the backroom

the backroom by gerald clough

it's what? it's weird fiction

it's for who? Xfiles, Naked Lunch, Do the Right Thing, Joe and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud fans.

FADE IN:

INT. Greyhound Bus. Early Afternoon, rainy

JEREMIAH JOHNSON is heading west and dreamily staring out the window of the Greyhound bus while he listens to a discman. He is writing a narrative in his head as he heads away from a recent, major life conflict. As we listen to this prologue, we'll get some point of view flashes that'll help us set the story up in our heads.

For months, I tried blaming the fucked up crazy dreams on the fact that I was drinking so much after getting my ass outta Iraq…. I killed some insurgents and a few women and children the fuckheads were hiding behind.... I got out after I got a piece of shrapnel in my brain... fucking mortar exploded a hundred yards away from my unit's humvee.... I ended up wit ha small piece in my brain.... My ex girlfriend won't let me see my kid.... I drink a lot.... things could be better and things could be worse..... I continued having these dreams that I was fragged in a previous life....

I'd been having the same dream, over and fucking over again. The dreams started just after Bill let me move into the backroom at his Last Trolley Stop Café. In these dreams I'm in the jungle and I'm looking downward from somewhere high above the ground, hovering above the palm trees.

I'm watching a firefight; it seems to be between a platoon of Americans and VC; almost all of the Americans are African American. Black. The fight is not going well from the Americans' point of view-explosions… VC bayonets and expert sniper shots to the foreheads of a number of the American soldiers….

Then I focus in on what I am here to watch: the crazy bigoted sergeant who is sending these soldiers to their deaths….

Sergeant Sartoris (Crazed)

C'mon you fried chicken eatin' sons of bitches… take that fucking hill and we'll have watermelon for breakfast…. Take that fucking hill….

One of the platoon members, a YOUNG IKE WASHINGTON is sneaking up behind Sartoris, Washington is not paying attention to the battle-though it is raging all around him-he is too busy concentrating on his target…a sawed off shotgun is aimed right at the base of Sartoris's skull.

Washington pulls the trigger, the shotgun fires and Sartoris's head disappears into a red spray. Washington looks around and sees the battle raging on. It appears that no one has noticed that Washington has just fragged his commanding officer. Mortar flashes and explosions are everywhere.

Washington looks down at Sartoris's headless body. We all hear Sartoris's slowing heartbeat. The chaos appears to slow down in correlation with the fading of Sartoris's heartbeat. After everything has quieted down a VIET CONG SOLDIER is heard screaming in the jungle.

We watch from above:

Washington

Hey, the sarge is down, he's hurt real bad….

Another Platoon Member

I'll say he's hurt real bad…. I wonder where his fucking head went…..

Yet Another Platoon Member

Ding dong the wicked witch is dead….that's what I see; now, let's get the fuck out of here while the getting is still good.

At dawn the platoon marches away from Sartoris's dead corpse and then down a road, all the while singing the ding dong the wicked witch is dead song….

The camera, which has just been hovering right above, loses it's grip and falls into the jungle's mud….

DISSOLVE: TO BLACK

THEN UP TO:

JEREMIAH JOHNSON opening his puffy, sleepy and hung over eyes. He contemplates his surroundings for a second. Jeremiah is sleeping inside the dark, dank rotting backroom of the Last Trolley Stop Café.

Jeremiah looks out the window. It is April in Philadelphia therefore it's cold and it's raining pretty hard. Jeremiah looks up at the old Schlitz clock- it's 10:15 am. Then he looks at the closed rotting door that leads into the Last Trolley Stop's main bar room. Jeremiah washes his face in the rusty sink and looks at himself in the mirror that someone else cracked with rage some years ago.

Jeremiah slowly gets off his cot, looks at the stacks of liquor and kegs and then he looks out from the busted window into nonworking class Philadelphia. The Last Trolley Stop has bars on the windows.

Jeremiah rubs his head-he's got a headache. He still wears the rumpled clothing he's been wearing for some days now. He's got about four days of stubble too. He walks to the part of the room that's got a toilet and sink that doesn't get used much these days, especially since Jeremiah moved in.

He looks inside the medicine cabinet, spots the Excedrin bottle and opens it. He swallows the pill. He takes a sip of water from the rusty sink.

Jeremiah opens the door and walks into the main taproom.

JJ walks into the front room. MURPH is one handed, white haired but balding and slight both in width and height. Murph is the only person in the bar. A bucket and a mop sits in the middle of the concrete floor.

MURPH (not rude, not pleasant, kinda flat and tired)

Bill's downstairs doing his thing… he told me to tell the regulars to serve themselves….

Jeremiah walks to the taps and pours himself a cheap beer.

Murph

You know Bill hasn't let anyone live in the backroom for twenty years?

Jeremiah

Yeah great… now you're gonna tell me about the guy that committed suicide in there….

Murph

Yeah ol joe blew his brains out back in there….

Jeremiah

I found his diary…..

Murph

I bet that was some interesting reading.

Jeremiah

It was.

The front door opens. Enter MO QUINT. MO is a hulking, disheveled near bum. MO probably would be a bum except for the fact that he was an expert Vietnam era sniper. As the camera shows, Mo took some shrapnel in the head. He has a bullet hole tattooed on his forehead.

Mo (waving his arms in a big semi circle)

Whadda you know Joe?

Mo walks a few steps

How's that wound Murph…. Aha… we took off the bandage…. Looks ok, we'll send you back to the front… we need more men like you….How bout a Pabst and some Yukon there Jeremiah?

Hey Doc where's Bill?

MURPH

He said he was going downstairs for some beer but the smart money says he's downstairs doing a sniff… and yeah, hey, Mo do me a favor (MURPH puts his fingers to his lips) no more 'doc' talk for awhile….

The pigs were in here this morning nosing around, looking for that Jack the Ripper fuck who's been offing all the whores round here lately… I'm not killing them, I don't need them knowing about my well documented surgical skills… if the heat leads them back here, they'll know my past soon enough….

Well fuck whadda you expect two of those whores were in here the nights they got offed… I bet they'll be back….

MURPH

Hey, uh, JJ we're laying off the back alley abortions for awhile… maybe we all ought to be careful around here… I oughta just shut the fuck up I just found out that Dunkin Doughnuts has been buggin everybody's conversations….

MO (reading the morning paper)

Plan your robberies at home…how bout another shot?

JJ walks over and pours the shot.

MO (to JJ)

How bout you, what's up with you war hero? You hear the feds are kicking us down some disability money starting next month?

Cool I can use the extra cash… Feel like shit this morning though, must've hit it too hard yesterday…. I feel like shit….

MURPH (his face is beet red with flush)

I bet, me and Bill heard you screaming back there….

I was dreaming.

MURPH

Yeah, you were back there screaming, shrieking really… then you'd stop and then start again. Then the pigs show up… Thank God you were real quiet back there…. Christ almighty, we're thinking to ourselves… what if he screams out like that again…. You didn't scream anymore….

I need some more sleep… hey would one of you guys do me a favor and wake me up by one fifteen or so….

MURPH

No sweat pal.

JJ walks into the backroom and closes the door; FADE TO BLACK for a second or two then we get…

Knock… Knock… knock in the darkness. We hear the rumbling of the elevated train which runs just overhead. JJ opens his eyes and looks at the ancient Schlitz clock. It's ten til one. Knock… knock… knock. JJ looks at the door; tired but longingly… he knows it's IDA. JJ gets up and opens the door to reveal a strikingly good looking dark haired middle aged witch. JJ and IDA are basically boyfriend.

IDA

Hey baby what's going on?

Through the still open door, MURPH can be seen making a silly drunken 'jj's got a girlfriend type of face.' IDA closes the door.

Not much, just hanging.

He looks out through the bars at the grey still rainy day.

How bout you, what are you up to?

IDA

Not much, figured I'd have a couple Bloody Marys before opening up the store, got some ginseng root coming in the mail today… good friend of mine dug it up out of a Lousiana swamp.

IDA unzips JJ's pants…

IDA

I'm here for some of that stuff that my old folk customers are swearing and buying like it really is keeping them young….

IDA removes her dentures and starts blowing JJ and they are both enjoying the experience very much while the rain and trains outside shake the walls, exposing leaks and letting rain into the backroom. It is certainly a surreal blowjob here inside the backroom; JJ has a few quick flashbacks to his Iraq war experience. And then a few flashes from Sergeant Sartoris' Vietnam experience. After a few seconds the Vietnam stuff turns into a Gerald Scarfe type of still painting. A slow transition to the backroom where JJ climaxes into IDA's mouth. IDA spits the sperm from her mouth into a pill vial which she then puts into her purse.

IDA

Swallowed a little for myself… I don't know what's in that cum of yours but the old folks are a hundred percent behind it. Maybe the stuff is keeping them from aging.

JJ lifts his pants and they walk into the taproom.

CUT:
INT. LTSC's Taproom. Dreary early afternoon
No one is tending bar when they sit down. JJ looks over at MURPH. MURPH puts his face down to the bar and pretends to snort a line. JJ nods his head, gets up and walks behind the bar.

Bloody Mary?

IDA

Yeah.

JJ makes the bloody mary then serves it. He looks up at the old greasy screened video poker machine which sits almost discretely and completely illegally by the back door which leads into the squalid alleys of Lower Frankford.

The table in the shadowy corner is playing host to two whores and two polyester suit wearing johns. The whores are scraggly sick junkies. The johns are overweight and wearing sunglasses. Because of the rain the WHORES cheap makeup is running down their faces. They have scabs, needle marks and lesions. One of the whores takes a twenty dollar bill and walks to the bar.

WHORE 1 (with a sincere but spasmodic wink)

Hey soldier how bout getting us a round of budweisers?

JJ (already cracking the beers)

Sure, eight bucks.

WHORE 1

Goofball over there wants the change in quarters, for the poker machine… keep a buck for yourself honey

Thanks.

WHORE 1

Where's Bill? Downstairs? (again, she winks spasmodically)
I know what he's doing down there…

JJ takes the twenty and goes to the register to make change. He returns the change to the WHORE. WHORE walks back to her table after giving JJ a two dollar tip.

WHORE gives the JOHN his change. JJ gets out from behind the bar and sits back down next to IDA. JOHN 1 gets up from his table and walks to the video machine. He puts all his quarters into the machine and starts playing away.

JJ (to Ida)

So much for my jackpot….

IDA

What are you talking about baby?

Had a feeling is all baby… that machine's gonna pay out big pretty soon.

IDA

I suggest you hope and pray that he crashes out then you can jump in.

IDA casts a minor spell when no one's looking cept for the camera.

JJ (anticipating JOHN 1's loss, rolling his five bucks worth of quarters around in his hand)

Yeah, he's losing, he won't be round real long time…if he tries getting more the hell with him, he can go next door to the deli.

JOHN 1 loses and gets up from the machine, waving his hand disapprovingly at the machine.

JOHN 1

Fucking thing's fixed.

JJ darts past him.

JOHN 1

Hey, I'm not done with that!

Yeah you are. The real bartender's downstairs, I'm filling in. Ergo the fill in rules apply.

JJ sits down and plugs in his quarters. JJ gets the royal flush on the draw.

Look at that… five hundred dollar jackpot…. Don't blow it Jeremiah… royal flush on the draw… what are the fucking odds? What are the fucking odds? Hey, Murph, this hold button's burned out right?

MURPH gets up from his stool and walks over.

MURPH

Yeah, yeah… right… push it…. Yeah, you're doing good kid.

JJ carefully "holds" all his cards… then he finishes the game… the domelight on top pf the machine starts flashing…. Bathing the darkened (midafternoon rain!) bar in flashing red light. JJ looks over at the WHORES and JOHNS table.

JOHN 1 (to whore as he slaps her!)

You did what?!

WHORE

He looked like he could use a tip Teddy….

JOHN 1

Stupid fucking bitch, I could use the money.

The basement door opens; BILL storms out from the downstairs doorway. BILL walks over to the poker machine, picks it up over his head and smashes it to the floor. The machine does a few funny flashing things then dies.

BILL (shaking his head and staring intently at the poker machine)

Mafia muthafuckers want me to buy their cigarettes, their stolen stale cigarettes…I don't want their fucking cigarettes so they send me a rigged machine… fifth time this year this fucking thing's paid off a jackpot.

You don't have to pay, Bill.

BILL ignores that statement and walks back behind and starts removing cash from the register.

BILL

That's ok Jeremiah, I don't mind paying you off… you mind half now, half at closing?

No problem Bill.

BILL

Yeah, Jeremiah, I like seeing guys like you win. Say, uh, Jeremiah, if you want to blow this scene for Alaska, you just let me know. I'll lend you a few hundred on top of that if you want.

No thanks, Bill, I got a few things down here in Philly I need to take care of before I make any new moves… a little payback kind of business if you know what I mean….

CUT:
IDA and JEREMIAH walking down FRANKFORD Avenue, just underneath the El. They enter Ida's Magic and Trick store. IDA punches in the burglar alarm code and walks behind the counter, almost immediately lighting a joint. She puffs on it then hands it to JJ. He hands it back to her.

IDA

This is the real thing brother, best hangover cure out there….

She again passes it to JJ who gladly takes a hit.

IDA (packaging dime bags for sale)

What are you up to today?

I'm gonna go hit the gym for an hour or so and then I got an appointment with the VA shrink downtown and then I guess I'm gonna get rip roaring drunk down at the ol Last Trolley Stop Café. How bout you, what are you up to?

IDA

Are you going to tell the shrink about the weird dreams?

Sure, it makes me look like the nut I want to be.

IDA

I don't think it's nuts…well maybe a little…. But most likely, in my opinion, I think there's something really there… interesting stuff from a best seller type of angle…. I've been thinking about writing a paperback about our experimentation and research….

Sounds boring….

IDA

We might be able to make a million…. You wouldn't believe what those cats who were writing those life after life type books were making in the seventies…. That reincarnation stuff is big again…. Maybe you and I should take a ride to the Italian Market and talk to the guy from your dreams….

She takes a hit and passes it back JJ.

EXT-Lower Frankford, just under the el - Early afternoon
Jeremiah hears the downtown bound el coming toward the station; he runs toward the station. He runs up the stairs and flashes his pass to the CHICK IN THE BOOTH. CHICK IN THE BOOTH gives JEREMIAH the thumbs up sign as he leaps over the turnstile. He barely squeezes through the train car's door as it closes.

INT-El Train-DAY
JEREMIAH breathes heavy as he looks around the sparse midday crowd. He starts coughing uncontrollably and soon seeks refuge in between the moving cars. He coughs up some blood. FADE OUT after series of shots showing the el snaking around center city before disappearing into the city.

FADE BACK IN:
INT.UNDERGROUND TRAIN STATION.AFTERNOON

JEREMIAH exits the station; the camera follows him up the stairs.

INT-SHRINK'S OFFICE-- DAY

CU of Jeremiah telling his story to the camera..

JEREMIAH (responding to offscreen question)

I don't really know; I don't think I'm remembering them all… it has been repeating itself.

OFF SCREEN SHRINK

Do you remember when they started?

JEREMIAH

Oh, yeah, right after that asshole Bush declared then end of major combat… one of the guys pulled out a sheet of acid. Pulled it right out of his footlocker… had it hidden in there the whole time, weird skinhead Nazi mutherfucker….

JEREMIAH falls back into his memory….

NAZI PLATOON BUDDY

Ain't no drug sniffing dawgs gonna smell this shit here, Mr. CIA…. Who amongst us of the warrior tribe are the brave ones?

NAZI holds out the sheet.

QUICK DISSOLVE: The NAZI carefully tearing apart the sheet and most of the platoon members eat some LSD.

SKINHEAD starts sharpening his bayonet almost immediately after taking care of the guys in the platoon and then eating what was left of the acid.

As soon as the LSD starts hitting JEREMIAH hard, he wanders out into the desert and looks at visually interesting and hallucinatory things like burning oil wells and charred bodies and decimated Iraqi equipment and then some US victory stuff like confident patrols .... he checks out the point where the Tigris and Euphrates meet and then he wanders back into the tent .... the trips are beginning to hit hard ... hitting everyone hard ....SKlNHEAD stands up and announces:

SKINHEAD (closing his hand around the blade of the newly sharpened bayonet)

Hundred bucks to anybody who can pull this outta my hand....

NAZI looks around the tent...

NAZI

A hundred bucks....

BARRETT, a short trim fast looking slightly muscular African American soldier gets up and walks over.

BARRETT

This LSD's something, man.. ..I'll try...

BACKGROUND VOICE: You're fucking nuts dude....

THE SKINHEAD HOLDS OUT HIS HAND. BARRETT GRABS THE KNIFE BY THE HANDLE.

BARRETT

You ready?

The SKINHEAD stares down at BARRETT and gives him A GRUNT and some body language that lets BARRETT and the rest of the platoon that he's ready to show them his strength.

The strength contest begins .... We are watching from JEREMIAH'S POV.

It doesn't take long for BARRETT to tear the knife out of SKINHEAD'S hand, SEV ERING FOUR OF SKINHEAD 'S FINGERS!

JEREMIAH, tripping his brains out, watches SKINHEAD'S fingers drop to the floor... JEREMIAH watches SKINHEAD watch his
fingers ...SKINHEAD's hand is pumping blood....JEREMIAH hallucinates that one of the fingers turns into a worm and slithers away and out of the tent.

EXT. BIG BUILDING WHERE SHRINK'S OFFICE IS. DAY JEREMIAH exits the building and walks into town.

JEREMIAH (VO)

Yeah, old skinhead was lucky he lost those fingers or he woulda been in the brig for a long, long time ... the rest of us were lucky we had just helped win a war. The shrink wanted to know how I felt about this guy from my recent dreams that I think maybe had done me wrong in another lifetime. I lied to her; I told her about forgiving instead of forgetting and that it was all about forgiveness. Success is the best revenge .... blah blah blah... I told her that crap to keep the checks coming. I truly wanted to blow the nigger's head off.

INT. MIKEY'S GYM. DAY

JEREMIAH

Ike been in today?

DICK

Nope... he's probably down at work; he was here earlier, his dickface boss called and barked at him to get the fuck down or else... they had a truckload of crabs to unload.... Ike "the Animal" Washington was something before Vietnam caught up with him.... fucking dirtbags sprayed that shit on their own guys....

QUICK DISSOLVE:
Jeremiah pounding on a heavy bag…each punch helps him think about his dreams….

DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. Italian Market. Midafternoon

CUT:
JEREMIAH arriving at the Italian Market. The fruit stand owners are closing up shop for the night. The Asian butcher shop owners are taking carcasses from their windows. JEREMIAH, after a little stroll where he purchases an apple, focuses his attention on one stand in particular.

TIMMY GODONO is barking orders at Ike "the animal" WASHINGTON, an older looking version of the guy who haunted JEREMIAH in the dream which opened the film about 20 minutes ago. IKE WASHINGTON is an African American in his early, early 50s. He wears an army jacket. He's in the good shape of a guy who still fights but has the haggard and worn look of a drunk; a has-been taking crap from a dickhead boss.

JEREMIAH focuses in on the patch on the guy's army jacket sleeve. It is an army "RANGER" patch. He also has a "We didn't forget: MIAs" patch on his sleeve.

JEREMIAH watches with some pleasure as TIMMY GODONO screams at WASHINGTON.

TIMMY (voice completely raspy due to throat cancer)
If I catch you sleeping tonight, I'm gonna fire you, you fucking got that?

WASHINGTON is pulling canvas tarps over the fruit in preparation for closing.

TIMMY
I said if I catch you sleeping or drinking on the job tonight, I'm gonna fire your nigger ass, you got that?

WASHINGTON (aloud, for the world to hear while he struggles with the tarps)
Yeah, I got that you wop son of a bitch.

JEREMIAH watches while he chomps on the apple. He finishes his apple then he walks away into the city streets which are beginning to quiet down a bit for the night. It is 6:15 p.m.

INT. Elevated train station. Late afternoon.
Rush hour, with its crowds of people (who look like they have jobs) and its faster express trains. JEREMIAH boards one of the cars. It's standing room only.

Quick dissolve:
EXT. Frankford Terminal. Early evening
Jeremiah gets off the car and walks to the bottom of the station. He immediately sees the crowd that has formed around the last trolley stop. An "action news" live coverage van is there, THE REPORTER is prepping BARTENDER BILL for an imminent interview. Apparently MURPH spots JEREMIAH first because he calls to him as he rushes over unseen.

MURPH (quiet but excited)
You ain't gonna believe this, Bill just wasted a coupla niggas who were trying to hold the place up. Fuck... listen....

JEREMIAH's POV is riveted to the tv interview which is just beginning between the TV REPORTER and BARTENDER BILL.

TV REPORTER

As you can see, I'm standing just under the El at Bridge and Pratt Streets in the Frankford section of the city. Just a half hour ago, a local bar, the Last Trolley Stop Cafe was the scene of a bloody shootout between a bar owner and two desperate youths trying to rob the place. The whole thing was captured on the establishment's surveillance cameras. Parents, I must warn you- the following moment captured on tape are (BEAT) gruesome....

DRUNK FROM CROWD

Yeah, VCR alert, hahahaha.....

JEREMIAH turns his attention to the monitor where the tv tech must've patched in the surveillance tape that came from the bar. Bill had the camera placed so it could capture a pretty good portion of what was going on at the bar and, man, it picked up a scene this time.

It starts off with the dysfunctionals sitting around having a bad time when two black kids come bursting silently into the bar brandishing shotguns, ordering everyone to the floor except Bill. One of the kids motions Bill to the old fashioned mechanical register.

JEREMIAH'S POV moves in closer, moves in a bit on the screen and focuses on part of the picture. He watches the kid mouth: Let's go motherfucker....
Bill walks to the old fashioned register he never uses and pushes one of the buttons-- only thing was that the button must've been connected to some sort of trigger that must've been connected to a tightly barrelled shotgun because when Bill hits the register button the kid's head disappears into a black spray. Bill then quickly wheels backward reaches for his .25-- taking a shot in the side from the other kid who's now backing up, desperately looking for a way out. Bill shoots him in the heart. Then a couple patrons get up and Murph goes to the kid to see if he's still alive. It takes Murph about two seconds of checking to give the thumbs down'he's dead' sign. Bill is in the picture tending to his minor wound. It went in and out I could see him mouth on the screen.

The live monitor DISSOLVES to the live scene outside the Last Trolley Stop.

Bartender Bill and the Reporter are preparing to be interviewed as a floor manager counts down three, two (BEAT) .... action!

REPORTER

Wow, what was going through your mind?

BILL

Well, I'll tell you Reporter Boy and I'll tell you the rest of you folks out there. Two punks came into my establishment and tried to perpetrate deadly violence upon me and my friends are now dead .... that's the story...

BILL rips his shirt off and reveals a pretty well built late mid sixtyish drunk; he was showing off his battle scars on live tv. There were quite a number of old bullet holes in old Bill.

BILL

Bunch of slopes back in Korea- you know anything about Korea Reporter Boy? No, of course not- anyway, these fucking slopes tried taking me the fuck out a long time ago when I was blowing up their Dink fucking bridges. I'm still here and those Dinks have been dead for a long, long time. I worked my ass hauling tools up through the Alaskan oil fields and then I came home to open this wonderful bar. And let me tell you something, over the past 30 years I've watched this neighborhood, hell I've watched this city, turn into a fucking hellhole. The punks know my cash register trick but I got other tricks too, you think I'm some ninety year old jew storekeeper I'm a fucking war hero.... I thrive in this dump while the others decay and close down around me.... you fucks want to go to war, we'll go to war....

REPORTER

Uh, yeah, Marcus Johntas reporting from Lower Frankford. (pause) Cut_
Jesus Christ, Blanko, tell em what you're really thinking. Can't complain too much though people are gonna watch it, the station wasn't complaining at all. Fuck, you might make the next Faces of Death tape.

BILL

Faces of death, hatever the fuck that is, alright folks... drinks are on the war hero!

Most of the crowd follows Bill into the bar; MOSES, MURPH and JEREMIAH stay outside and watch the crowd dissipate.

MOSES (watching some of the blacks walk away disgusted)

Some of the black folk aren't as excited about Bill's vigilante moves as we are...

MURPH

I need to go boot up, I've been shaking like a leaf since the holdup. I had to talk to the cops for a few minutes before you showed up. Either of you guys want to take a ride over?

JEREMIAH

I'll go up to your place but I'm done with the junk, at least for now, it's making me too sick with the medicine I been taking for the sickness. I don't want to stay long, I gotta talk to Ida about some things....

MURPH

Sounds good to me.

MURPH and JEREMIAH walk up the El stairs, use their monthly passes and ride the EL TRAIN one stop down to Margaret and Orthodox Streets. They get off and walk across the street to the apartment building Murph inhabits when he isn't living at the Last Trolley Stop.

JEREMIAH (VO as they walk from the el to the apartment)

Bill caught MURPH booting up a coupla months ago in the backroom I was living in and threatened to 86 him for good. Murph agreed not to boot up in the bar anymore and has since stuck to the bargain.

MURPH and JEREMIAH spend the next half hour or so hanging out; MURPH shoots heroin and JEREMIAH smokes on a joint. The train rumbles by a few times.

JEREMIAH

Hey, Murph, I'm going back to the bar. You coming?

MURPH

Nah, I'm gonna hang out here for awhile ... you sure you don't want any of this junk?

JEREMIAH

No, thank you.

MURPH

See ya...

JEREMIAH

Yeah.

As JEREMIAH leaves the building the train is pulling out. He decides to walk. JEREMIAH walks into the LTSC.

INT. LAST TROLLEY STOP CAFE_ NIGHTTIME
Most of the crowd has dissipated and just a few of the regulars are left hanging about. JEREMIAH spots IDA sitting in a booth sipping on a whiskey sour. MOSES is passed out in the booth. HE waves to IDA, goes to the bar, orders himself a Michelob and another whiskey sour for Ida.

IDA

Hey baby, how's it going? You missed all the excitement.

JEREMIAH

Went to the shrink, that went alright. I got real tired at the gym. Afterwards, I took a walk through the Italian Market.

IDA

Was our friend from your dreams there?

JEREMIAH

Yes, ma'am

IDA

How do you feel when you see him?

JEREMIAH

I feel like I know him, like I've known him before.

IDA

But you're pretty sure you've never heard of Ike the animal Washington? Maybe we can write a book but first we have to solve all of your karmic problems.

JEREMIAH

You want to go question him a little for me?

IDA

When?

JEREMIAH

Tonight.

IDA

Alright.

They both look up at the television on which Bill was now running the shootout tape over and over again on the bar's VCR.

JEREMIAH

Bill, sure is a good killer.

IDA

You can say that again. You ready?

JEREMIAH

Yeah. I want to get a pint of something for the road.

DISSOLVE/ MONTAGE of IDA and JEREMIAH heading down to the Italian Market in search of IKE WASHINGTON.

JEREMIAH (VO)

Yeah, it was a strange life I was leading in that backroom at the Last Trolley Stop Cafe; I was a nutcase surrounded by a bunch of nutcases. Ida was the most well adjusted person I'd met in the two years since I'd returned to Philly after bailing out of Alaska. Ida was helping me find myself and I appreciate that looking back on the whole thing now.

The DISSOLVE MONTAGE ends when JEREMIAH and IDA get off the train at the 9th and Market Station which is about ten blocks away from the Italian Market. They are walking by the towering Southwark housing projects as we pick them up in this scene.

JEREMIAH

Me, I think the world's ending come the year 2012, you know the mayans said so.....

IDA

Not me baby; I think it ended a long time ago.

JEREMIAH

Maybe.

They enter the closed down for the night italian market. Every five or six stands employs a night watchman. Invariably these night watchmen have trashcan fires burning in front of their respective stands, especially on these damp, cold late March/ early April Philly rains.

JEREMIAH (cont'd and sarcastically)

Poor guy must be hard up, he pulls double shifts down here four or five nights a week depending on his drinking and drug binges. I'm half tempted to just go up and ask him about his season in hell. Ike the Animal, eh?

IDA

You don't think that he'll confess do you?

JEREMIAH

Nope. I guess that's why I brought you along baby; you are my grand inquisitor and for that I'm eternally grateful.

IDA

Eternally, huh?

IKE WASHINGTON is standing behind the trashcan fire, keeping himself warm on this cold, wet March night.

JEREMIAH

Eternally. There he is. I'm ducking down this alley, you talk to him. I dunno talk to him about the sixties or something. Ask him about Nam, you know, talk to him about your Chicago Seven days or something.

IDA (kissing JEREMIAH on the lips)

Yep, I'll see you later baby. Don't worry, I got all kinds of ideas.

CUT:
INT. ELEVATED TRAIN CAR. NIGHT
The train car is nearly empty save for a few drunks and junkies.

CUT:
INT. LTSC. NIGHT, 12:15 a.m.

MURPH, MOSES (passed out) and BILL are still there and are the bar's only inhabitants. JEREMIAH sits down and silently drinks with them.

CUT: LTSC. NIGHT, 2:15 a.m.

BILL

C'mon guys time to go. Moses, hey Moses wake up.

MOSES stirs, staggers upward and walks out the door without saying a word.

MURPH (walking out the door)

See you guys tomorrow.

BILL, JEREMIAH (in unison)

See you Murph.

MURPH walks out the door. BILL follows right behind him.

BILL

See you in few hours Jeremiah. Exciting fucking day, huh?

JEREMIAH

No kidding.

JEREMIAH locks the door behind BILL then goes and sits in one of the booths. He finishes his
beer, looks out the window one more time for IDA, sees nothing. HE then goes into the backroom and closes the door.
Fade to black then come up quickly in dreamland.

EXT. Battlefield. Eerie Digital Twilight

JEREMIAH is walking across a WW I era battlefield- mud, bodies, trenches, huge and bloated rats feeding on the bodies' left in the huge trenches to rot.
One of the black kids from the robbery video is on the ground a few yards away from JEREMIAH, the KID is writhing in pain.

KID

Water .... please.. just some water....

JEREMIAH starts walking over and then the KID transmogrifies into an old, mortally wounded syphilis infected English knight.

ENGLISH KNIGHT (heavy cockney accent)

Let's go motherfucker, you have a job to do....

Fade to Black. Silence for a second or two. We stay in BLACK for a second or two but we get the BUZZING SOUND of a POWER DRILL.

CUT:
INT. the backroom. EARLY DAY

JEREMIAH lays in his bed and listens to the sounds of drilling for a few seconds. A EL TRAIN rumbles by slowly above.

CUT:
INT. LTSC. Daytime

JEREMIAH walks into the taproom. MURPH and MOSES are there. BILL is absent. The front door is propped open. In walks the TV GUY ( a middle aged, pudgy prevert looking kind of guy); the TV GUY immediately starts drilling some more.

JEREMIAH

What's this?

MURPH

Bill had a brainstorm last night. The idea came to him in a dream. He thinks this whole shootout thing is his fifteen minutes .... hah.

TV GUY (to JEREMIAH)

Hey, you look able enough. You wanna give me a hand with a couple of tvs I gotta bring in?

JEREMIAH (to MURPH)

Hey, uh, Murph, has Ida been in yet?

MURPH

Nope, she sure hasn't. Jeez, you guys are getting awfully serious, eh? eh?

MURPH bursts out laughing hysterically and his face turns beet red.

CUT:
EXT. Just outside the LTSC. Daytime
JEREMIAH and the TV GUY out at the TV GUY's Truck. The TV GUY is preparing to take some cables inside.

TV GUY

Sure is a hell of an idea, Bill's putting two tvs in and he's gonna play that tape over and over again. He told me it's like in the middle ages where the bigwigs used to put people's heads on stakes as warnings. Yeah, of Bill sure likes his history.

JEREMIAH (looking around for IDA)

Hell of an idea .... I'm gonna go eat breakfast, you okay from here?

TV GUY

Yeah, sure....

JEREMIAH walks across the street and into the diner. INT. DINER. LATE MORNING

STEPHANIE, a waitress walks over to JEREMIAH. She kind of likes JEREMIAH but JEREMIAH's interests these days are IDA.

STEPHANIE

Hey, Jeremiah, the usual?

JEREMIAH (opening the sports page)

Yep.

STEPHANIE

Were you over there for the shootout yesterday?

JEREMIAH

Nope.

STEPHANIE

Bill's a brave guy, if he was just a little younger I'd date him.

JEREMIAH

That's nice.

A few minutes later, JEREMIAH is eating his breakfast and reading the paper when he hears the voice of the dying knight in his dreams.

JEREMIAH

(voice in his head from last night's dream)

Let's go motherfucker, you got a job to do.

JEREMIAH finishes his sandwich and walks back across the street to the LTSC.

INT. LTSC. DAY

JEREMIAH (making himself a drink and talking to MURPH)

Still no Ida, eh?

MURPH

Nope, you guys are getting awfully serious, when are you gonna get married?

MURPH bursts out in laughter, startling the TV GUY.

TV GUY

Is he alright?

MOSES

Yeah, he's just doped up on smack and liquor, it'll wear off in a few hours and he'll be himself again.

A few moments later, BILL emerges from the basement and looks around at his new televisions which are showing him do his john wayne thing in an endless loop.

BILL

Hey hey the gang's all here.

end of act 1

act 2
fade to black then quickly back up to: INT. LTSC. LATE MORNING

The front door opens and in walk IDA and IKE, they are holding hands. JEREMIAH looks up at the clock; it's 11:32. IDA gives JEREMIAH a wink.

IDA (to IKE)

What would you like baby?

IKE

Oh, I don't know ... I'd better stick with the beer. I got to be back at work tonight and the weekend's coming up, that's a lot of hours, the last thing in the world I need down at the market is a killer hangover. How about a bottle of (extinct brand name beer)?

JEREMIAH

Sure.

IDA

How bout a presbyterian?

JEREMIAH
Comin right up....

JEREMIAH gets and opens the bottle of beer and then starts making the drink.

IKE (already looking quizzically at the shootout video)

I'm gonna go use the bathroom baby.

IKE gives the TV GUY a funny look as he briefly watches the TV GUY finish up the LTSC's new entertainment system.

IDA You mind sitting with my fiends?

IKE
No problem. I'll be right back.

IKE walks away to the mens room.

JEREMIAH
You fuck him?

IDA
You told me you wanted to know the truth, now you're gonna question my methods?

JEREMIAH
Yeah, I thought we were boyfriend, girlfriend?

IDA Okay, I wasn't real sure on that....

JEREMIAH
Neither was I.

IDA
Okay, we got five or six hours to work this guy. Let's get to work.

IDA walks away and sits down with MOSES and MURPH. IKE returns from the bathroom and joins the crowd.

IDA
Murph, Mo this is my new friend Ike. He works down at the Italian Market.

MOSES
Ah, a Nam vet, welcome to the Last Trolley Stop. Nice to meet you.

IKE
Nice to be here. What's with the shootout? Is that real?

MURPH
Oh, yeah, you must've missed the news last night, eh?

IKE
I've been working a lot.

MURPH
Good for you, whadda you do?

Here, we drift away into a montage of dull barroom conversation .... come out of it briefly for:

BILL
Hey, uh Jeremiah, I gotta go downstairs, you mind watching the place for an half hour or so?

JEREMIAH
No problem, Bill.

BILL goes downstairs.

JEREMIAH (looking around the room) Anybody need anything?

JEREMIAH Time for a round?

IDA
Sure.

MOSES I want Yukon....

JEREMIAH
The rest of you get brain hemorrhages.

IKE
Nothing for me Jeremiah thanks. I got to be going soon.

JEREMIAH
It's a pussy shot Ike; schnapps and irish creme, how bout one more pussy shot for the road?

IKE
I'm pretty fucked up but okay, sure.

JEREMIAH Sure, a round coming right up.

JEREMIAH walks away and returns with the drink's on the tray. He professionally places everyone's drinks in their places.

JEREMIAH
A toast ... here's to fuckin and here's to killing...

IKE is a little uncomfortable but joins in anyway. MO sort of chokes down his shot (he's got cirrhosis).

That stufrs gonna kill you Mo.

MOSES
I'm already dead. The gooks got a big part of me at Khe Senh. You see this Ike, I still got a piece of shrapnel in my brain.

IKE (drunkenly leaning in toward MO)
Yeah, yeah I can see the ridge alright. What's with that tatoo? Oh, yeah, USMC and a bullet hole .... yeah .... I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

MOSES
It used to say `fuck you.'

Out of nowhere, JEREMIAH starts coughing hard and pretty soon is spitting up quite a bit of blood. JEREMIAH intentionally spits some on Ike's hand.

JEREMIAH
Oh, fuck, I'm sorry....

JEREMIAH takes a big sip of beer.

Sorry guys .... sorry Ike. Fuck what is this, war injury day at the Last Trolley Stop Cafe.

IDA
It's okay baby, he's drunk and pissed off about that gulf war sickness; he'll be alright.

BILL brings over a round of brain hemorrhages and a shot of yukon for Mo.

JEREMIAH
Here's to killing gooks and sand niggers .... ooops...sorry Ike.

JEREMIAH slides into the booth next to IKE and says quietly to him:

JEREMIAH
C'mon you can level with me, you can tell me that you killed your platoon sergeant back in the Nam ... you're amongst friends here ... you killed your sarge didn't you? Right?

IKE
Wrong!

JEREMIAH

How bout you Ike, you got any big leftover problems from Nam, agent orange type of stuff, PTSD?

IKE (no eye contact)
No, I got out alive and pretty healthy (beat) a lot of bad dreams right after I came back but they stopped.... I don't much talk about it these days

JEREMIAH
No, I don't know ... it seems to me that a guy wearing a Nam jacket wouldn't mind talking about the war....

IKE
I don't have a lot of jackets and it's pretty warm as long as it's got the liner. I didn't wear it for a long time.

JEREMIAH
What did you do back in the Nam?

IKE
I was a grunt.

JEREM IAH You kill anybody?

IKE hesitates, looks up and sees JEREMIAH wants an answer.

IKE
Yeah, kid, I killed some gooks.

Gooks, huh? How many?

IKE
I don't know, I fired an M-16 into the jungle a lot. Seems like we got ambushed three times a week.

JEREMIAH

Gooks, eh, maybe it's time for another round of brain hemorrhages....

IKE (angrily) I'm done. I got to be at work.

In a drunken rage, IKE flings the booth's table a number of feet through the bar, creating a huge crashing noise. The table spins and rolls into the jukebox causing it to skip and scratch like mad. tNTERCUT: the shootout video....

IKE strides to the door and violently pushes it out of his way out the door. JEREMIAH drunkenly gets up and follows him.... by the time JEREMIAH gets through the door, IKE has disappeared into the night.

JEREMIAH (screaming into the damp night)
I'm gonna get you! You fucking killer .... you fucking killer nigger ... you murder anybody lately you fucking nigger?!

MURPH joins him just outside the LTSC.

MURPH

Don't worry about it kiddo, this place has done some strange things to us all. You'll be alright.

MURPH and JEREMIAH walk back into the bar. JEREMIAH stares fixedly at the shootout video as he makes himself comfortable on a stool at the bar. IDA walks over and MURPH disappears back to the dark booths to join MOSES who has by now passed out.

IDA
Hey baby, I guess that's the end of me and Ike. Are you interested in getting out of here, maybe go up to my father's place and get lost in each other's arms for awhile? I haven't been to Centralia for awhile-my dad's place is starting to grow unmanageable ...I should do a little work around there, you can fish the streams if you want. Besides my father's house is the most supernatural site I've ever had access to. What do you think?

JEREMIAH (doing a kreskin imitation) I predict you'll get arrested for drunk driving....

IDA
No way baby, I cast a couple of protective spells, we won't even see a cop.

JEREMIAH
It sounds alright but look what happened to Murph the last time I went up there trying to solve a problem....

IDA and JEREMIAH watch MURPH waving his stump around like a mad maestro.

IDA

You're right, my father's house can be a very dangerous place but it's got the kind of magic that the ancient ones have written and dreamed about for eons my friend. We'll be there in three hours, we'll be back tomorrow, midnight or so at the latest. C'mon you could use a little communing with Sister Nature.

JEREMIAH
Let's go.

Cut
EXT. ROUTE 309 (takes you from Philly, North toward PA's coal regions). NIGHT

IDA is driving and JEREMIAH is sipping on a beer and staring out the window as our driving montage takes us from the city to the country.

FADE INTO a recent memory that involved MURPH and JEREMIAH and the last time they went to visit IDA's father, FARMER BROWN.

EXT. ROUTE 309. MIDAFTERNOON
JEREMIAH and MURPH are heading up to FARMER BROWN'S place. MURPH still has both his hands and they are gripping the wheel. MURPH's pickup is from the 1960s, it has a camper shell in the back. MURPH likes driving quickly and he's not very good at it.. They eventually slow at a country beer distributor and gas station.

MURPH (walking away from the pickup) I'll get beer, Mr. Brown likes beer alright.

JEREMIAH walks into the bizarrely dirty bathroom and checks himself out; he is healthier looking in his memory. He then pisses in the brown toilet. He walks from the bathroom and reunites with MURPH (who has just purchased a shitload of cheap beer) at the pickup. They drive off.

DISSOLVE:
They are nearing Centralia, MURPH and JEREMIAH watch the smoke rising everywhere from underground..

MURPH (pointing at the smoke which billows up from Centralia's now burning underground made of coal)

You see that smoke, there are fires burning everywhere around here. Nobody knows exactly how it all started, but the coal under here caught fire thirty years ago and the fires have only grown larger since. The smoke you see is the result of engineers drilling holes to relieve the pressure which I understand is very great .... this used to be a town of twenty thousand, now about fifty elderly people live here, waiting for the whole fucking place to collapse into hell .... that day is coming Jeremiah, you mark my words....

DISSOLVE:
EXT. FARMER BROWN'S FARM'S BORDER. LATE AFTERNOON
The pickup truck pulls up to a closed gate. NIURPH gets out and opens the gate. The truck disappears down a winding driveway.

EXT. FARMER BROWN'S PIG FARM. LATE AFTERNOON
FARMER BROWN has foregone the shabby house that sits in the background and now lives in an old schoolbus that's tires all sit a foot down in the mud that is everywhere on this soon to be former pig farm. FARMER BROWN COMES out of the bus and greets them. FARMER BROWN is a little suspicious of JEREMIAH and eyes him warily. FARMER BROWN is in his early 70s, very skinny, he wears dirty flannels, dirty jeans and dirty suspenders. He drools and has Mad Monkey disease. He's weird. JEREMIAH looks around a little, very weird looking pigs lurk nearby in the fenced off trees just in the background. Smoke billows upward in the background. The pigs make strange grunting noises.

M URPH
He's a good kid, Mr. Brown; he fought in the war....

FARMER BROWN looks at MURPH like he's crazy.

MURPH (cont'd)
The gulf war, Mr. Brown.

FARMER BROWN understands then nods in agreement.
They enter the schoolbus, MURPH carries two cases of beer inside.

MURPH (cont'd)
Jeremiah's a good friend of your daughter's. He's almost finished college someday he will finish, he's a good kid, that's why I'm training him to perform the operations.

He needs the cash.

FARMER BROWN laughs, drools and nods in agreement. HE darts out of the bus and disappears into the wooded area for a little bit. FARMER BROWN then comes out of the woods with a nicely sized Bwana Pig attached to a stiff leash. The pig grunts and tries to bite FARMER BROWN but the stiff leash is designed so that BROWN can easily muff the pig's attack. The BWANA PIG is the size of a small bear.

Cut:
EXT. FARMER BROWN'S FRONT YARD BY THE PICKUP. EARLY EVENING FARMER BROWN has maneuvered the BWANA PIG into the pickup and MURPH and JEREMIAH have met him here. MURPH looks into the camper and eyes the pig.

MURPH
Nice, nice she looks very nice Mr. Brown.

MURPH pulls from his jacket pocket a paperbag plain old full with money.

MURPH
Old, crumpled Five dollar bills as requested Mr. Brown.

MURPH then walks to the front of the truck and comes back with a medical bag.

MURPH (pulling a huge hypodermic from the bag) The Bwana Pig can be very, very dangerous so we are very, very careful .... right Jeremiah?

JEREMIAH
Right, Murph.

MURPH injects the BWANA PIG which causes the PIG to go berserk for a second and almost kicks MURPH in the face and then falls into unconsciousness like a huge sack of potatoes.

CUT:
INT. MURPH'S PICKUP DRIVING SOUTH BACK TO PHILLY. EARLY NIGHT MURPH and JEREMIAH are pounding beers. JEREMIAH checks on the pig.

FARMER BROWN (big time speech impediment) She's all yours, Dr. Murphy.

MURPH (moving his fingers around on both hands, prepping his muscles for an operation) She's all ozers Mr. Brown. Good luck Mr. Brown.

MURPH and FARMER BROWN shake hands. MURPH AND JEREMIAH get into the truck and pull away.

Quick Dissolve:
EXT. Country Road. Dusk

MURPH
You know how Farmer Brown got all fucked up like that; that's a nervous system problem....

JEREMIAH
I don't know, Atzheimers?

MURPH
How bout he got that bad, bad brain disease from fucking monkeys? How's that one grab you? Monkey fucking.._ yeah of Mr. Brown, he's always been a strange one, look at his fuckin daughter, she's a witch.... real heavy into junk as long as I've known him... I mean I'm a fucking veterinarian and I don't know exactly how these monkey fucking trips into Africa are arranged; of course, I don't really give a rat's ass one way or the other either... so anyway, back in 1980 or so, Ol Brown gives me a call and asks if me if I could come up twice a week and take care of the pigs and the chickens for him for a coupla weeks.... I tell him are you fucking crazy, I'm a veterinarian not a shepherd.... and he tells me about this trip he's taking... he's going to Africa, deep into Africa.... to fuck monkeys....

JEREMIAH
Monkeys? You mean natives? Africans? You know, like with spears?

MURPH
No, Jeremiah, monkeys.... (NIURPH takes his HANDS from the wheel and scratches his armpits like a chimp).... Bordello of the Apes... except they was monkeys.... so he goes and he fucks some monkeys... but he gets bit by one of them, on the hand see, and whatever it was that monkey was carrying around went into his bloodstream and, Jeremiah, within six months Farmer Brown's brain had disintegrated into mush.

JEREMIAH
Yeah, you're fucking kidding, right Murph? Bedtime for Fuckin' Bonzo, Jesus Fucking Christ...

MURPH
Our female friend will be out like a dead light until I inject her with some speed, the trick is to not put too much into her ... we use the Bwana Pig for two primary reasons. The first is that the pig's innards approximate a human's to a great extent. But the real reason is that the Bwana Pig has a triple uteri. They always have three on the burner. The Bwana Pig always produces three more Bwana Pigs.

JEREMIAH
Not this one.

MURPH chuckles.

MURPH
Not this one. One pig, three fetuses, three abortions. Now, I teach you this you promise to stay away from the whores?

JEREMIAH
Scout's honor. Hey, uh, Murph I'm assuming this is the kind of stuff that caused you the loss of your medical license?

MURPH pops open another can of beer and takes a big swig. Seeger: Down on Main Street

MURPH
Yep. Back in 83, I went on a bender. Heroin. Coke. Booze. You name it, I'd just done something like twenty abortions and I was needing a break. I should have just gone home and gone to sleep. I knew it, I knew the last few were being done sloppy. I nicked one of my dear dear friend's uterus and it started bleeding. I thought I patched it up in the office. I went down to the docks and disappeared on a heroin binge with a couple buddies. Lisa was her name; she tried finding me but that was back in the day when I wasn't as easy to find as I am now. (tears well up in his eyes) Lisa was one of my best customers. Eventually, she went to Frankford Hospital where she died in a painful delirium. She didn't rat me out but it didn't take long for the cops to track me down. It all ended with a plea bargain. It was almost a bargain, I guess. (BEAT) I gave up my medical license and went to a country club prison for a year. Then a coupla years of probation. Nowadays, I don't do many. But I do a few. You know what I mean?

JEREMIAH (thoughtfully)
Yeah.

DISSOLVE.
EXT. LOWER FRANKFORD. NIGHT
MURPH pulls the truck into the back of his tenement apartment and MURPH and JEREMIAH get out. MURPH checks out the scene.

MURPH
I'm going upstairs, I got to lower the fire escape. We'll bring her up that way.

JEREMIAH
Cool.

MURPH (furtively)
We got to be careful. We got to be quiet. My neighbors have been keeping a close eye on me lately. I think they might be thinking that I have some something to do with the whores who keep showing up dead around here .... I'll be right back....

JEREMIAH
Cool.

JEREMIAH looks around for a few moments, watches and listens to the El rumble by. Soon, MURPH starts lowering the fire escape, JEREMIAH takes it as it is lowered. MURPH walks down the stairs and meets JEREMIAH.

JEREMIAH comes out of the memory for a few moments. CUT:
INT. IDA's VOLKSWAGEN BUS ON A REMOTE STRETCH OF 309. NIGHTTIME

JEREMIAH
Your dad died a couple weeks after our visit.

IDA nods her head but stays silent, her focus is on the road. JEREMIAH watches the road for a couple seconds and then goes back inside the BWANA PIG memory.

INT. MURPH'S PICKUP DRIVING SOUTH BACK TO PHILLY. EARLY NIGHT MURPH and JEREMIAH are pounding beers. JEREMIAH checks on the pig.

JEREMIAH
Not this one.

MURPH chuckles.

MURPH
Not this one. One pig, three fetuses, three abortions. Now, I teach you this you promise to stay away from the whores?

JEREMIAH
Scout's honor. Hey, uh, Murph I'm assuming this is the kind of stuff that caused you the loss of your medical license?

MURPH pops open another can of beer and takes a big swig. Seeger: Down on Main Street

MURPH
Yep. Back in 83, I went on a bender. Heroin. Coke. Booze. You name it, I'd just done something like twenty abortions and I was needing a break. I should have just gone home and gone to sleep. I knew it, I knew the last few were being done sloppy. I nicked one of my dear dear friend's uterus and it started bleeding. I thought I patched it up in the office. I went down to the docks and disappeared on a heroin binge with a couple buddies. Lisa was her name; she tried finding me but that was back in the day when I wasn't as easy to find as I am now. (tears well up in his eyes) Lisa was one of my best customers. Eventually, she went to Frankford Hospital where she died in a painful delirium. She didn't rat me out but
it didn't take long for the cops to track me down. It all ended with a plea bargain. It was almost a bargain, I guess. (BEAT) I gave up my medical license and went to a country club prison for a year. Then a coupla years of probation. Nowadays, I don't do many. But I do a few. You know what I mean?

JEREMIAH (thoughtfully)
Yeah.

DISSOLVE.
EXT. LOWER FRANKFORD. NIGHT

MURPH pulls the truck into the back of his tenement apartment and MURPH and JEREMIAH get out. MURPH checks out the scene.

MURPH
I'm going upstairs, I got to lower the fire escape. We'll bring her up that way.

JEREMIAH
Cool.

She's just about ready, I think. She's settling back toward sleep.

MURPH opens the camper door and leads the groggy pig to the stairs. MURPH leads, PIG in the middle and JEREMIAH follows.

MURPH (cont'd)
It's dark now ... it'll look like a saint bernard to the nosybodies....

CUT:
INT. THE REAR (KITCHEN). NIGHTTIME
The BWANA PIG is led into the kitchen. It is growing nervous. MURPH leads the PIG.

MURPH
Let's take her to the operating room, no?

MURPH leads the PIG into the "operating room and pulls down the old brown shades. He stops next to an exotic looking machine that sits upright. MURPH carefully attaches a leather strap to each of the pig's legs. He then walks to the "machine" and begins turning a lever that's a lot like one uses to crank a boat winch. Gradually the machine begins to lower. Soon, the PIG is on the table lying down, it's legs spread like, oh, it's about to give birth or get an abortion. The PIG is very nervous, it began baring it's fangs. But it's not escaping. MURPH pats the PIG on the head.

The operation is about to begin: MURPH is washing his hands and donning rubber gloves. He examines the saline and the vacuum. He turns on a microcassette tape recorder.

MURPH
For later listening and learning, eh Jeremiah?

JEREMIAH
Yeah.

And then MURPH starts.

MURPH
The saline solution has been injected and now we insert the vacuum but, alas, we have run into a problem, the Bwana Pig's uteri paths are highly irregular and differ from animal to animal ... the only appreciable difference between the Bwana's and the human female's reproductive tracts incidentally .... i now have to insert my hand into the animal's orifice in order to dislodge the vacuu....

JEREMIAH looks away momentarily when he hears a train coming from the distance...

MURPH
Interesting .... I seem to have caught my hand on somethi...oh my, it's trying to bite me....

MURPH tries to stealthily but quickly pull his arm from the PIG but one of the FETUSES has ahold of his right hared and part of his arm. MURPH screams out in extreme pain!

MURPH (cont'd)
...they want to live!!! eeeahhh! ! ! ! eeeaaahhh! ! ! !

JEREMIAH doesn't know what to do.... he watches the train whiz by and rumble.... MURPH calms down for a second or two, fighting hyperventilation....

MURPH
Jeremiah, I need you to remain calm and help me throu...through this .... just think back to boot camp ... you can do this Jeremiah...

I know Murph, I know... what do you want me to do Murph, I'm fine, you're the one who looks like he's about fucked....

MURPH
I'm not fucked, I'm fine, now get to the kitchen and bring back a kitchen knife .... but hurry Jeremiah the thing's babies are feeding themselves on my arm as we speak.... eeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!

The el train has passed and now MURPH's screams can probably be heard throughout the tenement house.

JEREMIAH goes to the kitchen and gets a nice knife. When he returns, he sees that MURPH has assessed and is continuing to assess his situation. MURPH now has a scalpel in his hand. MURPH is about to pass out.

MURPH
When I say when Jeremiah, when I say when I want you to cut it's fucking throat ... you ready.....

JEREMIAH readies the knife....

JEREMIAH
Just plunge it in?

MURPH
Ready .... go

JEREMIAH plunges the knife into the PIG'S throat....

MURPH
Now cut, Jeremiah you have to get to the spinal cord .... cut it's head off ...the mother and its offspring's nervous systems are connected!!! Eeeeaaahhhh!!!

JEREMIAH hacks at the pig; it's not easy ...... MURPH screams some more ... blood is spraying everywhere....

MURPH (panicking and nearing pass out)
We need a bucket, Jeremiah, if the blood drips down to the neighbor's place I'm fucked; they'll think I killed a whore; I'll be in a load of trouble just the same if the cops get a look at this place .... then I'll be fucked... oh officer it was just a pig I was butchering for Easter! Can I donate a few bucks to the benevolent association?
JEREMIAH goes to the kitchen and comes back with a bucket and puts it under the pig's bleeding head and then he goes back to work on the pig ... with much effort JEREMIAH eventually hacks the PIG's head off Another el train rumbles by.... the PIG's convulsing slows....

MURPH
Okay, now I just gotta wait a few seconds and I'll be able to pull my arm out of here .... there!

MURPH is able to pull his arm from the dead- but still mildly convulsing PIG.

The bloody stump that is left is losing and pumping blood. MURPH wearily slumps to the ground against the wall.

MURPH
You got to fix me my junk, Jeremiah....I need some junk before I can start repairing this, yes? It's in my top right dresser drawer....

JEREMIAH
Back in a flash....

MURPH (holding a bloody towel to his stump)
Yes, yes thank you Jeremiah.

JEREMIAH goes to MURPH's room and gets the junk kit. There are homosexual porn mags sitting next to the junk kit. JEREMIAH shakes his head with half disgust, closes the door and then JEREMIAH takes MURPH his junk kit.

MURPH
You got to fix it for me, Jeremiah....

JEREMIAH (already doing it and tapping it to remove air bubbles)
Already working on it Murph, already working on it.... there you go....

He hands the needle to Murph and injects it, gets a little relief, and hands it back JEREMIAH.

MURPH
I need one more....

JEREMIAH
Are you sure....

MURPH (still in agony)
Yes, I'm fucking sure!!!! Who's the fucking doctor here?!

JEREMIAH
You are Murph, you are.

JEREMIAH fixes another load of junk, gives it to MURPH who then plunges it into his arm. This fix seems to bring MURPH great relief.

QUICK DISSOLVE
A better off but a pale and exhausted looking and now one handed MURPH finishes bandaging up
what was left of his wound while JEREMIAH cleans up the pig parts, putting them in a green plastic trash bags.

MURPH
We're going to have to carve her up before we dump her. Are you up for it?

JEREMIAH
Do I really have a choice?

MURPH
I need your help, Jeremiah.

JEREMIAH
Okay, but I think I'm out of the abortion providing business, alright?

MURPH
That's fine by me, maybe we can get Bill to hire you on.

JEREMIAH goes back to hacking away at the now dead PIG.

DISSOLVE: JEREMIAH wiping up the blood with towels and throwing the towels into the green trash bags.

MURPH (getting up from the floor, testing his balance) Good, Jeremiah, thank you. We'll carry the bags down by the fire escape. You are wonderful, Jeremiah. Thank you.

JEREMIAH climbs out onto the fire escape and starts carrying bags.

DISSOLVE:
EXT. MURPH'S TENEMENT BUILDING, REAR. NIGHTTIME
A non express el train rides by gently above, sending down some sparks. The old pickup drives off.

CUT:
EXT. THE ROTTING AND NEARBY ABANDONED DOCKS OF THE HALFWAY MIGHTY DELAWARE RIVER.NIGHTTIME
The pickup truck comes to halt. JEREMIAH is driving. They both exit and JEREMIAH starts hauling the bags to the dock and throwing them in. It doesn't take long to get rid of all five bags.

MURPH
Soon, whatever fish are left around here will get sniff of our friend and will tear those bags to shreds and eat our friend. No big deal, it was just a pig.
They get back in the pickup and drive off.

Cut:
INT. MURPH'S TRUCK. NIGHTTIME

JEREMIAH
Hey, uh, Murph what's with the fag mags in your dresser... are you a queer or something?

MURPH
Yes, Jeremiah, I am a queer.

JEREMIAH
Well, I'm not you got that? I beat up some fags pretty bad when I was in the marines, you know ...ok, I don't like queers too much, I think they're sick, fucked up in the head, is that clear witchyou? Did my parents know you were a fag?

M URPH

Your mom knew after your father was killed.

JEREMIAH

Fuck this is a sick sick fucking world....

MURPH
Yes it is Jeremiah.

They drive on toward the Last Trolley Stop, blowing a cherry red light on the way to a:

DISSOLVE out of JEREMIAH's memory to
INT. IDA's BUS. NIGHTTIME

IDA
You didn't pick up he was queer, that's pretty funny. Him and my father were friends I'm sure. My father would fuck anything that moved. Anything. Even me when I was a kid.

JEREMIAH
That's fucking sick ... this whole fucking world is sick.... that's one of the reasons we lost Nam, nigger grunts killing their sergeants ... you can pretty much trace all this crap back to the hippies and the niggers....

IDA
Yes, you are an old soul Jeremiah.... me I was created from rape and incest .... I am a new soul ... we're here ... the backroom of my mind.
They pull into and through near deserted and still on fire Centralia. Soon they pull onto the now abandoned and the falling into ruin pig farm.

IDA
He did a lot of bad things to me once I hit adolescence .... he was already insane back then ... truly, hopelessly insane but what did I know ...I got out as soon as I felt I could .... that's why he helped get me the money to open the trick shop .... he was afraid I was going to kill him.... at night i sent out mental messages to him telling him I was going to kill him if he didn't help me get out ...I know that's why he helped me. Anyway, you wanted to know why I am letting this place rot and crumble back to the earth. Besides the ground beneath the place is burning, one of these days Centralia is going back to hell and that thought makes laugh. But first we are going to get some answers to our spiritual questions.

JEREMIAH
This place is pretty painful, huh?

IDA
Yep.

JEREMIAH Then why are we here?

IDA
Because this painful, painful place is where I best access the past.

They pull onto FARMER BROWN's farm. It is in much worse shape than it was when JEREMIAH and MURPH were here. They get out of the bus and take a look at the beauty and the rising smoke of Centralia. An old cemetery is just across the road from the Brown farm. A nice lake sits in the valley under the full moon.

IDA
You see that lake down there?

JEREMIAH
Yeah, nice.

That valley was a few farms, a school and a church. Some other stuff too. Government came in, threw em out and turned their valley into a reservoir. Just like that. I heard they all moved to the city. I was very jealous.

They walk to the very, very dilapidated house.

JEREMIAH (looking at the foreboding place) Are you sure we want to go in there?

IDA
I'm not sure but I'm pretty confident we can trance you out without calling up anything too evil....

JEREMIAH
Evil? What are you talking about?

IDA
Well, we are going to try to access the spiritual world in order to gain some answers about your possible pasts .... some of these spirits have their own agendas, we just need to be a little careful. That's why we are going to spend some time clearing this place out a little....

JEREMIAH
Because we might be running out of here as fast as we can?

IDA
Yeah, if I call up the wrong spirit from the "other side" we might be running for our lives .... I told you; this a dangerous but informative place. I predict this porch doesn't have much time left.

The whole porch lurches in silhouette.

They enter the house and insane clutter becomes apparent. They light the flourescent lantern.

JEREMIAH
What the fuck .... what a fucking nut.... no wonder he was living in the schoolbus.

IDA
Watch out for needles. He was a bad junky, worse than Murph. We'll pitch a tent if that's okay tonight_ We'll start clearing this place out in the morning. How's that sound?

JEREMIAH (looking around at the mess)
It sounds safe....

They walk out with the lanterns and get to work pitching the tent and making out. DISSOLVE: to the two of them fucking in the tent while the full moon sits above them. FADE TO BLACK then pretty QUICKLY FADE UP TO:

EXT. FARMER BROWN'S FARM. JUST AS A COLORFUL SUNRISE IS LIGHTING IT UP JEREMIAH gets up as IDA stirs but goes back to sleep.

JEREMIAH takes a walk over to the cemetery and then over to a nice stream and hangs out, checking out the trout. It's a moment of peace, harmony and nature. He walks back to the Brown Farm. IDA is cooking breakfast on a coleman stove. In the light JEREMIAH sees that four or five of the big oak trees that sit on the property had been struck by lightning and killed since him and Murph were here.

JEREMIAH
Those trees were alive when I was here with Murph.

IDA
My father died during that thunderstorm.

Hmm_... you sure you didn't do it?

They eat and finish breakfast.

IDA
I figure six or seven hours of clearing paths and such and then we get down to business.

JEREMIAH
Cool. Should I drive over to Shenandoah and get some beer?

IDA
Yeah, get something good.

JEREMIAH
Heineken?

IDA
Sure. I'll go with you.

CUT:
They return with beer and start clearing paths in a montage. They have an okay time, despite dodging needles and cleaning out a disgusting home formerly run by a raping madman.

IDA
You know you can figure that this place has been farmed for a few thousand years, Indians first and then in a supposedly more sophisticated way, the white man. You can figure all sorts of things happened here but I think that it's only the bad stuff that lingers. Pissed off spirits that have nothing better to do than linger, lurk and obsess forever at the scenes of the crimes committed against them, you know?

JEREMIAH
Yeah, I'm thinking about the hundreds of sand niggers I offed who are going to be hanging around Medina Ridge for the next couple centuries....
They clear a path large enough to get to the musty shades. IDA tears two of them down, brightening the place up and stirring up a lot of dust.

IDA
My gods, what a mess....

JEREMIAH
What is this, a hundred years worth of trash?

IDA
At least ninety I'm sure, my grandparents were nuts too.

JEREMIAH
Anything valuable in here?

IDA
I'm sure.

JEREMIAH
The whole house like this?

IDA
The basement's worse.

JEREMIAH
Am I going on a visionquest?

IDA
You are already on a visionquest. We're doing more of a seance. The scene of a great trauma produces spirituality of a great magnitude.
A cleaning montage that eventually DISSOLVES into:

EXT. FARMER BROWN'S PORCH. DUSK

IDA (looking at all the crap they cleaned from the house) Well, I think we're ready to go.... how bout you, you got any energy left?

JEREMIAH
I feel fine.

IDA
Then let's do it.

They get up and go inside. The house had impressive paths cleared and at least the two of them can now move through the house pretty freely. They go upstairs to IDA's childhood room. That has been cleaned bare. It is now a hardwood floored, non shaded, empty room in great contrast to the awesome clutter that still fills the rest of the house.

IDA
Does it look like the scene of a crime? Can you feel it?

JEREMIAH
What?

IDA
The energy.

JEREMIAH
Nope.

IDA
You will my dear

IDA
Okay, let's get you on the floor and cross legged.

JEREMIAH sits in the middle of the room and IDA helps him cross his legs. JEREMIAH stares out the broken window. It is now early night. The moon has risen and he watches that.

IDA
Are you ready?

JEREMIAH
Sure (pause) what are we doing exactly?

IDA
A form of hypnotism, really. I'm going to help you get in touch with your previous selves, it should look like an interesting movie that you are very involved with ... we are enlisting the aid of tired, dead and banished souls to help you see the past .... if you know what I mean?

JEREMIAH
No, but I trust you enough; right, my brain's not gonna fry is it?

IDA
No brain frying, I promise, besides I think your brain is already fried...

He continues staring at the moon and IDA begins her spell that is spoken in a mysterious ancient language that sounds as if it is being spoken backwards, mostly. Moments after IDA begins, the hallucinatory flashes begin hitting JEREMIAH hard. Bizarre soft sounds and soft light begin swirling around inside JEREMIAH's head.

IDA
We are looking for a guide, a guide to take my friend on a brief tour of his other minds, his other bodies, his other places in time.
JEREMIAH's POV looking at the moon fades for a second and then comes back to a less full moon of another time. He is sitting out on the Wyoming plains thousands of years ago. He is amongst the strange rock formations of Veeduwoo watching ancient mammals tear each other apart. Then it is stark daytime in medieval times .... he watches thousands of arrows flying through the air and darkening the sky. One of them appears to hit him, he screams and he is then transported again to that WW I battlefield from act 1. The old soldier is now dead and rotting. Cannons and machine guns somewhere in the background. And then:

CUT: EXT. VIETNAM BATTLEFIELD. NIGHT
The middle of a nighttime Vietnam jungle battle that is going badly for the American platoon trying to take some kind of nameless, barren and shell scarred hill. By the time we arrive, the hill taking idea has fizzled and most of the American (African American) troops have pretty much given up on the idea on taking the hill and instead have switched to the I wanna survive mode. Everyone, that is, except for Caucasian Southerner Sergeant Sartoris who is screaming at what is left of his platoon for to take the hill.

SARTORIS
Take that fuckin hill and we'll have watermelon and chicken for breakfast boys ... no one's getting back home to the ghetto unless we take that fucking hill ... move! ... move! ... move! Let's go you fucking niggers take that hill!

Explosions and flashes everywhere!

Effectively sneaking up behind the ranting SARGENT JJ/ SARTORIS is a black guy. He is carrying and aiming a sawed off shotgun at shoulder height; the soon to be assassin is still wearing his army pants but is made up to be an African; his longish, dirty hair is crazed and filthy and he is very, very angry and determined. IKE WASHINGTON aims the shotgun at the base of SARTORIS' skull.

SARTORIS
Take the fuckin hi.......

IKE WASHINGTON shoots and blows SARTORIS' head off in slo mo.

JEREMIAH opens his eyes. He is back in IDA's bedroom. The silence is now overwhelming. IDA must sway a bit because JEREMIAH listens intently to the floorboards squeak. IDA waits for JEREMIAH to speak.

JEREMIAH
Wow, that was weirder than any acid I have ever taken.

IDA
That's a common response to this sort of therapy. Think you learned anything?

JEREMIAH
Oh, yeah. I think. It was really just a big jumble of intense images that seemed to from all kinds of different times, medieval, ancient and then I was back in that Vietnam dream I've been having, the one with that Ike Washington nigger mother fucker blowing my head off

IDA
As a certified and practicing witch, it is my professional opinion that you are truly in touch with your karmic situation. I believe you are a reincarnation of that Sartoris character. You have some bad energy flowing through your veins but I do not believe you are crazy. I think you are right. (Pause) But. I don't think you should kill or hurt Ike Washington....

JEREMIAH explodes with rage and throws his half filled bottle of beer he's already sipping against her wall.

JEREMIAH
What!? You think he should get away with it?

IDA
He hasn't gotten away with it. Look at him, he's a loser. Habitual con-con
man ... convict .... the guy's had a tough life since the night he killed you, I mean Sartoris. His karma has caught up with him.

JEREMIAH
I'm gonna catch up with him. And now you're going soft on him, I knew I shouldn't have brought you in on this....

IDA
I'm not going to stand in your way. I saw some things tonight too. It's not going to do your soul any good to hurt Ike Washington.

JEREMIAH
I want to get back to Philly. I got to be back at the Last Trolley Stop before Bill closes the place. You can stay at my place.

JEREMIAH
I miss the back room.

IDA
Fine. We're done here. Every three weeks I think about coming up here and burning this place down. Let's go.
They pull off the farm and out of Centralia.

DISSOLVE:
EXT. OUTSIDE THE LTSC. LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING
JEREMIAH has to knock on the door to gain entrance. BILL is inside counting money and comes to the door suspiciously, sees it's JEREMIAH and lets him in.

BILL
Welcome back. You look a little tired, you and the lady have a good time?

JEREMIAH
It went okay; we got in a little fight in the end.

BILL
That's how it happens, kiddo. Well, I'll see you in the morning, kid. Good night.

JEREMIAH (readying himself to lock the door behind Bill)
Thanks for waiting, Bill.

BILL
No problem.

JEREMIAH pours himself a beer and sits down in a booth to drink it.
FADE OUT end of act 2

FADE UP beginning of act 3

INT. LTSC. EARLY MORNING

JEREMIAH'S been drinking all night, the sun is pretty close to rising. JEREMIAH puts some crazy music on the jukebox and turns on the video system that shows the shootout loop. He does an apocalypse now dance which leads him into the backroom. He looks at himself again in the mirror and then smashes his forehead against the sink three times in rapid succession. He then looks up at the mirror to see: a bloody mess of a gash. He smiles and then smashes his head against the sink again.

Cut to black. Cut to:
INT. the backroom. Morning
the sun has risen and the bar has opened since JEREMIAH put himself to a not so gentle sleep. He wakes up, the sun shines too harshly. He has a dry mouth and splitting headache. He does not look very good. He drinks some rusty water then staggers out to the taproom. NfURPH is there and so is 1DA and BILL. They are aghast when they see him.

BILL
What happened?

JEREMIAH I heard some noises last night just outside, I went out with a bat and that nigger you brought here was there. He fucking jumped me. I got him a little but he got me from behind that nigger mother fucker.

He sits next to IDA.

IDA
So I guess you're gonna off him?

JEREMIAH
Yeah.

IDA
He deserves it; it's just that I care about you very much and your future actions will have their karmic consequences, I'm sure they will be negative.

JEREMIAH
Are you gonna give me your biker buddy's address?

IDA
1313 Orthodox Street, the house next to the dunkin doughnuts; be careful what you say in the doughnut shop, the feds have been bugging it for months. You want to talk to Ricky, he was one of my husband's real friends. You can trust him. I've talked to him about you.

JEREMIAH
Hey, Bill, I need the rest of that poker jackpot money.

BILL (counting it from the old register)
Sure, here you go.

JEREMIAH
I'm gonna get my haircut, I don't want him recognizing me. I'll stick like a sore thumb bad enough in niggerville. See you guys later.

IDA Be careful, Jeremiah. Be smart.

JEREMIAH winks and walks out the door.

CUT:
EXT. FRANKFORD AVENUE. DAY

JEREMIAH comes across another crime scene. A hispanic couple are sitting in their car, both are dead. JEREMIAH stands next to a slight, stooped and cruddy old man who is also checking the action.

JERENIIAH
That serial killer strike again?

OLD MAN
No, it was just a murder suicide. Guy killed his wife then he killed hisself, good the world's got too many people in it thewayitis....

JEREMIAH glances at the bodies again then looks at the cops. No lab techs. Just cops taking reports. JEREMIAH is quickly in the barber shop.

METZZIE

Hey, Jeremiah, you finally here for that haircut?

JEREMIAH
Yep.

METZZIE
Alright, have a seat.

JEREMIAH SITS DOWN and METZZIE puts the wrap on him.

METZZIE
Jesus, Jeremiah, what happened to your head?

JEREMIAH

Got mugged by a nigger last night....

METZZIE
Whole neighborhood's going black, blacks and whites don't like getting their hair cut in the same places. See the dead spics down the block? This place has gotten nuts since the blacks and the spics started moving in sometime in the sixties. Fuck, I got black blood in my own family now. My daughter of course. All because of the fucking sixties. Well, look around you, Jeremiah, this is all a product of the sixties!

JEREMIAH (staring at the crowd buzzing back and forth around the Orthodox Street train station)
Yeah, I know what you mean.

JEREMIAH sits in the chair while Metzzie cuts off the Rambo locks. METZZIE finishes the job and JEREMIAH pays him.

METZZIE
Hey, Jeremiah, don't be a stranger. Don't wait so long for the next one. You know the hippies helped ruin the country donctcha?

JEREMIAH
You are probably right about that Mettzie..... see ya.

METTZIE
See ya kiddo.

JEREMIAH stops at the sunglass stand run by the KOREAN CHICK and buy himself a pair of aviator's glasses. He puts them in his pocket and then goes to the GUN DEALER/ BlK ER's HOUSE. He knocks on the door, a BIKER CHICK answers.

JEREMIAH
Ida referred me to Tom.

The BIKER CHICK looks him over.

BIKER CHICK
Another white man needing protection.

JEREMIAH just kind of nods.

BIKER CHICK (cont'd)
Come on in.

They go in and into the living room where TOM is cleaning and working on a bunch of guns at the same time.

TOM
You're a friend of Ida's eh? Good, yeah me and Ida we go back a long, long ways. Her husband and I used to run crank all over PA, that was almost twenty years ago. You know those false teeth of Ida's?

JEREMIAH
Yeah.

TOM
Those teeth were fine, fuck they were beautiful, Rich convinced her to have them pulled so she would give better blowjobs. Didja know that?

JEREMIAH
Nope. She sure does a give a good blow job though, eh ... eh....

TOM
So you're here for some protection? The Nigs been getting on your case? If it's the mob don't even tell me, I don't want to know....

JEREMIAH
Yeah, sure, no problem....

TOM (turning his attention to war highlights on tv)
The vandals have taken over just like during the decline of the roman empire .... sad.... I got this .25 for you, was stolen a million years ago so don't try pawning it okay?

JEREMIAH
No problem. How much?

TOM
Two hundred.

They silently exchange money and the gun.

TOM
You know how to use it?

JEREMIAH (amused)
Yeah.

TOM
You ever kill anybody?

JEREMIAH (a chuckle)
Yeah, I killed about six hundred sand niggers. Killing one more real nigger who really deserves it ain't gonna bother anybody. Never anyone close; I can live with it.

TOM
You probably got that right but maybe by not dong it, you score a karmic point or two for the next lifetime.... no refunds though..... haha....

JEREMIAH
Alright, thanks (beat) karma, huh, I thought John Lennon was dead....

JEREMIAH nods goodbye to the BIKER CHICK who is reading from a expensive mail order catalog. He puts on his sunglasses and walks out the door. He gets on the El and heads down to the Italian Market.

CUT:
EXT. Italian Market, Tommy Giordano's stand. Early Day

TOMMY
I haven't seen that nigger mother fucker for two days ... far as I am concerned ...he's fired. He used to live in that shithole over by Eighth and Taylor, maybe you can find him there but he probably got kicked the fuck out of there for smoking too much crack and not paying enough fucking rent...

JEREMIAH catches a bus and heads over to Eighth and Taylor. He finds a good surveillance point then stakes the place out. About an hour later, WASHINGTON exits.

JEREMIAH makes his move but WASHINGTON darts back inside; JEREMIAH chases him.

INT. IKE's TENEMENT APARTMENT BUILDING. AFTERNOON
IKE bolts down the hall. JEREMIAH shoots and misses. IKE crashes through a window and into the empty dumpster sitting below with a heavy thud. JEREMIAH leans out the window and shoots again, the bullet ricocheting around inside the iron trap. WASHINGTON bolts out of the dumpster before the lead stops singing. Way high on adrenaline, JEREMIAH is in the alley quick. JEREMIAH sees WASHINGTON's blood. Good. But Ike Washington had disappeared, apparently not bleeding badly enough to leave any more visible trails.

JEREMIAH
I guess I got you this time, Ike. Let's go out the back door.

IKE
Yeah, looks like you got me alfght.... Jeremiah or do I call you Sartoris?

JEREMIAH
I don't give a fuck what you call me... let's go.

Cut: INT. Bill's Barracuda. Mid-afternoon

IKE
You mind telling me where we are going?

JEREMIAH
We're going for a ride in the country and when we get there I'm gonna blow your fucking head off you.... you ever been to Centralia, Ike?

IKE
Nope.

JEREMIAH
Well, that's where we are both going to die... (JEREMIAH turns and screams out the window as they barrel along a country road) and we're all going down together! Together!

The car zooms off into eternity.

They pull into Centralia, the smoke rises from the streets in thick billows. Centralia, we saw two nights ago when Ida and Jeremiah rode up here and seanced. The underground fires are burning good today at this near dusk time.

JEREMIAH
Whadda you know about Centralia, Ike? You know much about the place?

IKE
No. It looks very depressed.

JEREMIAH
It is depressed, Ike. Centralia used to be a big time coal mining town; then some way or another, maybe some pissed off coal miner dropped a cigarette down the right hole, but for whatever reason, Ike (Jeremiah glances over to make sure Ike's looking at the window like he was told), for whatever reason, there's been a fire burning underneath Centralia's
for thirty years. This place used to be a town of twenty thousand; now there's forty old people scattered around the town .... waiting to die. It all sounds familiar doesn't it Ike; all very, very familiar.

The car glides around a few turns and then they are back at Farmer Brown's pig farm.

JEREMIAH
Looks like we're here. You stay in the car til I tell you to get out, you got that?

Yeah.
Jeremiah gets out of the car and then allows IKE to get out.

JEREMIAH (referring to the fires)
You smell that Ike, that's hell. That's where we're both heading, straight to hell and then onto somewhere else even more fun than that!

INT. FARMER BROWN'S HOUSE. LATE, DUSK.

JEREMIAH
Let's go upstairs...

Jeremiah has a flashback to Murph getting his hand ripped off ..then Farmer Brown laughing ... then the flaming skull from the dream that came and took Sgt. Sartoris into the tunnel .... he recovers and looks up at Ike who is calmly walking toward his death, apparently oblivious to Jeremiah's visions.

JEREMIAH
Yeah, I got this gulf war sickness ... the doctor's claim to be mystified but I got my own theories .... you know, me (beat) I think I have a tumor growing large and malignant inside of me and I think that's why I started having the dreams that led me to you. My tumor gave me a gift. Who knows? You ever feel guilty about killing Sargent Sartoris? Does it ever bother you?

IKE (looking right down the pistol's barrel)
Never for one second. You think I give a shit about any of this? I got inoperable cancer, fuck kid you've given me hope. I'm probably coming back again. You have no idea how depressed I was before you came into my life. I blow away Sartoris, thereby allowing myself to live to fight for another 25 years or so.... if I don't kill the Sarge there's no way me and my brothers are making it off that hill that night and back to North Philly... (he shakes his head) Sartoris.... fuck this time we dying so close to each other that we might come back as brothers in the next life, maybe twins.

IKE BURSTS OUT LAUGHING. JEREMIAH THINKS ABOUT HOW HE'S GONNA BLOW THIS FUCK'S HEAD OFF.

JEREMIAH Turn around .... execution style.

THIS IS WHEN THE MOVIE SCREEN SPLITS. IKE AND JEREMIAH REMAIN ON SCREEN BUT STILL.

EXT. LTSC. NIGHTTIME

THE BLACK GANG GETS OUT OF THEIR BLACK BARRACUDA AND WALKS INTO THE LTSC, VERY VERY ARMED.

GANG LEADER (looking around with cop disgust):
This ain't no holdup, this here is an execution. This here nigger read his Shakespeare before quitting college .... today we are all going down together ... by the way war hero, make no move toward that cash register. Me, I always knew my brother weren't the
brightest brother on the black block and if you wanna be a holdup man, you gotta be bright. Me, I'm not too bright either but you ain't gotta be all that bright if all doing is some executing .... that is one hell of a tv show you people have put together here .... my brother 's death is yatir efztertainment. My brother is your mofrkey flow you drzulk mother flickers....

SUDDENLY, THE BAR DOOR OPENS AND ONE OF THE WHORES FROM EARLIER WALKS IN. TOO LATE SHE REALIZES SHE'S WALKED INTO THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME.

GANG LEADER
Come on in, baby. You are just in time for the bloodbath. Lock that door you moron.

ONE OF THE HENCHMEN LOCKS THE DOOR.

THE WARRIOR STARTS FIRING HIS VIETNAM ERA COMBAT SHOTGUN SHOT INTO ALL THE Tvs THAT ARE SHOWING HIS BROTHER'S DEATH.

THE LTSC SCENE SHRINKS (THE LTSC GANG SCENE STAYS ONSCREEN IN A SMALL STILL) AND WE ARE BACK TO JEREMIAH AND IKE'S CONFRONTATION. JEREMIAH IS POINTING HIS PISTOL AT THE BACK OF IKE'S FOREHEAD. JEREMIAH IS STANDING A FEW FEET BEHIND IKE.

IKE
Go ahead. It's only fair. Killing me is doing me a favor. I'm not afraid Jeremiah. I'm a nigger, death's been following me real close since the day I was born.

JEREMIAH deliberates for a few moments then decides against it.

JEREMIAH
I ain't doing it, forget about it; and you ain't doing nothing to me.

JEREMIAH PULLS OUT MURPH's MICROCASSETTE RECORDER. HE REPLAYS IKE'S RECENT CONFESSION.

JEREMIAH
I'm sure someone would be interested in this ..... I should probably get a release from you; I'm gonna write a book about all this stuff ..what good's a million bucks gonna do me in prison, you know?

THE SCREEN SHRINKS AND WE ARE BACK TO THE LTSC.

THE WARRIOR IS STANDING THERE AFTER BLOWING AWAY THE TVS. HE THEN APPARENTLY HEARS A DISEMBODIED VOICE.
GANG LEADER

What's that mama? Troy's okay? He's with you? You're both okay there? Okay, mama. Okay. I'll do that Mama. I love you too momma.

THE DISEMBODIED VOICE THING APPARENTLY ENDS AND WE ARE BACK TO THE RUTHLESS GANG LEADER ACT.

GANG LEADER
Alright, brothers let's make a getaway real quick. You folks are some lucky motherfuckers. Catch us if you can!

THE GANG BOLTS OUT THE DOOR AND SCREECH AWAY IN THEIR BARRACUDA. THE SCREEN SHRINKS and THEN REENLARGES BACK AT FARMER BROWN'S ESTATE. JEREMIAH IS PLAYING THE TAPE WHICH CONTAINS IKE'S CONFESSION.

JEREMIAH
You got something on me, I got something on you. Maybe we should just call the whole thing even. I'm not giving you a ride back. There's a greyhound station in Shenandoah. See you Ike.

IKE
Peace brother. Peace.

IKE takes off down the country road, not caring about getting back to Philly in any hurry.

IKE
Sometimes I live in the country, sometimes I lives in town .... sometimes i get this crazy notion to jump in the river and drown.....

BILL's BARRACUDA SPEEDS OUT THE DRIVEWAY AND HITS THE ROAD BACK TO PHILLY. A QUICK SHOT OF JEREMIAH THROWING THE PISTOL INTO THE CHURNING WATER OF THE BLUE MARSH LAKE DAM. HE GETS BACK IN THE CAR. He comes back out and throws the cassette tape into the water, gets back in the car AND PULLS AWAY. A SLOW FADE /DISSOLVE TO JEREMIAH PULLING UP TO THE LAST TROLLEY STOP CAFE. IT IS NOW NIGHT. HE WALKS IN. IDA AND BILL ARE ASSISTING EACH OTHER IN CLEANING UP ALL THE GLASS. MURPH IS SITTING AT THE BAR DRINKING AND STARING INTO SPACE. MO IS PASSED OUT IN A BOOTH. GOOD JAZZ MUSIC IS COMING FROM THE 1960s RADIO SITTING BY THE "CASH REGISTER OF DEATH."

JEREMIAH (OPENING A PABST) Sounds like we were all a little lucky today.

BILL
You can say that again Jeremiah.

JEREMIAH DRINKS HIS BEER AND SURVEYS THE SCENE. EVENTUALLY HIS FOCUS STAYS ON BILL. HE WATCHES BILL AND IDA CLEAN UP THE GLASS. HE WATCHES IDA CUT HERSELF PRETTY GOOD AND HE WATCHES BILL STARE AT IT. IDA CLEANS HERSELF UP IN THE BAR SINK. BILL SURE LIKES WATCHING THE BLOOD.

IDA
Well, is Ike Washington still with us?

JEREMIAH
Yeah. I couldn't do it. I thought he could but I couldn't. The guy never did anything to me.

JEREMIAH GETS UP AND HEADS TOWARD THE DOOR.

BILL
Where you going, pal?

JEREMIAH
Out for a little walk.

BILL
Yeah. See ya in a bit.

CUT: JEREMIAH IS TALKING INTO A PAYPHONE. NIGHT.

JEREMIAH
I thought about trying to convince him to turn himself in but I don't think he'd do it. I want you people to help him not do it again. I want you to promise me you will try to prevent him from killing himself. I won't tell you who I think it is unless
you promise me you'll keep watch over him. The gods do not favor suicides. Yeah, I'll hold.

Ok, it's Bill Blanko; he'll be opening the Last Trolley Stop Cafe early in the morning. He won't try anything for weeks but maybe he should be dealt with soon, you never really know about these things.

I want you to know that Bill was very good to me, ever since I was a boy. He truly does deserve mercy. It was the Korean war that drove him over the edge. I've been there, I've seen what war does to men.

HE HANGS UP. CUT TO: PRESENT 1994 JEREMIAH STARING OUT THE WINDOW RIDING THE GREYHOUND BUS, PRESUMABLY BACK TO ALASKA OR WYOMING. WHAT ABOUT THAT EMPTY SEAT NEXT TO HIM?

CUT TO: BLACK AND CREDITS.