B-Sides: Track Nine

Scene Nine of Eleven. "A twenty-seven year old despondent writer and a sixteen year old musician form a profound attachment to each other through their love of David Bowie."

 

 

 

TRACK NINE

[Lights up on James, sitting on a chair cutting a line of coke on the table in front of him. He is surrounded by darkness.]

     JAMES

Tarantino, man? He’s like the greatest filmmaker of his generation. Name another director…name another filmmaker that writes all his own films, directs them, acts in them, and does so in a bunch of different genres; they just don’t exist.

              [Clive slowly walks into the light.]

                   CLIVE

Woody Allen.

              [pause]

                   JAMES

Good point.

              [does a line]

I ran into Josh the other day.

                   CLIVE

What did he want?

                   JAMES

I can’t remember.

                   CLIVE

How was he?

                   JAMES

He was alright. Seemed distress about something. I wonder what.

                   CLIVE

Yeah, I wonder.

[Clive does a line]

                   JAMES

You still hang out with him as much?

                   CLIVE

Yeah, I haven’t seen him in a couple days though.

                   JAMES

You still with Sarah?

                   CLIVE

No, that’s over.

                   JAMES

Sorry to hear that.

                   CLIVE

It wasn’t going anywhere.

                   JAMES

But still…that sucks. I thought you two were perfect for each other.

                   CLIVE

Did you ever see The Man Who Fell to Earth?

                   JAMES

Yeah, it was boring as f**k. Blade Runner, now that is an incredible sci-fi film. Just like…it’s about, who are we, you know? Is it this?

              [Shows Clive his hand]

Or is it something else, something, like, existential or s**t? Are we all just a collection of atoms and molecules and cells and organs and bones? I mean…what if someone was just, like, a human brain in a jar, you know? Would he be a human? If it’s a human brain then yeah, but then, like, what if it’s a computer? What if like, f*****g pong started thinking, man, and started giving a s**t about s**t. What would we…? How would we deal with it ethically as a society, you know?

              [Pause]

                   CLIVE

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

                   JAMES

It’s deep.

              [Pause]

                   CLIVE

Do you ever feel old?

                   JAMES

All the time, man. You? 

                   CLIVE

Honestly…I still feel like I’m seventeen.

                   JAMES

That’s rough.

                   CLIVE

The entire world has aged around me while I’ve stayed the same, you know? I’m almost thirty. F*****g thirty. People we went to school with are married, and have kids, and no one sees that as strange, meanwhile I feel like I’m gonna wake up one day and still be in high school. I used to think when I got this age I’d feel so different, but…I don’t.

                   JAMES

You think too much, man.

                   CLIVE

You don’t think enough.

                   JAMES

Yeah, that’s a fair assessment. Where’d you get that f*****g shiner, man?

                   CLIVE

I was mugged.

                   JAMES

That’s heavy.

                   CLIVE

There’s that word again.

                   JAMES

What?

                   CLIVE

Is there something wrong with the Earth’s gravitational pull in the future?

                   JAMES

You’ve lost me.

CLIVE

I was walking out of my apartment and this guy came up to me and socked me. Then he kept hitting me and hitting me; then ran away.

                   JAMES

Did you get a few hits in yourself?

                   CLIVE

No. I didn’t even try. I just let him hit me.

                   JAMES

Why?

                   CLIVE

What’s the point, you know?

                   JAMES

No.

                   CLIVE

Do you believe in heaven?

                   JAMES

Does anybody?

                   CLIVE

I certainly don’t, but sometimes…wouldn’t it be great? F*****g heaven?

                   JAMES

I don’t think I’d fit in.

                   CLIVE

Neither would I, but I daydream about it all the time.

                   JAMES

What’s it like?

                   CLIVE

It’s my own world. My exact specifications. Everything that happens is approved by me, other than that, it’s exactly the same. It’s just…my world.

                   JAMES

And you’re God?

CLIVE

Yes. In a way, I guess.

                   JAMES

It would make things a lot easier.

[Clive’s phone rings in his pocket. He takes it out, sees who it is, then re-pockets it.]

     JAMES

Who was that?

                   CLIVE

Just some girl.

                   JAMES

Is she cute?

                   CLIVE

She’s sixteen.

                   JAMES

Hey, I won’t judge. If there’s grass on the field-

                   CLIVE

I’m gonna stop you right there.

                   JAMES

Sorry, dude. It was just a joke. Trying to lighten you up, you know? You’re acting weird.

                   CLIVE

Because I am. I’m not what normal is. Not like other people. I see these people on the street, smiling, walking with their friends or lovers or family, seeing the city and discovering the beauty of it. They have no idea how beautiful they are and I start to hate them. I start to feel jealous of them because no matter how hard I try I’ll never be one of the beautiful people.

                   JAMES

What have you got to be bummed out about, man?

                   CLIVE

My girlfriend left me.

JAMES

It happens to everyone.

                   CLIVE

I’m unemployed.

                   JAMES

You’re doing alright.

                   CLIVE

I’m a failed writer.

                   JAMES

We can’t all be Fitzgerald’s.

                   CLIVE

My mother’s dead.

                   JAMES

And you got a ton of money out of her will which you’ve been living off of ever since.

                   CLIVE

Buying drugs and concert tickets.

                   JAMES

Everything happens for a reason.

              [Pause]

                   CLIVE

About six months ago I was on my way home from work. And I was standing in the Bart station, waiting for my train to get there and it was about ten o’clock so the station was relatively empty. I was standing there, with my headphones on, and there was this little girl there, probably four or five years old, real cute, flower in her hair, little black dress with white stockings on, and she was wandering around the station; her mother was right next to the stroller, texting. She came right up to me and smiled, and I smiled back at her. Then I got a text from Sarah, asking me when I would be back home, that she needed to talk. We had been fighting for a couple of weeks and I guess she had had enough of it. I suddenly realized that this world I had created for myself, this cozy, comfy little life that I had called my own with Sarah, would be over as soon as I walk through my front door and then I heard the mother scream the little girl’s name. The train was coming and the girl was leaning over the edge to see it come in. The mother ran to her, screaming, trying to pull her back, and when the girl turned around she got startled by her mother rushing at her and took a step back into nothing. The little girl…exploded when the train hit her. She was just gone. And the mother…I walked home that night. Two hours later when I walked through my front door Sarah already had her bags packed. I told her what happened and neither of us have been the same ever since. I don’t sleep anymore, and when I do that woman’s scream wakes me up. I’m starting to go gray. I’m losing weight. Every time I see a child I see that little girl in them. I see her blood and her brains spattered all over the platform. I spend most nights with a gun in my mouth trying to get these images out of mind. Where’s the reason behind this? What’s the logic? This doesn’t happen. Not in my world. In my world nothing like that would have been allowed to pass. In my world, little girls live full and happy lives, people stay in love forever, children grow up with both of their parents loving them, nobody lies to anybody, and nobody is intentionally cruel to the people they love just because they are afraid. In my world…in my world I’m one of the beautiful people.

              [Pause]

I’ve lost it, haven’t I? That was me…on those tracks. That night. I can feel it. There’s nothing out there for me anymore. I’m not welcome.

[Spotlight goes up on Mayya standing stage right. She is distraught. Clive looks over at her.]

                   MAYYA

Clive? Clive, I need your help. It’s my mother. She’s…I came home from selling paintings today…and my mother she was…she was on the couch and she wasn’t moving at all…and I called the ambulance and they came by and…my mother…she’s…I’m at the police station right now…Clive…I need you, please.

[The lights go down on Mayya and come back up on James. Clive snaps back to reality.]

     JAMES

I think you need to talk to somebody. It sounds like you need help.

              [Clive gets up to leave.]

CLIVE

I’m done with other people’s help.

                   JAMES

Maybe you’re like, suffering from depression or something, maybe you’re Bi-Polar.

                   CLIVE

James, shut the f**k up.

[The lights go down around the stage except a spotlight that remains on Clive.]

                   CLIVE

Josh? I wanted to let you know that I’m leaving. There’s not much left for me here, you know? It has nothing to do with you or Sarah, it’s something inside myself. I have to get away, but first…I need your help. It’s about Mayya, she’s in trouble, she’s in a lot of trouble and I need you to help me help her. Something happened with her mother and they’re holding her at the police station right now. I need you to go by and pick her up. I can’t go myself, I was with James,and also they would ask questions and that could lead to trouble but if you go in there with your little brother, if you go in you could tell them that they’re friends from school and that Mayya would be best spending the night at your parent’s place instead of some police station. She has no other family in the city, in the country, they’ll understand. Just take care of her. Do this for me, please. I’ll come by in the morning; I’m gonna stop by Mayya’s apartment tonight. There’s something I need to get.

              [The spotlight fades.]

Author's Note

This is a very rough first draft of the full length I just finished; I would be tremendously grateful of any opinions or suggestions for it; it's a story I'm rather passionate about and would like to know just how much work I have left to do on it; more scenes to follow