - Oh Christ -
          GEOFFREY (to Flan)

<b>                         0
</b>          There's all ways of doing business. Flanders,
          walk me to the elevator.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Love to Diana.
          OUISA kisses GEOFFREY on the cheek.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          It seems the BRIDE and GROOM have joined the people
          listening to FLAN and OUISA's tale.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We embraced. And Flan and Geoffrey left -

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S HALL
</b>          FLAN walks GEOFFREY to the elevator, leaving OUISA and PAUL
          alone. PAUL and OUISA look at each other. Then PAUL breaks
          the moment and goes to

<b>          THE DINING ROOM.
</b>
<b>                         _ PAUL
</b>          Let me clean up -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         45
</b>          OUISA follows.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Hal Leave it for -
          PAUL looks at the table filled with dishes and bowls and
          glasses and napkins.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Nobody comes in on Sunday.
          PAUL snuffs out the candles with his fingers.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yvonne will be in on Tuesday.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           You'll have every bug in Christendom -
          The room is dark, -lit only from the living room.
          THEY both reach for the dishes.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Let me -

                         
          PAUL takes the dishes.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No. You watch. It gives me a thrill to be
          looked at.
          PAUL looks at HER. OUISA is momentarily at a loss.
          PAUL goes into the kitchen.
          The service door into the kitchen swings back and forth.

<b>          DINING ROOM/KITCHEN
</b>          OUISA in the dining room looks at PAUL's back as HE washes
          dishes at the sink.
          Suddenly the dining room is flooded with light.
          FLAN has flicked on the light.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He's in.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He's in?
          FLAN parades around the table.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He's in for two million.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         46
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Two million!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He says the Cezanne is a great inv1stment. We
          should get it for six million and sell it to the
          Tokyo bunch for ten.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Happy days! Oh god!
          PAUL comes into the dining room.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Two million dollars?
          FLAN runs into

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM.
</b>          FLAN picks up the slide carousel and kisses it.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Figure it out. He doesn't have the price of -a
          dinner but he can cough up two million dollars
          and the Japs will go ten!
          PAUL and OUISA come into the living room.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Go to ten? Ten million?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Break all those dishes! Two million! Go to ten!
          And we put up nothing?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Nothing?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Geoffrey sold that Hockney print I know he
          bought for a hundred bucks fifteen years ago for
          thirty four thousand dollars. Sotheby took
          their cut, sure but still--Two million! Wildest
          dreams. Paul, I should give you a commission.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Your kids said you were an art dealer. But you
          don't have a gallery. I don't understand -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         47
</b>
<b>                          FLAN
</b>          People want to sell privately.
          Not go through a gallery.

<b>                         OUISA -Ï¿½
</b>          A divorce. Taxes. Publicity.
          FLAN (holding up a slide)
          People come to me looking for a
          certain school of painting.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          A modern.. Impressionist. Renaissance.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          But don't want museums to know where it is.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Japanese.
          OUISA, FLAN and PAUL go down the hall to

<b>          FLAN'S OFFICE.
</b>          FLAN flicks on his computer.

                         

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I've got Japanese looking for a Cezanne. I have
          a syndicate that will buy the painting. There is
          this great second level Cezanne coming up for
          sale in a very messy divorce.
          FLAN holds up the slide.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Wife doesn't want hubby to know she owns a
          Cezanne.
          PAUL looks at the slide.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I needed an extra two million. Geoffrey called.
          Invited him here for dinner.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Tonight was a very nervous very
          casual very big thing.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I couldn't tell -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         48
</b>          s PAUL gives the slide very carefully back to FLAN who files
          it.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          All the better. 0
          FLAN opens a door in the OFFICE. THE OFFICE connects to

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM.
</b>          PAUL follows FLAN and OUISA into their bedroom.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm glad I helped -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You were wonderful!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm so pleased I was wonderful.
          All this and a pink shirt.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Keep it. Look at the time.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's going to be time for me to get up.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Then we'll say our good nights now.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Oh Christ. Regretfully. I4l1 tip toe.
          PAUL and OUISA follow FLAN into

<b>          THE HALL.
</b>          PAUL goes into their daughter's bedroom.
          FLAN and OUISA hover in the hall.
          FLAN takes out his wallet.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Take fifty dollars.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Give him fifty dollars.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Don't need it.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         49
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Suppose your father's plane is late?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          A strike. Air controllers.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Walking around money. I wouldn't want my kids
          to be stuck in the street without a nickel.
          PAUL sits on the bed and takes off his shoes.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And you saved us a fortune. Do you know what
          our bill would've been at that little Eye-tie
          store front?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And we picked up two million dollars. One
          billionth of a percent commission is -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Fifty dollars.
          FLAN hands PAUL the money. PAUL hesitates, then takes it.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          But I'll get it back to you tomorrow. I want my
          father to meet you.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'd love to. Bring him up for dinner.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Could I?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          You see how easy it is.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Sure. If Paul does the cooking.
          FLAN, OUISA and PAUL laugh.
          OUISA goes into the bathroom and fills a glass with water
          and puts it on the night table.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Goodnight.
          PAUL smiles at them.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         50
</b>
                         

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM/BATHROOM
</b>          FLAN and OUISA get ready for bed, undressing, hanging jacket
          and trousers up neatly. OUISA undoes her dress.
          THEY are in and out of bathroom and bedroom, -brushing
          teeth.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I want to get on my knees and thank god -money-

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Who said when artists dream they dream of money?
          I must be such an artist. Bravo. Bravo.
          FLAN putting on pajamas, OUISA her nightgown.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I don't want to lose our life here. I don't
          want all the debt to pile up and crush us.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It won't. We're safe.
          OUISA in bed turns off the light.
           FLAN looks out the window onto the park.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          For a while. We almost lost it. If I didn't
          get this money,. Ouis, I would've lost the
          Cezanne. It would've gone. I had nowhere to
          get it.
          OUISA gets out of bed and comes to FLAN.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Why don't you tell me how much these things
          mean? You wait till the last minute -
          OUISA and FLAN get into bed.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I don't want to worry you.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Not worry me? I'm your partner.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There is a god.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And his name- is --

<b>                         A
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         51
</b>
<b>                          FLAN
</b>          Geoffrey?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Sidney.
          THEY embrace. THE CAMERA comes in very close, circling
          FLAN and OUISA, their love, their safety. Then THE CAMERA
          drifts back and away from them, travelling out through the
          window, out of their cocoon to

<b>          EXT THE APARTMENT BUILDING/CENTRAL PARK NIGHT
</b>          down the face of the solid apartment building and drifts
          away through the night down into Central Park and stops at
          the statue of the husky barking at the moon.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I dreamt of Sidney Poitier and his rise to
          acclaim. I dreamt that Sidney Poitier sat at
          the edge of my bed and I asked him what troubled
          him? Sidney? What troubles you? Is it right
          to make a movie of Cats?

                         

<b>          BACK IN THE MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          FLAN is asleep on his side of the bed. OUISA is wide awake,
          staring at A MAN in dinner clothes, who sits on the edge of
          her bed. His back is to the camera. Is it SIDNEY POITIER?
          THE CAMERA drifts in to OUISA, who is transfixed by this
          apparition.
          "SIDNEY" (very comforting)
          I'll tell you why I have to make a movie of
          Cats. I know what Cats is, Louisa. May I call
          you Louisa?
          (OUISA nods Yes)
          I have no illusions about the merits of Cats.
          But the world has been too heavy with all the
          right to lifers. Protect the lives of the
          unborn. Constitutional amendments. Marches!
          When does life begin? Or the converse. The end
          of life. The Right To Die. Why is life at this
          point in the 20th century so focussed on the
          very beginning of life and the very end of life?
          What about the eighty years we have to live
          between those two inexorable book ends?
          THE CAMERA closes on OUISA. Her face, seen over "SIDNEY's"
          shoulder, is all wonder.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         52
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And you can get all that into Cats?
          THE CAMERA drifts round with OUISA'S gaze to finally see
          "SIDNEY'S" face. ï¿½,.
          It is PAUL.

<b>                         PAUL/SIDNEY
</b>          I'm going to try.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Thank you. Thank you. You shall.
          THE CAMERA circles off PAUL to OUISA. She is asleep.
          CUT BACK to reveal
          No one is sitting on the bed.
          THE CAMERA moves onto FLAN's face, sleeping.
          Slides of paintings by Matisse, Picasso, De Kooning, Pollock
          appear over his face.

<b>                          FLAN (VO)
</b>           This is what I dreamt. I didn't dream so much
           as realize this. I felt so close to the
           paintings. I wasn't just selling like pieces
           of meat. I remembered why I loved paintings in
           the first place - what had got me into this -
           and I thought - dreamed - remembered-

<b>           INT AIRPLANE HANGAR
</b>           FLAN happily sits in the bright vast empty space at a slide
           carousel projecting slides of paintings into the air.

<b>                          FLAN (VO)
</b>           How easy it is for a painter to lose a
           painting. He can paint and paint - work on a
           canvas for months and one day he loses it - just
           loses the structure - loses the sense of it -
           you lose the painting.
          A BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT shines on FLAN who turns to see
          A TEACHER, in her forties, very pure and happy, hanging
          beautiful and brilliantly colored children's drawings in the
          air. FLAN'S VOICE echoes in this vast space.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         53
</b>
                         

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Why are all your students geniuses in the second
          grade? Look at the first grade. Blotches of
          green and black. Look at third grade.
          Camouflage. But the second grade --your grade.
          Matisses everyone. You've made my child a
          Matisse. Let me study with you. Let me into
          the second grade! What is your secret?

<b>                         THE TEACHER
</b>          Secret? I don't have any secret. I just know
          when to take their drawings away from them.
          THE TEACHER hangs pink shapes like paper versions of PAUL'S
          button down shirt on a clothes line stretching to the end of
          the hangar.
          THE SCREEN is filled with the color Pink.

<b>          EXT PINK SKY DAWN
</b>          The bright pink morning sky flashes with golden blotches,
          abstract, until WE see it is the morning sun reflecting off
          windows on the West Side of Central Park.
          Then we realize it is the view from

                         

<b>          THE KIZTREDGE'S MASTER BEDROOM DAWN
</b>          THE CAMERA pulls back from the window to FLAN and OUISA in
          bed, cozy. SHE wakens, smiles, kisses HIM.
          FLAN mumbles in his sleep and rolls over.
          OUISA looks at her bedside clock. 6 A.M.
          SHE gets out of bed, then pauses to take in the dawn
          display.
          OUISA walks through

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM
</b>          and opens the front door. SHE picks up the Sunday papers
          and goes into

<b>          THE KITCHEN.
</b>          OUISA looks at the spotlessly clean sink and counter.
          SHE flicks on the coffee machine and takes juice out of the
          refrigerator scanning the front page.
          SHE sits at the counter and opens the magazine to the back
          page and begins to do the cross word puzzle.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         54
</b>
<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          THE CHUMS hang on OUISA's every word.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I sat in the kitchen happily doing the cross
          word puzzle in ink. Everybody does it in ink. I
          never. met one person who didn't say they did it
          in ink.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITCHEN
</b>          OUISA fills in a word on the puzzle. is it in ink? Then
          looks up.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          And I'm doing the puzzle and I see the time and
          it's nearly seven and Paul had to meet his
          father and I didn't want him to be late and was
          he healthy after his stabbing?
          OUISA puts the puzzle down and goes into

<b>          THE HALL.
</b>
<b>                         0
</b>
<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          The hall is eighteen feet long.
          OUISA walks down the hall which now seems impossibly long.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          I stopped in front of the door.
          OUISA taps on the door of her daughter's room.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul?
          SHE hears - what? - sounds of moaning?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul??

<b>                         PAUL (MOANING)
</b>
<b>                         YES YES
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Are you all right?
          OUISA opens the door to

<b>          HER DAUGHTER'S BEDROOM.
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         55
</b>           SHE turns on the light. SHE screams.
           A GUY mid 20s, buck naked except for ratty white socks,
          stands up on the bed.

<b>                         HUSTLER
</b>          What the fuck is going on here. Who the fuck
          are you?!
          PAUL, startled,"sits up in bed and pulls on his clothes.
          OUISA screams.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Flan!!

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          OUISA shakes FLAN violently. FLAN comes to.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What is it?!
          FLAN AND OUISA step out into

<b>          THE HALL.
</b>
                         

<b>          SILENCE.
</b>          THEY hear their dog bark in

<b>          THE LIVING ROOM.
</b>          THE HUSTLER, naked but for white socks, wanders around the
          living room picking up things. THE DOG is barking at HIM.
          THE HUSTLER turns and smiles at FLAN and OUISA. -

<b>                         HUSTLER
</b>          Hey! How ya doin'? Nice stuff.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Oh my God!
          THE HUSTLER stretches out on the sofa.

<b>                         HUSTLER
</b>          Hey. I got to get some sleep--
          FLAN tips the sofa, hurling the HUSTLER onto the floor.
          THE HUSTLER leaps at FLAN threateningly.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Stop it! He might have a gun!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         56
</b>           HUSTLER (laughs)
          Yeah. I might have a gun. I might have a knife.
          THE HUSTLER raises his hand threateningly.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He has a gun! He has a knife!
          THE HUSTLER chases OUISA around the room.
          FLAN chases the HUSTLER. THE DOG chases FLAN.
          PAUL,dressed, runs in to the living room, carrying THE
          HUSTLER's clothes which HE hurls down onto the sofa.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I can explain.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You went out after we went to sleep and picked
          up this thing?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          You brought this thing into our house! Thing!
          Thing! Get out! Get out of my house!
          FLAN picks up the HUSTLER'S clothes and opens the front
           door.

<b>                         THE HUSTLER
</b>          Hey! Be careful of the pants!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Take your clothes. Go back to sleep
          in the gutter.
          FLAN flings the clothes out into

<b>          THE OUTSIDE CORRIDOR.
</b>          FLAN pushes the elevator button.
          THE HUSTLER suddenly lunges at FLAN and grabs FLAN by the
          lapels of his bathrobe.

<b>                         HUSTLER
</b>          Fuck. You!
          THE HUSTLER throws FLAN back violently, then picks up his
          clothes.
          OUISA runs to FLAN.
          FLAN gasps, catching his breath.
          THE ELEVATOR DOOR opens..
          EDDIE, the elevator man, is startled by the sight.

<b>                         W
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         57
</b>          OUISA is terrified as PAUL stands at the front door.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Please. Don't tell my father. I don't want him
          to know. I haven't told him. I got. so lonely.
          I got so afraid. My dad coming. I had the
          money. I went out after we went to sleep and I
          brought him back. You had so much. I couldn't
          be alone. I was so afraid. I am so sorry.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Just go.

<b>                         EDDIE
</b>          Is everything all right?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Make sure they go out!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I can explain!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Give me my fifty dollars.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>           I spent it.

<b>                          OUISA
</b>           Get out!

<b>                          PAUL
</b>          I'm so sorry.
          THE HUSTLER is in the elevator, pulling on his seedy
          clothes.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Make sure they leave. By the back door.
          PAUL steps into the elevator. The door shuts.

<b>          BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM
</b>          FLAN and OUISA survey the room. THEY are at a loss.
          THEY straighten out the pillows on the sofa.
          THEY are exhausted.

<b>          MILLBROOK CLUB BAR
</b>          THE CROWD is astonished.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         58
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And that's that.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Well, it's not

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          FLAN and OUISA survey the living room.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I am shaking.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You have to do something.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          it's awful.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Is anything gone?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          How can I look? I'm shaking.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Did he take anything?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Would you concentrate on yourself?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I want to know if anything's gone?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Calm down.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We could have been killed.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The silver Victorian inkwell.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          How can you think of things? We could
          have been murdered.
          FLAN picks up an ornate Victorian inkwell capped by a silver
          beaver.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There's the inkwell. Silver beaver. Why?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         59
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Slashed ---our throats slashed.
          A framed portrait of a pug.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And there's the watercolor. Our dog.
          FLAN pets his dog.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Go to bed at night happy and then murdered.
          would we have woken up?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          we're alive.
          THEY sit on the sofa, drained, holding onto the phone.
          The phone suddenly rings. THEY clutch each other.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Don't pick it up!
          FLAN does.

<b>                          FLAN
</b>          Hello?

<b>          INT A LIMOUSINE MORNING
</b>          GEOFFREY sits in the back seat of a limousine talking on a
          cordless portable phone.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Flanders. Look, I've been thinking.
          Those Japs really want the Cezanne.
          They'll pay. You can depend on me
          for an additional overcall of two fifty.

<b>          THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM MORNING
</b>          FLAN's rind is boggled.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Two hundred and fifty thousand?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         60
</b>
                         

<b>          EXT CURBSIDE KENNEDY AIRPORT
</b>          As GEOFFREY'S DRIVER takes care of the baggage, GEOFFREY
          proceeds into the

<b>          THE FIRST CLASS LOUNGE
</b>          never dropping one beat on his radio phone.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          And I was thinking for South Africa. What about
          a black American film festival? With this Spike
          Lee you have now and of course get Poitier down
          to be the president of the jury and I know Cosby
          and I love this Eddie Murphy and my wife went
          fishing in Norway with Diana Ross and her new
          Norwegian husband. And also they must have some

<b>                         NEW BLACKS-
</b>
<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          OUISA is trying to hear the other end of the call.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Yes. It sounds a wonderful idea.

<b>          INT JFK THE TERMINAL
</b>          GEOFFREY walks through the terminal.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          I'll call Poitier at the Sherry --

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No! We'll call!

<b>          INT AIRPORT IMMIGRATION
</b>          GEOFFREY puts the phone down on the security belt.
          The phone goes through radar.
          All the while we hear FLAN's voice.
          The SECURITY PERSON impassively watches the phone on the
          X-Ray screen.
          GEOFFREY picks up the phone as it slides off the band.

<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          They're calling my plane- And again last night-

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         61
</b>
<b>           KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No need to thank. See you shortly.

<b>          INT KENNEDY AIRPORT THE GATE
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          The banks.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          My lawyer.

<b>          KENNEDY AIRPORT THE GATE
</b>
<b>                         GEOFFREY
</b>          Exactly.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Safe trip.

                         

<b>          KENNEDY AIRPORT THE GATE
</b>          GEOFFREY snaps the phone shut, sticks it in his pocket and
          goes into the gate.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          FLAN and OUISA look at each other in amazement.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We're safe?
          As FLAN hangs up the phone we hear a car door shut as FLAN
          and OUISA get in their car.

<b>          EXT THE MILLBROOK GOLF AND TENNIS CLUB DAY
</b>          THE GROUP FROM THE WEDDING waves goodbye not at the BRIDE
          and GROOM but at FLAN and OUISA. THE BRIDE and GROOM as a
          matter of fact are there.

<b>                         THE BRIDE
</b>          And then?

<b>                         SANDY
</b>          And then?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         62
</b>
<b>                          OUISA
</b>          That's all we know!
          And FLAN and OUISA drive out of the parking lot.

<b>          INT/EXT THE CAR TACONIC PARKWAY DAY
</b>          THE CAMERA pulls back to show FLAN and OUISA driving back
          down the Taconic Parkway. THEY are more composed now than
          when THEY left - and even pleased.
          THE RADIO plays a Bach Cantata: Gloria!
          THE CAMERA pulls back further to show them entering New York
          City via the Triborough Bridge. THE CITY looks magnificent
          for a moment from this vantage.

<b>          EXT EAST 67TH STREET DAY
</b>          Below us FLAN and,OUISA's car heads for the garage.
          OUISA's hand suddenly flies out of the car window, waving
          at a couple in their forties, KITTY AND LARKIN, crossing the
          street. FLAN honks the horn. THE CAMERA travels down to
          KITTY and LARKIN as they glare at the car, then smile when
          THEY see who it is.

<b>                         T
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Do we have a story to tell you!

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Do we have a story to tell you!

<b>          INT PRECINCT NIGHT
</b>          We cannot tell where we are yet.
          But OUISA and FLAN and KITTY and LARKIN lean across a desk
          and tell a MAN we will learn shortly is a DETECTIVE.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Our two and their son are at Harvard together.
          KITTY and LARKIN are pleased about this.

<b>          INT MORTIMER'S RESTAURANT AFTERNOON
</b>          THE TWO COUPLES sit a table in this definitive East Side
          restaurant.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Let me tell you our story.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         63
</b>
<b>                          LARKIN
</b>          When did your story happen?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Last night. We are still zonked.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          we win. Our story happened Friday night.
          So we go first.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          We're going to be in the movies.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          We are going to be in the movie of Cats.
          OUISA puts down her white wine.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You tell your story first.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Friday night we were home, the doorbell rang---

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          I am not impressed but it was the son of -

<b>                         INT PRECINCT
</b>          THE DETECTIVE makes notes.
          OUISA and FLAN
          You got it.

<b>          BACK AT MORTIMER'S RESTAURANT
</b>
<b>                         KITTY
</b>          The kid was mugged. We had to go out. We left
          him. He was so charming. His father was taking
          the red eye. He couldn't get into the Hotel
          till seven AN. He stayed with us.
          SHE is very pleased.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          In the middle of the night, we heard somebody
          screaming Burglar! Burglar! We came out in the
          hall. Paul is chasing this naked blonde thief
          down the corridor. The blonde thief runs out,
          the alarm goes off. The kid saved our lives.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         64
</b>
<b>                          FLAN
</b>          That was no burglar.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You had another house guest.
          KITTY and LARKIN laugh.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          We feel so guilty. Paul could've been killed by
          that intruder. He was very understanding -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Was anything missing from your house?

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Nothing.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Did you give him money?

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Twenty-five dollars until his father arrived.

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>
                         
          THE DETECTIVE looks at THEM carefully.
          FLAN (to the detective)
          We told them our story.

<b>          MORTIMER'S RESTAURANT NIGHT
</b>
<b>                         KITTY & LARKIN
</b>          Oh.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Have you talked to your kids?

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Can't get through.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Let's go back to our place.

<b>          INT KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT NIGHT
</b>          The sound of keys in the door. The door swings open.
          FLAN switches on the lights. THE TWO COUPLES run in heading
          for the phone. OUISA dials.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         65
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Sherry Netherlands. I'd like--

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>
<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          She gave the name.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No! I'm not a fan. This is not a fan call.
          Sidney Poitier must be registered.
          His son is a friend of-
          CLICK. The Sherry's hung up.
          The doorbell rings. FLAN goes to the door.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          He must be there under another name.
          Another phone call.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Hi. Celebrity Service? I'm not
           sure how you work.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Greta Garbo used the name Harriet Brown.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You track down celebrities? Am I right?

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Everybody must have known she was Greta Garbo.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I'm trying to find out how one would get in
          touch with---No, I'm not a press agent--No, I'm
          not with anyone---My husband. Flanders
          Kittredge?

<b>                         (CLICK)
</b>          Celebrity Service doesn't give out information
          over the phone.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Try the public library.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Try Who's Who.
          FLAN returns carrying an elaborate arrangement of flowers.
          FLAN reads the card.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         66
</b>
<b>                          FLAN
</b>          "To thank you for a wonderful time.
          Paul Poitier.'"
          FLAN reaches into the bouquet. HE takes out a p.t of jam.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          A pot of jam?

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          A pot of jam.
          THEY back off as if it might explode.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          I think we should go to the police.

<b>          EXT THE 19TH PRECINCT NIGHT
</b>          THE FOUR approach the precinct on East 94th Street.

<b>          INT THE PRECINCT
</b>          THE DETECTIVE, whom we recognize from earlier, looks up from
          his desk.

                         

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          What are the charges?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He came into our house.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He cooked us dinner.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He told us the story of Catcher In The Rye.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He said he was the son of Sidney Poitier.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Sidney Poitier?
          FLAN and OUISA
          You got it.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Was he?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We don't know.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         67
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We gave him fifty dollars.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          We gave him twenty five.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>
<b>                         S HHHH
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He picked up a hustler.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He left.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          He chased the burglar out of our house.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He didn't steal anything.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          We looked and looked.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>           Top to bottom. Nothing gone.
          THE DETECTIVE closes his notebook.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Granted this does not seem major now.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Look. We're very busy.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          You can't chuck us out.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Come up with charges. Then I'll do something.

<b>          INT THE MORGAN LIBRARY NIGHT
</b>          FLAN and OUISA have come to a charity do featuring a string
          quartet playing Schubert Trio in B flat.
          But FLAN and OUISA are not entranced by the music.
          THEY stand at the back of the room by the bar telling their
          story to a GROUP of fascinated FRIENDS (none of whom was at
          the wedding) as the QUARTET plays. These FRIENDS are all
          dressed formally but with the look of people who dress this
          way every night. There-'s always one of these going on and
          they're always there.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         68
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Yes, there is another chapter.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Our kids came down from Harvard. a
          Loud groans of protest and disbelief fill the

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM DAY
</b>          Two of FLAN and OUISA'S college aged CHILDREN, WOODY and
          TESS, and KITTY and LARKIN'S boy, BEN, slump around the
          room. They are in dismay at OUISA, FLAN, KITTY and LARKIN
          and their story.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          --the details he knew--how would he know about
          the painting?
          FLAN has taken the Kandinsky off the wall and flipped it
          around to the wild side.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Although I think it's a very fine Kandinsky.
          FLAN leans the painting against a chair and studies it.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And none of you knows this fellow? He has this
          wild quality--yet, a real elegance and a real
          concern and a real consideration.
          TESS looks at the floral arrangement PAUL sent.
          It's only slightly wilted.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          Well, Mom, you should have let
          him stay. You should have divorced
          all your children and just let this
          dreamboat stay. Plus he sent you flowers.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And jam .

<b>                         THE KIDS
</b>          Oooooo.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I wish I knew how to get hold of his father.
          Just to see if there is any truth in it.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         69
</b>
<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Who knows Sidney Poitier so we could just call
          him up and ask him?

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          I have a friend who does theatrical law.
          I bet he -

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          What friend?
          KITTY (suddenly trapped)
          Oh, it's nobody.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I want to know.

<b>                         KITTY (SCREAMS)
</b>          Nobody!

<b>                         LARKIN (RECONSIDERS)
</b>          Whatever's going on anywhere, I do not
          want to know. I don't want to know.
          I don't want to know.

                         

<b>                         KITTY (OVERLAPPING)
</b>          Nobody. Nobody. Nobody.

<b>                         BEN (OVERLAPPING)
</b>          Dad. Mom. Please. For once. Please?
          BEN, KITTY, LARKIN scream at each other in anguish.
          TESS, in a fury, leaves the apartment.
          FLAN follows HER to

<b>          THE OUTSIDE CORRIDOR.
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Tess, when you see your little sister, don't
          tell her that Paul and the hustler used her bed.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          You put him in that bed. I'm not going to get
          involved with any conspiracy.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's not a conspiracy. It's a family.
          THE ELEVATOR DOOR opens. TESS and FLAN virtually growl at
          each other as the door shuts on TESS.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         70
</b>           FLAN sees KITTY, LARKIN and BEN screaming at each other.
          FLAN sees OUISA, to avoid involvement in the domestic stir,
          hang the Kandinsky back on the wall.
          The geometric ordered side.

<b>          EXT CENTRAL PARK DAWN
</b>          The Alaskan Husky barks at the moon.
          THE CAMERA travels out of the park up the face of the Fifth
          Avenue apartment once again into the safety of

<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM.
</b>          FLAN and OUISA are in bed asleep.
          OUISA sits up when SHE hears someone tapping insistently on
          the window pane. SHE looks around the room.
          PAUL appears outside on the window ledge wearing the pink
          shirt. OUISA gets out of bed and opens the window.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          The imagination. That's our out. Our
           imagination teaches us our limits and then how
           to grow beyond those limits. The imagination
           says listen to me. I at your darkest voice. .I
          am your 4am voice. I am the voice that wakes
          you up and says this is what I'm afraid of. Do
          not listen to me at your peril. The
          imagination is the noon voice that sees clearly
          and says yes this is what I want for my life.
          It's there to sort out your nightmare, to show
          you the exit from the maze of-your nightmare, to
          transform the nightmare into dreams that become
          your bedrock. If we don't listen to that voice,
          it dies. It shrivels. It vanishes.
          (PAUL takes out a switch blade and opens it.)
          The imagination is not our escape. on the
          contrary, the imagination is the place we are
          all trying to get to.
          PAUL lifts his shirt and stabs himself.
          OUISA screams.
          PAUL falls over backward into space.
          The phone rings, waking OUISA. FLAN picks up the phone.
          OUISA sits up, a little stunned. She is relieved to find
          things so normal.

<b>          INT THE PRECINCT EARLY MORNING
</b>
<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          I got a call that might interest you.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         71
</b>
<b>          BACK TO THE MORGAN LIBRARY
</b>          The string quartet reaches a climax.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          And a new character entered our story

<b>          EXT BETH ISRAEL DOCTORS HOSPITAL DAY
</b>          FLAN and OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN come to this hospital
          across from Gracie Mansion.

<b>          INT BETH ISRAEL DOCTORS HOSPITAL DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          DR. FINE, an earnest professional man in his 50s, comes
          down the hall, and opens his office door.
          FLAN, OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN sit in his office.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I was seeing a patient. I'm an
          obstetrician at New York Hospital.
          The nurse opened my office door.

<b>          INT EXAMINING ROOM DAY
</b>           THE NURSE, a sturdy woman in her 50s, opens the door.

<b>                         NURSE
</b>          There's a friend of your son's here.
          PAUL appears,- looking much as HE was when HE came to FLAN
          and OUISA's. PAUL's shirt front is bleeding.

<b>          DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          OUISA and FLAN, KITTY and LARKIN are filled with dread.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I treated the kid. He was more scared than
          hurt. A knife wound, a few bruises.

<b>                         EXAMINING ROOM
</b>          PAUL gets off the examining table, buttoning his pink shirt.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I don't know how to thank you, sir. My father
          is coming here.

<b>          DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          THE TWO COUPLES sit cramped on the Doctor's leather sofa.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         72
</b>          FLAN and OUISA and KITTY and LARKIN
          He's making a movie of Cats.
          DR. FINE stands by the window looking out at the river.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          And he told me the name of a matinee idol of my
          youth. Somebody who had really forged ahead and
          made new paths for Blacks just by the strength
          of-his own talent. Strangely, I had identified
           with him, before I started Medical School. I
           mean, I'm a Jew. My grandparents were killed in
           the war. I had this sense of self-hatred, of
          fear. And this kid's father - the bravery of
          his films - had given me a direction, a
          confidence. Simple as that. We're always
          paying off debts. Then my beeper went off. A
          patient in her tenth month of labor. Her water
          finally broke. I gave'him the keys.

<b>                         EXAMINING ROOM
</b>          DR. FINE gives PAUL a set of keys and walks him out into

<b>          THE HOSPITAL HALL.
</b>
                         

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Doug's told me all about your brownstone. How
          you got it at a great price because there had
          been a murder in it and for a while people
          thought it had a curse but you were a scientific
          man and were courageous!

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          Well, yes! Courageous!

<b>          DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          FLA.N and OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN agree.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Very courageous.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I ran off to the delivery room. Twins! Two
          boys. I thought of my son. I dialed my boy at
          Dartmouth. Amazingly, he was in his room.
          Doing y hat I hate to ask.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         73
</b>
<b>           INT COLLEGE DORM ROOM DAY
</b>           The call wakens DR. FINE'S son, DOUG, 20.
          DOUG grabs for the phone from under the covers. Is there
          someone else in bed with Doug?

<b>          DR.FINE'S EXAMINING ROOM
</b>
<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          So you accuse me of having no interest in your
          life, not doing for friends, being a rotten
          father. Well, you should be very happy.

<b>          COLLEGE DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         DOUG
</b>          The son of who? Dad, I never heard of him.
          Dad, as usual, you are a real cretin. You gave
          him the keys? You gave ,& complete stranger who
          happens to mention my name the keys to our
          house? Dad, sometimes it is so obvious to me
          why Mom left. I am so embarrassed to know you.
          You gave the keys to a stranger who shows up at
          your office? Mother told me you beat her! Mom
          told me you were a rotten lover and drank so
           much your body smelled of cheap white wine. Mom
           said sleeping with you was like sleeping with a
           salad made with bad dressing. Why you had to
           bring me into the world!
          A GIRL sits up in bed, terrified.

<b>                         EXAMINING ROOM
</b>
<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          There are two sides to every story -

<b>          COLLEGE DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         DOUG
</b>          You're an idiot! You're an idiot!
          THE GIRL in bed puts pillows over her head.

<b>          DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          FLAN and OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN lean forward in
          fascination.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I went home..-courageously with a policeman.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         74
</b>
<b>           EXT DR. FINE'S BROWNSTONE DAY
</b>          DR. FINE puts the key in the door. The COP with HIM has his
          gun drawn. DR. FINE and THE COP enter

<b>          THE BROWNSTONE.
</b>          THEY hear a Debussy quartet playing.
          PAUL sits in the living room wearing a silk robe, swirling a
          snifter of brandy, listening to the music.
          PAUL smiles when HE sees DR. FINE, but when the COP appears
          with the gun, PAUL rolls over on his side out of the chair.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          Arrest him!
          DR. FINE snaps off the radio.
          PAUL backs up against the wall.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Pardon?

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          Breaking and entering.

<b>                          PAUL
</b>          Breaking and entering?

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          You're an imposter.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Officer, your honor, your eminence, Dr. Fine
          cave me the keys to his brownstone. Isn't that
          so?

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          My son doesn't know you.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          This man gave me the keys to the house.
          Isn't that so?
          THE COP puts his gun away.

<b>                          POLICEMAN (SCREAMS)
</b>           Did you give him the key to the house?

<b>           DR. FINE
</b>           Yes, but under false pretenses. This fucking
           black kid crack addict comes into my office

<b>                         LYING -
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         75
</b>           PAUL (cool and forgiving)
          I have taken this much brandy but can pour the
          rest back into the bottle. And I've used
          electricity listening to the music, but I think
          you'll find that nothing's taken from the house.
          PAUL takes off the silk robe and neatly places it on the
          table.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I want you to arrest this fraud.
          PAUL puts on his jacket and leaves the house.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          Stop him!
          THE POLICEMAN walks away.

<b>          COLLEGE DORM ROOM
</b>          DOUG continues his tirade.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          A cretin! A creep! No wonder mother left you!

                         
          DOUG flings the phone against the wall.

<b>          DR. FINE'S OFFICE
</b>          FLAN and OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN look at DR. FINE
          sympathetically.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          Two sides. Every story.
          But THE TWO COUPLES are also embarrassed.

<b>          BACK TO THE MORGAN LIBRARY
</b>          PEOPLE from the back row of the concert turn away from the
          music and listen to OUISA and FLAN.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We went down to the Strand -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Five Sherlock Holmeses-

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         76
</b>          0 EXT THE STRAND BOOKSTORE 12th STREET AND BROADWAY DAY
          The TWO COUPLES AND DR. FINE, go into

<b>          THE STRAND BOOKSTORE.
</b>          which advertises itself as possessing Eight miles of books
          and that seems an understatement.
          THE CAMERA rushes past rows of books.
          And then suddenly stops.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I found it!
          OUISA'S HAND reaches up and brings down.

<b>                         CU
</b>          A COPY OF SIDNEY POITIER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY: "This Life"
          OUISA reads from the Poitier autobiography.
          THE OTHERS are enrapt..

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          "Back in New York with Juanita and the children,
          I began to become aware that our marriage,
           while working on some levels, was falling apart
          in other fundamental areas."
          FLAN takes the book.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          There's a picture of him and his four-
          daughters. No sons. Four daughters.

<b>          BACK TO THE MORGAN LIBRARY
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The book's called This Life.

<b>                         A CONCERT-GOER
</b>          No sons?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No sons!

<b>          THE STRAND BOOKSTORE
</b>
<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Oh dear.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          This kid bulldozing his way into our lives.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         77
</b>
<b>          LA.RKIN
</b>          is We let him in our lives. I run a foundation.
          You're a dealer. You're a doctor. You'd think
          we'd be satisfied with our achievements.

<b>          TNT THE GOTHAM RESTAURANT DAY
</b>          THE FIVE of THEM have gone down the street fram the Strand
          to this swell restaurant.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Agatha Christie would ask what do
          we all have in common?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It seems the common thread linking us all is an
          overwhelming need to be in the movie of Cats.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Our kids. Struggling through their lives.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I don't want to know anything about the
          spillover of their lives.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>
                         
          All we have in common is our children went to
          boarding school together.
          FLAN (to Dr. Fine)
          How come we never met?

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          His mother had custody. I lived out West. After
          he graduated from high school, she moved west.
          I moved east.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I think we should drop it right here.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Are you afraid Ben is mixed up in this fraud?

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I don't want to know too much about my kid.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          You think Ben is hiding things from us? I tell
          you, I'm getting to the bottom of this. My son
          has no involvements with any black frauds.
          Doctor, you said something about crack?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         78
</b>
<b>                         LARKIN
</b>
                         
          I don't want to know.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          It just leaped out of my mouth.
          No proof. Oh dear god, no proof.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We'll take a vote. Do we pursue this to the end
          no matter what we find out about our kids?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I vote yes.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I trust Doug. Yes.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          No.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Yes.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Yes.
          KITTY looks through the Poitier autobiography.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Listen to the last page. ".. .making it better
          for our children. Protecting them. From what?
          The truth is what we were protecting those
          little people from... there is a lot to worry
          about and I'd better start telling the little
          bastards - start worrying!" The end.
          KITTY closes the book in dismay.
          OUISA, FLAN, LARKIN, and DR. FINE are each lost in thought.

<b>          INT LINCOLN CENTER METROPOLITAN OPERA NIGHT
</b>          FLAN and OUISA, dressed formally, the way people used to
          dress for the opera, stand at the small champagne bar
          outside the boxes. Their similarly dressed FRIENDS are
          engrossed in the tale.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We all went up to Harvard.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We had to enlist our children -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         79
</b>
<b>          EXT HARVARD UNIVERSITY DAY
</b>          FLAN and OUISA, KITTY and LARKIN, and DR. FINE cut through
          the Harvard Yard at an urgent pace.

<b>          INT ELIOT HOUSE HARVARD
</b>          The FIVE PARENTS sit in the empty Dining Commons.
          THEY've come for lunch. And now lunch is over.
          TESS, WOODY, BEN and DOUG sit on the other side of the
          refectory table, glaring at their parents, lunch trays
          between the generations.
          STUDENTS walk in and out. THE PARENTS speak in hushed,
          library size whispers to avoid any echo.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's obvious. It's somebody you went to High
          School with, since you go to different colleges.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          I just want to tell you how I appreciate
          your coming today -

<b>                         DOUG
</b>           Dad? Spare me?
          DOUG'S voice echoes.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He knows the details about our lives.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Who in your high school, part of your gang, has
          become homosexual or is deep into drugs?

<b>                         TESS
</b>          That's like about fifteen people.
          TESS enjoys her echo because it makes FLAN and OUISA
          uncomfortable.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I don't want to know.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          I find it really insulting that you would assume
          that it has to be a guy. This movie star's son
          could have had a relationship with a girl in

<b>                         HIGH SCHOOL---
</b>          And BEN is just as loud.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         80
</b>
<b>                         HEN
</b>          That's your problem in a nut shell.
          You're so limited.
          FLAN and OUISA try to shush them.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          That's why I'm going to Afghanistan.
          To climb mountains.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You are not climbing mountains.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We have not invested all this money in
          you to scale the face of K-2.
          TESS leans across the table, matching them whisper for
          whisper.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          Is that all I am? An investment?

                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          All right. Track down everybody in your high
          school class. Male. Female. Whatever. Not
          just homosexuals. Drug addicts. The kid might
          be a drug dealer.
          DOUG throws back his chair.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          Why do you look at me when you say that? Do you
          think I'm an addict? A drug pusher? I really
          resent the accusations.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          No one is accusing you of anything. Sit down.
          LARKIN gets up and paces around the table.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          I don't want to know. I don't want to know.
          I don't want to know.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Nobody is accusing anyone of anything.
          I'm asking you to go on a detective search and
          find out from your high school class if anyone
          has met a Black kid pretending to be a movie
          star's son.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         81
</b>
<b>                          BEN
</b>          He promised you parts in Cats?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It wasn't just that. It was fun.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          You went to Cats. You said it was an all time
          low in a lifetime of theater going.
          OUISA considers.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Film is a different medium.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          You said Aeschylus did not invent theater to
          have it end up a bunch of chorus kids wondering
          which of them will go to Kitty Kat Heaven.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I don't remember saying that.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No, I think that was Starlight Express -

                         

<b>                         TESS
</b>          Well, maybe he'll make a movie of Starlight
          Express and you can all be on roller skates!
          THE KIDS stand up.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          This is so humiliating.

<b>                         BEN
</b>          This is so pathetic.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          This is so racist.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          This is not racist!
          THE KIDS stride out of the DINING HALL into

<b>          THE CORRIDOR.
</b>          THEIR PARENTS run ahead trying to circle them.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         82
</b>
<b>                          DOUG
</b>          How can I get in touch with anybody in high
          school? I've outgrown them.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Now can you outgrow them?
          You graduated a year ago!
          THE PARENTS stop in front of

<b>          THE MAIN ENTRANCE
</b>          blocking TESS and DOUG and BEN's escape. OUISA takes a red
          book out of her bag and brandishes at THEM.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Here is a copy of your yearbook. I want you to
          get the phone numbers of everybody in your
          class. You all went to the same boarding
          school.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          You can charge it to my phone.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           Call everyone in your class
          and ask them if they know--
          THE THREE KIDS try to break through the blockade.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          Never!

<b>                         TESS
</b>          This is the KGB.

<b>          DR. FINE
</b>          You're on the phone all the time. Now I ask you
          to make calls all over the country and you
          become reticent.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          This is the entire McCarthy period.
          WOODY saunters up to his PARENTS.
          HE is very cool.
          FLAN and OUISA smile at his sweet attitude.

<b>                         WOODY
</b>          I just want to get one thing straight.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         83
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Finally, we hear from the peanut gallery.
          And WOODY screams at THEM in rage, his voice echoing,
          mindless of the STUDENTS who freeze in the background as you
          would at a traffic accident.

<b>                         WOODY
</b>          You gave him my pink shirt? You gave a complete
          stranger my pink shirt? That pink shirt was a
          Christmas present from you. I treasured that
          shirt. I loved that shirt. My collar size has
          grown a full size from weight lifting. And you
          saw my arms had grown, you saw my neck had
          grown. And you bought me that shirt for my new
          body. I loved that shirt. The first shirt for
          my new body. And you gave that shirt away. I
          can't believe it. I hate this life. I hate
          you.

<b>          EXT ELIOT HOUSE
</b>          WOODY's wrath grows and grows and drives OUISA and FLAN,
          indeed all the PARENTS, out of the serene, venerable Harvard
          building onto the street. PASSERSBY stop and gape.
           WOODY doesn't care.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          You never do anything for me.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          You've never done anything but
          tried to block me.

<b>                         BEN
</b>          I'm only this pathetic extension
          of your eighth rate personality.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          Social Darwinism pushed beyond all limits.

<b>                         WOODY
</b>          You gave away my pink shirt?

<b>                         TESS
</b>          You want me to be everything you weren't.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          You said drugs and looked at me.
          THE PARENTS go down the street, speechless, defeated.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         84
</b>
<b>           CUT TO
</b>          PAGES of a Yearbook turning. The pages stop.

<b>                         TESS (VO)
</b>          Trent Conway. -

<b>          EXT THE BANKS OF THE CHARLES RIVER DAY
</b>          THE FOUR KIDS look through their high school yearbook.
          TESS spots a face. THEY all consider.

<b>                         THE KIDS
</b>          Trent Conway.

<b>                         CU
</b>
<b>          TRENT CONWAY'S YEARBOOK PICTURE
</b>          TRENT is weasel faced. Very hard to read. Not quite
          looking into the yearbook photographer's camera.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          Trent Conway.

<b>                         DOUG
</b>          Look at those beady eyes staring out at me.

                         

<b>                         BEN
</b>          Trent Conway.

<b>                         WOODY
</b>          He's at MIT.

<b>          INT KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM DAY
</b>          TESS has come down to New York with news for her mother.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          So I went to MIT. He was there in
          his computer room and I just pressed
          him and pressed him and pressed him.
          I had this strapped to me.
          TESS puts a small tape recorder on the desk.
          TESS turns it on. OUISA listens to the tape.

<b>          TRENT'S TAPED VOICE
</b>          Yes, I knew Paul.

<b>          INT A COMPUTER ROOM AT MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
</b>          THE CAMERA focusses in on her thigh. WE can see the slight
          bump where TESS has strapped the recorder.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         85
</b>
                         
          TRENT looks up from his bank of computers at TESS.
          TRENT's pinched face looks as if it has never, known one
          truly happy day.

<b>                         TESS A
</b>          But what happened between you?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          It was...It was...

<b>          EXT A DOORWAY RAIN NIGHT
</b>          PAUL dressed in ragged clothes stands huddled in a doorway
          to get out of the freezing rain.
          TRENT passes by the doorway.
          TRENT is gone.
          Then TRENT reappears and stares at PAUL.

<b>          INT TRENT CONWAY'S APARTMENT NIGHT
</b>          PAUL stands against the WHITE WALL we've seen earlier.
          Rain. Distant thunder. Jazz playing somewhere.
          PAUL, unlike the elegant PAUL we have seen, is dressed in
          torn jeans, a ripped tank top, dirty high top sneakers.
          This is the PAUL we first saw.

                         
          PAUL looks at TRENT with a mixture of contempt and I dare
          you.
          PAUL stretches out on the bed.
          HE pulls out a thick address -book from under him.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          What's this?
          PAUL speaks.street talk speech. Hardly what we've heard.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          My address book.
          TRENT tries to take the address book away from PAUL.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          All these names. Addresses.
          Tell me about these people.
          TRENT lies along side PAUL.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          This is where I wanted you to be...
          Right here...
          PAUL, hypnotised by the-'address book, slaps TRENT away from
          him and gets out of the bed.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         86
</b>
<b>                         PAUL (FIERCE)
</b>          Tell me about these people, man!

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          I just want to look at you. Sorry.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Are these all rich people?
          TRENT sits up in bed.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          No. Hand to mouth on a higher plateau.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          OUISA looks at the tape recorder, horrified at this
          judgement.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          How long did Trent keep Paul?
          TESS shushes OUISA.

<b>          TRENT CONWAY'S APARTMENT
</b>
                         
          PAUL paces around the room, looking into this book.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I think it must be very hard to be with rich
          people. You have to have money. You have to
          give them presents.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Not at all. Rich people do something nice for
          you, you give them a pot of jam.

<b>                         PAUL (AMAZED)
</b>          That's what pots of jam are for?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Orange. Grapefruit. Strawberry. But fancy.
          They have entire stores filled with fancy pots
          of jam wrapped in cloth. English. Or French.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll tell you what I'll do. I pick a name. You
          tell me about them. Where they live. Secrets.
          And for each name you get a piece of clothing.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          All right.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         87
</b>          PAUL picks a name at random, circling his finger and

<b>                         0
</b>          plunging into the address book.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Kittredge. Talbot and Woodrow.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Talbot called Tess was anorexic and was in a
          hospital for a while.
          PAUL takes off a shoe and kicks it to TRENT.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          Now it's TESS's turn to be hurt. OUISA comforts TESS.

<b>          PAUL'S TAPED VOICE
</b>          Their parents.

<b>          TRENT CONWAY'S APARTMENT
</b>
<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Ouisa and Flan for Flanders Kittredge. Rhode
          Island I believe. Newport but not along the
          ocean. The street behind the ocean. He's an art
           dealer. They have a Kandinsky.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          A Kan--what- ski?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Kandinsky. A double-sided Kandinsky.
          PAUL kicks off his other shoe.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          OUISA and TESS look up at the Kandinsky hanging geometric
          side front.

<b>          TRENT CONWAY'S APARTMENT
</b>          TRENT catches PAUL's sneaker joyously.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          I feel like Scheherazade!
          TRENT embraces PAUL with fierce tenderness.
          Maybe TRENT had one happy day and this is it.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         88
</b>
<b>                         TRENT
</b>           I don't want you to leave me, Paul. I'll go
           through my address book and tell you about
          family after family. You 111 never not fit in
          again. we'll give you a new ideas it.y. I'll
          make you the most eagerly sought after young man
          in the East. And then I'I1 come into one of
          these homes one day---and you'll be there and
          I'll be presented to you. And I'll pretend to
          meet you for the first time and our friendship
          will be witnessed by my friends, our parents'
          friends. If it all happens under their noses,
          they can't judge me. They can't disparage you.
          I'll make you a guest in their houses. Ask me
          another name. I'd like to try for the shirt.
          PAUL kisses TRENT.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          That's enough for today.
          PAUL takes his shoes and the address book and goes.

<b>          KITTRED4 E' S LIVING ROOM
</b>          40 OUISA brushes TESS's hair as THEY listen.

<b>          TRENT'S TAPED VOICE
</b>          Paul stayed with me for three months.

<b>          TRENT CONWAY'S APARTMENT
</b>          PAUL leans against the white wall.
          PAUL frowns, then smiles.
          All ready PAUL has begun to change from a street kid to
          someone quite preppy - very Ralph Lauren. Only on the
          surface. HE's still learning.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          This is the way you must speak. Hear my accent.
          Hear my voice. Never say you're going horse
          back riding. You say You're going Riding. And
          don't say couch. Say sofa. And you say
          Bodd-ill. It's bottle. Say bottle of beer.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Bodd-ill a bee-ya.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Bottle of beer.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         89
</b>
<b>                          PAUL
</b>
<b>                         (SERIOUS)
</b>          Bodd-ill a bee-ya.

<b>                         (FLIRTATIOUS)
</b>          Bodd-ill a bee-ya.

<b>                         (SUSPICIOUS)
</b>          Bodd-ill a bee-ya.

<b>                         (ELATED)
</b>          Bottle of beer.
          TRENT claps. PAUL bows to TRENT.
          TRENT'S face is transfigured with joy.

<b>                         COMPUTER ROOM
</b>          TRENT smiles at TESS but the smile is one of tight lipped
          stoicism.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          We went through the address book letter by
          letter. Paul vanished by the L's. He took the
          address book with him. Well, he's already been
          in all your houses. Maybe I will meet him
          again. I sure would like to.
          TRENT stands up signalling an end to the conversation. HE
          turns off his computers.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          His past? His real name?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          I don't know anything about him.
          It was a rainy night in Boston.
          He was in a doorway. That's all.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          He took stuff from you?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Besides the address book? He took my stereo and
          sport jacket and my word processor and my laser
          printer. And my skis. And my TV.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          Will you press charges?

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          No.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          It's a felony.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         90
</b>
<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Why do they want to find him?

<b>                         TES S
</b>          They say to help him. If there's a crime, the
          cops will get involved.

<b>                         TRENT
</b>          Look, we must keep in touch. We were friends
          for a brief bit in school. I mean we were
          really good friends.

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>          TESS'S TAPED VOICE
</b>          won't you press charges?

<b>          TRENT'S TAPED VOICE
</b>          Please.
          TESS leans forward-and snaps off the tape recorder.
          OUISA is amazed.

<b>          INT LINCOLN CENTER METROPOLITAN OPERA NIGHT
</b>           FLAN and OUISA have brought their FRIENDS up to date.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul learned all that in three months!

<b>                         OPERAGOER
</b>          Three months?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Three months!
          The chimes ring, signalling the start of the opera.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          who would have thought it? Trent Conway, the
          Henry Higgins of our time.
          THE GROUP laughs and finishes their drinks as THE USHER
          unlocks the door to

<b>          THE OPERA BOX.
</b>          THE GROUP proceeds in, deciding who'll sit where in the box
          and checking their programs.
          OUISA looks into the vastness of the Metropolitan Opera
          House.
          THe chandeliers are rising into the ceiling.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         91
</b>
<b>                         OPERAGOER #1
</b>          Quick - what the hell is the story of this
          opera?
          FLAN adjusts his opera glasses. a

<b>                         OPERAGOER #2
</b>          Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl.
          OUISA is distracted.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul must have looked at all those
          names and said I am Columbus. I am Magellan.
          I will sail into this new world.
          The camera comes in on OUISA as she remembers

<b>          THE KITTREDGE LIVING ROOM.
</b>          TESS laughs. OUISA laughs. It's a nice moment between these
          two.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I read somewhere that everybody on this planet
          is separated by only six other people. Six
          degrees of separation. Between us and everybody
          else on this planet. The President of the
          United States. A. gondolier in Venice. Fill in
          the names. I find that A.] tremendously
          comforting that we're so close and B.] like
          Chinese water torture that we're so close.
          Because you have to find the right six people to
          make the connection. It's not just big names.
          It's anyone. A native in a rain forest. A
          Tierra del Fuegan. An Eskimo. I am bound to
          everyone on this planet by a trail of six
          people. It's a profound thought. How Paul found
          us. How to find the man whose son he pretends to
          be. Or perhaps j& his son, although I doubt it.
          How every person is a new door, opening up into
          other worlds. Six degrees of separation between
          me and everyone else on this planet. But to
          find the right six people.
          TESS kisses HER MOTHER.
          OUISA puts out the light and THEY leave the room.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         92
</b>
<b>                          MUSIC
</b>          THE ACT ONE MUSIC OF PUCCINI'S TOSCA suddenly swells up and

<b>                         CONTINUES UNDER:
</b>
<b>          THE MASTER BEDROOM NIGHT
</b>          OUISA looks out the window down into the park.

<b>          EXT CENTRAL PARK
</b>          THE HUSKY bays up at the moon.

<b>          INT LINCOLN CENTER METROPOLITAN OPERA NIGHT
</b>          The curtain comes down on Act One of TOSCA.
          Applause.
          SANDY and CONNIE (yes! Pram the wedding) have leaned over
          from the next box.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No. No news.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          He just vanished.

<b>                          FLAN
</b>          Nothing. All quiet. Thank god.
          THEY pass out of the box into

<b>          THE CHAMPAGNE BAR.
</b>          EVERYONE is very cheery.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes! We are going to Rome.
          CONNIE gives OUISA a card with a name on it.
          OUISA reads the card and passes it to FLAN.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No! I don't know them.
          FLAN smiles when HE sees the card.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Always wanted to meet them! Of course we'l1
          call. As soon as we get to Rome! What fun!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         93
</b>
                         

<b>          EXT ROME DAY
</b>          THE CAMERA floats high across the city heading for ST.
          PETER'S BASILICA. It descends, circling ST. PETER'S,

<b>                         TOWARDS
</b>
<b>          THE VATICAN.
</b>
<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          Rome is always remarkable but to see -
          Columns flash past. The blurring clears and we are moving

<b>                         INTO
</b>
<b>          INT SISTINE CHAPEL
</b>          with FLAN and OUISA. They are escorted, through a maze of
          scaffolding, by an elderly Italian ART DEALER.

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          the Sistine Chapel like this!

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          To stand at the very top on scaffolding!

                         
          FLAN and OUISA ride up through the scaffolding, in a
          rickety elevator.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We were at the opera and ran into them and they
          gave us your address!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          This is staggering!
          THEY step out, in great excitement, right onto

<b>          THE SISTINE CHAPEL SCAFFOLDING.
</b>
<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          They restored it after all these years -
          FOUR ITALIAN WORKERS scrub away at the ceiling a few feet
          above them. They refer constantly to banks of computers
          operated by TWO JAPANESE.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          scraped all this paint off it

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          and years of smoke and tourists and it's brand
          new!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         94
</b>           OUISA looks up. SHE is right beneath the hand of God
           touching the hand of Man. SHE looks at it in awe. To be
           this close to it! THE SCREEN is filled with the cleaned
          ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

<b>          INT SOHO LOFT NIGHT
</b>          FLAN and OUISA sit on cushions of a Soho loft done in the
          most glamorous minimal Japanese mode.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The colors are vibrant!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Flan went for business but for me it was -
          THE OWNERS of this loft are a MAN, 40s, who is confined to a
          wheel chair, and his beautiful COMPANION, an elegant
          Japanese woman. THE TEN DINNER GUESTS are dressed all in
          black, except OUISA who has on a bright Chanel suit. SHE
          and FLAN have managed to capture stage center.

<b>          THE WHEEL CHAIR MAN
</b>
<b>                         (INTERRUPTING OUISA)
</b>          But what happened!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No. It's not important -

<b>          THE JAPANESE HOSTESS
</b>          You must!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Well, the day we got back from Rome -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We stepped out of the taxi from the airport and

<b>          EXT THE KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT BUILDING DAY
</b>          FLAN steps out of the cab first.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          our doorman whom we tip very well at Christmas
          and any time he does something nice for us-- our
          doorman spits at my husband, J. Flanders
          Kittredge. I mean, spit at him!
          The DOORMAN - FRANK - good faithful loyal FRANK - holds
          the door open and spits at FLAN.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         95
</b>
<b>           SOHO LOFT
</b>          THE CROWD gasps.
          FLAN frowns at OUISA for telling this part.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Darling, they don't have to know every detail.

<b>          EXT THE KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT BUILDING
</b>          OUISA is afraid to come out of the cab.

<b>                         DOORMAN
</b>          Your son! I know all about your son.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What about my son?

<b>                         DOORMAN
</b>          Not the little shit who lives here. The other
          son. The secret son. The negro son you deny.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The negro son?

<b>                         DOORMAN
</b>          The black son you make live in Central Park
          while you're gallivanting around Rome.
          The DOORMAN spits at FLAN again.

<b>                         SOHO LOFT
</b>          THE JAPANESE HOSTESS is interested.

<b>          THE JAPANESE HOSTESS
</b>          You have a black son?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No! The cops brought this young girl to us!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The cops called us up and we went
          down to the precinct again!

<b>          INT PRECINCT DAY
</b>          THE DETECTIVE sits on the edge of his desk.
          OUISA and FLAN sit in chairs in the small office, looking on
          uncomfortably. The emotion in the shabby room is too big for
          the size of it. THEY watch a young woman named ELIZABETH,in
          her mid-20s, seated behind the DETECTIVE'S desk.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         96
</b>          ELIZABETH (in a rage)
          I want him dead. That's all I want.

<b>                         SOHO LOFT
</b>          OUISA leans forward at the dinner table.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          The next chapter.
          THE PARTY is silenced.

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>
<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          My boy friend and I took a picnic
          into the park

<b>          EXT CENTRAL PARK DAY
</b>          RICK, ELIZABETH and PAUL sprawl out on the grass in the
          sun, under the statue of the Alaskan husky, the remains of a
          picnic around them. Bongo Drums play in the distance.

<b>                         ELIZABETH (VO)
</b>          and we met this guy and started
          singing and talking.
          RICK, a nice young guy in his mid-twenties, plays his guitar
          energetically, the THREE of them having a great time singing
          a cheery old rock song.
          PAUL is wearing the pink shirt and the khakis but looks
          pretty seedy. HE eats hungrily.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I was hallucinating from not eating-

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          If I told people back home that
          New York had trees and picnics,
          they'd swear I was lying. I love New York so
          much. Look at it! I can't get over it.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          We're here from Utah.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Do they have any black people in Utah?

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Maybe two.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         97
</b>
<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I saw them once. Two black people.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Yes, the Mormons brought in two.
          THEY all laugh, enjoying each other, the day, the meeting.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          We came here to be actors.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          She won the all-state competition
          for comedy and drama.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My gosh!
          ELIZABETH stands up and declaims.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          "The quality of mercy is not strained.
          It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven.."
          SHE's not bad. But then SHE giggles and the Shakespearean
           effect crumbles.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          And we study and we wait tables.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Because you have to have technique.
          ELIZABETH and RICK are very earnest.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Like the painters. Cezanne looked for the rules
          behind the spontaneity of Impressionism.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Cez - That's a painter?

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          We don't know anything about painting.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          My dad loves painting. He has a Kandinsky but
          he loves Cezanne the most. He lives up there.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          What?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         98
</b>           PAUL points up at 910 FIFTH, the home of the Kittredge's.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He lives up there. Count six windows over.
          John Flanders Kittredge. His chums-call him
          Flan. I was the child of Flan's hippie days.
          His radical days. He went down South as a
          freedom marcher, to register black voters - his
          friends were killed. Met my mother. Registered
          her and married her in a fit of sentimental
          righteousness and knocked her up with me and
          came back here and abandoned her. Went to
          Harvard. He's now a fancy art dealer. Lives up
          there. Count six windows over. Won't see me.
          The new wife--the white wife-- The Louisa
          Kittredge Call Me Ouisa wife - the mother of the
          new children wife--

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Your brothers and sisters?

<b>                         PAUL (BITTER)
</b>          They go to Andover and Exeter and Harvard and
          Yale. The awful thing is my father started out
          good. My mother says there is a good man inside
          s J. Flanders Kittredge.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          He'll see you if he is that good. He can't
          forget you entirely.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I call him. He hangs up.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Go to his office -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He doesn't have an office. He works out of
          there. They won't even let me in the elevator.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Dress up as a messenger.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Say you have a masterpiece for him.
          "I got the Mona Lisa waitin' out in the truck."

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         99
</b>
<b>                          PAUL
</b>          I don't want to embarrass him. Look, this is so
          fucking tacky.

<b>                         (PAUSE)
</b>          You love each other? a

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          A lot.
          RICK and ELIZABETH touch each other's hands.
          PAUL (standing up to go)
          I hope we can meet again.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Where do you live?
          PAUL looks around HIM and makes a hopeless grand gesture.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Live? I'm,home.
          PAUL picks up two plastic shopping bags which are filled
          with clothing.

                         

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          You're not out on the streets?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You're such assholes. Where would I live?
          PAUL shrugs his shoulders and leaves.
          RICK and ELIZABETH look at each other then follow him down
          the path leading through the park to the carousel.
          THE CAROUSEL calliope plays merrily.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Stay with us.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          We just have a railroad flat in a tenement --
          PAUL looks at a bank of daffodils planted by the carousel.
          HE begins picking a bouquet of daffodils.
          RICK and ELIZABETH are being as persuasive as they can.

<b>                         RICK
</b>           It's over a roller disco. The last of the
           roller discos but it's quiet by five AM and a
          great narrow space -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         100
</b>
<b>                          ELIZABETH
</b>          A railroad loft and we could give you a corner.
          The tub's in the kitchen but there's light in

<b>                         THE MORNING-
</b>
<b>                         SOHO LOFT
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          And he did!

<b>          INT RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT DAY
</b>          RICK and ELIZABETH'S tenement is disastrously crummy and
          probably violates every building code. But, yes, light
          does flow in through that one narrow window.
          PAUL puts the bouquet of daffodils into a jelly jar and sets
          it down on a board that covers the tub.

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>          ELIZABETH composes herself.
          OUISA pours ELIZABETH a glass of water.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>           He stayed for a few weeks. He taught
          us so much. We even thought he was the
          reason for coming to New York. He opened
          up a new world for us. That's all anybody
          wants, isn't it? A new world?
          OUISA looks at FLAN.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK and ELIZABETH listen intently to PAUL.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          This is the way you must speak.
          Hear my accent. Hear my voice.
          Never say you're going horse back riding.
          You say You're going Riding. And don't
          say Couch. Say Sofa. And you say bodd-ill.
          It's bottle. Say bottle of beer.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Bodd-ill a bee-ya.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         101
</b>          ELIZABETH pokes around in the refrigerator.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>
<b>                         (SERIOUS)
</b>          Hello. ï¿½. _

<b>                         (FLIRTATIOUS)
</b>          Hello.
          (SHE discovers two bottles of beer)
          Hello hello!
          SHE opens the beers. PAUL regards RICK for a moment.
          PAUL takes the bottle of beer.
          RICK and ELIZABETH share the other.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Bottle of beer. And never be afraid of rich
          people. You know what they love? A fancy pot
          of jam. That's all. Get yourself a patron.
          That's what you need. You shouldn't be waiting
          tables. You're going to wake up one day and the
          temporary job you picked up to stay alive is
          going to be your full time life.
          ELIZABETH is struck by his advice and embraces PAUL
          gratefully.

                         

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>          ELIZABETH is more pulled together, sipping her drink of
          water. FLAN takes OUISA's hand.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK and ELIZABETH have made love and lay on their backs in
          bed and dream.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I'll tell you all the parts I want to play.
          Vanya in Uncle Vanya.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Masha in Three Sisters.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I'd like a -
          ELIZABETH is on fire with happiness and unwittingly cuts off

<b>          RICK.
</b>
<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          No, Irina first. The young one
          who yearns for love.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         102
</b>
<b>                          RICK
</b>           I'd like a shot at -

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Then Masha who loves.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I'd like a shot -

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Then the oldest one, Olga, who never knows love!
          RICK'waits to see that ELIZABETH is through, then:

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I'd like a shot at Laertes. I think
          it's a much better part.
          ELIZABETH gazes in a mirror that- SHE holds close to her
          face.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Do you think it'll hurt me?

<b>                         RICK
</b>           What'll hurt you?

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          My resemblance to Liv Ullmann.
          PAUL runs into the loft.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He wrote me! I wrote him and he _
          wrote me back! He's going to give
          me a thousand dollars! And that's
          just for starters! He sold a Cezanne
          to the Japanese and made millions and
          he can give me money without her knowing it.
          PAUL lets out a whoop and leaps up onto the bed with RICK
          and ELIZABETH in it and begins jumping up and down.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I knew it!
          PAUL goes to a corner which contains a single mattress on
          the floor and begins to pack his few things back in the
          plastic bags.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm moving out of here!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         103
</b>
                         
          ELIZABETH reaches for her robe and pulls it on.
          RICK pulls on his jeans.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          You can't!

<b>                         RICK
</b>          No!
          RICK and ELIZABETH surround PAUL to make HIM stay.
          PAUL hugs THEM.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          But I am going to give you the money to put on a
          showcase of any play you want and you'll be in
          it and agents will come see you and you'll be
          seen and you'll be started. And when you win
          your Oscars - both of you - you'll look in the
          camera and thank me -
          ELIZABETH loves the moment and weeps her acceptance speech.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I want to thank Paul Kittredge.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Thanks, Paul!
          THEY all hug each other and that's real.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          One hitch. I'm going to meet him in Maine. He's
          up there visiting his parents in Dark Harbor.
          My grandparents whom I've never met. He's
          finally going to tell my grandparents about me.
          He's going to make up for lost time. He's going
          to give me money. I can go back home. Get my
          momma that beauty parlor she's wanted all her
          life. One problem. How am I going to get to
          Maine? The wife checks all the bills. He has
          to account for the money. She handles the purse
          strings. Where the hell am I going to get two
          hundred and fifty dollars to get to Maine?

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          How long would you need it for?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll be gone a week. But I could wire
          it back to you.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         104
</b>          PAUL goes into the john to take his toothbrush and razor.
          ELIZABETH pulls on her dress and straightens out her hair.

<b>                         RICK (QUIET)
</b>           We could lend it to him for a week.

<b>                         ELIZABETH (QUIET)
</b>          We can't. If something happens -

<b>                         RICK (QUIET)
</b>          You're like his stepmother. These women holding
          on to all the purse strings.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          No. We worked too hard to save that.
          PAUL comes out of the john.
          RICK - always laid back - is suddenly quite angry.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Paul. I'm sorry. We just can't.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Look. No problem. I understand.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I'll meet you both after work. If your father
          loves you, he'll get you the ticket up there.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          He does. It'll work out. Hey.
          Posture. Stand up straight. Don't slump.
          Attitudes of defeat.
          ELIZABETH kisses PAUL and looks at sullen RICK and leaves.

<b>                         SOHO LOFT
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          She was one of those armies of
          young people who come to New York
          filled with dreams and end up on a treadmill
          working and working just to stay alive.

<b>          INT A WEST SIDE RESTAURANT NIGHT
</b>          ELIZABETH is one of the few waitresses in this crowded bar
          and works very hard.

<b>          EXT CASH MACHINE NIGHT
</b>          ELIZABETH gapes at the information on the screen.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         105
</b>
<b>          CU MESSAGE ON SCREEN
</b>
<b>                         "ACCOUNT CLOSED"
</b>          ELIZABETH begins hitting the machine to get her card back.
          ELIZABETH picks up the phone on the machine and calls the
          emergency number.
           ELIZABETH (in phone)
           There's some mistake. It says my joint account
           - can you see the numbers on the screen - that's
          right. that's my name. And his name. Joint
          account. What do you mean? Closed? Who closed
          the account? Who took everything out of the
          account? Who did this! Give me my card back!
          THE GUY next in line nudges her.

<b>          THE NEXT CUSTOMER
</b>          Let somebody else in here.

<b>          EXT THE KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT BUILDING NIGHT
</b>          An hysterical ELIZABETH goes into

                         

<b>          THE LOBBY.
</b>          FRANK, the DOORMAN, is having a snooze.
          ELIZABETH shakes him. HE wakes up terrified at the sight of
          this hysterical creature over HIM.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          - people named Kittredge. This Kittredge guy
          has a black son he makes live in the park -

<b>                         FRANK
</b>          Mr. Kittredge has what?

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          His black son took money from me -

<b>                         FRANK
</b>          You have to be quiet

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I want to get up to see them!

<b>                         FRANK
</b>          You'll have to call or write a letter -

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          They owe me money!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         R
</b>
<b>                         106
</b>           FRANK takes ELIZABETH by the arm and ushers her out of

<b>          THE KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT BUILDING.
</b>          FRANK, the DOORMAN, bolts the front door to the-building.
          ELIZABETH bangs on the door.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I'm here trying to get to meet people.
          I am stranded. Who do I know to go to?
          I want my money. I work tables. I work hard.
          A CAB pulls up. A POSH COUPLE steps out of the cab to go
          into 910 Fifth. THEY look at ELIZABETH.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          "The quality of mercy is not strained?"
          Fuck you, quality of mercy.
          FRANK opens the door quickly. THE POSH COUPLE scoots in.
          ELIZABETH kicks the building.

<b>          INT ORSO'S RESTAURANT NIGHT
</b>           FLAN and OUISA have come to this Broadway Italian restaurant
          after the theater with a MAN and WOMAN who from their dress
          and manner are obviously in the theater: ANDREW and ZEANNIE.
          FLAN and OUISA are in mid-story.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          - all over the building that I had abandoned
          some mistake of my past in Central Park!
          THE COUPLE gasps!

<b>                         JEANNIE
</b>          But it's too fantastic!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Can't you just see me marching
          down South for Freedom Now!

<b>                         OUISA (PROUDLY)
</b>          Yes. Yes, I can.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It was so embarrassing.

<b>                         ANDREW
</b>          Horrible!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         107
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It wasn't so embarrassing.

<b>                         JEANNIE
</b>          I bet Flan loves being outraged.
          FLAN (mock outrage)
          I don't!

<b>                         ANDREW
</b>          You do! Flan loves getting into
          high dudgeon! His cheeks go all rosy!
          Look at his cheeks! Dudgeon becomes him.
          THEY all laugh as the WAITRESS puts down the plates of food.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          To high dudgeon!
          THEY all toast.
          But OUISA has stopped laughing.

<b>          INT RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TEN EME NT NIGHT
</b>          ELIZABETH sits up in bed in the dark. SHE impassively
          watches a rat scramble across the floor. RICK comes in,
          drained, dressed in a baby blue tuxedo with a ruffled blue
          shirt - the kind of tux worn at high school proms.

<b>                         RICK (BRIGHT)
</b>          Hi!
          ELIZABETH puts on the light.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Where's the money?

<b>          BACK IN ORSO'S RESTAURANT
</b>          OUISA continues her tale.

<b>                         DUISA
</b>          - she understandably wanted to know.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK laughs brightly and sits beside HER on the bed.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         108
</b>
<b>                          RICK
</b>          No! Let me explain. Paul found some extra
           money of his own and he wanted to thank us for
           staying here! He would've treated you but you
           had to work or else we would've . We rented
          these tuxedos! Isn't it a gas! He's going to
          give us the money back! And then I'm going to
          take you to the Rainbow Room. That's where we
          went! I brought you matches!

<b>          INT THE RAINBOW ROOM NIGHT
</b>          RICK, in his ruffled blue tux, and, PAUL, in impeccable
          black tie, look into the Rainbow Room.
          THE CAPTAIN takes THEM to a table by the window.
          RICK and PAUL look out over the city. The view is magic!

<b>                         RICK (WHISPERS)
</b>          Now did we get this table!

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Stick with me, baby. I know the
          right name to drop.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK (laughs brightly)
          And it's not that expensive for what you get.
          Well, it's not a bargain but it's

<b>          THE RAINBOW ROOM
</b>          THE WAITER opens a bottle of champagne.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          How an I going to explain to Elizabeth
          about the money?
          PAUL tastes the champagne. THE WAITER pours.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          She'll have it back. With interest. Wonderful
          bouquet. Bouquet. That's what you call the
          taste of the wine. And I believe that wine from
          the even numbered years is generally the
          superior to the odd numbered years. Although
          it's just a theory - Cheers! Skol! Prosit!

<b>                         RICK
</b>          You are just about the greatest -
          THE DANCE ORCHESTRA plays a salute to 1930's romance.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         109
</b>
<b>                          PAUL
</b>          Do you want to dance?

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Elizabeth has never seen anything l_4e here. I
          wish she was... Who do we dance with?
          THE ORCHESTRA segues into a tango. PAUL stands.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          We're guys.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Every moment in life is a learning experience or
          what good is it? Right? Right?

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Well, yes.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Then let this bunch of jerks see class.

<b>                         ORSO'S RESTAURANT
</b>          FLAN nods for their dinner guests, ANDREW and JEANNIE.

                         
          A little bit of titillation.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          They danced. That's right! High
          over New York City.

<b>          THE RAINBOW ROOM
</b>          RICK and PAUL go to the dance floor and begin to dance,
          PAUL leading. RICK loving it.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK tries to laugh it up into a wild experience.
          ELIZABETH sits impassively.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I swear nothing like this ever
          happened in Utah.

<b>          THE RAINBOW ROOM
</b>          At first PEOPLE don't notice RICK and PAUL dancing. Then
          PEOPLE do notice.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         110
</b>
<b>           RICK (VO)
</b>          And, I'll tell you, nothing like that must have
          ever happened at the Rainbow Room because they
          asked us to leave. It was so funny.
          PAUL spins RICK round and round and the CAMERA spins with

<b>          THEM.
</b>
<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>
<b>                         RICK
</b>          You'll love the place. It's up so high.

<b>          THE RAINBOW ROOM
</b>          THE CAMERA spins around the panoramic view sixty-five floors
          and then spins out of the windows down onto

<b>          EXT THE ICE RINK ROCKEFELLER CENTER NIGHT
</b>          THE CAMERA focusses in on a COUPLE spinning in the middle of
          the ice. RICK and PAUL, hysterical with laughter, cut
          through Rockefeller Center and then come to Fifth Avenue
          where A HANSOM CARRIAGE waits. THE DRIVER tips his hat to
          these customers. PAUL jumps into

<b>          THE HANSOM CARRIAGE.
</b>
<b>                         RICK
</b>          We don't have any money -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Amigo! When will you learn! Money is one
          commodity you can always get.
          THE HANSOM CARRIAGE proceeds up to Central Park.
          RICK leans forward looking out the isinglass windows.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I'm going to have to explain to Elizabeth about
          the money and calm her. She gets so nervous

<b>                         ABOUT-
</b>          (PAUL draws a circle on RICK's back.)
          Hey, stop that. Paul. Come on.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I was wondering if I could fuck you.
          RICK laughs. Then sees PAUL is serious.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          I don't do things like that.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         111
</b>
                         

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          That's what makes it so nice. You don't.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK reaches over and turns off the light by the bedside.
          Downstairs we hear the throb beginning of the roller disco.
          ELIZABETH looks at him coldly.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          - and he did and it was fantastic.

<b>          THE HANSOM CARRIAGE
</b>          Time has passed.
          PAUL kisses an amazed, mussed RICK on the mouth and jumps
          out of the CARRIAGE and goes off into the dark.

<b>          EXT CENTRAL PARK
</b>          THE DRIVER stands up seeing PAUL run out. RICK runs out of
          the CARRIAGE after PAUL. THE DRIVER chases them.

<b>                         CU
</b>          RICK lost in the nighttime park.
          RICK looks up and sees the STATUE OF THE HUSKY.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>          RICK paces back and forth.

<b>                         RICK
</b>          Didn't we come here for experience? Right? We
          can use this. Right?
          ELIZABETH lies on her stomach on the bed away from him.

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>          ELIZABETH rolls a pencil back and forth on the desk.
          FLAN and OUISA watch sympathetically.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          He rambled on for hours. His own father
          warned me Rick was a fool and I looked
          at Rick and knew his father was right.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         112
</b>
<b>           RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>           RICK paces back and forth in a rage, pulling at his tux.

<b>           RICK - -
</b>           My father is not right! I can't have him be
           right. I wanted experience. We came here for
          experience. What's so wrong with that? Right?
          ELIZABETH is repelled by him.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Don't touch me!

<b>                         THE PRECINCT
</b>          ELIZABETH rubs her hands over her face as if trying to get
          the memory away.
          OUISA looks at FLAN and THE DETECTIVE.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          He went on for a long time trying to get me
          just to look at him. I couldn't even do that.

<b>          RICK AND ELIZABETH'S TENEMENT
</b>
                         

<b>                         RICK
</b>          But I didn't come here to do this or lose that
          or be this or do this to you. Not to you. Look
          at me? Elizabeth! What did I let him do to me?

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          Nobody did this but you.

<b>          BACK IN ORSO'S RESTAURANT
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Now the amazing part is

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          talk about six degrees

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We were in the roller disco that night!
          ANDREW and JEANNIE's jaws drop.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         113
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes! There we were roller skating for heart
          disease or cancer -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It was illiteracy.

<b>          INT ROLLER DISCO NIGHT
</b>          MIDDLE AGED PEOPLE all dolled up roll skate around and
          around trying to keep their balance to 40s swing music.
          Among the SKATERS we spot FLAN and OUISA at this ROLLER
          DISCO BENEFIT skating round and round breathlessly going
          faster and faster, laughing and laughing.
          Lights flash and whirl.

<b>                         ORSO'S RESTAURANT
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I hadn't skated in I hate to tell you how many

<b>                         YEARS -
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We came outside giddy and reeling

<b>                         0
</b>
<b>          EXT ROLLER DISCO NIGHT
</b>          Lights reflect in a puddle on the wet street. THE CAMERA
          pulls back to reveal it is a puddle of blood, seeping out of
          a crumpled body.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          The body must have just landed there in a clump

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          Because the blood seeping out had not yet
          reached the gutter...

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          The blood just oozing out slowly
          towards the curb.
          FLAN and OUISA and another COUPLE, SANDY and CONNIE from
          the wedding, stop at the sight. They stare at the body
          that has slammed into the pavement. The body of RICK.

<b>                         FLAN (VC)
</b>          The boy had jumped from above.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          We just missed it by minutes.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         114
</b>
<b>                         ORSO'S RESTAURANT
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>           Perhaps we could have saved him - called an
          ambulance - but it was too late -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He could've landed on us!
          ANDREW and JEANNIE are appalled. No!
          OUISA frowns.

<b>                         JEANNIE
</b>          It's so funny you say that. Yesterday we walked
          through the park by Gracie Mansion

<b>                         ANDREW
</b>          and it was cold and we saw police putting a
          jacket on a man sitting on a bench.

<b>                         JEANNIE
</b>          Only we got closer and it wasn't a jacket.

<b>                         ANDREW
</b>          It was a body bag. A homeless person
           had frozen during the night.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Was it that cold?

<b>                         ANDREW
</b>          Sometimes there are periods where you see death
          everywhere.
          FLAN waves to someone over there.
          THE WAITRESS brings coffees.
          OUISA looks straight ahead.

<b>          THE PRECINCT DAY
</b>          OUISA and FLAN sit with the DETECTIVE and ELIZABETH.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          When this young lady told me the black kid was
          your son, it all seemed to come into place.
          What I'm saying is she'll press charges.

<b>                         ELIZABETH
</b>          I want Paul dead. He took all our money. He
          took my life. Rick's dead! You bet your life
          I'll press charges.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         115
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We haven't seen him since that night.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Find him. We might have a case. a

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          How do we find him?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We'll trap him. I'll release it to the papers.
          I can call the New York Times. I have friends.
          They'll publish the story. Someone will see
          it. And turn him in. We'll find Paul.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Six degrees. Six degrees.
          OUISA looks at FLAN. FLAN is so secure.

<b>          INT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE KITTREDGE'S APARTMENT DAY
</b>          FLAN, in his bathrobe, opens the door and picks up the
          morning paper.
          t HE scans through the paper, then lets out a whoop and runs
          through the apartment to

<b>                         INSERT
</b>          NEW YORK TIMES article entitled:
          "Who Says New Yorkers Don't Have a Heart"

<b>                         THE KITCHEN
</b>          OUISA is making a breakfast drink at the blender.
          FLAN (reading from the Times)
          "Smart sophisticated tough New Yorkers such as
          J. Flanders Kittredge who opened their homes and
          pocket books to a young man learned yesterday
          they had been boondoggled by a confidence man
          now wanted by police -
          FLAN pounds the kitchen counter in glee.
          OUISA looks at him, askance.

<b>          EXT LINCOLN CENTER THE STATE THEATRE NIGHT
</b>          The fountain shoots up. The camera drifts up the face of
          the State Theatre. It's intermission. FLAN and OUISA are
          out on the terrace in,.mid story talking to A COUPLE (ALEX
          and LILY) who are there with a YOUNG GIRL who is obviously
          an aspiring ballerina.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         116
</b>
                         

<b>                         LILY
</b>          I didn't see that piece.

<b>                         ALEX
</b>          We were in Aspen.
          THE CHIME signals the intermission's end.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I'll send you the clipping.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You could wall paper the Empire State Building
          with all the copies he made.

<b>                         ALEX
</b>          We'll meet right here at the next intermission-
          THEY return inside.

<b>          THE YOUNG BALLERINA
</b>          Did you ever hear from Sidney Poitier?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>           No.

<b>                         ALEX
</b>          Did you hear from the boy?

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No.

<b>          EXT CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE DAY
</b>          OUISA and FLAN get out of a taxi in front of this gothic
          cathedral. THEY see KITTY and FLAN running down the street
          to the same destination.

<b>          INT CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
</b>          OUISA and FLAN walk down the aisle with KITTY and LARKIN.

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Come for dinner with us after

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'd love to but can't!

<b>                         FLAW
</b>          So sorry! Have to work.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         117
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Black-tie auction - Sotheby's -
          FLAN leans in close to KITTY. Top secret.

<b>                         A
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We are bidding tonight on an Henri Matisse.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          The nudes? The bathers? The dancers?
          THEY cut down a side aisle.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It's a second level Matisse -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          but a Matisse -

<b>                         KITTY
</b>          Who are you buying it for? The Japanese?
          Germans?
          AN ORGAN suddenly begins playing a triumphant Bach cantata.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Not allowed to tell.
          OUISA turns to look up at the choir loft.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Then it's the Germans.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          They'll go as high as -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Don't tell all the family secrets -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Well over 25 million.

<b>                         LARKIN
</b>          Out of which you will keep -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Not that much in this new market.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         118
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Ugh. Bring back the 80s.
          I'll have to give most of it away, but the good
          part is it gives me a credibility in this new
          market. It's all out of whack. Everything's
          up. Everything's down. I mean, a David Fucking
          Hockney print sold for a hundred bucks fifteen
          years ago went for Thirty four thousand dollars!
          A print! A flower. You know Geoffrey. our
          South African -
          OUISA shushes FLAN.
          THEY have arrived at

<b>          INT THE BAPTISTRY OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
</b>          OUISA and FLAN are part of the GROUP in this stone Gothic
          chamber witnessing the baptism of the infant child of two
          FRIENDS of theirs. KITTY and LARKIN are the godparents.
          EVERYBODY applauds as THE PRIEST shakes the water on the
          baby's head.

<b>          CU A SHOWER HEAD
</b>          spewing a jet of water

<b>           INT KITTRIDGE'S MASTER BEDROOM/BATHROOM EARLY EVENING
</b>          FLAN is in the shower singing merrily.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          The Matisse will be mine
          - for a few hours
          Then off to Tokyo
          Off to Saudi
          OUISA is on the speaker phone with TESS while she is
          dressing for the auction.

<b>                         TESS (VO)
</b>          What do you have on?

<b>                          OUISA
</b>           I'm totally dolled up. The black. Have you seen
          it? I have to tell you the sign I saw today.
          Cruelty-free cosmetics. A store was selling
          cruelty-free cosmetics.

<b>          INT HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>          TESS is curled up on her bed enjoying this chat.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         119
</b>
<b>                         TESS
</b>          Mother, that is such a beautiful thing. Do you
          realize the agony cosmetic companies put rabbits
          through to test eye shadow?

<b>                         A
</b>
<b>                         MASTER BEDROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Dearest, I know that. I'm only talking about
          the phrase. Cruelty-free cosmetics should take
          away all evidence of time and cellulite and--

<b>          HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         TESS
</b>          Mother, I'm getting married.

<b>                         MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          OUISA picks up the receiver on the cordless phone. This is
          too important for 'a speaker phone.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I thought you were going to Afghanistan.

<b>                         TESS (VO)
</b>          I am going to get married and then go to
          Afghanistan.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          One country at a time. You are not
          getting married.

<b>          HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         TESS
</b>          Immediately so deeply negative--

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          I know everyone you know and you are not
          marrying any of them.

<b>                         TESS
</b>          The arrogance that you would assume you know
          everyone I know. The way you say it: I know
          everyone you know -

<b>                         MASTER BEDROOM
</b>          In the Background, FLAN shaves at the bathroom mirror.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         120
</b>
<b>                          OUISA
</b>           Unless you met them in the last two days - you
          can't hold a secret.
          (The other line rings)
          Wait- I'm putting you on hold

<b>                         TESS (VO)
</b>          No one ever calls on that number.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Wait. Hold on.

<b>                         TESS (VO)
</b>          Mother!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Hello?

<b>          EXT UNIDENTIFIED PHONE BOOTH DUSK
</b>          Lights flash on the glass of this UNSPECIFIED LOCATION.
          PAUL, frightened, is on a street phone AND dressed as HE was
          when TRENT first met him, ragged, scared.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Hello?

<b>          BACK IN THE MASTER BEDROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul?
          We will cut back and forth between these two locations for
          the remainder of this scene. At times, the two will share
          the screen.
          During this scene OUISA walks throughout THE APARTMENT
          speaking on the cordless phone.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I saw the story in the paper. I didn't know the
          boy killed himself. He gave me the money. I
          didn't steal any -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Let me put you on hold. I'm
          talking to my child.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          If you put me on hold, I'll be gone and you'll
          never hear from me again.
          OUISA pauses.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         121
</b>
                         

<b>          HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                          TESS
</b>          Mother! I -

<b>                         A
</b>          TESS is cut off.

<b>          BACK IN THE KITTREDGE'S HALL
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You have to turn yourself in. The boy comaitted
          suicide. You stole the money. The girl is
          pressing charges. They're going to get you.
          Why not turn yourself in and you can get of f
          easier. You can strike a bargain. Learn when
          you're trapped. You're so brilliant. You have
          such promise. You need help.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Would you help me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          What would you want me to do?

<b>                          PAUL
</b>          Stay with you.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          That's impossible-.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Why?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          My husband feels you betrayed him.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Do you?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You were lunatic! And picking that drek off the
          street. Are you suicidal? Do you have AIDS?
          Are you infected?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I do not have it. It's a miracle. But I don't.
          Do you feel I betrayed you? If you do, I'll
          hang up and never bother you again -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Where have you been?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         122
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Travelling.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You're not in trouble? I mean, more trouble?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No, I only visited you. I didn't like the first
          people so much. They went out and just left me
          alone. I didn't like the doctor. He was too
          eager to please. And he left me alone. But you.
          You and your husband. We all stayed together.

<b>                         CUISA
</b>          What did you want from us?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Everlasting friendship.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Nobody has that.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You do.

<b>                          OUISA
</b>          What do you think we are?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You're going to tell me secrets? You're not
          what you appear to be? You have no secrets.
          Trent Conway told me what your kids have told
          him over the years.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          What have the kids told him about us?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I don't tell that. I save that for blackmail.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Then perhaps I'd better hang up.

<b>                         PAUL (PANIC)
</b>          No! I went to a museum! I liked
          Toulouse-Lautrec!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          As well you should.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I read the Andy Warhol Diaries.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         123
</b>
                         

<b>                         DUISA
</b>          Ahh, you've become an aesthete.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Are you laughing at me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No. I read them too.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I read The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
          about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.

<b>                         DUISA
</b>          You're ahead of me there.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Have you seen the Sistine Chapel?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Oh yes. Even gone to the top of it in a rickety
          elevator to watch the men clean it.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           You've been to the top of the Sistine Chapel?
          PAUL leans into the phone, amazed, as the screen floods with
          the brightly colored ceiling of the

<b>          INT SISTINE CHAPEL
</b>          OUISA and FLAN stand on the top of a rickety platform.
          THE WORIOCkN slaps it.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          Absolutely. Stood right under the hand of God
          touching the hand of man.

<b>                         THE WORKMAN
</b>          Hit it. Hit it. It's only a fresco.
          OUISA looks up at the hand of God. SHE laughs and slaps
          the hand of God.
          PAUL smiles in wonderment as the SCREEN fills with color.
          But then WE're out of his imagination and see the squalid
          surroundings of his phone booth.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You slapped God's hand!

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         124
</b>
<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I slapped God's clean hand.
          And you know what they clean it with? All this
          technology? Q-tips and water.
          PAUL is thrilled by this bit of knowledge.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Clean away the years of grime and soot and paint
          ovens. Q-tips and water changing the history of
          Western art. Vivid colors.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Take me to see it?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Take you to see it? Paul, they think you might
          have murdered someone! You stole money!
          0 FLAN appears, needing help with his studs.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Honey, could you give me a hand with--
          OUISA (mouths to Flan)
          It's Paul.
          FLAN goes to the other phone.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I'll call that detective.
          The other phone line rings. FLAN picks it up.

<b>          INT HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         TESS
</b>          Dad! We were cut off. I'm getting marr -

<b>                         FLAN (VO)
</b>          Darling, could you call back -

<b>                         TESS
</b>          I'm getting married and going to Afghanistan -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         125
</b>
<b>          BACK IN THE KITTRIDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We cannot talk about this now -

<b>          HARVARD DORM ROOM
</b>
<b>                         TESS
</b>          I'm going to ruin my life and get married and
          throw away everything you want me to be because
          it's the only way to hurt you!
          TESS hangs up.
          ANOTHER PHONE is picked up. It is at

<b>          THE PRECINCT.
</b>          THE DETECTIVE doesn't even get to say "Hello".
          FLAN (on the phone)
          I've got that kid on the line.

<b>                         DETECTIVE
</b>          Find out where he is.

                         

<b>          KITTREDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>          FLAN (mouths to Ouisa)
          Find out where he is

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Who's there?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Look, why don't you cone here. Where are you?
          PAUL, pressed in the battered phone booth, doesn't want to
          be in this cold street with its brightly lit squalor. HE
          wants to be at OUISA's, but his fear wins out.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I come there and you'll have the cops waiting.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You have to trust us.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Why?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Because - we like you.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         126
</b>           FLAN (mouths)
          Where is he?
          PAUL, straining to hear, gets very paranoid.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Who's there?

<b>                         IT'S -
</b>          I'm not here.
          It's Flan.
          FLAN groans impatiently.
          PAUL brightens.
          THE OPERATOR makes noises.
          PAUL drops a coin in the box.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Are you in tonight? I could come and make a
          feast for you.

                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We're going out now. But you could be here when
          we come back.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Are you nuts! Tell a crook we're going out. The
          house is empty.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Where are you going?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          To Sotheby's.
          FLAN grabs the phone.

<b>                         FLAN (SARCASTIC)
</b>          The key's under the mat!
          PAUL is as cheery as HE can be.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Hi! Can I come to Sotheby's?
          FLAN thrusts the phone back to OUISA.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         127
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>
                         
          Hi.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I said hi to Flan.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          That's wonderful! I'll come!

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You can't.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Why? I was helpful last time -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>           Thank him - he was very help -
          OUISA hands FLAN the phone.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Paul? You were helpful getting me that money
          for the Cezanne. You impressed Geoffrey -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Really! I was thinking maybe that's what I
          should do is what you do - in art but making
          money out of art and meeting people and not
          working in an office -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          You only see the glam side of it. There's a
          whole grotty side that -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I could learn the grotty -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          You have to have art history. You have to have
          language. You have to have economics -

<b>                         -- PAUL
</b>          I'm fast. I could do it. Do your kids want to

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         128
</b>
<b>                         FLAN
</b>          No, it's not really a profession you hand down
           from generation to gen - what the hell at I
           talking career counselling to you! You
           embarrassed me in my building! You stole money.
           There is a warrant out for your arrest.'
           OUISA (wrests the phone away)
          Don't hang up! Paul? Are you there? Paul!
           (TO FLAN) You made him hang up -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm here.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You are! Who are you? What's your real name?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          If you let me stay with you, I'll tell you.
          That night was the happiest night I ever had.
          OUISA (to Flan)
          It was the happiest night he ever had.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>
                         
          Oh please. I am not a bullshitter but never
          bullshit a bullshitter.
          FLAN goes.
          SHE paces into the KITCHEN, looking at the implements PAUL
          had used that night, the funny candelabra.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Why?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You let me use all the parts of
          myself that night -
          OUISA opens the door into the DINING ROOM.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It was magical. That Salinger stuff -
          SHE turns on the chandelier in the DINING ROOM.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Graduation speech at Groton two years ago.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Your cooking -

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         129
</b>
<b>                          PAUL
</b>           Other people's recipes. Did you see Donald
          Harthleme's obituary? He said Collage was the
          art form of the 20th century.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Everything is somebody else's-

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Not your children. Not your life.
          SHE walks around the empty dining room table.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes. You got me there. That is mine.
          It is no one else's.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You don't sound happy.
          SHE walks back into the LIVING ROOM.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           There's so much you don't know. You are so.
           smart and so stupid -

                         
           PAUL slams the side of the phone booth.

<b>                          PAUL (FURIOUS)
</b>           Never say I'm stupid -

<b>                          OUISA
</b>           Have some flexibility! You're stupid not to
           recognize what you could be.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          What could I be?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          So much.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          With you behind me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Perhaps. You liked that night?
          I've thought since that you spent
          all your time laughing at us.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          No.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         130
</b>          SHE walks down the HALL.

<b>                         DUISA
</b>          That you had brought that awful hustling thing
          back to show us your contempt -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I was so happy. I wanted to add sex to it.
          Don't you do that?
          OUISA looks into the MASTER BEDROOM and goes in.

<b>                         DUISA (PAUSE)
</b>          No.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll tell you my name.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Please?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's Paul Poitier-Kittredge.
          It's a hyphenated name.
          SHE sits on her bed.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul? You need help. Go to the police. Turn
          yourself in. You'll be over it all the sooner.
          You can start.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Start what?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Your life.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Will you help me?
          OUISA stands up.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I will help you. But you have to go to the
          police and go to jail and -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Will you send me books and polaroids of you and
          cassettes? And letters?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         131
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes.
          OUISA walks rapidly down the HALL.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Will you visit me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I will visit you.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          And when you do, you'll wear your
          best clothes and knock em dead?
          SHE's in the LIVING ROOM.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I'll knock em dead. But you've got to be careful
          in prison. You have to use condoms.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I won't have sex in prison. I only
          have sex when I'm happy.

<b>                          OUISA
</b>          Go to the police.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Will you take me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I'll give you the name of-the detective to see-

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll be treated with care if you
          take me to the police. If they don't
          know you're special, they kill you.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I don't think they kill you.
          PAUL puts the phone receiver over his head in a sudden
          gesture of fear. Then HE returns the receiver to his ear.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black.

<b>          PAUSE.
</b>
                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         132
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>           I will deliver you to them with
          kindness and affection.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          And I'll plead guilty and go to
          prison and serve a few months.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          A few months tops.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           Then I'll come out and work for
          you and learn -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll work that out.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I want to know now.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes. You'll work for us.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Learn all the trade. Not just the grotty part.

                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Top to bottom.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          And live with you.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          No.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Your kids are away.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You should have your own place.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You'll help me find a place?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll help you find a place.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I have no furniture.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         133
</b>
<b>                          OUISA
</b>          We'll help you out.
          PAUL beams as HE becomes the PAUL from that night. His
          imagination is off and running. The lights, from wherever
          HE is, shine on his face and reflect on the broken glass of
          the booth.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I made a list of things I liked in the museum.
          Philadelphia Chippendale.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>           Believe it or not, we have two Philadelphia
          Chippendale chairs -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'd rather have one nice piece than
          a room full of junk.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Quality. Always. You'll have all that.
          Philadelphia Chippendale.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>           All I have to do is go to the police.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Make it all history. Put it behind you.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Tonight.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          It can't be tonight. I will take you tomorrow.
          We have an auction tonight at Sotheby's -

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Bring me?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I can't. It's black tie.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I have black tie from a time I
          went to the Rainbow Room. Have
          you ever been to the Rainbow Room?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Yes.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         134
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          What time do you have to be there?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Eight o'clock.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          It's five thirty now. You could come
          get me now and take me to the police
          tonight and then go to Sotheby's--

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We're going to drinks before at the Pierre.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Japanese?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Germans.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          You're just like my father.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Which father?

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Sidney!

<b>          PAUSE.
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul. He's not your father. And
          Flanders. is not your father.
          FLAN comes in to the living room, dressed.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Oh fuck. We have drinks with the Japanese at
          six- fifteen - Get off that fucking phone. Is
          it that kid? Get him out of our life! Get off
          that phone or I'll rip it out of the wall!
          OUISA (looks at FLAN)
          Paul, I made a mistake. It is not the Germans.
          We will come right now and get you. Where are
          you? Tell me? I'll take you to the police. They
          will treat you with dignity.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         135
</b>
<b>          EXT PHONEBOOTH BY THE MARQUEE OF THE WAVERLY THEATER,
</b>
<b>                         GREENWICH VILLAGE
</b>
<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'm in the lobby of the Waverly movie theater on
          Sixth Avenue and Third Street.

<b>          KITTRIDGE'S LIVING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll be there in half an hour.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          I'll give you fifteen minutes grace time.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll be there. Paul. We love you.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          Ouisa., I love you. Ouisa Kittredge. Hey?
          Bring a pink shirt.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We'll have a wonderful life.
           SHE hangs up and looks at FLAN.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We can skip the shmoozing. Pick
          the boy up, take him to the police
          and be at Sotheby's before eight.

<b>          INT A FORMAL DINING ROOM
</b>          Of all the PARTIES we've been to, this is the most luxurious
          of all, given by one of New York's legendary hostess's, a
          glamorous woman who must be in her late 80s, MRS. BANNISTER.
          OUISA and FLAN are here.
          This dinner is really a state occasion in honor of that
          United Nations type at MRS. BANNISTER'S right.
          But FLAN and OUISA have captured the table.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          t The story ended there...

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          It did not!
          Clearly OUISA is as disturbed by the telling of the events
          as FLAN is energized.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         136
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>           There are so many other people here tonight. We
          didn't mean to take up so much
          MRS. BANNISTER slams her napkin down.

<b>          MRS. BANNISTER
</b>          No! It's my supper and I command you to sing!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We called our new best friend, the detective.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We told them Paul was at the Waverly theater.
          FLAN (to his dinner partner)
          Sixth Avenue and Third Street. The lobby.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          But we had promised Paul that we would
          bring him to the police. We told the police he
          was special.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Well, Ouisa did.

<b>                          OUISA
</b>          The detective said he'd honor our promise.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          We skipped the cocktails

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          But we didn't count on

<b>          EXT TRAFFIC ON FIFTH AVENUE
</b>          OUISA and FLAN in dinner clothes are stuck in a traffic jam.

<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          Traffic traffic traffic
          FLAN gets out of the car and looks ahead in this din of
          honking horns.

<b>          EXT WAVERLY MOVIE THEATER, GREENWICH VILLAGE NIGHT
</b>          FLAN and OUISA speed up Sixth Avenue and double park in
          front of the Waverly Movie Theater.
          Two Cop cars are there. Red lights spinning.
          PEOPLE gape on the street.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         137
</b>          THEY see PAUL being dragged into one of the two Cop cars,
          t kicking and screaming.
          THE COPS throw PAUL into the back seat.
          FLAN tries to talk to one of the POLICE while OUISA runs up
          to the Cop car window.
          PAUL, being handcuffed, looks at OUISA. HE smiles as if
          HE's bumped into DUISA at a cocktail party.

<b>                         PAUL
</b>          The Kandinsky is painted on both sides.
          DUISA is startled. THE COP slams the car door on PAUL.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Paul? Officer? Let me go with you -
          I promised I'd take him!

<b>                         OFFICER
</b>          Lady. Out of the way --
          FLAN takes OUISA's-arm.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We have to do soaething!

<b>                         FLAN
</b>
                         
          Let's just get the hell out of here.
          THE COP CAR pulls away, sirens blaring.
          PAUL turns and looks at OUISA. Betrayal.

<b>          BACK IN THE FORMAL DINING ROOM
</b>
<b>          MRS. BANNISTER
</b>          There's nothing more you can do -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What could we do? We tried.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          went to the precinct.

<b>          INT THE PRECINCT DAY
</b>          DUISA hands the detective's card to the DESK CLERK.

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          He's transferred.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Since yesterday? He's been handling this

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         138
</b>
<b>                         CLERK
</b>           He's transferred -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          This is about an arrest made yesterday at the
          Waverly Movie theater -
          THE CLERK checks the records.

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          This precinct didn't do any business at the
          Waverly Theater.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          I didn't imagine it -

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          I'm not saying you did.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Could you find out which precinct -
          THE CLERK looks through the book.

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          The name?

                         

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Poitier. He's a young black man. Or maybe
          Kittredge. I don't know the exact name -

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          Are you family?

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Not exactly. But the detective
          promised me yesterday that I could go with the
          young man when he was arraigned to let them know
          he was special.

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          We have no record of it. Some other precinct
          must have made the arrest. It sounds like your
          special friend was wanted for something else.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Like what?

<b>                         CLERK
</b>          Lady, how can I help you? You don't even know
          your friend's name.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         139
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>           We can find anybody - Six degrees
          THE CLERK closes the book.

<b>          BACK IN THE FORMAL DINING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We weren't family. We didn't know Paul's name.

<b>          EXT HOGAN PLACE THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE DAY
</b>
<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          I went to the District Attorney's office.
          we weren't family. We didn't know Paul's name.

<b>          EXT THE CRIMINAL COURTS BUILDING
</b>
<b>                         OUISA (VO)
</b>          I called the Criminal Courts.
          I wasn't family. I didn't know Paul's name.

<b>          THE FORMAL DINING ROOM
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You see, I read today that a young man
          committed suicide in Riker's Island.
          Tied a shirt around his neck and hanged
          himself. Was it the pink shirt? This
          burst of color? The pink shirt. Was it Paul?
          We never found out who he was.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          I'm sure it's not him.

<b>          MRS. BANNISTER
</b>          Yes. I agree. Isn't it amazing.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          He'll be back. We haven't heard the last of
          him. The imagination. He'll find a way. Could
          we talk about something else? Our guest of
          honor tonight- it's such a pleasure to meet you-
          But.THE GUEST OF HONOR FROM THE UN leans forward.

<b>          THE GUEST OF HONOR
</b>          Why does it mean so much to you?

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         140
</b>
<b>                         OUISA
</b>           He wanted to be us. Everything we are in the
          world, this paltry thing--our life--he wanted
          it. He stabbed himself to get into our lives.
          He envied us. We're not enough to be envied.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Like the papers said. We have hearts.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Having a heart is not the point. We were hardly
          taken in. We believed him -- for a few hours.
          He did more for us in a few hours than our
          children ever did. He wanted to be your
          child. Don't let that go. He sat out in that
          park and said that man is my father. He's in
          trouble and we don't know how to help him.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Help him? He could've killed me. And you.
          THE GUESTS agree.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          You were attracted to him -

                         
          FLAN throws down his napkin in mock outrage. Almogj mock
          outrage.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Cut me out of that pathology! You are
          on your own -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Attracted by youth and his talent and the
          embarrassing prospect of being in the movie
          version of Cats. Did you put that in your Times
          piece? And we turn him into anecdote to dine out
          on. Like this. As we are right now. But it was
          an experience. I will not turn him into an
          anecdote. How do we fit what happened to us
          into life without turning it into an anecdote
          with no teeth and a punch line we'll mouth over
          and over for years to come. "Tell the story
          about the imposter who came into our lives---"
          "That reminds me of the time this boy--". And
          we become these human juke boxes spilling out
          these anecdotes. But it was an experience. How
          do we keep the experience?
          OUISA looks around the dinner table.
          THE GUESTS have decided to start on their dinners.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         141
</b>          FLAN (to his Dinner Partner)

                         
          That's why I love paintings. Cezanne. The
          problems he brought up are the problems painters
          are still dealing with. Color. Structure.
          Those are problems.
          OUISA (to herself)
          There is color in my life, but I'm not
          aware of any structure.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What are you saying, darling?
          OUISA looks at FLAN clinically. FLAN frowns and turns back
          to his dinner partner brightly.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Cezanne would leave blank spaces in his
          canvasses if he couldn't account for the brush
          stroke, give a reason for the color.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          Then I am a collage of unaccounted-for brush
          strokes. I an all random.
           OUISA stands up from the dinner table.
          Her chair scrapes. There is an embarrassed rush.
          MRS. BANNISTER (an order)
          Sit down.
          OUISA leaves the dinner table.

<b>          THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE FORMAL DINNER PARTY
</b>          OUISA pushes the elevator button.
          FLAN comes into the hall.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          What kind of behavior is -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          God, Flan, how much of your life
          can you account for?
          THE ELEVATOR DOOR opens.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Do you realize how important this woman is!
          SHE steps in the elevator. FLAN follows.

                         

                         

                         

                         

<b>                         142
</b>          THEY descend in silence, not wanting a scene in front of the
          THE OPERATOR. THE ELEVATOR DOOR opens into the lobby.

<b>          INT PARK AVENUE LOBBY NIGHT
</b>          FLAN follows OUISA through the lobby.

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          Are you drunk? What are you unhappy about? The
          Cezanne sale vent through. The Matisse went
          through. We are rich. Geoffrey's rich. Next
          month there's a Bonnard and after that -

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          These are the times I would take a knife and dig
          out your heart. Answer me? How much of your -

<b>                         FLAN
</b>          - life can I account for! All! I am a gambler!
          OUISA smiles at the simplicity of her realization.

<b>                         OUISA
</b>          We're a terrible match.
          OUISA steps out onto

<b>          EXT PARK AVENUE NIGHT
</b>          FLAN (following OUISA)
          She is a very important woman. I am hoping to
          do business! Did you see the paintings on her
          walls! She might want to sell! She
          FLAN glares at HER and turns back into the lobby and returns
          to the party.
          OUSIA moves to follow FLAN, then walks up PARK AVENUE, lost,
          agitated, unsure.
          OUISA walks on, remembering

<b>          THE SISTINE CHAPEL.
</b>          OUISA's hand completes the action.
          OUISA slaps the frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
          OUISA slaps the Hand of God!

<b>                         PARK AVENUE
</b>          OUISA gasps when SHE looks in a SHOP WINDOW



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	<td><h1>Six Degrees of Separation</h1><br><br>
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What was the profession of Mr. Kittredge?
What was the profession of Mr. Kittredge ?
Art dealer
Art dealer
He was an art dealer.
He was an art dealer .