Whistleblower
FADE IN:
INT. HALL - DAY
The sweet symphony of sound reverberates across a long, narrow hall, echoing beyond the sour serenity of silence.
EDWIN, a boy barely 20, stands, entrapped by these narrow walls, nervously whistling, visibly shaking.
A voice calls to him, beckoning him forward, and Edwin follows, forced into obedient submission.
At the end of the hall, under a flickering light, near a gaping hole which once held a door, hesitates Edwin.
Edwin, with a final breath, steps through the door.
A few moments pass by, nothing but the flickering light to keep the hall company.
Edwin returns, from a door nearer than the farther.
Edwin crumbles to ground, his head set low, and begins to sob.
INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT
Edwin, surrounded by those few who may call him friend, sits, staring at the plate before him, his mother, ELLEN, and father, JEROME, just across the long wooden table.
ELLEN
How was school honey?
EDWIN
Fine.
ELLEN
What’d you teach today?
EDWIN
School.
ELLEN
But what grade?
EDWIN
I don’t know.
ELLEN
Well you certainly must know sweetie! You were there all day!
EDWIN
Yup.
A lull in conversation.
JEROME
How’s the job search coming along?
EDWIN
I have a job.
JEROME
Yes. Yes. But for the summer.
EDWIN
Fine. I guess.
JEROME
You know John is always looking for hard workers.
EDWIN
Yup.
JEROME
They could use someone like you.
EDWIN
I’m sure they could.
ELLEN
Edwin, honey, whats wrong?
EDWIN
Nothing.
ELLEN
This certainly doesn’t look like nothing to me.
JEROME
Let the boy be Ellen. He’s a growing man.
EDWIN
I’m 21.
ELLEN
And good looking at that.
EDWIN
Mom!
ELLEN
What? A mother can’t love her son?
JEROME
What about real estate? Theres always good money in real estate. Why don’t you try your hand at real estate? It’d give you plenty of time to work on your writing.
EDWIN
Ya.
ELLEN
You could always do what your sister does.
EDWIN
I could.
ELLEN
But you probably don’t want to work with food.
EDWIN
Not really.
JEROME
What about that recored shop? The one you’re always at. Whats it called?
EDWIN
I tried.
ELLEN
And?
EDWIN
They don’t want me.
JEROME
Good riddance then! Those bastards don’t know their shoes from their laces.
EDWIN
I guess.
ELLEN
You’ll find something somewhere sweetie, it just takes time.
EDWIN
Yup. Time. Just a whole lot of time.
ELLEN
Oh sweetie, you worry too much. It’ll work out. You just have to keep trying.
EDWIN
How long mom? How long? How long do I have to just keep trying until it all just magically works out.
JEROME
You should listen to your mother Edwin, she knows what she’s talking about.
EDWIN
She’s a college drop out.
JEROME
She dropped out for you!
EDWIN
Gee. Thanks.
ELLEN
You could always go back sweetie. You’re plenty smart.
EDWIN
I know.
ELLEN
Why don’t you? You’ve always loved school.
EDWIN
With what money?
ELLEN
There are loans.
EDWIN
And then what?
JEROME
Then you can find a real job.
EDWIN
I have a real job.
ELLEN
Yes, sweetie, of course you do. But maybe one with a little more pay.
EDWIN
With a degree in music?
ELLEN
You could be a teacher!
JEROME
A fine teacher!
EDWIN
And then what? After that? Then what? Just teach forever?
JEROME
It’s certainly a good career.
ELLEN
And you’d get holidays and weekends and PTO.
EDWIN
You don’t get it.
ELLEN
Then tell us sweetie. Tell us what we don’t get.
EDWIN
I don’t want to be a teacher mom. I don’t want to just be doing this forever. I want to make music mom. Real music. But I can’t just keep doing this hoping some day something will just somehow happen.
JEROME
Hard work. Thats what I say. Grit and hard work.
EDWIN
What do you know? You quit before you ever even started.
JEROME
I was injured.
EDWIN
You were weak.
JEROME
I almost lost an arm!
EDWIN
But you didn’t, did you? Instead you just have this.
JEROME
And whats wrong with this? A wife that love’s me. Children that care for me. A house to call home. Whats so wrong with that?
EDWIN
You gave up your life so you could just be happy. But whats so happy about giving up everything? You were the best, dad, better than the best. But you gave it all up so you could just do nothing. And then you just finished and got a job and now you’re what, happy? With what? You hate your job! You’ve always hated your job. You only took it cus you knew you had to. And only liked it cus you knew you’d get out of it. But then you didn’t and now you don’t and now its all you have and you hate that, don’t you? And worst of all you won’t even try to quit because you know thats all you’re ever even good for anymore.
JEROME
I don’t hate my job son.
EDWIN
All you do is complain about it! All you do is whine and moan and tell me how goddamn miserable it all is!
ELLEN
Language!
EDWIN
And what about you mom? What about you? You don’t even do anything! You dropped out of school so, what, you could take care of a 21 year old drop out who still lives with his parents. You gave up everything for me and look where that got you.
JEROME
Elizabeth seems to be doing pretty well.
EDWIN
Of course she’s doing well! She’s always doing well! All she wants to be is a doctor and anybody can do that!
ELLEN
Well certainly not just anybody.
EDWIN
Yes just anybody! All you have to do is go to school. And school is easy. School is a joke. You think I dropped out of school because it was difficult?
ELLEN
No one thinks that sweetie.
EDWIN
I had all A’s mom. All A’s. A 4.0 GPA and professors who loved me and admin who cared for me and a whole lot of people just straight up rooting for me and what, I just gave it all up for some sham of an internship?
JEROME
Well why not just go back then?
EDWIN
Because I can’t.
JEROME
Who’s stopping you?
EDWIN
You know who.
The three fall into an unbearable silence at this grim realization.
JEROME
You know son, love can be strange sometimes.
Edwin nods, acknowledging no one.
JEROME
But love, well, love is more important than all that. All this. Its good you’re staying son. I’m happy for you. Your life is here, not out there.
ELLEN
And theres plenty of good schools out here too.
EDWIN
For what they are. But I’m no doctor. No engineer. I’m a musician mom. Thats all I am.
ELLEN
Elizabeth’s school has a fine music program.
EDWIN
Exactly. Its fine. Just, fine. And thats the best in the state too. And what, I’m just supposed to pay someone 20 grand a semester so they can tell me I’m just fine? To give me practice logs so I can just practice on my own? To tell me what I already know? To give me books that cost a couple of bucks and not really much more? Thats what I’m paying for? For something thats mostly just free?
JEROME
Its more than just that son. Its more than just a degree. Its about what’s behind the degree. About what it stands for. People like to see that you know what you do.
EDWIN
And what do people know? As if going to school somehow makes you any smarter.
JEROME
It certainly doesn’t make you dumber.
EDWIN
Really? Have you talked to Liz lately? To her friends? Her boyfriends? To any college student for that matter? They’re all more than just dumb. They don’t care about school. They don’t care about anything. They’re just doing it cus they know it’ll get em a degree. And that’ll get em a job and that’ll give em a life and thats all they care about. They don’t care about success or history or doing anything for anybody. They just want to live like everybody else.
JEROME
And whats so wrong with that?
EDWIN
You don’t get it.
ELLEN
Then tell us sweetie.
Edwin glares at his two formidable foes, stands abruptly, and stomps out of the room.
EXT. SUBWAY - DAY
Exiting the subway, Edwin turns to the right, backpack on his back, headphones on his ears, making his way towards the school just a few blocks away.
While walking, he whistles incessantly. Rounding a final corner and heading towards the school, a voice yells to him in the distance, causing him to turn.
COLE, a kid of just fourteen, sprints down the sidewalk and towards Edwin.
COLE
Yo! Mr. Hugo! Wait up.
Edwin stops, awkwardly waiting for the boy to reach a close enough distance to again continue his walk.
EDWIN
You can’t keep doing this Cole.
COLE
Doing what?
EDWIN
I told you I have a job to do. Admin can’t know I know you.
COLE
Why not?
EDWIN
Because you’re a student and I’m a teacher.
COLE
Just a sub.
EDWIN
All the worse.
COLE
Whats the worst they could do?
EDWIN
Send me to jail, probably.
COLE
Just for talking?
EDWIN
Thats not what they think.
COLE
They think I’m gay?
EDWIN
They don’t care what you think.
COLE
But I’m not.
EDWIN
All the worst.
COLE
They don’t think you’re a rapist, do they?
EDWIN
They might, if you keep talking.
COLE
But how would they know? We’re not even in school.
EDWIN
Parents. Friends of parents. Kids with grudges. The schools got eyes all over.
COLE
You’re paranoid Mr. Hugo.
EDWIN
You saw what happened to Mr. Polanski.
COLE
Ya but he was a creep.
EDWIN
Maybe they say the same thing about me.
COLE
I don’t.
EDWIN
Ya but who are you?
COLE
Geesh, harsh. You teaching me today Mr. Hugo?
The two walk into the school.
EDWIN
No, freshman.
COLE
Next year, when I’m a freshman, shit gonna get crazy. You still gonna teach though, right?
EDWIN
Only if I have to.
COLE
You mean you got it?
EDWIN
I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not. I never have before.
COLE
Well, everything has to happen for the first time sometime.
EDWIN
Thats what I keep telling myself.
COLE
Welp, this is my stop, you still on for tonight?
EDWIN
I told you, I can’t.
COLE
Can’t, or won’t?
EDWIN
You’re gonna get me fired.
COLE
All the more reason!
EDWIN
We’ll see.
Cole smiles, gives Edwin a dope handshake, and turns down a hallway, while Edwin continues straight on
EXT. SUBWAY - DAY
Edwin stands at the curb, headphones on, patiently awaiting the seemingly always late train.
Edwin peers down the tracks, leaning just a little too far over.
A slight shove.
He trips.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Just before hitting the tracks, a hand pulls him back.
With a big grin, Cole smirks at Edwin.
COLE
That one you owe me.
EDWIN
It doesn’t count if you’re the one who does it.
COLE
Who says I did?
Edwin looks around the empty station.
COLE
So maybe I did. But you’d still be dead if not for me.
EDWIN
And you’d be a murderer.
COLE
Always so dramatic.
EDWIN
Shouldn’t you be at practice?
COLE
Cancelled.
EDWIN
It sure does get cancelled a lot.
Cole shrugs.
COLE
Don’t look at me. I don’t make the rules. I just follow em.
EDWIN
Break em more like it.
COLE
When I see fit.
EDWIN
Your mother know about this?
COLE
Does yours?
EDWIN
Why would...
Cole gives a cold smirk.
COLE
Got you again.
EDWIN
Funny.
COLE
So we going or what?
EDWIN
I told you. I can’t. I have to work.
COLE
Man, you been working all day!
EDWIN
Thats how it works.
COLE
Man you lying.
EDWIN
I wish I was.
COLE
Just take a break man. C’mon.
EDWIN
I can’t.
COLE
Course you can. Just a matter of is.
EDWIN
Cole...
COLE
Cmon man, just for a little while?
Edwin looks down the tracks to the train which never seems to arrive.
EDWIN
Alright. Fine. Just for now. But not too long. I really should work soon.
COLE
You good man! You know I always take good care of you!
EDWIN
You get me in trouble, thats what you do.
COLE
And its good too!
EDWIN
Just don’t get me arrested.
COLE
I wouldn’t think of it.
The train comes rushing by.
EDWIN
On second thought.
COLE
Ah cmon man, don’t be like that. You said you would.
EDWIN
Well now I can’t.
COLE
For real?
EDWIN
For real.
COLE
Damn man, you cold.
EDWIN
So is life.
COLE
Tomorrow though for sure though, right? At least at school?
EDWIN
We’ll see.
COLE
Man, thats what you’re always saying. Always seeing things. Man, when you actually gonna do anything?
EDWIN
When I can.
COLE
Ya? And when’s that gonna be?
EDWIN
Soon as I finish this.
Edwin refers to some notes in his hands.
COLE
Man, you crazy folks all the same. Always saying you gonna finish something but you never gonna finish nothing.
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
Nothing to do but work.
COLE
Whatever man. I’ll be seeing ya.
EDWIN
Don’t hurt yourself.
COLE
You too.
The two share another dope handshake, and Cole heads off, Edwin shuffling onto the bus.
EDWIN
Oh, and kid.
Cole turns around.
EDWIN
Don’t get arrested, will ya?
Cole flips him off.
INT. RECORD SHOP - DAY
Cole walks into a record shop, nodding to the clerk, and looking through the records.
Recognizing a face, Cole sprints across the shop and over the counter.
Edwin enters, gliding across the brightly lit room, running his hands across record after record.
JACK, the kindly clerk at the counter, looks up from his magazine to look at Edwin.
JACK
No work?
EDWIN
Cancelled.
JACK
No other?
EDWIN
Not so soon.
JACK
Cancel’d today?
EDWIN
Just a few hours ago. Right before I was set to go in
JACK
Man thats cold.
EDWIN
Ya, well, it gives me a day off I suppose.
JACK
You hear about that new Tupac album dropping?
EDWIN
Tupac’s dead.
JACK
Is he though?
EDWIN
He was shot three times.
JACK
Four.
EDWIN
So I think he’s probably dead.
JACK
What about 50 cent though?
EDWIN
What about him?
JACK
He was shot just as much.
EDWIN
Not by the cops.
JACK
Now we’re talking. You think they killed em too, don’t ya?
EDWIN
Makes sense. Quayle hated him, didn’t he?
JACK
Sure. And you know how they feel about prominent black men in power.
EDWIN
So dead then?
JACK
Ya but like, what if maybe not?
EDWIN
Its not gonna happen Jack. Get over it.
Jack shrugs.
JACK
How’s your album going?
EDWIN
As good as the others.
JACK
Ya? Any buyers?
EDWIN
As many as the others.
JACK
Damn. No one appreciates whistling like they used to.
EDWIN
They never did Jack.
JACK
But they will. When they hear your shit! How could they not?
EDWIN
Well they don’t.
JACK
They just don’t know whats coming.
EDWIN
You know something I don’t?
JACK
You’re better than you think.
EDWIN
No one else seems to think so.
JACK
They just don’t know it yet.
EDWIN
But soon?
JACK
So soon.
EDWIN
Ya. Well. Maybe...how much for this?
Edwin pulls on a beaten up recording of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
JACK
For you? 20.
EDWIN
It says 10.
JACK
Thats why I said for you.
EDWIN
I’m giving you 10.
JACK
You take it and you’re a thief!
EDWIN
I’m a thief then.
Edwin exits the shop, dropping the ten on the ground behind him.
A few moments later, Cole peaks his head up, an exhilarated sigh, and nods to Jack, hopping back over the counter.
EXT. STREET - DAY
Record in hand, Edwin puts on his headphones, whistling, and walks down the street.
From behind, EMMA, a girl of no more than 20, falls into step.
EMMA
Hey.
EDWIN
Hey yourself.
EMMA
What ya doin?
EDWIN
Just, walking.
EMMA
No work?
EDWIN
Cancelled.
Emma gives a conciliatory nod.
EDWIN
No school?
EMMA
Cancelled.
EDWIN
For such an expensive school, it sure is cancelled a lot.
Emma shrugs.
EMMA
Whats it matter? I’ll be a lawyer either way.
EDWIN
Ya but schools not cheap you know.
EMMA
What do you care?
EDWIN
I’m just saying, might as well get your moneys worth.
EMMA
What for? In the end its all the same.
EDWIN
Well ya, but, might as well get some use out of all this.
EMMA
I am. I got you.
EDWIN
I’m busy.
EMMA
You don’t look busy.
EDWIN
I have to work.
EMMA
I thought you said work was cancelled.
EDWIN
Not that work.
EMMA
You work too hard.
EDWIN
Maybe you just don’t work hard enough.
EMMA
I’m sorry, whose the bread winner in this scenario?
EDWIN
Just for now.
EMMA
Okay.
EDWIN
Don’t.
EMMA
Don’t what?
EDWIN
Don’t say okay like you don’t mean it.
Emma says okay like she doesn’t mean it.
EMMA
Okay.
The two walk on for a few moments of irritable silence.
EMMA
Are you coming tonight?
EDWIN
I can’t.
EMMA
Ya. I know. Work.
EDWIN
It won’t be like this forever.
EMMA
Its been like this always.
EDWIN
Just a few more years.
EMMA
Thats what you said a few years ago.
EDWIN
Just a few more. This stuff takes time.
EMMA
Isn’t it time you get a real job?
EDWIN
I have a real job.
EMMA
More than minimum wage.
EDWIN
I like my job.
EMMA
No you don’t.
EDWIN
It gives me time to work.
EMMA
Why not just go back to school? Then you could work all the time.
EDWIN
With what money?
EMMA
Loans work.
EDWIN
For you.
EMMA
They give them to anybody.
EDWIN
Thats the problem.
EMMA
Whats a few more thousand?
EDWIN
Every loan we add is just that much longer to pay off.
EMMA
But then you could get a real job.
EDWIN
What real job? Teaching?
EMMA
You’re a good teacher. You’re great with kids. You’d be really good at it.
EDWIN
I don’t want to just be a teacher forever.
EMMA
Not forever. Just for a little while. And then that’d give you summers and weekends to work on your whistling.
EDWIN
Maybe for a little while. Maybe for a bit. But how long before I forget? How long before I just give up and work on all this? How long before you get pregnant and we have a kid.
EMMA
You don’t want kids?
EDWIN
Of course I do. Its just...sometimes, it feels like all this is just for you. Just what you want. It feels like all you want me for is what I am. Not what I could be.
EMMA
I love you for who you are Edwin, not who you might be.
EDWIN
And what if I’m not? What if I can’t be. Just this. Just miserable. Forever.
EMMA
Then I won’t be me as I am now. I’ll be me as I am then. And I’ll love you then just as much as I do now.
EDWIN
But how do you know?
EMMA
I just do.
The two stop in front of a building of utter innocence, no different than any before.
EDWIN
I have to go.
EMMA
Edwin...
EDWIN
This is my job Emma. This is what I do.
EMMA
How are we ever gonna afford a place if you just keep spending like you do?
EDWIN
Its not for me. Its not for fun. Its not like I’m spending it all on shit I want. This is my life Emma. My work. I need this stuff.
EMMA
But why a studio? Why a sound booth? Couldn’t you just do the same thing at home?
EDWIN
No. I couldn’t. I can’t. Its not the same. This shit needs to sound real. Authentic. Not that garbage home made crap. This needs to be honest.
EMMA
And whats so honest about this? About spending all your money on all this? On doing things you can’t afford. Buying things you can’t have. Whats so honest about that?
EDWIN
You don’t get it.
EMMA
No, Edwin, you don’t get it. This isn’t about your work or career or life, this is about you showing everybody up. Proving to everyone that you made something of yourself. That you’re not just some screw up. But maybe you are Edwin. Maybe you are. Maybe you are just nothing but a screw up.
Edwin looks as if he’s on the edge of tears.
EDWIN
So what if I am? So what if this is? Then what? What then? Are you just gonna give up on me like the rest?
EMMA
No. But maybe you should. Theres other things in life than just this.
EDWIN
Like what?
EMMA
Me. Us. This.
EDWIN
And what does that mean if I’m not worth anything?
EMMA
But you are Edwin, you are. Even if sometimes you do things that maybe might not be the best.
Edwin gives a forlorn smile.
EDWIN
You should go.
EMMA
Okay...I love you.
EDWIN
Love you too.
Edwin enters the studio as Emma walks back in the opposite direction: the very direction in which they just departed.
INT. STUDIO - DAY
Edwin stands near a door, knocking again and again and again.
After what seems like an endless time, an older woman, SARAH, opens the door.
SARAH
I told you Edwin: no money, no time.
EDWIN
Sarah, cmon, its just one track. Its already done. I just need to pick it up. It’ll take two minutes, flat.
SARAH
You finished?
EDWIN
Well ya, sure, mostly, I just need to get in there, you know, just a couple of minutes, cmon.
SARAH
You got money?
EDWIN
I already gave you all I got.
SARAH
Then no time.
EDWIN
Cmon Sarah, don’t be like that. I get paid next week. I’ll owe you one. Whatever I owe.
SARAH
You owe me already.
EDWIN
And I’ll pay that too.
SARAH
You winning the lottery sometime soon?
EDWIN
Cmon Sarah, don’t be like that.
SARAH
Pay and I won’t.
EDWIN
You’re really gonna be like that?
SARAH
You gave me no choice Edwin. I tried to be nice, I did. But look where that got me.
EDWIN
And look where it will, at the end of all this. You gotta take the long shot Sarah. The whole view. In just a couple more years, I’ll be a millionaire. And who will be the first on my list? First to show my love? You. Just you. Only you. Cmon Sarah, please.
Sarah looks at Edwin with what can only be described as pity.
SARAH
5 minutes. Thats it.
Edwin gives Sarah a kiss on the head.
EDWIN
Thank you! Thank you! You won’t regret this, I swear.
Sarah gives a grumpy nod and Edwin pushes past.
INT. SOUND BOOTH - DAY
Edwin sprints into the booth, falsely lit by a single lamp, running through the controls, seemingly randomly flipping switches.
Having found some enigmatic pattern a novice may call acceptable, Edwin rushes into the studio, and stands behind the mic.
Music begins to play.
Edwin whistles his heart out.
The music ends, and Edwin sprints back through the sound booth, looking through all the switches.
The song was not recorded.
Sarah slams on the door.
SARAH
Alright Edwin, you’ve been here a good long while. It’s time you get going.
EDWIN
(To himself)
No. No. No. No. No.
SARAH
Edwin, I’m not asking.
EDWIN
Just...will you...just give me a sec.
SARAH
I gave you a lot long longer than that. I got paying customers you know. One’s I actually like.
EDWIN
What is that supposed to mean?
SARAH
It means if you don’t leave soon I’m calling the cops.
EDWIN
You’d do that? To me?
SARAH
Especially you.
EDWIN
(Under his breath)
Shit.
SARAH
So you going or what?
Edwin plugs in his flash drive and begins to download something of importance.
SARAH
Edwin. I mean it.
EDWIN
Alright. Alright. I’m going I’m going.
SARAH
Edwin!
Edwin pulls the flash drive out of the computer, before the album can download, grabs his bag, and rushes out.
EXT. LAKE - NIGHT
Evening quickly approaches with the ever setting sun, creating an almost green hue in the evening air.
Upon a long pier sits Edwin, on the edge, whistling and writing.
Jerome walks along the pier, and up to his boy, sitting beside him.
In his hand, he holds a letter.
JEROME
This came for you today.
Edwin doesn’t look up.
JEROME
I hope you don’t mind my reading. I wasn’t going to. I usually don’t. But when I saw who it was...
Edwin continues to write.
JEROME
Edwin!
Edwin looks up, almost alarmed.
EDWIN
What?
Jerome chuckles.
JEROME
You know, for a kid whose always listening, you sure do never hear much.
EDWIN
Whats that?
JEROME
Its for you.
Edwin grabs at it.
EDWIN
Its opened.
JEROME
I thought...
Edwin opens the letter and quickly reads through it.
EDWIN
Oh...
JEROME
I’m sorry kid.
EDWIN
I don’t know why I thought it’d be any different.
JEROME
Maybe next time son.
EDWIN
Ya...next time...
JEROME
You’re not thinking of giving up on me, are ya?
EDWIN
No...I just...I don’t know. Maybe Emma’s right. Maybe I should just go back to school.
JEROME
Maybe thats best. It’d give you some time to think.
EDWIN
Ya.
JEROME
And its not like you can’t do that and this, even more so than now even. Schools always been easy for you kid. This would be nothing. And you wouldn’t have to work while in school. It’d be a nice safety net.
EDWIN
Like yours?
JEROME
Thats different.
EDWIN
Different how?
JEROME
I gave up. But you don’t have to.
EDWIN
What makes me any different?
JEROME
You’re better. You’re smarter. You work harder. Sometimes I wonder if you’re even my son.
Edwin smiles.
EDWIN
What about the summer?
JEROME
What about it?
EDWIN
I have to work then too.
JEROME
No such luck in the job search?
EDWIN
None.
JEROME
How bad do you need it?
EDWIN
Real bad.
JEROME
Well...theres always Uncle John...but its not easy.
EDWIN
I’m far past easy dad.
JEROME
I know kid. Thats what scares me.
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
I just try to do whats best.
JEROME
Well, whatever you do, don’t give up just yet. It’ll work out. Even if sometimes it feels like it won’t.
Jerome wraps his arm around Edwin, and gives a good squeeze.
EXT. CITY - DAY
Where city meets country, the habitable and the not, an acre of land ages with the inevitability of continual construction, never starting and never ending.
At the forefront, staring with pride, is Edwin’s uncle, JOHN.
Edwin whistles quietly, looking at the ground.
JOHN
So you want to be a laborer, do ya?
EDWIN
I just need the money.
JOHN
Don’t we all? Your mom says you good at this stuff. Is ya?
EDWIN
I don’t know. I guess.
JOHN
You strong?
EDWIN
Can be.
JOHN
You good at taking orders?
EDWIN
Ya, I guess.
JOHN
What about talking?
EDWIN
What?
JOHN
You good at that?
EDWIN
No...not really.
JOHN
Good. We don’t need no more talkers nowhere. You’re hired.
EDWIN
Really? Thats it?
JOHN
Course it is! Ellen’s my sister ain’t she? You think I ever done nothin to none offend her? She downright kill me.
EDWIN
I don’t want to be treated any differently than anybody.
JOHN
Oh you don’t want that.
EDWIN
I do.
JOHN
You wanna get paid less than minimum?
EDWIN
What? No. I can’t. I couldn’t. I have...
JOHN
Then you best be taking your nepotism in strides.
Edwin nods ashamedly.
EDWIN
When do I start?
JOHN
When? Now! I ain’t like ya that much!
Edwin nods, and walks off towards the construction site.
EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
Edwin walks alone among the woods, whistling, listening.
A dark figure creeps through the shadows, stalking.
Edwin moves on without notice.
Closer, closer, the creature stalks.
Wind blows. Leaves rustle. Crickets rumble.
A hollow scream.
In front of Dave, in foreboding silence, is Cole.
EDWIN
Jesus Christ Cole, you scared me half to death!
COLE
I got ya good, didn’t I?
EDWIN
What are you doing out here?
Cole shrugs.
COLE
Bored.
EDWIN
You should be in bed.
COLE
What are you, my mother?
EDWIN
Might as well be.
Cole gives a small laugh and falls into step with Edwin.
COLE
So where ya been lately?
EDWIN
Work.
COLE
I haven’t seen you in weeks.
EDWIN
Different work.
COLE
What do you mean?
EDWIN
I need the money.
COLE
What for?
EDWIN
Work.
COLE
Wait. So you’re telling me you work for money, and then use that money for work?
EDWIN
Thats how it works.
COLE
Man thats cold.
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
It is what it is.
COLE
So when you coming back?
EDWIN
What?
COLE
You know. To school.
EDWIN
Cole...
COLE
What?
EDWIN
I’m not.
COLE
What do you mean you’re not?
EDWIN
Just what I said.
COLE
I’m not getting it.
EDWIN
I need the money Cole. I really need it. And I won’t get any of it by just working with you.
COLE
Ya but like, have you met me though? Like, I’m so dope.
EDWIN
Cole...I can’t...not anymore...
COLE
Damn, well, wait. Does that mean we can hang out now?
EDWIN
We could.
COLE
For real?
EDWIN
But we can’t.
COLE
What?
EDWIN
I can’t.
COLE
Why not?
EDWIN
Work.
COLE
Man, you’re not working always.
EDWIN
I am though.
COLE
Well what about now?
Edwin taps on his headphones.
COLE
Even while I’m talking?
Edwin nods.
COLE
Man, you one bitter fool.
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
I have to till I don’t.
COLE
And when’s that gonna be?
EDWIN
Soon, I hope.
COLE
Man. You been saying that since I was ten.
EDWIN
And now you’re fourteen.
COLE
Fifteen almost.
EDWIN
I’m getting old.
COLE
Sure is.
EDWIN
Shut up.
COLE
Say, you’re not working now though, right? I mean, your real job. You know, the one that pays.
EDWIN
Does it look like it?
COLE
Well I’m not one to assume.
EDWIN
Why?
COLE
You wanna hang? Back at my place? Just for a bit?
EDWIN
By your place do you mean your place or that place?
Edwin refers to an abandoned house up the hill.
COLE
Man that is my place.
EDWIN
By whose authority?
COLE
Mine man!
EDWIN
You should go home.
COLE
Ah cmon man? Its been weeks.
EDWIN
And it might be more.
COLE
What’s that supposed to mean?
EDWIN
Look, kid. Cole. Look. I can’t. We can’t. I mean, look. This, work, that I’m doing. Its big. Real big. It could change a lot for me, you know. And if I want to keep doing that. If I want things to really get going, I can’t be spending all my time with just nobody.
COLE
Oh so I’m just nobody now?
EDWIN
Thats not what I meant.
COLE
Okay but it is though, isn’t it? You thinking you too cool for me.
EDWIN
Not just you.
COLE
Anyone, then.
EDWIN
Its not like that.
COLE
Man, course it is. I haven’t seen you in weeks and whats the first word I get? To just get. Man, you changed. You’re not what you used to be.
EDWIN
Why would I be? What I was was miserable.
COLE
Ya but you were happy man!
EDWIN
Was I? Or was that just you?
COLE
Man, forget it.
Cole walks off into the woods.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY
Edwin shovels load after load of gravel, struggling, while others, doing the same work, do so without haste, without effort.
John taps Edwin on the shoulder, and pulls him aside.
JOHN
Can I talk to you a sec?
Edwin puts his shovel in the gravel and walks to the side.
JOHN
Listen, you a good worker. I knows you is. But the other guys, well...
EDWIN
What?
JOHN
They don’t like you none.
EDWIN
So?
JOHN
So? This is a business I run kid.
EDWIN
Ya. And?
JOHN
And, people gotta like who they work with.
EDWIN
Says who?
JOHN
Says everybody, mostly.
EDWIN
Look, I get my work done, don’t I? Isn’t that enough?
JOHN
Kid, thats not enough nowhere.
EDWIN
What do you want from me?
JOHN
Just, get along with the others, will ya?
EDWIN
Its not like I don’t try.
JOHN
I know, its just...
EDWIN
Its not my fault their a bunch of ignorant nobodies.
JOHN
Goddamn’t Edwin, don’t you get it? Its that right there! Just that!
EDWIN
What?
JOHN
You acting like you better than everybody! Acting like you better than anybody.
EDWIN
Not just anybody can go to Juilliard.
JOHN
But yous not there, is you? You heres, just like the rest of us.
EDWIN
Its not the same.
JOHN
It is though you stupid fool. Don’t much matter wheres you from, you all the same here.
EDWIN
Well I’m not.
John pulls Edwin rouhgly close and points to a man a few feet off.
JOHN
You see that man there?
EDWIN
Ya. So what? Did he go to Juilliard too?
JOHN
No. John Hopkins.
EDWIN
What?
JOHN
He’s a surgeon kid. Or, rather, he was.
EDWIN
What? No. That doesn’t make any sense.
JOHN
Got cocky in a new car of his. Went and hit a tree. Lost all use of that brain of his. Now he here like the rest of us.
EDWIN
But...that doesn’t...I mean...
JOHN
See, the thing is, you ain’t so special kid. No one is. Sooner you get that, sooner you get liked.
EDWIN
What good will that do?
JOHN
Don’t you get it kid? Thats how it works. Its not about how hard you work or how smart you is. Its all about who you like and who likes you. You ain’t loved, you ain’t nothin.
Edwin looks down at his hands.
EDWIN
Do you like me John?
JOHN
Who? Me? Course I does. Have to. Sister down right kill me if I ain’t.
Edwin gives a sorrowful smile.
EDWIN
Thanks John.
JOHN
Now get back to work. I ain’t none paying ya to talk none.
Edwin gets back to work.
INT. DINER - DAY
With a morose, indignant glance, Emma looks at Edwin, across from her.
Edwin looks down at his notes as his food goes cold.
EMMA
Edwin?
EDWIN
Huh?
Edwin doesn’t look up.
EMMA
Aren’t you hungry?
EDWIN
I’m fine.
EMMA
Well I am.
EDWIN
Eat.
EMMA
I’d like to eat with you.
EDWIN
You are.
EMMA
Not like this.
EDWIN
What do you mean?
EMMA
Can’t you just eat like a normal person for once?
EDWIN
I am, see?
Edwin stuffs a forkful of food into his mouth.
EMMA
Thats not what I meant. Edwin...Edwin...Edwin!
Edwin looks up.
Emma sighs.
EMMA
This isn’t working, is it?
EDWIN
What?
EMMA
Us, I mean. We’re not working.
EDWIN
What do you mean?
EMMA
Ever since you left school its just been worse.
EDWIN
What?
EMMA
You Edwin. Ever since you left school you’ve always been like this.
EDWIN
Like what?
EMMA
Inattentive. Absent minded. Always looking as if you’re never here.
EDWIN
I’m here.
EMMA
Not just the pretend you. The real you.
EDWIN
I’ve just been busy is all.
EMMA
You’ve always been busy.
EDWIN
I won’t be forever.
EMMA
Won’t you though? Won’t you? If not this then what? First its a mixtape. Then its an album. Then you’re on tour. You’ll never be happy like this Edwin.
EDWIN
What do you know?
EMMA
I know you’re not happy.
EDWIN
And when was I happy Emma? When was that?
EMMA
When you were in school. With me. All the time.
EDWIN
You’re right Emma, I was happy then. I was happy in school. But do you know why I left? Do you know why I really left school?
EMMA
Edwin...
EDWIN
I left because of you Emma. I left all because of you. Because you threatened and cursed and swore if I didn’t come home we might as well be through.
EMMA
Thats not true.
EDWIN
Of course it is Emma. Of course it is. You say you care about me but you don’t. Not really. All you care about is you. You say its really about me but its just about you. You’ve never cared about me. You just want whats best for you. And me being this. Miserable. Terrible. Makes you happy. Because I’m a project. I can be fixed. I can just be put on the right path back to nowhere.
EMMA
I don’t think that at all.
EDWIN
Then why do you act like that? Why do you do only whats best for you and no one else? You think this makes me happy? Watching you be happy while I just screwup. You just want something to say you’re better than. Know you’re better than.
EMMA
No Edwin. Thats you. You’re the one who can’t take this. Who can’t take me. You say you left because of me but thats just not true. You were miserable out there Edwin. At every school you went to. You hated the professors, the school, everything. You were never happy there.
EDWIN
And what about now?
EMMA
I just want you to be happy Edwin.
EDWIN
Then maybe we shouldn’t be.
EMMA
What?
EDWIN
Us. Maybe we should just stop.
EMMA
Edwin...
EDWIN
Its better this way. You know. Just not doing anything. Just giving up. I mean, might as well, right? We’ve never been good before, right. Since we left school. You’re right, I am different. I’m not the same. I am a screwup. I am the worst. And you don’t deserve that. You don’t deserve this. You deserve better. So much better. So why don’t you then? Why don’t you finally for once get what you deserve. A real man. A real person. Someone who actually does anything for you.
EMMA
Edwin. Stop. You’re being ridiclous.
EDWIN
So what if I am? Its no different than before. Its no different than always. I’m always like this. I’ve always been like this. I’ll alway be like this. As long as I’m always like this. Which it seems to me like I always will. So why not just move on then. Why not just give up. Why not just find someone you really love?
Emma grabs Edwin’s hands, tears in her eyes.
EMMA
Don’t do this Edwin. Don’t do this cus you’re mad. Give it some time. Give it a breath. We don’t need this now. Lets just eat now. Lets just sit here and eat and talk about something else. Then we can forget about it. Then we can stop thinking about it. At least for a while. At least for now.
EDWIN
No. Emma. Don’t. We can’t just keep pretending its fine. We’re fine. We’re not. We’re not. And maybe we haven’t been, for a while. So might as well face that. Might as well give that what is due. We can’t just hide forever Emma.
EMMA
Not forever. Just for a while.
EDWIN
No. I can’t. Not anymore.
EMMA
Edwin...
EDWIN
Just go. Please. Just go.
EMMA
This won’t do anybody any good.
EDWIN
Well we won’t know until we do.
Emma looks at Edwin, searching for eyes long lost in misery.
Emma sighs.
EMMA
Okay. I will. I’ll give you some time. But don’t think I’m never coming back.
Edwin gives a solemn smile.
EDWIN
Okay Emma. Okay.
Emma smiles, grabs her purse, and goes.
INT. TRAILER - DAY
Edwin barges up to John, envelope in hand, while John sits at his desk, reading the paper.
EDWIN
What the hell is this?
JOHN
Hows I supposed to know? I can’t none sees it.
Edwin shoves the envelope into John’s hand.
John peers down at the envelope stoically.
JOHN
So’s you found out, huh?
EDWIN
Found out? How could I not? You’re the one who pays me!
JOHN
S’pose I am.
EDWIN
Why John? Why? Just tell me why!
JOHN
Well, like I said, the folks down here don’t much like ya. At first I thought it was just that general cocky attitude of yours. But don’t you know it? I comes to find out it ain’t none of that shit. Just that you paid mores is all.
EDWIN
Thats not my fault!
JOHN
Is though, ain’t it? You only getting paid what you is cus of me. You ain’t my best worker. Ain’t near good nuff. Only gettin paid cus of me.
EDWIN
This isn’t enough.
JOHN
More so than before, ain’t it?
EDWIN
Before when?
JOHN
Before you was working for me.
EDWIN
Not much.
JOHN
Still more.
EDWIN
I can’t live on this.
JOHN
Did well nuff before, ain’t ya?
EDWIN
No. Not really.
JOHN
Well I suppose you get to now.
EDWIN
You can’t do this!
John shrugs.
JOHN
Already did.
EDWIN
I deserve more!
John stands up from his desk.
JOHN
You don’t deserve nothin kid! You think I hire ya cus you good at any of this? Cus you even decent? Cus you ain’t. You ain’t. You the worst worker I ever has. And still I let ya work, don’t I? I still pays ya, don’t I? Despite all the shit I always get. I stand up for ya kid. Lots of times. And I’m starting to think I ain’t none ought to.
Edwin looks down at his shoes, ashamed.
JOHN
Now get. Before I get angry for certain.
Edwin stomps out of the trailer.
INT. STUDIO - DAY
Edwin, standing in a dimly lit hall, with a setting sun at his side, knocks on the door of the studio.
Sarah, hesitant, veers close.
EDWIN
I’m not here for work Sarah. I’m just here to pay what I owe.
SARAH
All of it?
EDWIN
Most.
Sarah gives Edwin a suspicious glance.
SARAH
You didn’t steal it, did you?
EDWIN
Why would I only steal half of what I owe?
SARAH
Where’d you get it?
EDWIN
Work.
SARAH
What work?
EDWIN
Does it matter? I got it and now you have it. Isn’t that enough?
SARAH
I can’t be taking no theft money.
EDWIN
I told you I didn’t steal it. I worked a lot and ate a little. Didn’t buy a thing for three weeks straight. I saved and now I got it.
SARAH
Half of it.
EDWIN
And the rest by the end of the month.
SARAH
Not including interest.
EDWIN
What?
SARAH
Interest. For what you owe.
EDWIN
What are you talking about?
SARAH
Help is never free Edwin. You cost me money too. You owe me a lot more than just what you owe.
EDWIN
I can’t pay that.
SARAH
You got this half didn’t you?
EDWIN
I’ve eaten nothing but rice and beans for three weeks straight.
SARAH
Well then another few more won’t hurt so much.
EDWIN
I can’t just keep paying you forever.
SARAH
Not forever. Just till you pay what you owe.
EDWIN
But I already did that already!
SARAH
Half.
EDWIN
And the other half not long after!
SARAH
And when you do we can talk about it then.
EDWIN
What? No. I’m not just forgetting about this. I’m not just gonna pretend like this didn’t happen. I leave now and its just that much more interest I owe. Just...just give me my money back.
Sarah backs away, cash in hand.
SARAH
Its not yours to take.
EDWIN
What work have you done for it?
SARAH
I provided you with services previously unavailable. That is what I gave and that is what you got.
EDWIN
I only came here because it was cheap!
SARAH
Clearly not cheap enough.
EDWIN
Just give me my money back. I’ll pay you when I can.
SARAH
And have you go away and never come back? No. No. I don’t think so. This is collateral. This is to make sure you always come back.
EDWIN
Will you at least...can I at least...will you just let me come in for a sec.
SARAH
And steal what you can’t?
EDWIN
Steal? Its my work! My album! What’d you ever do for it?
SARAH
I provided you with everything you needed. From beginning to end.
EDWIN
And I thank you for that and I’ll pay you for that but if I could just get my hands on...
SARAH
Get the money and we can talk.
EDWIN
You have the money.
SARAH
All the money.
Edwin sighs, exasperated.
EDWIN
How much?
SARAH
How much what?
EDWIN
How much more, excluding this?
Sarah thinks for a moment.
SARAH
15.
EDWIN
Hundred?
SARAH
No less.
EDWIN
I only owe a thousand.
SARAH
If you ever want your album you’d be better to start working.
EDWIN
This is blackmail.
SARAH
This is life. I’ll give you a month.
EDWIN
Or what?
SARAH
Or the album is forgotten.
EDWIN
You can’t do that.
SARAH
I already did though, didn’t I?
EDWIN
I’m calling a lawyer.
Edwin turns sharp on his heels and begins to walk away.
SARAH
You can’t afford a lawyer.
EDWIN
A public attorney then!
SARAH
You can’t afford that neither.
Edwin turns back to Sarah.
EDWIN
I...you...just...fine. Whatever. Fifteen hundred. By the end of the month. You want it, I’ll get it. But then we’re even. Then I’m done.
SARAH
So be it.
Edwin pushes out the doors and into the fallen sun.
EXT. TRAILER - NIGHT
Edwin slams on the door of Uncle John’s lodgings, just across from the construction site.
Uncle John wales with a drunken slur.
JOHN
What ya want and who is ya?
EDWIN
Its Edwin. Your nephew.
JOHN
I knows whose you is! What ya want?
A shrill, delightful scream exits from the trailer.
EDWIN
Can we talk?
JOHN
We is!
EDWIN
I mean face to face.
A flurry of rustling furniture and hedonistic laughter.
John opens the door, a slew of women not so well hidden behind the drunken heathen.
JOHN
What do ya want?
EDWIN
I need some work.
JOHN
You got work!
EDWIN
More. I need more.
John thinks for a minute.
JOHN
How much more?
EDWIN
Double, if you can.
JOHN
Can ya work nights?
EDWIN
Sure.
JOHN
Days too?
EDWIN
Thats fine.
JOHN
Good. Get started.
EDWIN
What?
JOHN
Go on. Go and get started.
EDWIN
On what?
JOHN
Work you idiot.
EDWIN
What do you want me to do?
JOHN
I don’t know. Dig a hole or something.
EDWIN
A hole?
JOHN
To bury you in!
The crowd behind John gives a shrill laugh.
EDWIN
I mean it John.
JOHN
Ya, ya, you always meaning it. Always so damn serious.
EDWIN
Look, do you have work or not?
JOHN
Sures I do. Always plenty. Why don’t you tear down that building upways yonder.
John pushes a shaky finger towards an old building.
EDWIN
With what?
JOHN
Got a hammer, don’t ya?
EDWIN
Not on me.
JOHN
Wells what goods is ya then?!
John sighs.
JOHN
Look, kid, theres a drug store down the ways. Next to it is a place that sells hammers and the like. Things for beatin down buildings. Go there, get what you need, and get to work.
EDWIN
Are they even open this late?
JOHN
Do you want the work or not?
EDWIN
I do. I do. Its just...
JOHN
Then get to it then!
John slams the door on Edwin.
Edwin pauses, thinking to knock again, but thinks better of it, puts his headphones in, and walks down the street towards town.
EXT. TOWN - NIGHT
Lighted by what few street lamps still surround the perimeter, Edwin walks through town, hands in pockets, head down.
As he reaches the hardware store, he is sullen to find it closed, left long ago by those weary miscreants one is apt to call employees.
Edwin pulls at the door, looking inside.
Not a soul to be found.
Edwin sighs, puts his head back down, and goes into the drug store.
INT. DRUG STORE - NIGHT
A harsh luminescent glow pierces the eye with a brutal disposition as Edwin makes his way into the store and through the aisles.
The sole inhabitant of the store, a nonchalant female of say 65, sits, reading a magazine.
Edwin searches the hall looking but never finding, consoling his bereavement with a large tin of alcohol.
Walking up to the clerk, the woman looks up for an instant, stares at the bottle, and then back to the boy.
She sighs, scans it, and points to the screen which signifies the total.
Edwin rummages through his pockets and finds a few crumpled bills, just a dollar or two short from what is required.
Edwin gives an exasperated look.
The woman studies the money, counts it, and looks back at the screen, then at the boy.
Edwin looks down, ashamed.
The old woman shrugs, puts the money in a drawer, the bottle in a bag, and hands him the receipt.
Thankful but not ecstatic, Edwin gives a kind nod, and exits to his retreat.
EXT. TOWN - NIGHT
Sitting in the greasy halo of creeping light, Edwin gorges himself on the muddied colored fluid.
Edwin finishes the bottle, and throws it near the store, though his aim is short, and the bottle falls with a brittle shatter.
A homeless man, covered in rags, sits next to Edwin along the curb.
EDWIN
If its money you want I don’t have any.
HOMELESS MAN
And if I don’t?
EDWIN
Still nothing.
HOMELESS MAN
Drink?
The homeless man offers the boy a swirl of his own concoction, something very near clear but not quite so, and the boy takes a swig, far too drunk to care.
The boy grimaces, says not a word, and hands it back.
HOMELESS MAN
Life got you down?
Edwin points to the store across the way.
EDWIN
Just that.
HOMELESS MAN
The store?
EDWIN
Damn right that. Closing up shop so soon.
HOMELESS MAN
May I ask why?
EDWIN
Because they’re a bunch of pricks, thats why.
HOMELESS MAN
No. Not that. This. The blues. Why does it bother you so? Whether they close later or before?
EDWIN
Cus they cost me my job, thats why. The only job I ever got. I’m no good at it, you see. Just nepotism is all. But I work damn hard. And I was going to tonight too.
HOMELESS MAN
Nights can be rough.
EDWIN
Days too.
HOMELESS MAN
But why at such an hour? Why at such a time? Why such supplies at such an odd time?
EDWIN
Cus that cheap bastard won’t pay for nothing!
HOMELESS MAN
And you haven’t what you need?
EDWIN
Course I don’t! Who just has a hammer for the sledging.
HOMELESS MAN
Ahhhh. I see. So its demolition then? General destruction.
EDWIN
Damn right it is. Construction. Thats what I do.
HOMELESS MAN
Is it one or the other?
EDWIN
Both.
HOMELESS MAN
Funny how those things go.
EDWIN
Damn right it is! Just the other day, I was minding my own business, right, working on that grind as it is, and wouldn’t you believe it, I’m down right struck blind! Not by fists or anything, but by this knowing, that all this time, all this work, is all for what? All for nothing. Just another way dead is all.
HOMELESS MAN
Ahh, but life is just the thing that disrupts our death. The menial existence to the infinite nothingness.
EDWIN
And what good is that? When it all ends the same?
HOMELESS MAN
But it is not the end we aspire, but the life that we seek. It is what we do between the sheets of life and death that matter most. A sort of heavenly purgatory if you will.
EDWIN
Sounds rather pathetic.
HOMELESS MAN
Pathetic it might be, but life is all we have. To throw it all away for who knows what, isn’t that whats truly pathetic?
EDWIN
Who said anything about throwing anything anywhere?
HOMELESS MAN
Why you did my boy! Perhaps not so much in so many words but, rather, you have the gloom of it.
EDWIN
Well maybe I should.
HOMELESS MAN
And what good would that do? Ending a life I can only assume is perfectly fine.
EDWIN
Fine? You call this fine? Man, you don’t know the half of it. Calling me fine. You don’t know me. You don’t know nothing about me.
HOMELESS MAN
Have you a place to stay? Food to eat? People to love?
EDWIN
Well sure.
HOMELESS MAN
Then you’re mighty well off by most.
EDWIN
Ya? Says who?
HOMELESS MAN
Why says the world. Happiness and all about it. Do you think life is just some big success? Some grand game which one can simply just win? Don’t be preposterous my boy! Life is simply being! Life is nothing more than living.
EDWIN
And how can I just be happy when everything is so goddamn miserable?
HOMELESS
Ahhh. But misery is simply the start of the beginning. It is in our misery we find our happiness.
EDWIN
I don’t feel so very happy.
HOMELESS
Because you are in the midst of a hurricane my boy! But the sea is always loveliest at the end of the storm.
EDWIN
And whose to say it will ever end?
HOMELESS
All misfortunes come to an end my boy. It is simply a matter of time.
EDWIN
And how long is that?
HOMELESS
Thats for you to decide. I rather can’t make much of a choice myself. But now I must go. Now I must beg your pardon. I’m terribly sorry. But you know how these things go.
Edwin nods solemnly.
HOMELESS
But take this my boy. Read it and keep it well. It will do you some good in all the times to come.
Edwin takes a coin which the old man gives and reads it out loud.
EDWIN
Memento Mori. What does that mean?
HOMELESS
It means what it says. Remember where your from, remember where you’ll go. Life is simply the in between of all that was and all that ever will.
Edwin nods, confused, and the old man walks away.
EDWIN
Memento Mori.
Edwin looks at the shop, the rock in his hand, and at the glass which could just so easily shatter.
Edwin throws the rock and shatters the glass.
INT. BUILDING - NIGHT
Again and again Edwin slams the hammer against the brick, grunting and moaning with the terrible effort.
Sirens lull to a scorching howl, but Edwin doesn’t stop.
Red and blue bleed from the cracks but still Edwin continues.
A man in blue enters the room and yells with a fitful fright.
Edwin swings the hammer again and again and again.
Pulled back to its full height, the hammer stops, hindered by some impossible force.
Edwin turns, to find a hand much larger than his own grasping at the head of the hammer.
Edwin struggles with the hammer, but is soon pushed down, laid upon his stomach.
Arrested and imprisoned, Edwin is escorted out of the building, and into a car, sirens wailing.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT
A dull, harsh glow radiates upon Edwin’s weary eyes, staring down at the reflective surface that is his prison: a table with chains.
Across from him sits an old friend of the law, a fellow student back in the days of school, HANK.
EDWIN
Is this really that necessary?
HANK
You threatened the law.
EDWIN
I didn’t do anything.
HANK
You had a weapon of mass destruction.
EDWIN
Thats a bit hyperbolic.
HANK
Is a bomb hyperbolic?
EDWIN
What?
HANK
Where do you think you were Edwin?
EDWIN
Working at my uncles construction.
HANK
His what? Boy, your uncle doesn’t own shit.
EDWIN
I’m sorry?
HANK
That so called construction you’re doing. Thats terrorism.
EDWIN
Wait. What? I’m sorry. What?
HANK
He’s harboring terrorists.
EDWIN
What?
HANK
Terrorists. Murderers. Rapists. Do you know what those are?
EDWIN
What? Yes. Of course I do. But...
HANK
Then you know what you’re doing.
EDWIN
Hank, look, no, this has to be some sort of mistake.
HANK
Not here kid. Here I’m officer Johnson.
EDWIN
Officer Johnson then!
HANK
Look, Edwin, I get it, you didn’t know. I get that. But they don’t. They won’t. Working for a man like that, so close to home, how could you not? And now with stolen equipment...
EDWIN
I...
HANK
So you didn’t none steal it neither?
EDWIN
No I...
HANK
Look, buddy, you’re in a bit of a pickle. Best I can do is tell you to fess up.
EDWIN
To a crime I didn’t commit?
HANK
Would you rather spend a lifetime in jail?
EDWIN
You gotta be joking!
Hank sighs.
HANK
Look, confess against truth, plea for guilty, try against John, and you’ll soon as good run free.
EDWIN
How soon’s soon?
HANK
Five years probably.
EDWIN
Five years?! Hank. Officer Johnson. Look. I can’t. I couldn’t. I mean. Five years? For nothing? How could I possibly...
HANK
Would you rather be forever?
EDWIN
But I didn’t do anything!
HANK
It don’t much matter what you did kid. Whats done is done, whether you did it or not.
EDWIN
Can I at least call a lawyer?
HANK
Call whoever you want.
Edwin pulls at his chains.
HANK
Sorry kid, gotta keep em for the time being. I’ll bring you one instead.
Hank leaves, leaving Edwin to his lonesome.
Edwin puts his head down, and begins to sob.
Hank returns with a phone, plugging it in to a wall not too far off.
Hank, keeping his distance, hands him the phone.
HANK
You know how it goes, one call is all. Do it good, ya? Don’t screw this up
Edwin dials the phone, and pulls it close.
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
A cell phone rings at the edge of a kitchen table, lighting the night in hopeful abandon.
A ring.
Another.
Another.
One final ring, before someone finally answers.
Cole, standing in darkness, answers the phone.
COLE
Mr. Hugo?
INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
A woman not much older than just 32, walks down the hall with reckless ambition, pulling her son in unwilling submission.
Cole complains and whines, but his mother, a good smart lawyer named DAISY, doesn’t think to stop.
Daisy walks right up to Hank.
DAISY
Where is he?
HANK
I’m sorry?
DAISY
Edwin! Where is he?
HANK
I’m sorry. Who are you?
DAISY
Who do you think?
HANK
Ummm, his sister, maybe?
DAISY
Do I look like his effing sister.
HANK
Ummmm, no?
DAISY
Goddamn right no!
HANK
Oh. Then you are...
DAISY
His lawyer.
HANK
(Referring to Cole)
And him?
DAISY
A future one.
HANK
And this is about?
DAISY
The man you just jailed!
HANK
You mean Edwin?
DAISY
Of course I mean Edwin.
HANK
(Again referring to Cole)
And he’s here because?
DAISY
Thats what friends do.
HANK
I’m sorry. I’m a little confused.
DAISY
I can see that.
HANK
Who are you again?
DAISY
Daisy.
HANK
And you’re here for?
DAISY
Edwin.
HANK
(Once again to Cole)
And he’s here for?
DAISY
He’s my son. Do you expect me to just leave him alone all on his own?
HANK
He looks plenty old nuff.
DAISY
Do you wanna watch him burn down my home?
HANK
No ma’am.
DAISY
Then you better get Edwin!
HANK
Yes ma’am....ummm, ma’am.
DAISY
What?
HANK
He can’t come with.
DAISY
Would you rather watch him?
Hank pauses, hesitating.
HANK
Chief ain’t none gonna like none of this.
The three walk into the interrogation room.
INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT
Upon a cold hard bench sits Edwin well chained, next to him his soul friend in a world long gone cold: Cole.
COLE
Do you think this is it?
EDWIN
Not if your mother has anything to say about it.
COLE
Was he really that bad?
EDWIN
Seemed perfectly fine to me.
COLE
But I guess thats how it goes, huh? Not like the movies or anything. No fessing evil doings in the real of reality.
EDWIN
Suppose not.
COLE
Man, you gonna get me in so much trouble.
EDWIN
I’m sorry to bother you with my false conviction of terrorism.
COLE
Nah. Its all good I guess. I’m just saying, why’d you have to bring me in on this?
EDWIN
Would you rather I be dead?
Cole thinks for a moment.
COLE
No. I guess probably not.
EDWIN
So we good then?
COLE
Man, don’t think this means nothing!
EDWIN
No?
COLE
Nah man. You can’t just get arrested and we be good.
EDWIN
Why not?
COLE
Cus thats dumb man! I mean, what you did was hella cool and all. Harboring fugitives, so called terrorists. Probably just illegals for all that matters. Probably nobody really. But that can’t just be enough.
EDWIN
What is?
COLE
Well damn. I don’t know. But you can’t just be arrested and that just be it!
EDWIN
How about this. If I go free. If I ever go free. I’ll hang with you for real.
COLE
For real?
EDWIN
Sure. But thats assuming I ever go free, which, well, we’ll see.
The two sit in momentary silence, an odd sort of contentment filling the two.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Early morning sun peaks through shadowed blinds as a more than tired Hank confronts his willful foe.
Daisy sits, smiling, Cole sleeping, and Edwin far too tired to sleep anytime soon.
HANK
Look, best I can do is to promise parole. Maybe a year in the slammer or two. But thats not really for me to decide.
EDWIN
Who is?
DAISY
In this case, a judge.
EDWIN
So all I have to do is lie and plead guilty?
DAISY
And then you’ll be free.
HANK
And then maybe we can see what we can do.
Edwin sighs.
HANK
Look, kid, its your best shot.
Edwin looks pleadingly at Daisy.
DAISY
Would you rather prison for life?
Edwin looks out at the papers splayed before him, then down at the coin in his hand.
Memento Mori.
Henry grabs a pen, and signs.
EXT. HOUSE - DAY
Edwin, with a short, scraggly beard, walks through the rain and towards the house he calls home, monitor on his ankle.
As he enters the house, Ellen gushes towards him, tears in her eyes.
Jerome stands aside with a cold glare as Edwin returns the hug.
ELLEN
I told you not to do it. Oh how I told you not to!
EDWIN
I know mom. I know.
ELLEN
But none of that matters now.
Ellen wipes a few tears from her cheek.
ELLEN
All that matters now is that you’re home and that you’re safe. Thats all that matters now.
Edwin gives a false smile and a final hug.
ELIZABETH, Edwin’s sister, stands burdened with all the packs that surround.
EDWIN
Going somewhere sis?
ELIZABETH
Summer’s nearly over Edwin. Its back to grad school now.
Edwin nods.
Elizabeth moves in close.
ELIZABETH
You okay?
EDWIN
I’ll be alright.
ELIZABETH
You didn’t know neither, did you?
EDWIN
No. Did they?
Edwin nods to his parents.
ELIZABETH
I’d used to say they’d never. But then again I would’ve said the same thing about him. So. I don’t know. Maybe.
Edwin nods.
EDWIN
Well, I’ll see you at Christmas Liz.
ELIZABETH
Thanksgiving too.
EDWIN
Then, then.
Elizabeth smiles, gives Edwin a hug, and leaves, burdened by her many bags.
Ellen, all in a fuss, goes to help her, and the two exit.
Jerome stands, glaring at the boy.
EDWIN
I didn’t know, you know.
JEROME
A good man never lies.
EDWIN
I’m not.
JEROME
Thats not what I’m referring to.
Edwin nods solemnly.
EDWIN
They said I’d never go free. They’d never believe me.
JEROME
That we’ll never know.
EDWIN
Its better this way. This way I can work still.
JEROME
Where can a felon ever work?
EDWIN
The record shop apparently.
Jerome fails to hide a smile.
JEROME
You don’t say.
EDWIN
Apparently this gives me some sort of cred. Like Tupac or whatever.
JEROME
And the album?
EDWIN
Well, I still have to pay what I owe. But I don’t know. Maybe.
JEROME
Like I said, it all works out in the end.
EDWIN
Ya...I guess so...
JEROME
Anyways. Its good to have you home son. Even if you are a lying thief.
Edwin gives a small smile.
EDWIN
Thanks dad.
The two share a moment of solitude.
JEROME
Well, I better go help your mother.
Edwin smiles, and Jerome exits.
INT. RECORD SHOP - DAY
Edwin sits at the counter, alongside Jack, discussing the possible lunacy of the odd man Kanye.
JACK
No man. Its not like that. I’m telling you its all just an act.
EDWIN
I mean maybe some of it sort of, but it can’t just be all of it. He can’t just be pretending always.
JACK
But thats what makes Kanye Kanye man. He’s always pretending.
EDWIN
But if he’s always pretending, then whats the difference between that and not at all?
JACK
Well you got me stumped there man. But I’m telling ya, he’s smarter than he looks.
EDWIN
I’m not saying he’s not. I just don’t think its all just pretend. At least not all of it.
JACK
But what about...
A beautiful young woman enters the store, but from their vantage point, her face is well hidden.
JACK
Say, how about that cutie?
EDWIN
At least pretend decency.
JACK
Hey man. I’m not saying nothing. All I’m saying is...
The woman moves closer, revealing those dazzling eyes.
Emma stands very near.
EMMA
Hey.
EDWIN
Hey.
The three stand awkwardly in momentary silence.
JACK
Well, talk why don’t you.
The two look awkwardly at Jack.
JACK
Ahhh. I see. Well then, I bid you two adieu.
Jack hops over the counter and to a booth some seven feet away.
Emma and Edwin watch him go off, holding a brief moment of silence.
EMMA
I heard what happened.
EDWIN
Its not what you think.
EMMA
And what do I think?
EDWIN
I didn’t do it.
EMMA
I know.
EDWIN
What?
EMMA
I know Edwin. I know. Do you think after seven long years I still wouldn’t know you?
Edwin gives a sly smile.
EDWIN
What’d you come here for then?
EMMA
I miss you.
Edwin nods solemnly.
EMMA
Do you miss me?
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
I should.
EMMA
But you don’t.
EDWIN
I’ve been a little busy lately.
EMMA
Don’t do this Edwin.
EDWIN
Do what?
EMMA
Don’t just pretend like you’re fine when you’re not.
EDWIN
But I am.
EMMA
Really? You call this fine?
EDWIN
I’m happy.
EMMA
You’re under house arrest!
EDWIN
That doesn’t mean I can’t be happy.
EMMA
You’re a convicted felon.
EDWIN
Better than an imprisoned one.
EMMA
You’ll never get a real job.
EDWIN
I have a real job.
EMMA
This isn’t a job.
EDWIN
It is to me.
EMMA
You still live with your parents.
EDWIN
For a while.
EMMA
At this rate forever.
Edwin shrugs.
EDWIN
Probably not. This whole house arrest thing makes life pretty easy.
EMMA
And what about your album?
EDWIN
What about it?
EMMA
You’re just giving up on it?
EDWIN
I’m not giving up. I’m taking a break.
EMMA
Whats the difference?
EDWIN
I can always go back.
EMMA
But you never will.
EDWIN
I have to pay what I owe.
EMMA
Then what?
EDWIN
Then I’ll go back.
EMMA
Or will you just say you will?
EDWIN
What do you want me to do?
EMMA
I want you to stop pretending like you’re happy when you’re not. I want you to stop make believing truth when in all honesty you’re miserable. You hate not doing what you love. Thats all you’ve ever wanted. And now, what, because some sham of an uncle gets locked up you’re a whole new man now? Thats bullshit Edwin. Thats just bullshit.
EDWIN
I am who I am. What else can I say?
EMMA
Stop acting like you’re something you’re not. Like you’re just this cool calm collected person who just doesn’t care about anything. Thats not who you are. Thats not who you’ve ever been.
EDWIN
Well maybe that kid’s dead Emma. Maybe he’s just plain dead. Maybe its best you just forget about him, because theres no use for him now. You’re right, I am pathetic, I am a loser. But goddamn’t Emma, I can’t do it anymore. I can’t do any of this anymore. I can’t just keep pretending something is ever gonna happen when its not. Cus its not. Its not. This is my life now. This is who I am. And I just have to be okay with that.
EMMA
The Edwin I know would never give up like that.
EDWIN
Well he’s gone Emma. He’s gone. So why don’t you just forget about it already?
A group of kids, late in teens though early in years, barge into the shop, one after the other.
Emma moves in close, just across the counter from Edwin.
EMMA
Whatever game you’re playing, you can just forget about it. I’m not playing anymore. You’re on your own Edwin. I’m tired of picking up for you.
EDWIN
Well who asked you?
Emma and Edwin share a cold glare.
EMMA
I hope you’re happy with your misery.
Emma turns on her heel and walks towards the door.
EDWIN
Ya? Well I do too!
Emma exits the store.
Jack slowly, awkwardly, moves his way back to the counter.
JACK
So I uhh, take it it didn’t go so well?
EDWIN
I’m taking my break.
Edwin hops over the counter and out towards the door.
JACK
Hey man. Wait. You know you can’t go nowhere with that thing still on you.
Edwin, ignoring Jack’s advice, barges out the door.
The anklet begins to beep.
EXT. RECORD STORE - DAY
Edwin looks in both directions, before spotting what seems to be the back of Emma, and races towards her, throguh the crowd.
The anklet continues to beep.
Louder.
Louder.
Louder.
Edwin comes close to Emma only to find it is not Emma at all, but a complete stranger.
Edwin looks around again, searching but not finding.
The anklet continues to grow in alarm.
Edwin spots Emma, just a ways in the distance, across the street, and sprints towards her, irregardless of common pedestrian laws.
The sounds of sirens.
Edwin pushes through a seemingly impenetrable crowd.
Yells and screams as Edwin moves closer.
Closer.
Closer.
So close he can almost touch her.
Darkness.
INT. OFFICE - DAY
An evening sun scowls at a tired beaten face as Hank solemnly stacks papers and looks back at Edwin.
HANK
Goddamn’t kid. Why’d you have to go and screwup?
EDWIN
I didn’t think it’d matter.
HANK
Matter?! Edwin, you’re under house arrest. Imprisonment. You broke the law for christ’s sake. You’re a convicted felon.
EDWIN
Not by choice.
HANK
It doesn’t damn much matter what you chose! You plead and now you’re guilty. Thats the end of it.
EDWIN
So what happens now?
HANK
Honestly kid, I can’t much say. I’d like to say it’ll all be fine and you can just go back home but...
Hank sighs.
HANK
Look, kid, was there a reason you were running. A real reason? Like a fire or something.
EDWIN
Emma...
Hank sighs again.
HANK
Henry’s not too keen on love kid. You got another?
Edwin shakes his head.
HANK
Look, in all honesty, this is probably it for you kid. I can promise you all you want, but more than likely its jail for you. Real jail. None of this home invasion crap or anything like that.
Edwin nods, looking down.
HANK
Maybe...look...maybe we can make a deal. Something just between us. Henry owes me a couple of favors down at the DoJ. Maybe I can make a few phone calls. Run a few names. But this is it for you kid. This is all I got. Run like this again and, well, its this or nothing.
Edwin shakes his head.
EDWIN
Keep your favors. This time I did it. This time it was all me. Its about time I pay what I owe.
Hank gives a solemn nod, signs a paper, and hands it to Edwin.
HANK
Give this to the lady up front. She’ll help you out from here on in.
Edwin nods, grabs the paper, and turns to go.
HANK
And kid, for the love of God, please don’t ever come back again.
Edwin gives a solemn smile.
INT. HALLWAY - DAY
Edwin walks down a long, narrow hall, falsely lit by a luminescent glow.
Beside him, a guard pushes the prisoner wrapped in chains, Edwin unresistant.
The two stop at a cell, and the guard ushers him in.
Edwin walks into the room awkwardly, alone.
The guard closes the gates and rattles the bars.
Edwin turns, and finds the guard motioning for him to put his hands through the gates.
Edwin does so, and his chains are let free, though his imprisonment is permanent.
The guard walks away.
Edwin looks down the long corridor, a cold face of solemn acceptance.
INT. RECORD SHOP - DAY
A brilliant sun pierces a somber mood in a once joyous shop, as a small group of friends and family solemnly stand gathered in sullen angst.
Emma walks into the shop, shy, unsure.
Elizabeth confronts her.
ELIZABETH
It’d be better if you’d just go.
EMMA
I know. But I won’t.
ELIZABETH
No one much likes you here.
EMMA
I’d never imagined they would.
ELIZABETH
Most of them blame you.
EMMA
All of them should.
ELIZABETH
And you have no guilt?
EMMA
Guilt is all I have.
ELIZABETH
Well its in good company.
EMMA
You blame me too?
ELIZABETH
No one doesn’t.
EMMA
Them, maybe, sure. But I didn’t think you too.
ELIZABETH
I wouldn’t if it wasn’t true.
EMMA
How was I supposed to know he’d go and follow me?
ELIZABETH
You’ve met him, haven’t you?
EMMA
I thought maybe they’d go easy on him. Maybe they’d show him some grace.
ELIZABETH
For what?
EMMA
Ambition. Love. Passion. He was lost and maybe could be found.
ELIZABETH
And you thought prison would do?
EMMA
House arrest didn’t.
ELIZABETH
But prison would?
EMMA
Someone had to do something.
ELIZABETH
And what did you do?
EMMA
At least I tried to do something.
ELIZABETH
Just like you always do.
EMMA
Whats that supposed to mean?
ELIZABETH
You always try to fix whats never broken.
EMMA
So you thought Edwin was fine?
ELIZABETH
I thought he was happy.
EMMA
He hadn’t whistled in months.
ELIZABETH
And he was happy.
EMMA
His music was his life!
ELIZABETH
But it didn’t have to be! It wasn’t. It wasn’t. For the first time in forever, it wasn’t. For the first time in a long time, life was more than just music. It was a whole life. Loving and living and breathing. Not just music. For the first time in forever, it was more than just music.
EMMA
And whats a greater sign of being broken? Than doing what you’ve never done. Forgetting what you’ve always done.
ELIZABETH
Thats what fixed is. Finally being okay with just being happy.
EMMA
As if I didn’t want him to be happy.
ELIZABETH
I’m sure you did. We all did. You just didn’t do anything about it.
EMMA
I’m sorry I didn’t want him to live with his parents forever.
ELIZABETH
Jesus Christ Emma. You are so conceded. You didn’t care about what he wanted. You just wanted what you wanted. And you thought him doing what you wanted would somehow make him happy? Prison? Jail? Suicide even? Hell, maybe he is happy now!
EMMA
Suicide? What do you mean suicide?
ELIZABETH
Oh my god Emma, don’t you know anything? Obviously it was suicide. Obviously it was him.
EMMA
But how...
ELIZABETH
Because it wasn’t just a seizure. It wasn’t just an attack. An overdose, Emma, thats what they say. An overdose. And for someone whose never done any, that wouldn’t take much, but he’s not stupid. He was never that stupid. He had to have known what he was doing.
EMMA
But he’d never...
ELIZABETH
Hasn’t he?
Emma looks down, on the brink of tears.
EMMA
I...I didn’t think it’d get to that.
ELIZABETH
But it did, didn’t it?
Emma begins to cry, and Elizabeth walks away.
Elizabeth passes another group gathered: Jerome, Ellen, and Daisy.
ELLEN
We’re so thankful you could make it.
JEROME
Even if it isn’t worth much.
ELLEN
Jerome!
DAISY
Your husband’s right. If I had spent more time...
ELLEN
Nonsense! You did what you could and what you could just wasn’t enough. Thats not your fault sweetie.
JEROME
A better lawyer maybe...
ELLEN
Jerome!
DAISY
No. He’s right. I should’ve been better. Or at least found someone who was. I thought I did what I could. I told myself that I did. But I know I could’ve done more. I know I should’ve done more.
ELLEN
Honey, sweetie, don’t be like that. What happened to Edwin was nothing but chance. Nothing but a curious happenstance. Theres nothing no one could have done.
JEROME
Well...
Ellen gives a cold glare, and Jerome falls into a stubborn silence.
DAISY
I know. I know. I just feel as if I’m sort of to blame, you know. I could’ve got him out. I should’ve got him out. If I had known he’d go and...
ELLEN
Well we don’t know for sure.
DAISY
No, of course not, but...
ELLEN
He wouldn’t have.
DAISY
No. Certainly not. Under normal circumstances he would never...
ELLEN
Under no circumstances.
DAISY
Yes. Certainly in almost all cases but...
ELLEN
Never.
DAISY
Yes, never, but when you take into account...
ELLEN
No.
DAISY
Well if you just looked at the facts then...
ELLEN
If you think you know my son better than me then you are sorely mistaken sweetie. He was my boy Daisy, not yours. No one knows him like I do.
DAISY
And no one ever will, but...
Ellen breaks, her voice becoming a crippling boom.
ELLEN
Stop! Just...stop...
Ellen lowers her voice.
ELLEN
I’m sure under many other circumstances you are a perfectly fine young lady Miss Daisy, but at this very moment you are being quite a bitch.
Daisy looks to Jerome for some sort of support.
JEROME
You’d better be going.
Daisy looks back at Ellen, astonished.
DAISY
I’m sorry Ellen. I didn’t mean anything by it. I...I better just go then.
Jerome gives a solemn nod, and Daisy heads over to her son Cole, who stands talking to Jack.
JACK
Nah man, I’m telling you straight. Edwin gone and pulled a Tupac.
COLE
Man, forget about it. Edwin’s dead and gone. You just hopin to wishin.
JACK
Thats what they said about Tupac!
COLE
And where is he now?
JACK
He’ll be back.
COLE
Man, forget your crazy theory. I saw him as good as you. He died man. He’s dead.
JACK
Dead maybe to the touch, but that brain of his is still going strong.
COLE
What are ya saying man? That they got his brain in a freezer or something?
JACK
I wouldn’t put it past em.
COLE
Man you crazy.
Daisy buds in.
DAISY
Ready?
COLE
Later. You go on without me. I’ll get Jack here to take me.
DAISY
Did you ask sweetie?
JACK
Of course he didn’t! But thats alright. Thats okay. Its cool with me as long as its cool with you Miss Daisy.
Daisy looks to Cole, then to Jack.
DAISY
Could you give us a minute?
JACK
Ahh. I see. One of those titular mother son moments. Yes, well, alright. I’ll just be right over there when you’re through.
Jack walks away.
DAISY
You’re taking this rather lightly.
Cole shrugs.
COLE
He died a good death.
DAISY
What did you do to that poor man?
COLE
Nothing worth doing.
Daisy gives Cole an odd look.
DAISY
What do you know, Cole?
COLE
I know what you do. Overdose I suppose.
DAISY
And where did he get those?
COLE
What?
DAISY
That pill that he had. Its not just anybody that gets something like that.
Cole shrugs.
COLE
I guess his cred gave him some pull.
DAISY
No prisoner could get their hands on a thing like that.
COLE
Apparently they could.
DAISY
And your father?
COLE
What?
DAISY
Your deadbeat dad. He had nothing to do with this?
COLE
What makes you think that he did?
Daisy gives Cole a look over.
DAISY
He always did love you.
COLE
Probably still does.
DAISY
Is he okay?
COLE
Who, dad?
DAISY
No. Edwin.
COLE
What? He’s dead. How could he...
DAISY
Cole. Honey. Don’t play stupid.
Cole looks down, not sure what to say.
COLE
I...
DAISY
Don’t. Whatever you did, I don’t wanna know. As long as he’s okay, I’m okay. But his family really should...
COLE
And get caught?
Daisy gives a sad smile.
DAISY
You always were smarter than me. I guess this is probably best.
Cole nods.
DAISY
When’s the last time you saw him?
COLE
That day. The day he died. Not since. Not ever again probably.
DAISY
I’m sorry sweetie.
COLE
Don’t be. Its better this way. At least now he can be happy.
DAISY
And so can you sweetie. Because you made him happy.
COLE
Ya but for what?
DAISY
All we can do is make others happy. You did more for him than anyone ever will probably. I’m proud of you sweetie.
COLE
I just wish I could do something.
DAISY
You’ve done so much more than something sweetie. You did what you could, and what you could was more than enough. Now he can be happy. Now you can be happy. And thats all you need, all you need to be happy.
Cole gives a sad smile.
COLE
Ya, I guess.
DAISY
I love you sweetie.
COLE
You too.
Daisy kisses Cole on the head, and exits the shop.
Not too long after, Emma and Elizabeth exit the shop, followed by her parents, Jerome and Ellen.
Before too long, Jack and Cole are left to their thoughts and the night.
A knock on the door.
JACK
Not open buddy.
DRIVER
Not buying pal.
JACK
What do you want then?
DRIVER
Inventory.
Jack jumps to his feet and opens the door.
In front of him stands a burly man of about 50 with a case load of albums in his hands.
DRIVER
Got about three more in the truck.
Jack nods and heads out to the truck.
DRIVER
Where do you want these?
Cole looks around for a moment, sitting on the counter.
COLE
Just put em here for now. We’ll take care of em later.
The driver nods and sets the cases on the counter.
Jack pushes his way into the shop.
JACK
That it?
DRIVER
Thats it.
JACK
Alright, well, thank you then.
The driver nods and walks away.
Jack places the boxes upon the counter.
COLE
What’d ya get?
Jack begins to open the boxes.
JACK
What I got.
Jack hands Cole an album.
COLE
Where did you...
Jack shrugs.
JACK
Local studio had em. Said they just got a whole case of em. Says they were sent to em for some reason. Didn’t want em though, so I took em.
COLE
Any good?
Jack shrugs.
JACK
Different.
COLE
Whats it called?
JACK
Can’t remember exactly.
COLE
Any cover?
JACK
None that I found.
COLE
Whose it again?
JACK
Hell if I know.
Cole nods, studying the vinyl.
COLE
Whats it sound like?
JACK
Here. I’ll play it.
Jack grabs one of the albums, and walks over to the turntable.
The thud of a rhythmic bass.
The swell of lyrics doused in brass.
The faint but ever present whistle.
FADE OUT: