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The Other Glass Teat

Page 25

by Harlan Ellison


  Aaron grimaces, turns to go. Again, Barrett stops him.

  BARRETT

  He was looking for you because you stiffed him. The watch doesn’t run.

  Aaron doesn’t turn. But the shot catches him in the space between the shoulder blades. He cringes, and with Pat, he goes as CAMERA HOLDS on Barrett, who lights a cigar and settles back in his chair.

  DISSOLVE TO:

  54 SERIES OF INTERCUTS – LAP-DISSOLVES – SIMILAR TO SCENE 26

  as Aaron and Pat, individually and together, canvass the list of Hallie’s friends. In

  dorms, halls, shops, streets, front stoops, pool halls, communes, anywhere that is feasible to shoot, using as much STOCK FOOTAGE as is available and fits in with the season and their garb.

  DISSOLVE THRU TO:

  55 EXT. STREET CORNER – DAY

  Aaron and Pat standing there, comparing their lists, crossing off names. SILENT BIT. Aaron points to a name, indicates Pat should tackle that one, while he goes after another. He consults his watch, then makes a motion toward the coffee shop on the corner, indicating he’ll meet her there at a certain time. Pat nods and they go off in separate directions.

  DISSOLVE TO:

  56 HALLWAY OF APARTMENT BUILDING – WITH PAT – DAY

  as she comes down the hall, checking apartment numbers. She finally stops in front of Apartment 9 and KNOCKS. The door opens and EUNICE JOHNSON stands there. She is about Hallie’s age, early twenties, a little wasted-looking, but pretty in an un-madeup way. Long hair hanging loose, held in back by a macramé barette that has long tassels hanging down. She also wears a macramé belt of exquisite design. (NOTE: Since this SCENE will feature the new fashion of Macramé, be advised the author can turn the producers on to makers of same, and in the mimeographing of this script, the accent mark over the word macramé should be tipped in, by hand if necessary. After all, the actors have to know how to pronounce it, don’t they?)

  Behind Eunice are three or four other girls, all sitting around tables doing the macramé crocheting. There are racks of macramé goods everywhere. This is obviously cottage industry. A RADIO PLAYS in the b.g.

  EUNICE

  Hi. Can I help you?

  PAT

  I’m looking for Eunice Johnson.

  EUNICE

  You’ve got her. I’m it. Her.

  They smile at one another. Pat indicates the belt and goods.

  PAT

  Is that macramé?

  EUNICE

  Uh-huh. Did you come to buy or look? Either way makes us feel good.

  PAT

  I came to talk mostly, but that is beautiful work. May I come in?

  EUNICE

  (guardedly)

  Uh, what did you want to talk about?

  PAT

  Hallie Benda.

  EUNICE

  (relieved)

  Wheew, you had me worried for a second. The landlord keeps saying if we’re going to use the apartment as a factory we’ll have to pay a commercial rate. Come on in.

  She steps aside and Pat goes in.

  57 INT. APARTMENT – DAY

  The other GIRLS look up as Pat comes in. Two of the girls at the tables are black, one is white, one is oriental. They continue looking.

  EUNICE

  (to girls)

  Friend of Hallie’s.

  She looks at Pat for her name.

  PAT

  Pat Walters. Hello.

  EUNICE

  (points to each girl)

  Sandy, Lucy, Vonda and O.E., which stands for Octavia Estelle. Want some apple juice?

  PAT

  Thanks, that’d be nice.

  Eunice leads Pat over to an alcove with a sink, fridge and stove, while the girls go back to work.

  58 TWO SHOT – PAT AND EUNICE

  as Eunice opens refrigerator, takes out a chilled bottle of apple juice, and taking a cup from a mismatched batch of cups on a shelf, pours Pat a drink.

  EUNICE

  You know, you’d think someone who’d been through such awful stuff would be more compassionate.

  PAT

  I beg your pardon?

  EUNICE

  Our landlord. He was in a Nazi prison camp with his wife, you know. And he came through it and got out of Poland or Hungary or wherever it was, and he came here and made some money…so instead of understanding how people live, and trying to be nice, he gouges all of us living here. I just can’t understand it. You’d think that kind of misery would make people kinder.

  PAT

  Did you ever see that film, “The Pawnbroker”?

  EUNICE

  Oh. Yeah. I see what you mean.

  PAT

  I suppose that kind of experience just kills people inside. Makes them hard; you know, their feelings are blunted. All they care about afterward is taking care of themselves. I guess it’s just survival carried to the furthest extreme.

  EUNICE

  It’s really sad.

  (beat)

  But all the same, I wish he wasn’t such a creep.

  PAT

  Did Hallie work here?

  EUNICE

  Hallie? No, huh-uh. She just used to come over and sit sometimes. She’s not very good with her hands and macramé takes a lot of skill.

  PAT

  I’d love a belt like yours.

  EUNICE

  Well, just take a look around. It’s all for sale.

  PAT

  Could we talk about Hallie first?

  EUNICE

  What do you want to talk about her?

  PAT

  She’s about to get in some pretty big trouble.

  EUNICE

  You aren’t from the child welfare, are you?

  PAT

  No, I’m from the Neighborhood Law Office. We were supposed to defend her on a bust for using a stolen credit card, but she never showed up at the arraignment. We’re trying to find her so a warrant isn’t issued. And that means before 9:00 tomorrow morning.

  EUNICE

  Oh, wow. Yeah, Ginjer Moore was making a lot of noise on the street about Hallie trying to pin it on her.

  PAT

  Well, Ginjer gave us a list of Hallie’s friends who might know how we could find her, that’s why I came to ask you.

  EUNICE

  No chance I’d know where Hallie is. We weren’t very tight, y’know?

  PAT

  I gather you didn’t like her much.

  EUNICE

  Not much. She messed over Ginjer.

  PAT

  So you probably won’t feel like a fink if you give me a way to find her.

  EUNICE

  I won’t mind at all.

  PAT

  On the other hand, remember your landlord. A little compassion.

  Eunice steps back, staring at Pat.

  EUNICE

  Wheew! Lady, you are trying to do a number on my head. First, it’s knife Hallie, then it isn’t, which way do you want me to move?

  PAT

  My way. I need to know where she is. But I don’t want you to feel lousy about it.

  EUNICE

  So how can I do it without feeling like a fink?

  PAT

  By knowing she needs some help, and the only way she’s going to get it is if we get to her in time.

  EUNICE

  (holds up hands)

  No more! Hallie used to work with a little black guy named Obie Stover. She’d buy from him if he was holding, and he’d buy from her if she was dealing. She might lose a lot of contacts, but her dealer – never.

  Pat raises the apple juice in a silent toast as we

  LAP DISSOLVE TO:

  59 INT. COFFEE SHOP – ON PAT – DAY

  MATCH SHOP (with cup of apple juice from Scene 58), as Pat lifts a coffee cup to her mouth to drink.

  AARON’S VOICE (o.s.)

  Obie Stover.

  CAMERA PULLS BACK as Aaron slips into the booth across from Pat. She is wearing a macramé belt now.

  PAT
>
  That’s the name I got. And a general idea where he hangs out.

  AARON

  Great. The kid I talked to didn’t know where to find him. Give me the address and I’ll take it from here.

  PAT

  Hold it. That’s the inner city, Aaron.

  AARON

  I’ll be all right down there.

  PAT

  Sure, maybe. But it’s still “tell them nothing” for paddys. And you’re a paddy to them.

  AARON

  You want to come with? I hate to ask you.

  PAT

  Come on, Aaron, stop that.

  AARON

  Okay. Finish your coffee and let’s go.

  Pat puts down the cup and stands.

  PAT

  I’d rather not. This was cup number three. But I’ll go to the little girls’ room and meet you out front.

  She goes one way, Aaron goes the other and we

  DISSOLVE TO:

  60 EXT. THE MATTAPAN BLACK GHETTO – DAY (STOCK)

  as Aaron and Pat walk through, together.

  61 EXT. GHETTO STREET – DAY

  as Pat talks to someone, who points back in the opposite direction. Pat thanks the MAN and they walk away.

  62 EXT. GHETTO STREET – DAY

  as Pat talks to a couple of LITTLE KIDS on a front stoop. Very earnestly. They talk to her, and one of them points toward the corner. Pat smiles and silently thanks them. They move off again.

  63 EXT. EMPTY LOT – AARON – DAY

  Through a broken link fence we can see a young, very tall and thin black BOY of perhaps seventeen, looping a basketball into a rim made from an apple basket rim. The lot is littered with filth and dead beer cans, with the awful detritus of a society choking itself with garbage. The boy, OBIE STOVER, is alone. Aaron and Pat stop outside the fence and watch him for a long moment.

  AARON

  I thought that girl said he was a little guy?

  PAT

  She must have meant years, not height. He has a good hook.

  AARON

  I didn’t know you liked basketball?

  PAT

  I didn’t know you had natural rhythm.

  He grins at her, she grins back, and they slip through the fence and CAMERA GOES WITH THEM as they approach Obie, who catches sight of them halfway across the lot. He stops shooting, cocks over onto one hip with the basketball under one arm, and waits.

  PAT

  Obie?

  OBIE

  He just left. His momma call him.

  As they walk straight up to him.

  PAT

  Oh, that’s too bad. We got some small money here for an Obie Stover.

  AARON

  Maybe you can tell us where he lives so we can deliver it.

  OBIE

  What kinda money you got for Obie?

  AARON

  Seventy-five dollars. We’re from the Neighborhood Law Office. Some kid came in and said he’d burned this Obie for the money, so we’re bringing it on over.

  OBIE

  You shuckin’ and jivin’, mister.

  PAT

  So you don’t know this Obie? Right?

  OBIE

  That’s what I said.

  PAT

  Let’s go, Aaron.

  They turn and start to walk away. Obie watches, then calls:

  OBIE

  Hey you. Wait up.

  He lopes over to them.

  PAT

  What you want…Mr. Helpful?

  OBIE

  I’m Obie Stover.

  AARON

  Sure you are. All of a sudden you hear we got seventy-five bucks and poof you become Obie Stover.

  It should be understood that this is a seventeen-year-old boy, and even though he’s black and hip as only ghetto street kids can be hip, still he’s seventeen and he can be hyped. That’s what Aaron and Pat are doing. (It should also be understood that the outdated idea of pushers as only being insidious Fagins, corrupting school children, is hincty and old-fashioned. The nasty truth is that today kids push to kids. Everyone who isn’t using is dealing. They don’t consider it criminal or evil; we do, and we’re probably right, but to attack reality in this manner we must deal with a typical dealer as he views it, for counterpoint.)

  OBIE

  Hey, man, I tell you I’m Obie Stover an’ you say I’m not. Who knows, you or me?

  PAT

  If you were Obie Stover, you’d know where Hallie Benda is.

  Obie draws back.

  OBIE

  What kinda evil you whippin’ on me? I thought you say you got seventy-five bucks for me?

  AARON

  We’re looking for Hallie. She’s in big trouble. We’re from the Neighborhood Law Office, we want to –

  OBIE

  Get away from me.

  PAT

  Obie, we want to help her!

  OBIE

  I say get away from me or I’ll do some bun-kickin’, you hear?

  At that moment, a tall, longhaired BOY comes through the fence, starts toward them. He calls out in a heavy Southern accent.

  JOE BOB

  Hey, you Obie!

  Obie turns, panicking, sees Joe Bob, and yells at the top of his lungs.

  OBIE

  (frantic)

  Get the hell outta here! Narks!

  Joe Bob turns and bolts through the fence. Obie takes off at a dead run in the opposite direction after hurling the basketball at Aaron. The wind is knocked out of Aaron for a moment, but he gasps at Pat…

  AARON

  Joe Bob Holiday!

  He takes off after him, running full out, as Pat follows and we

  FADE OUT.

  END OF ACT THREE

  85: 20 NOVEMBER 70

  “THE WHIMPER OF WHIPPED DOGS”

  Part Four

  ACT FOUR

  FADE IN:

  64 EXT. GHETTO STREET – ARRIFLEX

  with Aaron as he chases Joe Bob Holiday. A twisting, turning, frantic run down filthy streets and through alleys, at one point Joe Bob banging into an ELDERLY BLACK WOMAN carrying big shopping bags that spill all over the street. Pat slows to help her as Aaron goes after him. Aaron gains. Joe Bob looks back…Aaron is coming on. He cuts across a street through traffic…Aaron does the same, almost gets hit…keeps going. Finally, Aaron gains enough and as Joe Bob turns a corner he slips, skids, goes to one knee, gets up and makes the move to run but Aaron is on him. Aaron hurls him up against the wall of the building. They are both badly winded.

  AARON

  Where’s Hallie…?

  Joe Bob can’t – or won’t – talk. He just shakes his head and gasps for breath. Aaron bangs him against the brick wall.

  AARON

  Where is she, man? I’m her attorney! Tell me!

  Joe Bob still won’t talk. Aaron isn’t crapping around any more. He’s almost frantic about finding her now. He looks around, sees an alley, and drags Joe Bob with him. They disappear into the alley.

  65 ANOTHER ANGLE ON THE STREET

  as Pat rushes up. She stops. Looks around. No one in sight. She waits, turning this way and that. In a short while Aaron emerges from the alley with a smudge of dirt under one eye, his jacket and tie pulled askew and holding his right fist the way a man would hold it if he had a set of skinned knuckles. Pat comes up to him, looking concerned.

  AARON

  He was meeting Obie to score some reds for himself and Hallie. I got the address.

  PAT

  Why’d he tell you?

  AARON

  (coolly)

  We talked.

  CUT TO:

  66 EXT. COURT APARTMENTS – DAY

  One of those lanai kind of places where everybody can look in everybody else’s window. One or two stories high, but all our action must take place on the first floor. As Aaron and Pat come up to Apartment “C” and Aaron knocks on the door. No answer. He knocks again. Harder. Nothing. Then he bangs on it. Nothing. But the apartment door next to it
opens and a NEIGHBOR WOMAN sticks her head out.

  NEIGHBOR WOMAN

  She’s in there.

  Aaron and Pat look surprised.

  NEIGHBOR WOMAN

  She didn’t answer last week when the police came, either. The way she treated that baby!

  (beat)

  She went out the bathroom window around back when they came last week.

  Aaron and Pat exchange glances and Aaron tears off.

  67 EXT. APARTMENT HOUSE – ARRIFLEX – DAY

 

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