MIKE
Hey, don’t shoot, man.
MIKE grins. He is tall and intelligent looking.
HENRY looks down at his paintball gun dangling from his belt.
HENRY
I’m sorry.
HENRY starts to head toward the back door.
MIKE
It’s okay. You’re Henry, aren’t
you? Josh’s best friend, right?
HENRY
(stopping)
Yeah.
MIKE
Josh will be back. Why don’t
you wait for him.
HENRY
No, that’s okay.
He starts toward the backdoor again.
MIKE
Stay. Where have you got to go?
HENRY stops, thinks.
HENRY
Yeah. Maybe.
MIKE
You look a little frazzled.
HENRY
I didn’t sleep too good.
MIKE
Come in the living room. Have a
seat.
They go into the living room. The TV is off. A lamp is on next to the lounge chair, and lying on the chair is the novel The Sun Also Rises, proclaiming on its cover that it’s “The classic novel about the Lost Generation.”
MIKE
I was just doing some reading.
HENRY
Really? For your job or
something?
MIKE
No.
HENRY
Just for fun?
MIKE
Yeah. For fun.
HENRY
I never met anybody that reads.
MIKE
Oh, well, I grew up back east.
HENRY
Oh.
MIKE
It’s kind of dark in here, I guess.
Let’s have some light.
MIKE goes over to the picture window and pulls a cord to open the heavy drapes, and light pours in.
MIKE
Have a seat.
HENRY takes a chair across the room. MIKE sits down in his lounge chair.
HENRY
You can go ahead and read.
MIKE
(swiveling his chair
away from the TV to
face HENRY)
Rough night, huh?
HENRY
Yeah. Morning, too.
MIKE
Josh says your dad’s a
policeman.
HENRY
Yeah.
MIKE
That must be kind of cool. To have
a dad who’s a policeman.
HENRY
Not really.
MIKE
No?
HENRY
(looking at the
blank TV screen)
When I was real little, I thought
it was cool. I always bragged to
the other kids at school that my dad
was a cop. But my mom always hated
it. I remember how she’d be okay in
the mornings when he worked the
three-to-eleven shift and was home,
but then when it got close to time
for him to go to work she’d get all
moody, and they’d have a big fight
just before he had to leave for his shift.
She’d scream at him how she hoped he got
blown away, and he’d
leave without saying anything, and
then she had to take a nap,
which really meant she had to go in
her room and start drinking. . . .
Oh, man, I talk too much.
MIKE just looks at HENRY for a minute.
MIKE
It’s okay. Sounds like your mom
was scared.
HENRY
She hated my dad’s guts.
MIKE
Sounds like she loved him a lot and
was scared. People say mean things
and do mean things to each other . . .
and themselves just because they’re scared.
Your mom was probably terrified
that your dad was going to get killed
every day he went to work, so she
tried to convince herself that
she didn’t care.
HENRY
That doesn’t make any sense.
MIKE
People often make no sense.
HENRY
They’re divorced now.
MIKE
I’m sure that was hard on
everybody.
HENRY
Wasn’t hard on my dad. He was
banging some girl, and now he’s
married to her, and she’s knocked
up.
MIKE
Your dad was probably pretty
unhappy himself. Think about.
How would you feel if your mom
was telling you she hoped you got
blown away every day you left for school.
HENRY
He didn’t need to go banging Jenny
the Ninny and leave us.
MIKE
Your mom had the booze. Your dad had
the girl.
HENRY
Josh was right. You adults are
more screwed up than us kids.
MIKE
That’s a good thing for you guys to
know. Maybe it will help you
forgive us.
HENRY
My mom’s a whore.
MIKE
What makes you think so?
HENRY
Well, I don’t think she’s really a
whore. She just acts like one.
My sister really is one. I try to
protect them, but they won’t let
me.
MIKE
You can’t save them if they don’t
want to be saved. . . . So who’s
saving you?
HENRY stares at MIKE for a moment.
HENRY
Nobody.
MIKE
So what’s going to happen to you,
you think?
HENRY
I can take care of myself.
MIKE
Oh. Okay.
Through the picture window, a police car can be seen pulling up in front of the house.
HENRY
(standing up
from his chair)
Oh, no.
MIKE
What?
HENRY
They found me.
MIKE looks out the window. HENRY SENIOR is coming up the sidewalk. He’s wearing his police officer’s uniform.
HENRY makes his way toward the backdoor.
MIKE
Hey. Wait.
HENRY
No, I can’t.
The doorbell rings.
MIKE
You look to me like you’ve
done a lot of running lately.
You sure you want to do some
more?
The doorbell rings again.
HENRY
(moving toward
the backdoor)
It’s my dad.
MIKE
(following him)
Then it’s probably important.
HENRY
(reaching for
the doorknob)
Yeah, it is.
The doorbell rings again.
MIKE
You look tired.
HENRY drops his hand, nods.
MIKE and HENRY walk together to the front door. MIKE opens it.
MIKE
Officer.
HENRY SENIOR looks at HENRY standing behind MIKE.
HENRY SENIOR
You have to come with me,
Henry.
HENRY
I know.
HENRY SENIOR
(to Mike)
Thank you.
MIKE
No problem.
(to HENRY)
Good luck, Henry.
HENRY
Thanks.
HENRY steps out the door.
EXT. FRONT OF JOSH’S HOUSE DAY
HENRY follows his father down the sidewalk to the police cruiser. Several of JOSH and MIKE’s neighbors (adults and children both) are in their doorways, at their windows, and standing in their yards, watching. They all keep their distance.
LITTLE GIRL
(to her YOUNG MOTHER)
Is that boy in trouble?
YOUNG MOTHER
Looks like it.
Fry his ass!
HENRY and HENRY SENIOR are almost to the police car now.
HENRY
Do I have to get in the back?
HENRY SENIOR
I guess not. I guess I can let
you sit up front. If you promise
you won’t decide to run.
HENRY
I’m too tired.
HENRY SENIOR opens the passenger side door for HENRY, and HENRY gets in. HENRY SENIOR walks around the car and gets in.
INT. HENRY SENIOR’S POLICE CAR DAY
The car windows are down. HENRY SENIOR looks in the rear-view mirror.
HENRY SENIOR
Back-up’s coming. Just sit
tight.
Another police car is pulling up behind HENRY SENIOR’s cruiser.
HENRY slumps against the door, exhausted, banged up.
HENRY
I’m hungry.
HENRY SENIOR
You’ll get something. So, Henry,
you had quite a night. The night
manager at the taco place thinks he
can pick you out of a line-up even
though you had the panty hose over
your head. And you’d have to talk
so that he could try to recognize
your voice.
HENRY
I didn’t want Mom to--
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