１、２、３、４、５、６、７、８、９
MICHAEL
She's too genuine.
JULIANNE
Hate that.
MICHAEL
How can you trust someone you
can never mistrust?
JULIANNE
What's next?
Keep sipping. Never look at each other.
MICHAEL
No matter how many times I
leave the toilet seat up, she
forgets and puts it down.
JULIANNE
Endearingly absent-minded.
MICHAEL
My very point. Here's another one...
Shakes his head. This one really gets him.
MICHAEL
Every day. She makes the bed.
JULIANNE
Quite the little eccentric.
MICHAEL
At first, I thought it was a
gag, but she's always done it!
This is not the ammunition Julianne was hoping for.
JULIANNE
Is there a coup de grace in
here, somewh...
MICHAEL
She admires. Tommy Lasorda.
JULIANNE
Waiter! Check, please!
MICHAEL
She finds him "personable."
JULIANNE
Can that kind of defect be
passed on genetically?
She looks over now. And Michael is looking back. Smiling the most
wonderful smile. Her reaction shows that she thinks it's for her,
until...
MICHAEL
Then again. She has a few good
traits.
Hating herself for asking, but seeing no way out...
JULIANNE
Gimme like, eight and nine off
the top ten list...
MICHAEL
First girl I ever knew. Who
lets me give her a bath.
The look in his eyes. She can hardly bear it.
MICHAEL
And when I hug her, even in
public. I don't have to let go
right away. She lets me hold
her as long as I want.
He seems so deeply in love.
MICHAEL
Nice kid, don't you think?
A beat. A slow nod. A quiet...
JULIANNE
Looks like, from here.
INT. SOUTH SIDE CLUB - NIGHT
A slender black woman sings a SOARING Gospel number, backed by
three ladies who could each solo in any church choir. It is
mesmerizing, stirring, transcendent. The unseen audience CLAPPING
FIERCELY in rhythm, SHOUTING support. SLOW PAN now...
... every face is black. We aren't in church at all, but a
venerable blue club. One of those places you'd swear everybody's
played, from Robert Johnson to Bessie Smith and back again. As
the song ends, there is APPLAUSE, some RAPPING on tables with their
knuckles or their drunks. We keep PANNING to a far corner. Three
faces.
Julianne leans across her beer to Kimmy...
JULIANNE
How'd you find this pl...
Kim shaking her head. Looks admiringly to Michael...
KIMMY
Lived here my whole life,
never heard of it. Until
our first date.
She reaches slender fingers. Traces one back along his hair.
KIMMY
He finds all these spots,
everywhere he goes, it's a
mystical gift.
MICHAEL (shy)
Jesus, one d-back from the Bears
knows a place...
KIMMY
It's not just clubs. This guy
always knows the best everything.
The best guitar store, the best
beef ribs, the best Horowitz record,
was he always like the...
JULIANNE
... always. The best dim sum, the
best camping stuff...
KIMMY
Stop, we're embarrassing h...
JULIANNE
... best valley in New Zealand,
best... women's shoes...
MICHAEL
I tried those on. When you
weren't looking.
Now he's grinning at Julianne. And she likes that a lot.
JULIANNE
Where was that, Florence, huh?
MICHAEL Firenze.
Together in the memory. As Kimmy watches.
JULIANNE
The Vespa? Me hanging on behind
in the rain all night?
MICHAEL
Till the gas ran out.
And, the first sniff of left-out...
KIMMY
I love Florence.
Julianne's eyes flicker. Could this be a teensy opening? Keeps
her eyes, her easy smile, and her killer instincts trained on
Michael.
JULIANNE
Take her there.
He nods, okay.
JULIANNE
I mean, now. She's perky,
she deserves a honeymoon.
He draws a breath...
JULIANNE
I heard. If San Antone sweeps
Sacramento. What is this shit?
You gotta get off the road by
September anyway, when does Fall
Quarter start?
And the happy couple look at each other. They are awkward.
Julianne's heart soar like eagle.
KIMMY
Uh. I'm not coming back. For
senior year.
Could this be. The Mother Lode?
JULIANNE
Don't architects find a degree,
sort of... an asset?
The couple still staring in each other's eyes.
KIMMY
Well, the school will be here.
Architecture will still be around.
Right now...
MICHAEL
I travel every week. College
ball, motor sports, training
camps...
KIMMY
The most important thing. Is
being together.
And she smiles. Beautifully.
KIMMY
I'm just a baby. I've got all...
the time... in the world.
EXT. CLUB - NIGHT
Michael putting Kim in the back of a cab. As Julianne watches.
MICHAEL
Because I could come...
KIMMY
To the twins' soiree? So they
can paw you and drool...?
JULIANNE (calls out, helpful)
They're gonna drool anyway!
Kim smiles. He kisses her, tenderly, through the open window. She
waves past him at Julianne.
KIMMY (to both)
Enjoy each other.
And drives off. As he watches after, Julianne comes up behind him.
Slips her hand up onto his shoulder muscle. Starts giving a little
massage.
JULIANNE
Should I whistle down a cab?
MICHAEL
Hey, cabs are expensive. I'm
cheap, remember?
Turns his head, to see her. She's still rubbing his shoulder.
JULIANNE
Sometimes. About the dumbest
things.
Share a smile. As always, it covers a lot of years.
MICHAEL
The El's right down the street.
Unless you're afraid of the
neighborhood.
She looks around. It is an issue. But she remembers...
JULIANNE
No. I'm always safe with you.
She means that. He takes her by the hand. They begin walking...
JULIANNE
Pretty amazing girl, you've got.
Make that kind of sacrifice.
MICHAEL
What, leaving school...
JULIANNE
... all of it. She's leaving her
family, her friends, everything she
knows. She's putting her career
on hold, and she seems a pretty
ambitious, driven, kind of pers...
MICHAEL (quietly)
In her way.
JULIANNE
All to follow you in this dumb
job, where you travel 52 weeks
a year to College Station, Texas,
and such. It's not a job for a
grown man, Michael, Peter Pan
never married.
He's let go of her hand now. Looking down at the pavement before
him, fists in his jacket pockets.
JULIANNE (softly)
I don't think she's naturally
the... submissive type. Aren't you
afraid she's gonna choke on this
stand-by-your-man shit after awhi...
MICHAEL (real quiet)
No.
Hit a nerve. This is promising.
JULIANNE
I mean Walter owns the Sox, cable
sports... most girls in her spot would
be angling to get Daddy to offer you
some juicy gig right here in t...
MICHAEL
She would never. Never. Even think
of that. Paydirt. Julianne's Geiger Counter is going berserk.
JULIANNE
I guess you're right. That would
be deceitful... manipulative...
controlling... emascula...
MICHAEL
I got the point.
He looks over at her. No smile on his face. An edge we haven't
seen. She shrugs...
JULIANNE
Still. All's fair in love and
w...
MICHAEL
That would be a girl. I don't
even know.
They've reached the stairs to the El. A rickety train RATTLES
above them. As they start up, she slips her arm around his
waist...
JULIANNE (murmurs)
Forgive me, okay? I was talkin'
crazy.
He slides his arm around her shoulder. Pals. They climb out of
frame.
INT. HOTEL BATHROOM - LATE NIGHT
CLOSE on a shallow pool of water in a bathroom sink. Green powder
pouring in, a hand SWIRLING it around, until...
JULIANNE (O.S.)
It's Albanian, I think. Or Mongolian.
Or Canadian. One of those. I bought
it downstairs...
... it becomes truly disgusting lumpy green mud.
JULIANNE (O.S.)
I figure, what the hell. Can it
make me look worse?
Follow the hand up as it SLATHERS the shit across her face in great
green dripping gobs. She's juggling the wall phone, trying to keep
it mudless, as she assures Digger...
JULIANNE
Dig, of course. Of course, of
course, of course, of course I
have a plan. Certainment!
More green slime. The Julianne we know disappears.
JULIANNE
How? I ask myself, what would
Lucy Ricardo do in this situa...
Desecrates three hotel towels, wiping her hand.
JULIANNE
Well, one worked, once.
THROWS them in the bathtub. Fastidiousness a short suit.
JULIANNE
Ricky wouldn't let her in
the show.
Reaches for her toothbrush, absently. All her attention is on the
conversation and the hideous green face in the mirror.
JULIANNE
I recall it differently, but
we digress.
Without looking, picks up a tube of hotel shampoo...
JULIANNE
So in the version, you're Ethel,
with better fashion instincts.
Squeezes it all over the toothbrush.
JULIANNE
This puts you in charge of Plan B,
the unprincipled and insanely
dangerous back-up plan...
Lifts it toward her mouth, liquid shampoo dripping from the
bristles.
JULIANNE
In case simple lying doesn't work.
At the last second. She stops. We don't know why, because she's
still never looked at the brush.
JULIANNE
Question. What happens if you
brush your teeth with shampoo?
Turns on the tap. Tries to scrub the toothbrush clean, and DROPS
the phone into the green swamp, which SPATTERS all over her front. Euucch. She's stymied, agitated, circling the sink, leaning down
to it...
JULIANNE
HOLD ON. I'M COMING IN FOR YOU!
She sets the toothbrush down in her toiletries kit. Decides to
YANK on the phone's cord, and the receiver SPRINGS out, BOPPING
her in the face. She's so filthy at this point, she just wipes it
clean on her nightshirt. Tells Digger...
JULIANNE
You okay? This is one of those
problem phones.
Lifts the toothbrush and tube of paste from her kit.
JULIANNE
Right. Your role. You know guys
from Sports Illustrated, yes? I
mean, you can walk right in there...
Squeezes on the paste, lifts the brush to her mouth...
JULIANNE
You could get access to letterhead,
for example.
JAMS it in her mouth, brushing as...
JULIANNE (mouthful)
... or even, maybe, their fax.
Stops. The funniest look on her face. Down to the toothpaste
tube...
Which says BEN GAY.
Oh.
INT. TIFFANY'S - MORNING
Julianne and Kimmy cruise the stately display cases. Everywhere,
the Tiffany logo, the silent, watchful staff in morning coats. As
they browse, Julianne takes a blueberry Danish from a paper sack,
and begins to eat.
The staff notices. So does Kim.
JULIANNE
It's an homage thing.
Hmm?
JULIANNE
Awkward girls grow up on Audrey
Hepburn movies. You wouldn't
understand.
Kimmy doesn't. But wipes a blue glob from Julianne's face.
KIMMY
Anyway, I think you're wrong.
Wrong?
KIMMY
What you were saying before.
Before?
KIMMY
About Michael's job.
JULIANNE
Oh, that. I forgot I even said th...
KIMMY
I just think you're wrong, is all.
JULIANNE
Probably am. Forget I brought it
up.
Points to some jade pins. Kimmy wrinkles her nose.
KIMMY
I mean, he loves his job.
JULIANNE
Bad games, bad towns, bad pay, bad
flights, bad hotels, real bad food.
Homeless, rootless, lonely, maybe
your copy gets into one issue out
of four...
Smiles.
JULIANNE
What's not to love?
None of this is lost on Kimmy. She's wondered the same.
KIMMY
But he always says...
JULIANNE
... whatever is manly and
independent.
Kim nods slowly. Way ahead of her.
JULIANNE
Why would he trade that for
running, say, a big piece of
the PR at a powerful, complex,
challenging conglomerate like
your dad's?
Kim stares back. A strange look.
KIMMY
That's just the sort of thing
my father and I discussed.
Julianne just blinks. Amazed.
JULIANNE
I'm not stupid. Say, how
about this?
Pointing to tiny golden scissors in the novelty case. Kim so
absorbed by the main topic, she has to force herself to focus on...
KIMMY
For the twins? What in the
world is th...
JULIANNE
Gold nose hair clippers.
Points to the tiny hand-lettered sign. Indeed. Kimmy shrugs, not
quite it.
KIMMY
So you don't think Michael's
as happy with his job as...
Julianne points to a matched pair of large...
KIMMY
Gold dog collars? They don't
have dogs.
JULIANNE
Hello.
Kim nods, oh. But can't keep her mind off...
KIMMY
You think he'd accept?
Hmm?
KIMMY
Michael. A job like that.
Oh, well...
JULIANNE
By any yardstick that involves
sanity, it would be the greatest
thing that ever happened to him.
Present company excepted.
Kimmy nodding slowly. Her yearing achingly apparent.
JULIANNE
On the other hand, he's proud.
Last thing a man wants to admit,
is being trapped in a dispiriting
dead-end job that can never
support a family.
A very sweet smile.
JULIANNE
Throw a man a life preserver.
He'll say, "Thanks, anyway,
I'd rather drown."
Kim nods again. Right. They are so bonded at this moment.
KIMMY
So... one almost has to...
JULIANNE
Exactly.
KIMMY
Exactly what?
JULIANNE
What you said. Make it appear
that he's doing you the favor.
Kimmy bites her lip. Her eyes go down. Self-conscious to admit...
JULIANNE
I couldn't really... do that.
After, you know...
Her voice trails off.
JULIANNE (kind, but wise)
... lying. All the time.
That brings the gray eyes up. Julianne bats her dark ones...
JULIANNE
Oh, darling, my pitiful desires
and ambitions are dirt beneath
the manly boots of your priorities!
Kimmy has to smile small. A self-awe gal.
JULIANNE (pouring it on)
Two hundred seedy motels a year?
Dinners out of vending machines?
Waiting for you in vermin-infested
corridors of dark crotch-rot locker
rooms? This stuff makes me hot!!
KIMMY
The very words I've used.
Julianne 'thinks it over.' Kimmy waits for guidance.
JULIANNE
We make Dad your co-conspirator.
Michael does a favor for Walter.
Simple.
JULIANNE
Walter's reorganizing his public
relations, needs a brilliant guy
who's close to him, who he can
completely trust.
Kimmy nodding. Hope overriding reason.
JULIANNE
So you beg. Michael, please do
this for Daddy, please, please,
please, blah, blah, blah... it's
only for six months... it would
mean so much to me to help him out...
Turns up her palms. Viola!
KIMMY
He'll see right through it.
JULIANNE
Only. If he wants to.
They share a smile.
JULIANNE
In six months, he'll be happy,
settled, successful...
KIMMY
He won't get mad, huh?
MR. MOONEY (O.S.)
May I be of any help, whatsoever?
Mr. Mooney is the most gracious Brit salesperson ever to offer
kindness, intelligence and thoughtfulness to a customer. He is
large, sixty, with disappearing hair, watering eyes, and a manner
that makes you think of immediately hiring a butler.
JULIANNE
Bridesmaid gifts for two, well,
assertive, outspoken, Tennessee
debutantes.
KIMMY (still focused)
He won't be mad?
JULIANNE (to Mooney)
Nothing here seems to quite capture
their distinctive personalities.
MR. MOONEY
Something customized, perhaps?
We can fashion most any item
from gold.
Ah. Julianne nodding. Reflecting.
MR. MOONEY
An object that might represent
what is closest. To their heart.
KIMMY (under her breath)
Don't even think dildo.
Julianne digs through her jumbled bag...
JULIANNE
Could you do this...
Tossing an object on the counter...
JULIANNE
In 24 carat?
It is a MASTERCARD. A gold one.
KIMMY (softly)
Bingo.
They smile at each other. More bonded than ever.
KIMMY
You don't think he'll be mad.
A beat. Can Julianne even make herself do this?
JULIANNE
Your call. You can live a lie.
In a fabulous selection of Red
Roof Inns. Or you can make one
desperate stab at hap...
KIMMY
I just don't want to freak him
out.
What do you think? Julianne stares into the soft gray eyes. It's
now or never. The smile of a dear sister...
JULIANNE
How mad could he get?
INT. FASHION RESTAURANT - LUNCH HOUR
Julianne enters with a really nervous Kimberly in tow. Approaches
the maitre d'. We CLOSE to hear...
MAITRE D'
Oh, Mr. Wallace and his guests
have retired to the humidor.
Points to an escalator, leading to the mezzanine. Behind a glass
wall, what looks like a British men's club. Thirty guys and a
billion cigars. As Julianne starts toward it...
MAITRE D'
Oh. Mademoiselle.
She turns back. Loves this shit.
MAITRE D'
It's unofficial, of course. But,
traditionally, the humidor is for
gentlemen, only...
JULIANNE
Great. I've got this girlfriend
at the Justice Department? With
all this time on her hands?
Her look is every bit as hard as his. He gestures to the
escalator. She takes Kimmy's hand, and up they go. We can see
Walter in a big leather chair, enjoying a major stogie. Kimmy
licks her lips.
They enter. Every head turns. A nice range of reactions, from
offended to attracted and points in between.
JULIANNE (murmurs)
Piece of cake. I'll hang, and
think happy thoughts...
Kimmy nods. Heads over toward her father. Julianne walks,
confidently, even provocatively, to the wall lined with bins of
cigars. Every eye in the place is on her butt.
She runs her fingers over a few contenders. Plucks one out,
examines it, puts it back. Walks a little farther. Selects
another, big and black. Rolls it expertly in her fingers. Sniffs
along its length.
A guy comes over. Could be 40, successful, a broker's pin-stripe.
Nearly as attractive as he thinks he is.
GUY
Know what you're looking for,
little lady?
Little lady, huh? She glances at his coven of buddies, who pretend
not to notice. Then, straight to the guy's blue eyes.
JULIANNE
Yeah. Do you?
GUY
I asked first.
Ah. Wit. She holds up her cigar...
JULIANNE
I like 'em long and hard. Kind
of... big around.
Runs it under her nose.
JULIANNE
Smell is important, I'm a believer
in that.
Takes a match from a cut crystal bowl.
JULIANNE
But you never know what you've
got. Till you run your tongue
over it.
And she does. Moistening the full length of the cigar. The boys
are laughing openly. She STRIKES the match. As she lights up...
GUY
I meant. What you're looking for
in a man.
She glances at his wedding ring. Then, straight into his eyes.
JULIANNE
Actually, I'm partial to married
gentlemen.
The way she says that. The guy swallows. We can see some of the
air has been sucked from the room.
GUY
Why is that?
JULIANNE
It's so much time. When I phone
the wives.
Explosive LAUGHTER from the peanut gallery. As she jams the big
Clemente Churchill into her mouth, she sees Kimmy waving her over
from across the room. Without even looking at the guy she's just
put away...
... she crosses the room, Walter stands politely, looking very
dapper, very powerful, and focusing on her with considerable
interest. He waits until she sits on the edge of a costly leather
hassock.
１、２、３、４、５、６、７、８、９
