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ACT FOUR
FADE IN
EXT. TATTINGER'S - NIGHT
Establishing.
INT. MAIN ROOM - NIGHT
Dinner time. LOUIS on phone at Maitre d' Station.
LOUIS
Yes, yes... I think I could manage
that... No, don't worry, I won't
say a word to Nick...
LOUIS hangs up, crosses, passing BILLIE and SID at piano.
BILLIE
And what happened after you got
Tunson to the hospital?
SID
I'm not really sure, but I got the
very distinct impression he was
going back to Toledo and taking his
trillion dollars with him.
BILLIE
Poor Nick. So what was the outcome
of the contest? Who won, Sheila or
Alphonse?
SID
We don't know yet. Whoever walks
in that door next is the judge.
SUSAN SAINT JAMES enters.
SUSAN
Hello, I have a reservation for two
-- under Ebersole.
SID
(checks book)
Oh, yes. Funny, you look like an
actress, Susan Saint James.
SUSAN
I am Susan Saint James. Ebersole
is my married name.
SID
Well, you look just like her.
SUSAN
I --
SID
Louis, show Missus Ebersole, to
table twelve.
LOUIS
Table twelve.
SID
Uh-huh.
LOUIS
At eight-thirty.
SID
Uh-huh.
LOUIS
Of course. Right this way.
(as they walk)
Your first trip to Tattinger's?
SUSAN
Yes. Having dinner with a friend.
LOUIS
(pulls back chair)
There you go.
SUSAN sits. LOUIS slides her a menu.
LOUIS (CONT.)
May I get you a cocktail?
SUSAN
Not just yet, thanks.
LOUIS
Pardon me for saying so, but you
look awfully familiar. Do I know
you?
SUSAN
Maybe you've seen me on Kate and
Allie.
LOUIS
No.
SUSAN
MacMillan and Wife?
LOUIS
No.
SUSAN
The Name of the Game?
LOUIS
What are those?
SUSAN
T.V. shows.
LOUIS
Oh. Working nights, we people in
the restaurant business never watch
television. I must have you
confused with someone else. Sorry.
SUSAN
That makes two of us.
LOUIS exits. On SUSAN, looking around,
CUT TO
INT. HONEY'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
NICK sits as HONEY still bends wire, sculpting.
NICK
What about your other daughter?
The one who died at Auschwitz.
No response from HONEY.
NICK (CONT.)
Honey, why can't you tell me --
HONEY
Because.
NICK
Shlomo was always willing to talk
about the camps. He stopped
strangers on the street sometimes,
to show them his tattoo.
HONEY
(stops sculpting)
Shlomo was different.
(goes to window)
When I brought him to America, he
was like Alice seeing Wonderland.
We took this place over forty years
ago... there was still a stable
back here. The smell, the noise...
no air conditioning... He thought
it was paradise.
NICK
I don't blame you for putting the
trauma out of your mind. But
imagine how painful it must be for
Rachel. She desperately wants to
know what it was like, how it
felt... and can't, any more than I
can. She needs you to remember...
HONEY
She's never forgiven me for the way
I behaved after Shlomo died. She
thinks I'm cold, indifferent. But
his murder triggered in me
feelings... I couldn't mourn,
because if I did, I'd have to mourn
every one of them, so many friends,
so many relatives -- How do you do
that, Nick, tell me, and still go
on? In the concentration camps,
there was no chance to set aside a
time for grief. No, I will not
give Rachel my tears.
NICK
I'm not a very good parent, but I
do know When a child cries out for
something, you gotta do everything
you can to deliver... Come on.
HONEY
No.
NICK
I'm taking you to Rachel. I don't
care if you never speak to her
after this. I don't care if you
never speak to me again. But you
have to go. Now.
He holds out his hand. On HONEY, staring at him,
CUT TO
EXT. LOADING DOCKS - NIGHT
SONNY stands playing with a yo-yo as MARCO approaches.
SONNY
Did you reach him?
MARCO
Yep.
SONNY
And he said he'd meet you?
MARCO
Yep.
SONNY
(laughing)
Luring Nick into my web.
MARCO
I don't get this phase of the
operation.
SONNY
Gaze around you, Marco. The port
of the city of New York. Through
these doors, come imports and
exports from all around the world.
For instance...
(goes to large crate)
This box -- tomorrow this box will
be on its way to South America. To
Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
MARCO
I'm still having trouble fully
grasping your intentions, Sonny.
SONNY
I don't feel like telling you.
That's the kind of hair shirt I am.
MARCO
So, then, what do we do now?
SONNY
Wait for the future late Nick
Tattinger to arrive.
As SONNY walks the dog, and MARCO looks at him, nonplussed,
CUT TO
INT. MAIN ROOM - NIGHT
JANE CURTIN enters, approaches SID.
SID
Hello, Miss Curtin.
JANE
Hi, Sid, I'm meeting someone.
SID
And who might that be?
JANE
Well, it might be Robert Redford --
but actually, it's -- she's right
over there.
They cross to table.
SID
Long time no see.
JANE
Well, I've been a little nervous
about coming in.
SID
Why's that?
JANE
I heard that in the month and a
half since Nick's been back, you've
had four fist fights, a streaker
and a corpse.
SID
Those are lies. People lie, Miss
Curtin.
JANE
Hi, Susan.
SUSAN
Don't talk to me.
As SID pulls out chair, JANE sits.
JANE
What's your problem?
SID goes.
SUSAN
I hate this place. New York City
has over twelve thousand
restaurants. With better service.
Better drinks. Why did you bring
us here?
JANE
I love this place. Besides, it's
the only one in town that'll take
my personal check.
On SUSAN'S look,
CUT TO
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
LOUIS stands with tray poised. SHEILA and ALPHONSE approach
from either side, with their dish of seafood pate ala Grand
Adieu. Both ritualistically place their plates on the tray.
LOUIS looks down, then at ALPHONSE, then at SHEILA, and
exits, followed by various STAFF MEMBERS.
INT. MAIN ROOM - NIGHT
As LOUIS approaches table twelve, STAFF MEMBERS form a line
between the Kitchen and the table. LOUIS stops, places one
dish in front of JANE, and one in front of SUSAN.
LOUIS
Here you go. Seafood pate ala
Grand Adieu.
JANE
I didn't know you liked seafood
pate.
SUSAN
They were really leaning on me to
try some.
LOUIS
(smiles)
Bon appetit.
SUSAN and JANE exchange glance. SUSAN eats.
SUSAN
Oh, this is delicious. Like
something out of Versailles.
LOUIS turns to STAFF MEMBER, whispers.
LOUIS
They think number one is wonderful.
EACH STAFF MEMBER whispers the message to the next STAFF
MEMBER in line. As last PERSON in line opens Kitchen door,
gives SHEILA and ALPHONSE the "OK" sign,
CUT TO
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
At table twelve, SUSAN addresses JANE.
SUSAN
Aren't you going to try yours?
JANE
(tastes)
This is terrible. Like something
out of Napoleon's shorts.
LOUIS turns to STAFF MEMBER, whispers.
LOUIS
They think number two is awful.
Once again, STAFF MEMBERS pass message in a whisper. As last
PERSON in line leans into Kitchen, gives ALPHONSE and SHEILA
a thumbs down,
CUT TO
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
As SHEILA smiles, and ALPHONSE frowns,
CUT TO
INT. MAIN ROOM - NIGHT
At table twelve, SUSAN addresses LOUIS.
SUSAN
My compliments to the chef.
LOUIS
Thank you.
(turns, goes)
SUSAN
I love this place.
JANE
I hate it.
On the two of them,
CUT TO
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
ALPHONSE sits at a table, crying, with his pate. KITCHEN
WORKER passes.
ALPHONSE
Try my pate?
KITCHEN WORKER shakes head "no", passes. Another KITCHEN
WORKER passes.
ALPHONSE (CONT.)
Try my pate?
KITCHEN WORKER shakes head "no" passes. Another KITCHEN
WORKER passes, shakes head "no."
ALPHONSE (CONT.)
What does Jane Curtin know?
He spies SHEILA across room, rises, holding plate of pate in
both hands, crosses to SHEILA, stares at her beseechingly.
She gives him a hard look. He whimpers.
SHEILA
Sure, okay, yeah.
(sticks thimb in pate;
tastes)
Too much nutmeg.
ALPHONSE
(eyes brighten)
Is that all?
SHEILA
Yes.
ALPHONSE
(happily runs around
Kitchen, talking to other
WORKERS)
Too much nutmeg. Too much nutmeg.
All I needed to do was put in less
nutmeg.
SHEILA
(watches; beat; stops
BUSBOY, hands him plate
of pate)
Throw this one out. No, burn it.
It'll kill the dogs.
On SHEILA, going back to work,
CUT TO
EXT. LOADING DOCKS - NIGHT
MARCO and SONNY wait by large open crate. FOORSTEPS hit
pavement in distance. Both look up.
Sonny's POV Obscured by shadows, the figure of a MAN.
SONNY
That you, Tattinger?
MAN'S VOICE
Yeah.
SONNY
(stands, turns to MARCO;
sotto)
On three.
MAN in shadows starts approaching.
SONNY (CONT.)
One.
MAN gets closer.
SONNY (CONT.)
Two.
MAN gets closer.
SONNY (CONT.)
Three.
MAN steps into light, REVEALING himself to be LOUIS.
SONNY (CONT.)
What the --
SONNY turns to MARCO who clips him under the chin with a
solid right. SONNY falls backwards, unconscious, into open
crate. MARCO and LOUIS close crate up, hammering nails into
wood.
MARCO
Thanks, Louis.
LOUIS
Not at all. An immense pleasure, I
assure you.
MAN
(looks at crate; smiles)
Give my regards to Brasilia, Sonny.
As MARCO and LOUIS turn to go,
CUT TO
EXT. 110TH STREET - NIGHT
NICK and HONEY walk down sidewalk of run-down neighborhood.
Once the home of immigrant families, the block is now a war
zone, run by crack dealers and prostitutes. HONEY and NICK
walk past a vacant lot filled with brick remnants of a torn
down structure; past an abandoned apartment building
crumbling in disrepair, windows blown out. She reaches
another apartment building, stops, staring up at the
dilapidated structure for a beat, then enters.
INT. TENEMENT HALLWAY - NIGHT
NICK and HONEY enter building, walk through empty corridor,
approach door at end of hall. NICK knocks. No answer. NICK
pushes door open. He indicates HONEY should enter. She
does.
INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT - NIGHT
HONEY enters to find RACHEL standing in the middle of the
room, wearing only a slip, cutting her hair with a pair of
scissors. HONEY turns back to NICK, then she closes the
door. RACHEL turns, sees her MOTHER, lowers scissors.
HONEY
If you really want to know what it
was like, shave all you hair off --
down below, too. Then drink your
own urine.
RACHEL says nothing, raises scissores, continues clipping
hair.
HONEY (CONT.)
So that's where you've been going.
Back to the camps.
The jail cell, the rehabilitation
center, anywhere you thought looked
like them, smelled like them...
They are not them.
HONEY, on the prowl, crosses, opens RACHEL'S suitcase, sees
military combat fatigues, holds it up, looks at it.
HONEY (CONT.)
Ah... Where's your gun? You must
have a gun.
RACHEL points to closet, HONEY throws aside uniform, sees
uzi.
HONEY (CONT.)
How'd you get this?
RACHEL
(finished clipping;
examining self in mirror)
It was easy.
HONEY
Oh, oh. Well.
(picks up gun)
And who are you going to kill? The
Nazis? Their grandchildren? The
Americans and French, who let it
happen?
RACHEL
I don't know yet.
HONEY
What about me?
(awkwardly swings gun
around)
Bang, bang, bang, there goes Mama.
Go ahead, shoot. I mean it. You
think a gun frightens me? That a
gun has never been pointed at me
before? Here, I'll cock it for
you... and you shoot...
HONEY tries to make gun operate. She has trouble doing so.
RACHEL steps up, wrests uzi away, spins weapon up and around
into firing position.
RACHEL
What would you have given to have
had this gun when they came to get
my sister.
HONEY
(places her hand on barrel
of gun, lowering it)
Rachel, go back to your marriage,
to your children.
RACHEL
(swings gun away)
No. What use am I to them? You
survived a horrible time, came to
this country, built a life. Had
me. Gave me everything. Except my
heritage. You have no right to
keep that from me.
HONEY
You have no right to demand it.
RACHEL
By not saying, you diminish me.
HONEY
My pain is my privilege... the
wounds are mine... I don't want
the horror back. That was
yesterday.
RACHEL
Yesterday doesn't belong to you.
But to the next ones. Danger,
we're in danger. They're erasing
it. You'll die soon. All of you,
gone. Who will attest? Attest.
Attest. The revisionists say no
slaughter happened.
HONEY
(laughs)
You're protecting history?
RACHEL
My part of history. My father, my
mother, my sister... my sister.
Tell me. About our family that I
never knew. About your childhood.
HONEY
What childhood? You know it all.
I went to live with my relatives in
Germany, to study art. I fell in
love with your father. You know
they arrested both of us.
RACHEL
Then after that, the camps.
HONEY
(stalling)
You've seen the newsreel footage,
the piles of bodies, of hair, of
teeth, the crematoriums. The
images are as common as a can of
cola.
RACHEL
Tell me something only you know.
HONEY
That only I know? Thousands know.
Millions. The rattle of the
boxcars. The glare of the lights.
We fashioned our uniforms to look
like the S.S. -- Does that help?
We wore jack boots. We relied on
our tormentors, no matter how
barbaric. I served in bordellos at
nine camps. And that was the
easiest work they gave me.
RACHEL
(not hearing, shaking
head)
No, no, no. That's not true, Mama,
you are brave -- wonderful --
strong -- a hero. I'm not worthy
of you.
HONEY
(grabs her)
Rachel, for God's sake, I'm telling
you the worst. What more do you
want from me?
RACHEL
Tell me, Mama...
(quietly, childlike)
Would I have survived?
HONEY
That's what...
(puts her hand on RACHEL'S
forehead, gently)
No, you wouldn't have. Like your
sister, you wouldn't have.
(resigned; words flowing)
What if I said I was relieved when
she died? I was. Because she died
in my arms. They didn't take her
away like the other children. They
didn't beat her or torture her
or...
(starts to break)
Don't you understand, for what it
took to survive in the camps, it
wasn't worth living.
HONEY, no longer able to contain the pain and suffering,
starts to shake, her hard edge dissolving into tears for the
first time in forty-five years. Her daughter looks at her
for a moment, amazed and touched... and slightly
frightenend... by a sight she has never seen or believed
could happen. She half-steps back, dumbfounded.
HONEY (CONT.)
The point is not that your sister
died, but that my last child must
live.
HONEY continues crying, her knees buckling. RACHEL breaks
through her own paralysis and walks to her mother, embracing
the seventy-year-old woman, cradling and comforting her. On
them, together,
CUT TO
INT. NICK'S FOYER - NIGHT
DARK. Door opens, NICK enters, tired. He undresses as he
moves to Bedroom.
INT. NICK'S BEDR0OM - NIGHT
He gets into bed, lies down. Beat. Beat. Beat. DOORBELL
RINGS. He groans, rises, exits.
INT. NICK'S FOYER - NIGHT
NICK opens door, yawning. SID enters.
NICK
'Scuse me.
SID
I hope it's the hour, not the
company.
NICK
What do you want?
SID
I brought these papers over for you
to sign. You look awful.
NICK
I feel like I've been running the
Marathon. Backwards.
(signs papers)
Spent the past three days chasing
after shadows. After Tunson and
his checkbook. After Honey and her
nightmares. After Shlomo and my
guilt. And as usual I came up
empty-handed.
SID
Gee, I'm sorry Tunson walked.
NICK
Forget him. We'll figure something
else out. Worst part is I'm not
even sure if I really helped
Rachel.
SID
(shrugs)
You tried.
NICK
I'm a patsy. Hillary thinks I have
trouble making long-term
commitments. But I'm just too
stupid to say no. Or maybe she's
right. Maybe 'cause of what it
takes to survive in this business,
in this city, I've become harder,
y'know, less trusting...
SID
I trust you, Nick.
NICK
(after a beat)
Thanks.
SID
Don't you trust me?
NICK
Of course I do, Sid, that's not...
It's just that I try to fix
everything and I'm like that damn
Dutch boy. Always another leak.
Always one more thing...
SID
I don't follow.
NICK
(smiles)
It's late. Never mind.
SID
Nick, you get involved, you put
yourself on the line, put yourself
at risk. If more people did...
NICK
Sid, I love you. Shut up.
SID
I wish there was something I could
do --
NICK
What I need is a full night's
sleep.
SID
Goodnight.
SID exits. NICK crosses to Bedroom, enters.
INT. NICK'S BEDR0OM - NIGHT
NICK crosses to bed, unplugs phone, unplugs clock radio. He
drops into bed like a stone. He closes his eyes. Beat.
Beat. Beat. He opens his eyes waiting. Beat. Beat. Beat.
He rises goes to French doors, opens them. SOUND OF THE CITY
AT NIGHT Horns honking, trucks rumbling. He crosses back to
bed, lies down. On NICK, drifting off to slumberland, the
rhythm of the city singing him a lullaby;
FREEZE FRAME.
THE END
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