diff --git "a/unformated_scripts/Script_Awakenings.txt" "b/unformated_scripts/Script_Awakenings.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/unformated_scripts/Script_Awakenings.txt" @@ -0,0 +1 @@ + AWAKENINGS Scree nplay by Steven 2ai11IanBased on t he Book by Olive r Sac ks OCTOBER 2, 1989 (BLUE) REV .10/1 3/89 REV.1 0/16/ 89 (PINK) REV.1 0/25/ 89 (YELLOW) REV.1 1/6/8 9 (GREEN) REV.1 1/10/ 89 (GOLDENROD REV .11/1 4/89 (SALMON) REV .11/1 6/89 (LAVENDER) REV .11/2 2/89 (CHERRY) REV .12/4 /89 (WHITE) REV.1 2/5/8 9 (BLUE) REV.1 2/12/ 89 (PINK) REV .12/ 13/89 (YELLOW) REV. 1,2/15/89 (GREEN) 1. A dusty deserted street - saloon, livery stable, sunset. Only there is something unsettling about it all. The colors are too muted and the angles not quite in perspective. Pullingslowly back eventually reveals the edges of a narrow woodenpicture frame ...INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1930Drifting away from the painting and slowly across a room.Across Venetian blinds, open, letting in moonlight, acrossintricate handmade wooden models, dime novels and comic books,across the arm of a metronome gently slapping back and forth,and settling finally on a small hand writing slowly anddeliberately, over and over, in synchronization, it seems, tothe rhythm of the metronome, the word, " L E O N A R D . "2. INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING - 1930The pendulum of a clock. An adult hand placing a bowl ofcereal on a table. Leonard, ten or eleven, waits a moment forthe adult to leave, grasps his spoon, and manipulates it frombowl to mouth in time with the soft regular rhythm of theclock.3. EXT. STREET - NEW YORK - MORNING - 1930 3.Schoolbooks slung over their shoulders, Leonard and another boyhis age, a classmate, move along a street.All around them are "visual rhythms" - lines in the sidewalk,the even placement of trees, the sunlight breaking through thebranches above them - and somewhere unseen, the rhythmicpounding of an elevator train.As they climb a fence, a pocket watch, Leonard's, falls to theground. 4.4. INT. CLASSROOM - DAY - 1930An adult hand chalking the words of a poem on a blackboard.Children at desks dutifully transcribing the lesson.All but one. Leonard. Whose hands are trembling slightly andwhose paper is blank. There is a noticeable lack of rhythms.A cold silence. The broken watch rests on his desk.The boy from the train, glancing at Leonard, begins gentlytapping the end of his pen against his desk. Leonard, "guided"by the cadence of his friend's tapping, begins to write.(o The teacher's hand at the blackboard hesitates. Distracted by 4. the rhythmic noise, he traces it to the offender and silences him with a look. \ ' Without the rhythm, and without, apparently, inner natural rhythms to replace it, Leonard's hand begins dragging the pen across the paper, forming vague scrawl, each word less defined than the last, until they begin melding together into what resembles nothing so much as a child's rendering of ocean waves. The teacher resumes chalking on the board. The boy from the train begins tapping his pen again, and, "guided" again by the rhythm, Leonard is able to give definition to the "ocean waves," to form recognizable letters.and words. The teacher hesitates again and glares at the boy making the irritating noise. The boy stops tapping and Leonard's writing again becomes formless. 5. 5. INT. CLASSROOM.- LATER - DAY - 1930 The finished poem on the blackboard. The sounds of children at play on the schoolyard. The teacher, alone in the classroom,o at his desk grading the penmanship lesson. He circles offending errors on the last page of the last composition book. He scribbles a grade opposite the student's name in a grade book. He notices the absence of a grade in Leonard's column. . Leonard's desk. The teacher locates the missing composition book buried under textbooks. He takes it back to his own desk, opens it, and stares curiously at the last lesson, the poem, or rather Leonard's illegible representation of it. He considers earlier lessons in the book. He begins to see in the script a pattern of deterioration. He reaches the last entry again and stares at the few recognizable words drowning In "the waves." < 6 6. INT. LEONARD'S BEDROOM - DAY - 1930 - WINTER The painting on the wall. The intricate wooden models and dime novels. The Venetian blinds, closed, shutting out sunlight. Voices, barely audible, from somewhere else in the house: BOY'S VOICE When can I see him? WOMAN'S VOICE When he's well. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.36.C0NT. BOY'S VOICE 6.CONT, When will he be well?After a moment -- WOMAN'S VOICE I don't know.-- and the sound of a door closing.A small twisted hand lifts a slat of the Venetian blindsrevealing the snow-patched street below. Leonard's friend,crossing it, glances back . . . then disappears around a corner.And the small gnarled hand lets the slat slide down,extinguishing the single ray of light. FADE TO BLACK6A. EXT. BAINBRIDGE -HOSPITAL - THE. BRONX - DAY - 1970 . 6ATight on the face of a man (SAYER), late thirties, glasses,staring up at the face of a building, imposing in itsinstitutional dullness.6B. INT. LOBBY - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 6B.A dim, sleepy cavern of a lobby. No one but a switchboardoperator thumbing through a magazine. Echoing footsteps reachher station and she glances up and at the man from outside. i OPERATOR Yes?7. INT. ADMINISTRATION OFFICE - BAINBRIDGE - DAYHe seems uncomfortable. Perhaps it's the suit. Or the place.Or the situation. Or the hard straight-backed chair he's in.When he does finally speak, it's with great sincerity -- SAYER When you say people ... you mean living people, .Behind an old oak desk, the hospital's Director glances overto its Chief of Medicine, Dr. Kaufman, with a look that seemsto wonder, As opposed to what? DIRECTOR Living people, yes. Patients. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.4 7.C0NT. 7. There's some mistake. And Sayer's chair begins to feel more *uncomfortable. He tries to clear up the confusion - * SAYER I ' m here for the research * position . . . in your neurology * lab. DIRECTOR Neurology lab?He doesn't laugh at Sayer, just at the thought of it. DIRECTOR We have an x-ray room.Sayer tries to share the Director's amusement with a good- *natured smile, but doesn't really understand it. Kaufman seems *to have less time for this, and in plain English, unadorned - * KAUFMAN - The-position-ds-Staff-^Neurologist. .Sayer looks like a man who's just learned that everything he *knows about the world is wrong. f DIRECTOR (pause) A doctor ... doctor.The Director refers to stapled sheets of paper in his hands,Sayer's resume. DIRECTOR The Camel Institute. Tell me * about that, anything with patients * there? Or . . . * SAYER (burying it) Earthworms.The Director isn't sure he heard right. DIRECTOR Sorry? , > SAYER It was an immense project. " I was trying to extract a decigram of myelin from four tons of earthworms. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.5 7.C0NT. DIRECTOR 7. (pause) Really. SAYER I was on it for five years. I was the only one who really believed in it. The rest of them said it couldn't be done. t KAUFMAN It can't. SAYER Well, I know that now. I proved it. The director offers a slow tentative nod before consulting the resume again. DIRECTOR Maybe before. At Saint Thomas. (Sayer is already shaking his head no) All research. Earth - ? SAYER Pigs brains . . . they∑re quite similar to human brains. DIRECTOR (hopefully) Are they? SAYER Oh, yes . . . three years. As the Director retreats back to the resume, hoping against hope of finding in it something germane, Sayer glances away to a window. He wishes he were outside it. He has no business being here. He should leave. SAYER Excuse me, I made a mistake coming here. Clearly you're looking for someone with more of a clinical background. He stands up to leave. Kaufman stands to see him out. But the * director keeps searching the resume.Q REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.67.C0NT. SAYER . 7. I've taken enough of your time. You must have a hundred applicants more suitable. KAUFMAN Thanks anyway. DIRECTOR Back in medical school ...Kaufman shoots the Director a look that says, No, we're notthat desperate. DIRECTOR I mean, you couldn't have graduated without some clinical experience. .Sayer hesitates. And eventually manages sort of a shrug and an od ., v' DIRECTOR Well, there we are, doctor.Kaufman can't believe it, but is sent back a look that says,We have no choice. The Director gets up out of his chair, and,smiling broadly, extends his hand to Sayer. Which unsettlesSayer. Which in turn unsettles the Director. DIRECTOR (not far from v begging) You do want the job, don't you?Sayer isn't so sure. He thinks about it long and hard . . .8. INT. CORRIDOR - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 8.Moving along a corridor crowded "with patients, some ambulatory,some in wheelchairs, "living people" living with profoundneurological disease. ANTHONY O.S. Spent much time in chronic hospitals, doctor?A patient approaches, and, passing Sayer and the orderly who'sescorting him (ANTHONY), offers - FEMALE PATIENT 1 Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello . . . REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) pg.78.C0NT. ANTHONY 8. (to Sayer) You'd remember. SAYER I guess not.As they pass an old patient in a wheelchair - ANTHONY Hey, how you doing? (calling to someone down the hall) Dr. Sullivan.Staying on the old patient, he eventually manages, too late - OLD PATIENT Fn ... ieDown the hall in an alcove, Dr. Sullivan glances up longsufferingly from-a.patient~with'.an .Ouij a-board who !.s mumbling, *complaining, unintelligibly. Anthony and Sayer arrrive. ANTHONY Dr. Sullivan, this is Dr. Sayer; ' ': : ' ' -'. There's a kind a "deadness" in Sullivan's eyes and voice; he'sbeen here too long. SULLIVAN Not the neurologist, that'd be asking too much. You're not the neurologist. SAYER I think I am.Sayer extends his hand. Instead of shaking it - SULLIVAN Well, come on, Anthony, get him a coat for Christ's sake.- Sullivan thrusts his clipboard into Sayer's hand.9. OMITTED 9.10. INT. DAYROOM (A) - DAY 10.A woman in a wheelchair uttering high-pitched screams (FEMALEPATIENT 2 ) . Sayer in a lab coat trying to calm her. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.710.CONT. SAYER . 10. They're just pencils, pens.He tries to prove it to her by removing one of them from thepocket of his white coat. Screaming louder at the sight of it,she tries to protect her face with her hands like a boxer beingbeaten senseless. v11. INT. DAYROOM (B) - DAY 11.A man in his sixties confronts Sayer with an announcement in aloud commanding voice - MALE PATIENT 1 X was born in I911f in Kinasbridae, New York. I came here in July of 1955. Prior to July of 1955. I resided a£ the Brooklyn Psychiatric Centerf Brooklyn. New York. Prior to thatP I was a person. And you. sir.- i Who the* hell >are.*v.ou? .12. INT. DAYROOM (C) - DAY 12.Stepping around a wheelchair, Sayer finds in it an elderlywoman, nicely dressed, her hair done-up, a ribbon in it.Glancing at the chart in his hand - SAYER Mrs. Cohen? MRS. COHEN He∑s here?She smiles, glances around. Sayer hesitates, uncertain who shemeans. SAYER I 'm here. (pause) To examine you. MRS. COHEN Oh, no, I ' m leaving today. My son's coming to take me home.(6 Confused, Sayer tries to find a discharge form among the papers on the clipboard. Unsuccessful, he excuses himself from her and crosses the room to a nurse. SAYER Excuse me. Mrs. Cohen's son. He's coming today? NURSE 1 I wouldn't bet on it, he hasn't for twenty years. The nurse turns away. Sayer crosses slowly back to Mrs. Cohen, trying to find the words to tell her. He doesn't have to; his discomfort does it. Her hand slowly reaches up and pulls the ribbon from her hair. 13. OMITTED . v 14. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM/OFFICE- LATER - DAY Silence. Institutional beige walls. Glass cabinets, locked, containing medical instruments. A metal examination table with leather straps. Sayer alone at one of three old desks in the large room, still unsettled from the experience with Mrs. Cohen. Eventually, he gets up, crosses to a window and tries to open it. It's jammed shut, painted shut perhaps, but finally gives way, sliding up. He lets the air from outside wash over his face as he stares out absently at children on an elementary school playground beyond a debris-strewn field. MISS COSTELLO O.S. (a matter of fact) It gets easier. Sayer turns to the voice, to Miss Costello, the hospital's head nurse, a veteran of this place, a woman who has seen it all. She's standing in the doorway. MISS COSTELLO You don't think it will, but it does. A moment and she A urns and leaves. t 14A. EXT. TENEMENT (LUCY'S) - ESTABLISH - DAY15. INT. TENEMENT - NEW YORK.- DAY 1The needle of a Victrola clawing at the endless music-lessinner bands of a 78 . . . .* .Cold eggs and toast and prescription medicine on a kitchenettetable. A puddle of coffee on the floor. Ceramic shards, abroken cup. .An old woman on her knees, eyes closed, arms tangled in analuminum walker, limp and stiff at once somehow, like the limbsof a discarded marionette. Beyond her, beyond a threshold, ashuttered living room. Furniture from another era and theclutter of a lifetime.A shadowy figure in a wicker wheelchair near the Victrola.Another old woman, with spindly limbs, profoundly afflicted andpreposterously still. The back of her head is flat and bald,the result of lying supine upon it for much of several decades.On her passive face rest round wire-rim glasses. Insane orretarded and unaware of the dead woman, she mumbles, justbarely audibly, a melody. SAYER'S VOICE Can you hear me? . 1616. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM/OFFICE - BAINBRIDGE - DAYDistant music of children's laughter. Perhaps real, emanatingfrom outside; perhaps imagined, remembered, playing in a remoteregion of the woman's damaged mind. Arrested of all movement,she stares, transfixed, at the blades of a fan. SAYER'S VOICE Do you know where you are? (nothing back) Do you remember being brought here? (nothing back) Do you know what has happened?If she does, she gives no indication. No word or gesture. Nochange of expression on her mask of a face. She is elsewhere(or nowhere), cut adrift by her illness, living in a privateworld (or hell). SAYER'S VOICE Can you hear me?Sayer, wearing a white lab coat, tries to read her eyes.Behind thick lenses, uncleaned for weeks or months, the eyesare inscrutable. . ∑∑ REV. 12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.-lO16.CONT. 16.Sayer reaches to her face and carefully pulls the glasses fromit. He cleans them with a flap of his lab coat -- they areloose, bent out of shape*-- and gently slides the temples backover her ears.He turns away from her and types at a manual Underwood. Theform in the machine, at the top, reads -- BAINBRIDGE HOSPITAL /ADMISSIONS / CONSULTATION REQUEST / NEUROLOGY. Sayer types ina lower section headed -- FINDINGS / DIAGNOSIS.He turns back in his chair to find the woman doubled-over inher wheelchair, one arm very close to the floor, the handclutching the glasses. She is not moving, but she has moved.That, or she is dead.Sayer rights her, takes the glasses from her hand and slipsthem back onto her face. He studies her for a moment, and forthat moment remains as still, as entranced, as her.He takes the glasses from her face again and sets them on thefloor. He waits. She doesn't retrieve them. He picks them upand holds them out to her. She doesn't move to take them. Helets go of them and she lunges forward, catching them theinstant before they hit the floor. Sayer just stares. SAYER´S VOICE Her name is Lucy Fishman . . . r16B. INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE EXAMINATION ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON 16B.Dr. Kaufman, the hospital's Chief of Medicine, notices a numberof patients lined up in their wheelchairs as he passes them onhis way into Sayer's examination room - SAYER'S VOICE She was found by neighbors with * her sister, several days after the , sister had died . . .17. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON 17.The same room as before. The same woman. All that has changedis the light. It's late afternoon. SAYER (CONT'D) According to the neighbors, * she's never set foot outside her * apartment, has no other living * relatives, and has always been the * way she is now - without any * comprehension or response. *Kaufman tries to feign interest. He glances to the others 1Sayer has summoned to the room -- two other doctors, Tyler andSullivan, and Miss Costello. SAYER And yet . . .Without any warning whatsoever Sayer tosses a tennis ball ather. Her hand suddenly jerks up out of her lap and catches it.And stays there, stiff, still.Sayer is delighted but the expression on Kaufman's face is thatof one who has long ago learned and tired of simple cardtricks. Dismissing the phenomenon --∑ DR. KAUFMAN A reflex. SAYER If she batted it away I might call that a reflex. She doesn't bat it away, she catches it. DR. KAUFMAN - It's still a reflex. ..∑. : ∑ ∑' .∑ " .' SAYER I'm sorry, if you were right I'd agree with you.Kaufman, understandably, takes some offense at the comment.Sayer, however, is unaware that he has caused any. SAYER It's as if . . . having lost all will of her own on which to act, she borrows the will of the ball.Awkward silence. Eventually-- DR. TYLER The "will of the ball?" .Sayer nods. Kaufman and the other doctors concur with glancesthat the theory and theorist are absurd. DR. SULLIVAN Excuse me.Sullivan has better things to do and leaves the room. So doesTyler. Kaufman and Miss Costello remain. DR. KAUFMAN . I (hopefully) You're trying to make a good impression. That's it, isn't it? You're still settling in. Sayer isn't sure if he should agree or not. He does neither. DR. KAUFMAN Miss Costello, you'll see that Dr. Saver's patients waiting out there are rescheduled for tomorrow? MISS COSTELLO Yes, sir. DR. KAUFMAN Good night. Sayer watches Kaufman leave. So does Miss Costello. Lucy, looking less like a woman than a Diane Arbus photograph of one, doesn't. 18. EXT. PARKING LOT - BAINBRIDGE - LATE AFTERNOONC'\ Sayer climbs into his Toyota and, as he buckles his seat belt, -*© recites in a mumble to himself -- SAYER One . . . . * (he turns the key) Two . . . (puts on sunglasses) Three . . . (releases the brake) Four . . . (shifts out of 'park') . Five. Just as he's depressing the accelerator, someone raps on his window. He slams on the brakes. Miss Costello's face appears at the window. Recovering, Sayer rolls it down. SAYER What'd I forget? MISS COSTELLO I just wanted to say to you I preferred your explanation. () It's unclear whether he knows what she's referring to.r MISS COSTELLO And that I'll look after things for you until you've "settled in." Good night, doctor. She leaves. He stares blankly out after her, then at his dashboard. To it eventually, quietly -- SAYER Thank you . . . He glances to his rear view mirror and can see her walking away toward her car. To the reflection -- SAYER Thank you very much. 18A. EXT. SAMMY'S FISH GROTTO - ESTABLISH - NIGHT 18A. 19. INT. SAMMY'S GROTTO, CITY ISLAND, THE BRONX - NIGHT 19. Sayer at a table eating dinner alone. He should've brought along something to read. He glances at the little "Catch of the Day" notice on his table for the tenth time, then absently in at an eel in a fish tank, which seems to be peering back out at him. SIDNEY V.O. I am not mad ... not mad . . . 20. EXT. SCHOOLYARD & BAINBRIDGE HOSPITAL - DAY 20. A tether ball dangling from a rope, resting against a pole. The chains of a swing. Pigeons scavenging scraps on the asphalt of the elementary school playground, deserted.∑ SIDNEY V.O. I know the difference between what is real and what is not . . . Beyond a chain-link fence, across the field, on the roof of one of Bainbridge's brick buildings, peering down from the edge of it, coat over his smock, hat on his head, an elderly man. 21. INT. SIDNEY'S DAYROOM - DAY 21. Tight on the elderly man's face. SIDNEY The voice was real. REV.12/12/89 (PINK) Pg.1421.C0NT. 21.Sayer nods in agreement though he is not altogether as certainof tne claim. They are in a ward crowded with many patientswho are mad, obviously and irretrievably so. SAYER What did the voice say? SIDNEY "Mr. Titch, get your coat and hat, go up to the roof and jump off." SAYER Did you recognize it as belonging to a person? Or was it just a voice?Sidney considers Sayer suspiciously ... then smiles slyly. * * SIDNEY You don't deny it was you. * SAYER * Me?Sayer is taken aback. As is Sidney. One of them, and Sidneybelieves he knows which, is lying or crazy. ' ' ∑ * SAYER ' . I do deny it. It wasn't me. It wasn't real. (pause) We've only just now met, sir. ªSidney, suddenly completely disoriented, withdraws. SIDNEY If that's true . . . I'm in a predicament.22. INT. STAFF CAFETERIA - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 22.Sayer in line with Drs. Tyler and Sullivan, both younger than *himself. He seems distracted, Sayer, lost in the color of thebeets on his tray. Or a thought.Like George telling Lenny again about the rabbits: DR. SULLIVAN * We'd be high up - 40th, 50th floor, nice midtown view - suite * of offices, carpeted, good-looking * receptionist - * REV.12/12/89 (PINK) Pg.15 22.CONT. DR. TYLER 22fp\ ∑ Aquarium in the waiting room,\_J) George. , DR. SULLIVAN We could have all that ... but we'd miss all this. We'd miss the wards. DR. TYLER The smell of them. DR. SULLIVAN We'd miss this place - (this cafeteria) We'd miss this . . . (the plate of mush as it's set down onto his tray) Whatever this is. . SAYER Ye .... s Sayer glances up at them, having paid attention to nothing they've said, and nods at some other thought. . ' SAYER Yes . . . ,' He leaves his tray where he stands, and heads out of the cafeteria. v 23. INT. SIDNEY'S DAYROOM - DAY 23. Sayer back with Sidney. SAYER Did you see me when-1 "spoke?" Sidney thinks about it, tries to remember, to summon back the moment in question, to picture it exactly as it happened, or didn't happen. SIDNEY No. SAYER You see me now though. SIDNEY Yes. REV.12/12/89 (PINK) Pg.l523.CONT, (continuity only)Sidney turns to a patient, an elderly woman in a wheelchairbeside him. Her state resembles that of Lucy's, that is, sheappears to have no awareness of Sidney, Sayer, or anything elsein her environment. It is only now, in fact, as Sidney spoonssoup into her mouth, careful not to spill any, that Sayernotices her. CONTINUED:sr^ SAY ER(y--\ I f it ha p pe n s ag a in , M r. Ti t ch , I v_y w an ty ou to l oo k a ro u nd . If yo u d on 't act u al l y se e me , i f yo u o n ly h ea rm e, you c an be s u re th a t I ' m n ot re a l, a nd y ou c an i g no re m e. Sa ye r sm il es , pl ea se d w it h hi s so lu ti on . SID NE Y U nle ss you us e th e P .A. sy ste m. S a ye r' s sm il e fa de s. Si d ne y is s ti ll i n a pr ed ic a me nt a nd Sa ye r has n' t t he a nsw er . 2 4. INT . NUR SE S' ST AT ION - D AY 24 ; Sa ye r di al s th e ho sp it a l op er at or . S AY E R Mai nten ance, plea se. W ai ti n g t o be co n ne ct e d, he n o ti c es a n ot h er " s ta t ue " ( BE R T) . W ha t's un se t t l i n g a b ou t t h i s o n e, a pa r t f r om t he ma n ' s g h os t - l ik e ap p e ar a n ce , i s th e an g le o f h i s w he e l ch a i r. I t ' s l i ke a nP~ -\ ask e w p ai n ti n g, a s i f w ho e ve r w as wh e el in g i t s im p ly le t g o o f\TS? the c h ai r and t h i s i s wh e r e i t a n d i t s c a r g o h a p p e n e d to c o m e *to r est, faci n g th e wal l. N ot wa nt i ng to l o se th e c al l , Sa y er mo ve s t o wa r d th e p at i en t , k ee p ing the r e c e i ve r t o h i s e a r . At f u l l e x t e n sion of th e c or d , un f or t un at e ly , h e' s s t il l t wo pa ce s s h or t .R e ac hi n g b ac k w it h the arm w it h th e ph o ne , he g ai n s d i st a n ce a nd tu r n s the w he e lc ha i r q ui ck l y j us t a s h is c a ll co nn e ct s . SA Y ER Yes. Hi. I need a lock installed on th e d oo r to th e E as t Win g roo f. A b ig l oc k . T he s oo n e r t he better. ( pa us e ) I'm sor ry, th is i s D r. Say er. . (p au se ) I'm sorry, form . . . H e s c ri b b le s a n um b e r o n t h e b a ck o f h is h an d an d h a n gs u p. He wa nd e rs ov er to th e " st a tu e" ag a in . S AY E R H ow ar e y ou ? No re s p on s e w h at s o ev e r . Sa y e r m a na g es h is p en i nt o t h e m a n 's ha nd an d s ea r ch e s hi s p o ck et s f o r pa p er . REV. 10/13/89 p. 17 He glances around. Sees an orderly reading a newspaper.(P\ Borrows a section, returns with it, slides it under the pen and waits. The man doesn't write. Doesn't move. Sayer takes the pen back, returns it to his coat pocket, hesitates, pulls it out again, holds it out . . . and lets it go. The man, lightning quick, catches it. 25. INT. ANOT HE R DAYRO OM ( B) - L ATE R - DAY 2 5. Another man rigid as stone (FRANK). This one peering up at a television set with a horizontal hold problem. Sayer drags a chair over, stands on it, adjusts the set, corrects it, gets a picture . . . but the man's "attention" slowly drifts away. Sayer "read justs" it, gets the jumping horizontal lines again, and the man's vacant eyes return. 26. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - LATER - DAY . 26. Another dayroom crowded with patients, one of which stands before a table, absolutely motionless, on thin bird-like legs. It is Lucy, the one who caught/the tennis ball. The movement of nurses and other patients only accentuates her stillness. Sayer considers her from all angles as one considers an abstract art piece that baff les but in trigues. Unlike the others, she's on her feet. A nd unlike the others, she seems, to Sayer, to have been headed somewhere before turning to stone again. - ." ª He decides that her destination was the drinking fountain across the room. And that it's the table, like a barrier, that has arrested her progress. He moves the table. In what appears to be slow motion, she takes a tiny step. And another. And another before encountering and being "blocked" by an empty wheelchair. She stops. Sayer moves the wheelchair and all other obstacles out of her path. She continues and eventually makes it halfway to the fountain before mysteriously stopping again. Sayer studies the puzzle ... there are no longer any barriers in her way, but she's not moving. Defeated, he goes to the fountain himself, fills a paper cup, and takes it to her. Across the room, a man in a wheelchair, another "ghost" (LEONARD), stares through eyes which seem more dead than alive. "At" Sayer. 27. INT. FILE ROOM, BAINBRIDGE - DAY 27o An admission form, yellowed and brittle with age -- BAINBRIDGE HOSPITAL / ADMISSIONS STATE OF NEW YORK A typed date / AUGUST 2, 1929. The admitting physician's name. The patient's name. And age / 15. An identification number and ward assignment number. As Sayer pulls the folder and closes the drawer of one of several filing cabinets lining the walls of a claustrophobic room, Miss Costello slides open another, locates a particular folder in it and in the folder another admitting form -- The date / MAY 7, 1932. Names and numbers. Another drawer. Sayer pulling another folder. Another admission form ~ Date / DECEMBER 12, 1930. Age of the patient / 22. 28 28. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - LATER - DAY The files spread out on a table. Sayer and Miss Costello leafing through them. . . Sayer considers one's original admission forms. He scans bodies of text and finds a diagnosis -- ATYPICAL SCHIZOPHRENIA. He sets it aside and picks up another. MISS COSTELLO "Atypical Hysteria," this one. Sayer nods to himself and keeps reading his. He eventually finds in its text -- ATYPICAL RABIES. He flips to the end of the file. "No change since last examination" it reads. He turns the page. "No change, no therapy recommended." He turns the page, the last entry. "No change." The date, "11/9/44." SAYER There must be more recent files we missed somehow. "Part Twos" to their medical histories. (Miss Costello is shaking head 'no.') In some other filing cabinet somewhere. . .. MISS COSTELLO NO.o REV. 10/13/89 p.19 29. EXT. PARKING LOT - BAINBRIDGE - EVENING 29.(>~s, Sayer and Miss Costello walking to their cars. SAYER One would think that after a point enough atypical somethings would amount to a typical something. But a typical "what?" Miss Costello, no doubt, has less of an idea than Sayer what the "what" could be. MISS COSTELLO , Doctor . . . would you like to g e t a cup of coffee somewhere? (pause) Tea? SAYER Ah . . . normally I'd say yes . . . only I've made other plans . . . She nods quickly. She seems, strangely, relieved. MISS COSTELLO Some other time. SAYER Yes. MISS COSTELLO , Good night. SAYER Good night. They veer apart to their respective cars. 30. INT. SAMMY'S GROTTO, CITY ISLAND - NIGHT 30. The tiny gree/i eyes in the head of the eel staring out at refracted light and shadow. Sayer, alone at the same table as before, finished with his meal. i WAITER Tea, right? ∑ / ∑ SAYER P e s . '...-∑ lae The waiter leaves. Sayer glances back into the fish tank at the eel behind the rock, its rock, its home. (RE V. 10 /1 6/ 89) Pin k _ p. 2 0 31. EXT. CITY ISLAND - LATER - NIGHT 31.fpl Sayer strolling down a dark side street. He reaches a snail wooden house near the water and climbs three steps to the porch. He gets the front door opened and bends to pick up mail (including a few book parcels from antiquarian shops) just * inside the threshold. * 32. OMITTED 32. i 33. INT. SAYER'S HOUSE - DINING ROOM - LATER - NIGHT 33. Tight on (Ernst Heckle) drawings of primitive life forms. * Sayer, in his dining room, leafs through the old first edition, * pleased it has arrived, intrigued by its pictures. The parcel * paper lies beside it on the table. * 34. INT. SAYER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - LATER - NIGHT 34. Fingers on the keys of a baby grand piano that seems out of scale with Sayer's small living room. Wrapped in a robe, he plays a melody.fcuJ All around him lay packing boxes, some empty, many not. The*^^ books are out at least - many of a medical nature, many others on nature itself,, botany, many first editions - two and three deep on shelves, on the floor, on tables, stacked on the couch - and chairs almost like figures of people.t 35. INT. SAYER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - LATER - NIGHT 35. A lamp, on, in the living room. Sayer asleep on the couch, an open book and reading glasses resting on his chest. His eyes blink open. Not at a noise. At a thought. 36. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - BAINBRIDGE - LATER - NIGHT 36. A n i g h t ja n i to r w i th a p a i l -o n -w h e e l s a n d a m o p m o v e s p a s t da r k e n e d o ffi c e s. H e p a u s e s a t o n e , th e fi l e r o o m , l i g h t u n d e r i ts d o o r , a n d o p e n s i t. . -.. * JANITOR I'm sorry, doctor. I thought someone left the lights on.Q REV.,12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.2 36'.CONT. 36. Glancing up from files strewn across the table, Sayer shares a discovery with the janitor - SAYER They all survived encephalitis years before they came here. In the 1920' s .He taps a finger at the files - the patients' medical historiesprior to admission - forms listing childhood diseases andailments. The janitor, having no idea of course what he means,retreats with his pail and mop, closing the door.36A. EXT. MEDICAL LIBRARY, NEW YORK - ESTABLISH - DAY 36A.37. INT. MEDICAL LIBRARY, NEW YORK - DAY 37.Sayer displays what he has written on the back of his hand to *an assistant librarian: NEJM 4-6-35. SAYER The New England Journal of Medicine, April 6th, 1935. *38. INT. MEDICAL LIBRARY - LATER - DAY . 38.A microfilm machine. Sayer manipulating its levers andeventually finding what he's after, an article titled:ENCEPHALITIS LETHARGICA, TEN YEARS LATER.Accompanying the text are grainy black and white photographstaken in an old operating theatre. An anatomical skeleton, adoctor in a white coat, subjects-- men, women and childrenwith haunting eyes.39. EXT. RESIDENTIAL GARDEN, NEW YORK - DAY 39.Close on the doctor from the photographs - ancient and ill. OLD DOCTOR (philosophically detached) Pus and pain, that's the final * reward. Pus and pain and obscurity.He's in a small unkept rose garden. With Sayer. *No te: To g et c lear anc e fr om t he N ew En gla nd Jo urn al of *Medicine, we must indicate that it is a weekly publication, *which is why the "6th" has been added. * OLD DOCTOR . I believe you when you say some still live. But I can assure you they're medically irrelevant. As they were thirty years ago when I fought to get my work published.He smiles at a thought, at once wistful and bitter. OLD DOCTOR That's the problem with a unique disease. Once it no longer rages, I'm telling you, it becomes very unfashionable. .He buries his face into his mask, manages to get some deepbreaths into his lungs and shakes his head at Sayer. OLD DOCTOR What would I be without this thing? A man with a1 shred of dignity le_ft. SAYER Should I get your nurse? OLD DOCTOR God forbid, no.He lights a cigarette, coughs and puts it out. OLD DOCTOR How many have you found there? SAYER Five. So far. I think there may be more.The old doctor nods. He has the torn look of someone remindedof an unfaithful lover just when he'd managed to forget abouther. He wants and doesn't want to know how they're doing.Finally -- OLD DOCTOR How are they? SAYER As you described them. As they were back then. As "insubstantial as ghosts." Only I guess most of them were children then. OLD DOCTOR Yes. Children who fell asleep.o 40. INT. OLD DOCTOR'S STUDY - DAY 40 Boxes of ancient history have been dragged out of storage, the emphysema-plagued doctor's post-encephalitic research, files and photographs and cans of 16mm film. OLD DOCTOR Most died during the acute stage of the illness, during a sleep so deep they couldn't be roused. A sleep that in most cases lasted several months. The doctors, in the dark, watch forty year old footage projected onto a screen by a pre-World War II Bell & Howell - a motionless man in a chair, his head thrust back, mouth gaping open, arms suspended out from an emaciated torso as if from invisible strings. OLD DOCTOR Those who survived, who awoke, seemed fine, as though nothing had happened. Years went by - five, ten, fifteen - before anyone suspected they were not well. . They were not. A doctor, this doctor decades younger, appears beside the subject on the screen and lowers the man's arms. OLD DOCTOR I began to see them in the early 1930's - old people brought in by their children, young people brought in by their parents - all of them complaining they weren't "themselves" anymore. They'd grown distant, aloof, anti-social, they daydreamed at the dinner table. I referred them to psychiatrists. The man on the screen disappears and is replaced by a seal- shaped woman in whom a hundred strange diseases seem to reside. They conspire against her, torment and harass her, force her to perform incessant and meaningless actions with her hands, to paw her chin, to flutter, to adjust glasses that aren't there. REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.24 40.CONT. DOCTOR 40 0< ID Before long they were being referred back to me. They could no longer dress themselves or feed themselves. They could no longer speak in most cases. Families went mad. People who were normal, were now . . . * (searches for the word) . . . elsewhere ... The woman on the screen is replaced by a young man, a teenager, who seems composed less of flesh than wax, a wax figure with real eyes. SAYER What must it be like to be them? On the screen, the young man's eyes, entranced, gaze upward as if trying hard to remember something. Or trying hard to forget it. SAYER What are they thinking? . OLD DOCTOR0 They're not. The virus didn't : spare the higher faculties. SAYER (hopefully) We know that for a fact. OLD DOCTOR Yes. SAYER Bec use . . . a 4 Sayer waits for the old doctor to tell him the reasons, the data, to support the merciful truth. But he doesn't seem to possess it any more than Sayer does. Long silence before: OLD DOCTOR Because the alternative is unthinkable. 40A. INT. DAYROOM (C) - DAY ' 40A. The hand of a stone-like woman catches the tennis ball while the rest of her remains absolutely still. Sayer gestures to Anthony, Okay, and the orderly wheels her out of the crowded room.4OB. INT. WARD 5 DAYROOM - DAY ∑ 4OBThe hand of an otherwise still-life man snaps to catch theball. Sayer nods to an orderly who wheels him out past youngerpatients, Ward 5's residents. i40C. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY 40CThe ball glances off the face of a nan who turns in hiswheelchair and glares at Sayer. SAYER Sorry. . 4141. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - LATER - DAYSayer has assembled them all, the fourteen or fifteen he hasdecided are post-encephalitics, and wanders among them like anaturalist in a garden of stone.He lifts an arm of one particularly remote male patient. Itremains suspended, doll-like.He tries to follow the trajectory of another's gaze. It leads only to blank space.He considers another who appears "deeply involved" in someminute and curious activity with his twisted hands, a kind oftearing, shredding motion. . vAcross the room, paying no attention to Sayer, are Sidney andLolly. He's gently brushing her hair.Sayer manages a pen into the hand of another woman and she"draws" a kind a kind of circular shape that spirals in onitself until it reaches a "vanishing point" in the center.42. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - LATER - DAY 42.The results of standard perception tests scotch-taped to a wallof the examination room.Sayer and Miss Costello, like visitors to a museum, considereach for a moment before moving onto the next.Printed in the left column of each are a circle, square,triangle and daisy. In the right are the post-encephalitics'failed "attempts" to copy them. REV. 10/13/83 p.26Sayer keeps coming back to one in particular. Unlike theothers which, if you use your imagination, vaguely correspondsomewhat positionally to the pre-printed shapes, this one bearsno resemblance. This patient has instead scrawled over theshapes, seemingly violently.Miss Costello joins Sayer and ponders it along with him.Eventually, as if to excuse it and its maker-- MISS COSTELLO It's different. SAYER Quite. It's quite bad.Sayer keeps studying it. SAYER (more to himself) Did he fail to understand? Or was he unwilling to fail?He isn't really asking her to answer, which is fine with hersince she doubts equally both hypotheses. SAYER Could he be saying, "I can't draw a triangle, don't make me"? (before she can respond:) Could it be willfully bad?She doesn't say it but it's clear she thinks Sayer is readingfar too much into the "badness" of the patient's scrawl. Tohimself - SAYER Which one is this?He leans closer to see the typed name . . .43. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - DAY 43.The painting of the Western town from the prologue - saloon,livery stable, sunset. Below it, in his wheelchair, Leonard.His face is unlined and passive, like a mask. His body isstill, like the dead. SAYER'S VOICE >| v Does he ever speak to you?Leonard's mother, a woman of seventy or so, is combing herson's hair, being careful to get the part straight. REV. 10/13/89 p.27 MRS. LOWE Of course not. Not in words. SAYER He speaks to you in other ways. How do you mean? MRS. LOWE i You don't have children. SAYER No. , MRS. LOWE If you did you'd know.Finished with his hair, she wheels him from the sleeping ward *and into the -43A. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - CONTINUOUS - DAY 43ASayer, trailing after Mrs. Lowe and her sonr becomesmomentarily distracted by Lucy, the most recently arrived post-encephalitic, the one he tried unsuccessfully to coax to thedrinking fountain. She is there again, "stuck" at the samepoint, angled toward the fountain but unable to reach it.Sayer brings her a cup of water and rejoins Mrs. Lowe. - SAYER I'd like to examine him again-if that's all right with you. MRS. LOWE , He did well. SAYER In a sense. MRS. LOWE He's very clever. Aren't you, Leonard. .Sayer shows her the perception test "drawing** Leonard made. SAYER Does this mean anything to you? MRS. LOWE . (more to Leonard) ;∑ It's very good. '∑ .She glances back to Sayer who nods uncertainly. She recognizes.the look on his face; she's seen it before on the faces of moredoctors than she cares to remember. ' f REV. 10/13/89 p.28 MRS. LOWE (becoming impatient with him) Well it's abstract, isn't it.Sayer can't bring himself to agree with her. MRS. LOWE That's the problem with all you doctors, you have no imagination. Everything has to be real to you.No longer having any use for him, she pointedly ignores him. *Taking the hint, Sayer's wanders off, past Lucy, looking like astatue, holding the paper cup he brought her.43B. EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING (MRS. LOWE'S) - ESTABLISH - NIGHT 43B.44. INT. MRS. LOWE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 44The door opens from the inside revealing Sayer in streetclothes. Judging from the look on Mrs. Lowe's face, he hasarrived unannounced. SAYER . I want to know more about him.44A. INT. MRS. LOWE'S APARTMENT - LEONARD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 44A.An old photograph. A sixth grade class picture from 1930?,Moving slowly across the young faces to Leonard, eleven, at theend of a row. MRS. LOWE 0.8. Something was wrong, they said, with his hands. He couldn't write anymore, he couldn't do the work, I should take him out of school, they said. He was eleven.They're in Leonard's old bedroom, Sayer and Mrs. Lowe. Exceptfor the Western painting that's missing, nothing has changed init in thirty years. CONTINUED: REV. 10/13/89 p.28A MRS. LOWEHe slowly got worse. He'd betalking, suddenly he'd come to astop. After a few seconds he'dfinish what he was saying likenothing happened, but thesestandstills got longer. Sometimeshe'd call to me and I'd come inand find him at his desk in atrance. An hour, two hours. Thenhe'd be okay again. CONTINUED:Sayer glances around the room. It's been preserved, like ashrine. MRS. LOWE One day I came hone from work and found him in his bed, his arm like this, reaching. (pause) "What do you want, Leonard?"She pictures the moment in her mind, and waits, it seems, forthe young Leonard to speak, to tell her what it is he wants.Finally she lowers her arm and shrugs. MR.S LOWE He never spoke again. It was like he'd disappeared. I took him to Bainbridge later that year. November fourteenth, 1937. He was twenty.Sayer glances away from her to the room itself again. SAYER What'd he do with himself, Mrs. Lowe, those nine years he stayed in this room?She smiles to herself, proudly it seems. MRS. LOWE He read. y45. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 45Leonard's face in shadow. Wires emerging from his scalp. Asluggish EEG pattern.A blinding flash from a strobe.suddenly lights up the room.The pupils of Leonard's eyes shrink, but his EEG remainsstuporously slow.45A. EXT. RESEARCH LAB, NEW YORK - ESTABLISH - DAY 45A.46. INT. RESEARCH LAB - DAY 46A monkey flipping switches on a panel built into a laboratoryroom, searching for a sequence.In an observation booth, years of collected data - charts andgraphs, EEG's and notes.There, Dr. Mann, a contemporary of Sayer's, stares at Sayer Aycuriously. Eventually he manages -- MANN When you say you're working with people, you don't mean living people. ( SAYER Living people, yes. Patients.Mann just stares. He's a scientist, they both are, and theidea of Sayer working with living people, rather than expiredones laid out on the pathology table, is inconceivable to him. MANN (fearing the answer) Where? SAYER It's in The Bronx. It's a poor private chronic hospital called M ou nt -- MANN (appalled) Oh, Malcolm, Malcolm, come back, come on. You're a benchman, you're no clinician, why would you lower yourself?Sayer hasn't an answer for him. ª∑ SAYER How's Hank? MANN How's Hank? He's great, he's brilliant, look at him.Sayer glances away to Hank the monkey, watches him. Mannstudies Sayer, chagrined and incredulous. MANN A physician? You?He slaps him angrily across the shoulders with some papers.The monkey completes a complex sequence which opens a chamberrevealing an electric train. The animal jumps and hoots withwild glee. Sayer reaches out and presses the button on thestop watch dangling from Mann's neck. SAYER Subtract two seconds off his time. 47. OMITTED 4748. INT. RESEARCH LAB - LATER - DAY 48Rats in cages, wired up, manipulating elaborate series ofladders and pulleys, traversing catwalks, or ratwalks, leadingto glucose rewards.While Mann, with something less than great enthusiasm,considers an EEG Sayer has brought, his monkey drags toys overto Sayer and tries to engage him in play. One of the toys isan Ouija Board. MANN (to, Sayer) Don't look at me like that. It's for his alphabet lessons. (to the monkey) We're busy, Hank, go play solitaire.The monkey obediently goes off in search of a deck of cards.Gesturing at patterns on the EEG -- MANN Asleep. First stage normal. Second a little dull. Normal RM... EHe shrugs, lays out a second EEG, and gestures at patterns onit -- MANN Awake. Slightly erratic. No more so than a lot of people walking the streets of New York. (shrugs again) I give up, what's wrong with him? SAYER You have them backwards. This is him awake . . . (points to one EEG; then the other) This is him asleep. .-," - . ^ ∑Mann thinks Sayer is kidding. He isn't. MANN This is him awake? This is him asleep?Sayer nods. Mann tries, without success, to make some sort ofsense out of that. MANN What are you saying? When he's awake, what, he's dreaming? SAYER When there's any brain activity at all, which is infrequent, yes. Dreaming or hallucinating. MANN And when he's asleep . . . ? SAYER When he's asleep he manages to create a kind of reality. What we might call reality. MANN That's what you think these say? SAYER 1 don't know.Mann studies the "waking" EEC He points to its one and onlylarge electrical peak. ; MANN What's this peak? Strobe? SAYER No. This is the strobe.Sayer indicates a flat section of the pattern where there isscribbled in pencil a small "s." SAYER This . . . , (the large peak, marked with an "L") / . . . is me saying his name to him.Mann stares rather dumbly at Sayer. Then at Hank the monkey onthe floor dealing solitaire.49. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 49Tight on Leonard. Something blurs past him but his eyes don'tfollow it. Pulling back, the object blurs by again from theother direction.Tight on Sayer. The thing blurs past his face. His eyes don'tfollow it either. Pulling back, it blurs again. REV. 10.13/89 p.33A circle of patients in wheelchairs. The post-encephaliticsreunited. "Waking" just long enough to catch and release theobject, a small beach ball.Leonard and Sayer, on opposite sides of the circle, ignoringthe ball and the other patients. He's reached a dead end,Sayer, right where he began, his only "accomplishment,"this, ball-catching patients.50. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 50.Sayer alone in the examination room, tired, at its windowstaring blankly out.His perspective: The empty lot below littered with abandonedcouches, refrigerators, rusting automobile carcasses.And beyond the lot, the elementary school playground. Laughingchildren on swings and slides. Jumping rope. Batting tetherballs. Playing hopscotch.Moving slowly in on one of the hopscotch games. On a girltossing a bean bag into a square. Jumping over it and into thenext square. Turning and jumping back. Balancing on one foot.Retrieving the bean bag and tossing it down again. Into thenext square of the tile pattern chalked on the asphalt.51. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 51.From above, patients in wheelchairs dot the black and whitecheckerboard linoleum-tile floor like chess pieces. Thepattern is regular to a point but then breaks up -- isinterrupted by an area of solid white, where a wall once stood-- before being restored. It forms a kind of narrow "sea," thewhite area, on either side of which lies "land."At floor level Sayer and Miss Costello, on their hands andknees, are "blacking in" the missing tiles with shoe polish,"bridging" the gap between the two checkerboards. The retardedpatients around them ignore them. The ward nurses pretend to. 'Completing the pattern Sayer glances across the room toLeonard. He seems to be "watching." His mother, nearby, idlythumbing through a magazine as she brings Leonard up to date onneighborhood news, isn't. ∑t, .Sayer crosses to Lucy. Lifts her gently out of her chair.Points her in the direction of the drinking fountain.She begins to move. To step slowly over each tile. Shereaches the "bridge" and hesitates. Then crosses it. REV. 10/13/89 p.34Sayer doesn't know whether to applaud or cry. He does neither,burying his emotions behind a professional mask instead, andwatches as Lucy, "delivered" to the other side, free now, letsthe regularity of the pattern guide her toward the fountain.She nears it. She is almost there. Then she is. there. Butdoesn't drink. Doesn't stop. She continues past it . . .To a window, the window bevond the drinking fountain whichSayer hadn't noticed before, had no reason to notice, had noneed to notice, with a broken pane allowing a view to theoutside.She stares out at the traffic below, in hopes no doubt offiguring out where she is.And Sayer's eyes, behind which exhilaration and horror rise up,shift from her to Miss Costello, and then to Leonard, in whosemask of a face Sayer thinks he sees a faint glimmer.These people are alive inside. 5252. INT. DAYROOM (B) - DAYA soap opera on a portable black and white TV in a narrowpassageway of a nurses' station. Beyond.it, beyond a glasspartition, a crowded idle dayroom.Miss Costello crosses into and out of view and reappearsmoments later next to the TV. She switches it off and turns toface the three RNs who were watching it. In their defense -- V NURSE The patients have all been given their morning medication. MISS COSTELLO Good. Dr. Sayer was hoping you'd have some free time.She hands a book to the nurse who spoke (MARGARET), a firstedition worn /rom many readings. Margaret glances from it tothe other nurses and back to Miss Costello.53. INT. DAYROOM (B) - LATER - DAY 53The nurse holds the book like it's something quite foreign toher. She finds the beginning of the first chapter, clears herthroat, and reads -- MARGARET "Call me . . . Ish-ma-el . . .She glances up at her audience: three blank-faced post- ,55encephalitics. Miss Costello, who is nearby, nods to her tocontinue. She clears her throat again, and, feeling like afool, reads -- MARGARET "Some years ago, never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world . . . "Miss Costello leaves. 5454. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAYLeonard's head locked on his shoulders at an improbable anglethat forces his entranced gaze upward to a point well aboveSayer. SAYER Can you hear me, Leonard? I want to hear you speak your name. : . - Sayer waits . . . but Leonard remains mute.55. INT. SAYER'S HOUSE - MORNING " 55Tight on Sayer pulling record albums from his extensiveclassical collection.56. INT. DAYROOM (D) - DAY 56An.old box-style phonograph. The kind whose top is also adetachable speaker.An orderly, Fernando, dusts it off, rigs it, takes the recordMiss Costello holds out to him, gets it spinning, and sets theneedle down.Opera music. For the "enjoyment" of two more post-encephalitics. The eyes of one narrow slightly, almostimperceptibly. -. - i57. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 57The keys of Sayer's old manual Underwood typewriter. AndLeonard's claw of a hand hanging over them like one of thoseunmanageable penny arcade cranes. REV. 10/2/85 SAYER 57 L . . . Leonard . . . L . . .Leonard's hand remains still, suspended above the keys, forwhat seems an eternity.58. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 58.Under Miss Costello's supervision, maintenance men remove thegratings from the windows and washhthe panes. INT.- DAYROOM (D) - DAY 59.59.30's jazz music. The orderly from before with "his" two post-encephalitics. Each has a tray of cafeteria food, but only oneis eating, and mechanically at that. < FERNANDO . . . not just any music, it has to be the right, music for them. Jazz does nothing for Bert. Only Rose. (pause) It's like they're only moved by music that moves them. I'm that '*''- w ay . SAYER (intrigued) Yes, so am I. >The moment Fernando takes the record off, Rose stops eating,stops moving. The orderly puts on Mozart and waits. Neitherpatient moves. FERNANDO I haven't found anything that moves Bert yet.59A. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY ' 59A.A " no r ma l" pa t ie nt wi t h m ul t ip le sc l er os is h as ma na g ed tointe rcep t S ayer on hi s w ay some wher e el se, his ar ms f ull wit han 8mm camera and tripod and screen. j MS WOMAN I don't interest you like those other people, those ones with that disease. SAYER That's not true. REV. 10/2/89 MS WOMAN I wish I had something like that. SSmething that would interest you instead of this stupid boring MS.60. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 6Leonard in his wheelchair, absolutely motionless. Sayer behindthe lens of the 8mm camera on the tripod. Drs. Tyler andSullivan, at the doorway, watch with some amusement.60A. INT. DAYROOM (A) - DAY 60AMiss Costello wheels the man who shreds invisible things to awindow and places a piece of toast from a tray into his hands.He tears at it, the crumbs sailing out onto a landing, and aflock of pigeons swoops up.61. INT. DAYROOM (C) - DAY 61Three post-encephalitics with cards in their hands and the bestpoker faces you ever saw. : MARGARET They'll sit there all day like that if I let them. I have to play the first card. >Sayer watches her pull a card from one of their hands and placeit on the table. All three "wake" and begin throwing downcards, one after another. SAYER Is it a real game I wonder? MARGARET If it is, I don't know it. Maybe it's three different games. SAYER (delighted) Yes. 6262. OMITTED ,63. INT. CORRIDOR / DAYROOM (B) - DAY 6Sayer moving past "normal" patients lined up in the hall likeplanes on tarmac. Suddenly, from a dayroom, booms the openingbass line of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." (WHITE) REV. 12/4/89 P. 3863.CONT. .. .. ,, . ,, ´ 63.Sa ye r pe er s cu ri ou sl y i nt o th e ro om . B er t is ea ti ng a ndAn tho ny is g rin nin g. He see s S aye r i n t he d oor way an d s endshim a s elf -sa tis fied th umb s-u p s ign.64. INT . DAY ROOM (C) - DAY 64.Mi ss C os te ll o si tt in g wi t h a po st -e nc ep ha li ti c m an . (F RA NK ) M IS S COS TE LLO Ther e's so met hin g el se tha t r eaches th em.She t ouc he s the m an' s ha nd, h old s it , a nd hi s he ad sl owl y tu rnsto fa ce her. M ISS CO STE LLO Human cont act.Sh e pu ll s hi m ge nt ly t o h is if ee t an d wa lk s wi t h hi m a fe wsteps. . M IS S CO ST EL LO H e ca n' t wa lk w it ho ut m e . I f I let go - ; (to the patient) I won't let go of you' - (to Sayer) - if I let go , he 'll fa ll. H e'll wa lk wit h me an ywh ere .They wa lk a f ew more st eps an d t ears be gin to fo rm i n M issCoste llo's eyes . M IS S CO ST EL LO It's like the ball . . . only it's my wi ll he's bo rro win g.Sa ye r, to o, is m ov ed. But a s he wa tch es M iss C ost el lo an d herp at ie nt w al k aw ay , hi s e xp re ss io n ch an ge s; s om e th in g sh e ha ssa id o r do ne h as s tr uc k a c ho rd , or u nl oc ke d a d oo r:Close on their hands . . .65. OM IT TE D - 65.66. IN T. BAI NBRI DGE - NIG HT 66. -Em pt y cor ri dor . E cho in g f oo ts tep s.67. IN T. LEO NARD 'S WAR D - NI GHT 67.Le o na r d . T uc k ed i n b u t " a wa k e. " St a r in g a t th e ce i li n g . REV. 10/13/89 p.39 SAYER O.S. Leonard?68. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - LATER - NIGHT 68.In a far corner of the darkened ward, in a pool of lamp light,two silhouetted figures. Sayer and Leonard. Sleeping patientsall around them.Sayer carefully, awkwardly, places his hand on Leonard's.After a moment, the contact brings the useless appendage "tolife." As it slowly turns over and grasps the doctor's hand, aglimmer of life seems to appear in Leonard's eyes as well.Sayer, unfamiliar, it seems, with the feeling the contactproduces in him, nonetheless places his other hand on Leonard'sother. Soon it too turns and holds onto Sayer's.The doctor draws both of Leonard's hands toward him and setsthem down on the pointer of an Ouija Board. SAYER I'll begin moving the pointer toward the "L." For "Leonard." Once I feel you beginning to move it, I'll stop and you'll take . over. Do you understand? Leonard, of course, cannot say whether he does or not. Thelook on his face is "thoughtful." The look on Sayer's, hopefuland foolish. SAYER I'm beginning . . .The pointer begins to slowly move past stars and moons.Judging from Sayer's expression he begins to feel Leonard'smovement of it and, presumably, stops his own. SAYER Yes, good . . .The pointer moves across the letters, but passes the "L"without stopping. It stops on the "R." SAYER No. No, I didn't make myself clear. My fault. I . . . .The pointer begins moving again, "interrupting" Sayer. Itpasses the "L" again, reaches the "I" and stops. .. SAYER ' "., No. No, I . . . . . REV. 10/13/89 p.40 But the pointer is moving again. It stops on the "L." SAYER Yes. Yes. That's what I meant. . "L." Good. Now the "E." It begins moving again. But not to the "E." To the nK," where it hesitates briefly before moving again. SAYER (realizing, to himself) . . . you're spelling something el e . . . sKeeping one hand on the moving pointer, Sayer fumbles a penfrom his shirt pocket and scribbles on his lab coat whatLeonard has and is continuing to "write": RILKESPA69. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - NIGHTSayer alone in the examining room, standing over his desk. Thelab coat is on it. And on it is scrawled: RILKESPANTHERILKEHe has to study it only a moment before he sees the meaning ofit; he quickly scratches out the last four letters,and adds aslash between the "S" and the "P," so that it reads: R I L K E s/p A N T H E R BmBJUP*69A. EXT. PUBLIC LIBRARY. - ESTABLISH - DAY 6970. INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY ' 7 A card catalogue. Cards flipping by, stopping on one that.reads: 831 R Rilke, Rainer Maria German poet and fiction>fwriter; 1875-1926; Collected Poems tr. fr. German by --71. INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - LATER - DAY . ., 7Moving slowly in on Sayer at one of the library tables with a V .book. , ∑.. REV. 10/13/89 p." (continuity onxy; SAYER'S VOICE "His gaze from staring through the bars has grown so weary that it can take in nothing more . . . INT. LEONARD'S WARD - DAY72. 72.Moving slowly into the Western painting. SAYER'S VOICE "For him it is as though there were a thousand bars, and behind the thousand bars, no world . . .72A. EXT. BRONX ZOO - DAY 72A.Moving in on a panther, limbs weakened, spirit broken, slowlypacing back and forth before the bars of a small cage. SAYER V.O. "As he paces in cramped circles, over and over, his powerful strides are like a ritual dance around a center where a great will stands paralyzed . . . Moving slowly away from Sayer watching, moving high above him;the place is virtually deserted.73. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - DAY 73.Moving slowly in on Leonard as, in bed, flannel pajamas, as hismother diapers him for the night. SAYER V.O. "At times the curtains of the eye lift without a sound . . .Moving slowly< in on Sayer, unseen in a doorway, staring atLeonard, at the look of contentment on his face. Or is it alook of impotent rage? SAYER V.O. ". . . and a shape enters, '.slips thr ough the tightened silence of the shoulders, reaches the heart and dies .i." . ... FADE TO BLACK . '''.' REV. 10/13/89 p.41A (continuity only)73A. EXT. AUDITORIUM - NEW YORK - AFTERNOON 73A.Professional and professorial types filing in past a placard,an enlargement of an article from the Journal of Neurochemistrytitled: LEVADOPA IN THE TREATMENT OF PARKINSONISM. Below it:A DISCUSSION WITH MARTIN S. THOMAS, PH.D.There's excitement (and jealousy) in the air.74. INT. AUDITORIUM - AFTERNOON 74An anatomical skeleton dangling from a metal stand. NEUROCHEMIST There's an ordinary medicine with which we are all familiar. An everyday medicine of stubbed toes and bunions and boils.A man at a podium in a modern version of the 1920's basementoperating theatre. ∑ , NEUROCHEMIST And then there is another kind. A medicine that holds out to the afflicted the promise of restored life.He glances to a point above his listeners, and an overheadprojector splashes a diagram of molecular structure (and thesilhouette of a raised hand) onto a screen. The neurochemisttraces the shadow to its maker in the audience. SAYER Thank you. Yes. Yes, I'm very much interested in your work with this drug. I'm curious if . . . NEUROCHEMIST Doctor ...? SAYER (pause) Sayer. I'm curious if you . . . NEUROCHEMIST After I'm through, Dr. Sayer. If you wouldn't mind.Sayer glances around the auditorium. Everyone's looking athim. He grasps the offending hand and holds it in his lap withthe other.75. INT. AUDITORIUM LOBBY - LATER - AFTERNOON 75,Refreshments on tables. Sayer, uncomfortable in his suit,wandering around the crowded room with a glass of wine. Heapproaches its hub of activity, the neurochemist surrounded byseveral impressed colleagues, but can't manage to get closeenough to speak with him.76. INT. MEN'S ROOM, AUDITORIUM - LATER - AFTERNOON 7The neurochemist walks in and crosses to the urinals. A momentlater, he hears the door opening, and footsteps, and thennothing, until -- SAYER O.S. Do you think it's possible that simple Parkinsonian tremor taken to its furthest extreme could appear as no tremor at all?When no one answers, the chemist glances over his shoulder.Sayer is there, quite alone, looking at him. NEUROCHEMIST Are you speaking to me?Sayer is. And really wants to know the answer. The chemistzips up and moves to the sinks to wash his hands. SAYER If jail the compulsions in the Parkinson's patient were somehow . accelerated - (demonstrating what he means) - the hands, the shaking, the tics, the head bobbing, the quickening speech - (he's become a mass ª of tics and accelerated speech) - might they not cave in on themselves and, in effect, turn the person into stone?He comes to a abrupt stop, his eyes transfixed like a post-encephalitic's, staring. The chemist slowly dries his handswith a paper towel. NEUROCHEMIST Dr. Sayer, yes? (Sayer nods) I'm a chemist, doctor. I leave it to you guys to do the damage.He drops the paper towel into the trash and leaves77. EXT. PARKING LOT - BAINBRIDGE - MORNING 77Emerging from his car with some papers, Dr. Kaufman is ambushedby Sayer. .. REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg.77.CONT. SAYER 77. Did you have a chance to look at any of the -. KAUFMAN Freud believed in miracles. Prescribing cocaine like it was candy . . .Sayer has to hurry to keep up with his supervisor as he headstoward the hospital. KAUFMAN We all believed in the "miracle" of Cortisone until our patients went psychotic on it. Now it's L-Dopa.He hands over the papers - xeroxed articles from medicaljournals and newspapers which Sayer gave him to read - andkeeps going, Sayer straggling a few steps back. SAYER With all due respect, I think it's rather too soon to say that. : KAUFMAN With all due "respect," it's rather way too soon. Let the chemists do the damage.The gap between them widens as Sayer slows. He expected thissort of reaction from Kaufman, but had hoped for another.Kaufman disappears into the building.77A. INT. KAUFMAN'S OFFICE - LATER - MORNING 77AThe stack of papers drops onto Kaufman's desk. The one on topreads, NEW DRUG LETS SHAKING PALSY PATIENTS EAT JELL-O. SAYER Did you read the case - the husband who came home to find his wife singing. She hadn't felt like singing in years.Kaufman, on the phone, glances to Sayer long-sufferingly, letshim wait while he finishes with his call, and eventually setsdown the receiver. REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg. 77A.CONT. KAUFMAN 77A. I read them all. Soberly. All thirty cases had mild Parkinson's. Your Parkies - if that's what they are - haven't moved for decades. You know better than to make a leap like that, you want to believe there's a connection, that doesn't mean there is one. SAYER What I believe, what I know, is that these people are alive inside. KAUFMAN How do you know? Because they catch tennis balls? SAYER I know it. Sayer doesn't elaborate, but his tone is resolute. And it has the intended effect on Kaufman, causing him to consider the possibility that Sayer could, somehow, know it as a fact. KAUFMANr..iiJi! And what if this drug were to kill them? SAYER - (right back) > And what if this drug were to cure them? Somewhere behind Kaufman's eyes Sayer can see, he thinks, a change, or reminiscence, long ago, long buried, of things he once believed or wanted to believe. KAUFMAN How many did you think I ' d let you put on it? SAYER All of them ... some of them ... one of them . . . KAUFMAN One. With the family's consent. Signed. Sayer tries to hide his elation and turns to leave before Kaufman changes his mind. REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg.46 77A.CONT. KAUFMAN 77A. Sayer - Sayer turns. He was almost to the door. He had almost made * it out. KAUFMAN That "immense" project of yours. The myelin? The worms? When that failed, what was the reaction of your lab supervisor? ∑ Sayer thinks about lying, but senses Kaufman knows the answer * already and just wants to hear him say it. So he does: SAYER He asked me to leave. . Kaufman nods like, Just checking. And - KAUFMAN . Good luck. Sayer leaves. 78. INT. MRS. LOWE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 78. : A standard consent form and pen on a kitchenette table. Two coffee cups. One used tea bag. SAYER People with ordinary Parkinson's Disease sometimes complain that they've "lost their grace . . . " (he picks up a cup with a shaking hand) They have to think about the things we just do . . . (with great "trouble" he sets it down) It has to do with a chemical in the midbrain, or rather the lack of it, called dopamine. L-Dopa replenishes this dopamine, making it possible for these patients to move more naturally. He picks up the cup again, gracefully, and sets it down. MRS. LOWE Leonard has Parkinson's Disease?Q REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW)78.CONT. SAYER No. No, his symptoms ... are like Parkinsons ... and then again they're not.She doesn't understand what he means; there's no reason why sheshould. MRS. LOWE (pause) Then what will this medicine dp. for him? SAYER I don't know what it'll do for him, if anything. MRS. LOWE What do you think it will do? SAYER I don't know. MRS. LOWE What db< you hope it will do? REV. 10/13/89 p.47 SAYER I hope it'll bring him back from wherever he is.(O MRS. LOWE To what? SAYER To the world. MRS. LOWE (pause) What's here for him after all these years? ' SAYER You are here. She ponders that and the enormity of the whole situation, all the while staring at the consent form. 79 79. INT. PHARMACY, BAINBRIDGE - DAY The hospital pharmacy, a subterranean structure built into the basement, cluttered from floor to ceiling with medicines. Ray, the pharmacist, dips into a bag of powder. He spoons some out onto a scale and looks to Sayer to tell him the dosage. SAYER I have no idea. What do you say we ease into it with ... what, ª . fifty milligrams? Ray begins to measure five milligrams. SAYER Let's say a hundred. Ray shrugs; it's okay with him. He knifes at the powder, removing all but 100 milligrams. 80. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 80 Leonard, sphinx-like in his wheelchair, his mother by his side. Sayer, stirring the L-Dopa into a paper cup of orange juice. Miss Costello, in the doorway, watching. Sayer hands the glass to Mrs. Lowe. v (NOTE: Consult w/Sacks on this; may need the contents of a ' * capsule emptied into the cup) - '-' RSV. 10/13/89 p.48 SAYER Leonard? Your mother's going to give you some juice. There's medicine in it which is why it may taste more bitter than usual. Sayer glances to Mrs. Lowe. It's as if they've rehearsed it all. She holds the glass to her son's lips and gradually drains the liquid down his throat. Nothing immediately happens, of course, but they all, with the exception of Leonard, look as if they expect it to. Mrs. Lowe hands the empty glass back to Sayer. And they all wait. 81. INT. THE PHARMACY, LATER - DAY 81. Ray measuring out another 100 milligram dose. RAY Maybe the acid in the orange juice, neutralized it. SAYER Or maybe it's not enough. . * ∑^∑∑,-N . Ray tosses Sayer a look that says, "don't push it." Sayer\0 " n od s . ∑ ."'∑ " SAYER I'll try it in milk. 82. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - NIGHT 82. An empty milk glass on a night table. " Leonard, in his wheelchair, in pajamas, still and silent under * the painting of the boat. His mother, Sayer and Miss Costello watch and wait while around * them nurses atid orderlies hoist other patients into bed. 83. INT. THE PHARMACY - DAY 83. Ray scrapes powder from the scale into a pharmaceutical funnel which takes it down onto a miniature glass dish. Handing the dis h to Say er -- ; RAY Five hundred milligrams. REV. 10/13/89 p.4984. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 84.Another empty milk glass. Leonard, stoic, or so it seems, inhis wheelchair. His mother and Sayer and Miss Costello waitingfor a movement, a change of expression, a sign of any kind thatsomething is happening inside him. But there's nothing . . .85. INT. BAINBRIDGE - NIGHT 85.A corridor. Mrs. Lowe is leaving. Sayer is with her, seeing *her to the door. SAYER I'll call if there's any change. MRS. LOWE Yes.Neither really knows what else to say except for good night.She leaves.86. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - NIGHT 86.Sayer and Miss Costello lift Leonard out of his wheelchair andinto his bed. MISS COSTELLO I'm going home too. If you need me . ∑ * SAYER Yes, I'll call.They nod "good night" atT each other and Miss Costello leaves.Sayer slumps into Leonard's wheelchair. lAnd waits.87. INT. THE PHARMACY - NIGHT 87.Ray has gonejhome, too. Sayer, alone in the pharmacy, measuresout 1000 milligrams, ten times the original dose.88. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - NIGHT 88.Sayer at Leonard's bedside, holding the glass to Leonard'slips, draining the liquid into him, all of it.89. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - LATER - NIGHT . 8Sayer asleep in the wheelchair. He stirs. Wakes. And takes amoment to remind himself where he is. And why. His eyesnarrow, uncomprehending.Leonard's bed is empty. 990. INT. DAYROOM - LATER - NIGHTA claw of a hand dragging a crayon across a sheet of paper.Tight on Sayer, framed in a doorway, as still and silent andentranced as a post-encephalitic.His perspective of the dayroom -- deserted except for a figure,a patient, Leonard, hunched over the table.As Sayer crosses toward him, Leonard's head slowly rises.Sayer sits opposite him and they consider each other in silencefor several moments.Leonard struggles to speak, to form words. They come out in ahalting cadence, flat, without inflection, and are only barely .recognizable as words: . LEONARD It's quiet. SAYER It's late. Everyone's asleep∑> LEONARD I'm not asleep? SAYER No. You're awake.Though he nods, it's unclear whether Leonard realizes howsignificant that is. Sayer gestures at the piece of paperbeneath Leonard's hands. SAYER May I?Sayer draws the paper across the table. It's covered with whatseems imponderable hieroglyphic-like scrawl. But there isorder in the chaos. Letters. Leonard's name. LEONARD Me.91. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAWN 91Alone in the room, Leonard moves slowly around it, feelingthings: the smoothness of the cabinet glass/ the warmth thrownby a desk lamp, water from the cooler splashing onto his hand. SAYER O.S. Leonard?Leonard turns to Sayer's voice with an expression of child-like ,wonder on his face. SAYER Your mother is here.She appears in the doorway of the room. She's done her hair,her face, she's put on a nice dress, yet she remains unpreparedfor this reunion. She can do nothing but stare at her "infantson" who is now, "suddenly," a man.As he slowly crosses toward her, she is struck by the fact shemust look u£ in order to meet his eyes. He reaches her.Reaches out to her. And she embraces him.92. INT. CORRIDOR - MORNING .92. : A corridor crowded with patients in wheelchairs with nowhere togo and nothing much to do. MISS COSTELLO My name is Elizabeth. It's a ª pleasure to meet you.Leonard, standing, reaches for her hand and struggles topronounce her name correctly. Fighting to keep from crying infront of him, Miss Costello glances to Sayer and Mrs. Lowe. 93.9.3. INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR - MORNINGMiss Costello, flanked by Sayer and Mrs. Lowe, watches asLeonard extends his hand to the "card playing nurse." MARGARET How do you do, sir? My name is Margaret. LEONARD Margaret.o 94. INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR - MORNING 9 Margaret has joined the "tour, group" and introduces Leonard to the "music orderly." They shake hands. LEONARD Fernando. How are you? FERNANDO Great, man. How're you? LEONARD Great, too. 9 95. INT. THE PHARMACY - MORNING Fernando is along for the ride and watches Leonard shaking Ray the pharmacist's hand. RAY How do you do, Mr. Lowe? LEONARD ! Good, sir. 95 95A. INT. CAFETERIA KITCHEN -MORNING The cooks and kitchen workers around Leonard and his entourage, shaking his hand. >. . 96. INT. STAFF CAFETERIA - LATER - DAY 9 A tray of truly awful cafeteria food. The group, minus Sayer and Miss Costello, watches Leonard dip a fork into some mush- like concoction and manipulate it, with difficulty, to and into his mouth. He seems amazed by its flavor. LEONARD It's delicious. FERNANDO I wouldn't go that far, Len. Sayer and Miss Costello, at another table, glance over to the others who are all laughing. Sayer smiles. MISS COSTELLO I don't think I could deal with losing 3D years of my life. I can't even imagine it. REV. 10/13/89 p.53Sayer's smile fades. The possibility that Leonard might nothave realized the extent of the passage of time had not, until this moment, occurred to him. He stares blankly at Miss Costello. MISS COSTELLO He does realize it, doesn't he?Sayer nods uncertainly. SAYER He must. 97.97. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - LATER - DAY (NOTE: CONSULT SACKS ON THIS SCENE:)Sayer demonstrates a clapping motion. Leonard repeats it moreslowly but with decent motor control. SAYER Splendid.Sayer makes a note. They are alone in the examination roomwhich, like most of the hospital, has little in it to indicatethat it is not the 1930's. SAYER Can I see you walk the length of the room? *Leonard walks slowly across the room past the perception testsand notes and Polaroids cluttering the wall. Coming back, hepauses. He's looking at a picture of himself taped there.Sayer watches him slowly reach his hands to his face to feelhis features. He stares at the photograph of himself, tryingto comprehend that which cannot be comprehended.He's not younjg anymore. 98.98. OMITTED99. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - NIGHT 99.Sayer and Mrs. Lowe at Leonard's bedside. RE V. 10 /1 3/ 89 p .54 L EO N AR D I ' m af r ai d to cl os e m y ey e s . . . If(y\ I close my eyes . . . He hesitates, as if saying it may make the fear more real. SAYER . . . you'll sleep. And when you wake up in the morning, it will be the next morning. I promise. Sayer's smile tries to assure them both that it will happen just that way. He excuses himself, leaving Leonard with his mother, joins Miss Costello by the door and glances back. Mrs. Lowe is stroking Leonard's head as she hums a lullaby. 100. INT. ROOM ADJACENT TO EXAMINATION ROOM - MORNING 100. Sayer comes in with some books, sets them on Miss Costello's desk and crosses to a closet. SAYER I didn't sleep, did you? MISS COSTELLO Does it look like it? . Sayer hangs up his jacket and slips into a lab coat. SAYER Do you know if Leonard's awake? v She smiles and points toward the adjoining examination room. 101. INT. THE EXAMINATION ROOM - MORNING 101. Showered and shaved and groomed and bright-eyed, Leonard sits listening to his own heartbeat with Sayer's stethoscope. Coming in -- i SAYER Good morning. LEONARD Good morning. . His speech is still rather flat, halting., SAYER Been waiting for me long? LEONARD Yes. REV. 10/13/89 p.55 Sayer smiles. He hands Leonard the books. History books. An almanac. SAYER Some things have happened while you've been away. I thought you'd be interested. Leonard opens one carefully, reverently, and begins reading from it to himself. SAYER You don't have to read them now, Leonard. They're yours. At your leisure. Leonard closes the book but holds onto it and the others like they're gold. LEONARD I used to read quite a lot. . Before. SAYER i Yes, I know. . LEONARD Thank you for these. i . Sayer nods that he's welcome. SAYER Have you thought about what you'd like to do today? LEONARD Everything. SAYER (smiles) I'm not sure I can arrange that. LEONARD Try. Sayer smiles again. For a man who just yesterday learned he has been cheated out of the greater"- part of his life, Leonard seems to have recovered extraordinarily. SAYER Let's approach it this way. What . ". x do you think you'd like to do .1J first? ..∑ REV. 10/13/89 p.55A (continuity only) LEONARD I'd like to go outside.101A. EXT. BAINBRIDGE HOSPITAL - DAY 101ASayer and Leonard emerge from the hospital and move under treesalong a path toward the parking lot. At a point, the doctorrealizes his patient is no longer at his side; he's severalsteps back, feeling the sunshine on his skin. 102. EXT. PARKING LOT, BAINBRIDGE - MORNING 102(p\ Though it is only a Toyota, its dashboard, to Leonard, resembles something out of Jules Verne. He allows Sayer to buckle his seatbelt for him and watches with fascination as Sayer performs the "complex" preparatory sequence necessary, apparently, to make the car go. The car pulls away. Above, framed in a second story window of one of the buildings, stands a lone figure looking out -- Leonard's mother. 103. INT. SAYER'S CAR - MOVING - MORNING 103 Tight on the radio. Sayer switches it on. To Leonard's amazement, classical music fills the interior and CONTINUES OVER: 104. EXT. THE BRONX - MOVING SHOTS - MORNING 104 Billboards advertising color televisions and electric shavers. Buses which have grown over the decades to a behemoth scale. "Ultra-modern" housing projects and gas stations. "Futuristic" cars. Leonard cannot imagine a more enthralling re-introduction to the world and stares at it all with wonder. Everywhere he looks there is something "extraordinary." LEONARD What a wonderful place The Bronx has become. The music CONTINUES OVER: '' ' * 105. INT/EXT. NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDENS - DAY 105 A rose. , Leonard puts his face close to it to appreciate its fragrance. He touches its petals gently, explores them, and is quietly astonished by the tactile sensation. Sayer watches. He, too, can appreciate wonders of the real world, especially those of a botanical nature, but not with, the purity or intensity Leonard can. Pulling back reveals them in the middle of a vast garden of countless thousands of roses.106. INT. SAYER'S CAR - MOVING - DAY 106Leonard turns the radio dial from the classical station toanother playing a very different kind of music, and listens toit bemused but intrigued. It's John Lennon singing "A DAY INTHE LIFE"and it CONTINUES OVER:107. EXT. PARK - THE BRONX - LATER - DAY 107Children playing flag-football on an expanse of grass. Dogsrunning around, nannies with prams, lovers.A disk, a frisbee, falls at Leonard's feet. He retrieves itbut has no idea what it is or what to do with it. Sayerdemonstrates the wrist action with an invisible one. Leonarddoesn't get it. Sayer takes it from him and flings itpathetically not halfway back to its owners.The music CONTINUES OVER:108. EXT. STREET CORNER JOINT - THE BRONX - LATER - DAY 108.Leonard watches with interest a Carvel ice cream machine. Heand Sayer are handed cones and Leonard's attention moves to agirl wearing an unbelievably short skirt.Her boyfriend stares at Leonard. Sayer tries to pull hischarge's attention elsewhere. Leonard, finally, glances away,up, to a sound overhead.The music CONTINUES OVER: 109109. EXT. KENNEDY AIRPORT - DAYA 747 roaring down a runway. At the edge of it, it lifts offand thunders over Sayer and Leonard and the parked Toyota.Exhilerated, Leonard waves.The music CONTINUES OVER:110. OMITTED 110111. EXT. THE BRONX / CITY ISLAND - DAY 111An expressway. The Toyota traveling at "astounding" speed,passing a sign that reads CITY ISLAND. R!V. 10/13/89 p.58 Boats and fish markets and lush vegetation. Paradise compared to the Bronx. The Toyota turns down a side road near the water t and into the driveway of Sayer's small wooden house.w '.∑. . ' And the mus ic ends. 112. INT. SAYER'S KITCHEN / DINING ROOM - DAY 112. Tea bags steeping in a pot on a cluttered kitchen counter. Sayer, exhausted from the day, hunts in vain through packing boxes on the floor for crackers, cookies, something he can offer his guest. He keeps glancing in at Leonard, who's wandering around the dining room, navigating around packing boxes, to browse at the spines of books. Noticing Sayer watching - LEONARD You just moved here. SAYER Yeah. Well, five years ago. , Sayer shrugs, disappears into the kitchen a moment . . . before ; peeking back in to see what Leonard is looking at now: a small i framed photograph of a boy with a toy sailboat and a forlorn expression posed in front of a curtain; the boat obviously a photography studio prop. LEONARD Your son? SAYER Me, actually. ' ,," t LEONARD (looking closely at ' the photograph) You seem uncomfortable. SAYER I probably was. Sayer disappears into the kitchen again. And a moment later . glances back in around the door frame at Leonard who has moved over to an old sideboard on which several pairs of glasses are neatly arranged. ∑ /∑ SAYER Each has a specific purpose. REV. 10/13/89 p.59 As Leonard considers each pair of glasses ... SAYER Those are my normal interior glasses. And spare pair. Those, I wear outside. Two pairs, in case I los.e one. Those, those are my daytime reading glasses. And spare. Those are for close work. For fine print. Those are my nighttime reading glasses - Leonard's examining the frames of this last pair closely. SAYER That's heavy-gauge metal so when I fall asleep and roll over on them I don't wreck them. They're indestructible. Leonard returns the indestructible ones to their proper place and considers them all together. SAYER As long as I pretty much know ahead of time what I'll be looking ' at, it works out, I don't have to carry all five pairs around. LEONARD What if you just want to go for a walk? SAYER (pause) Walks are a problem. Walks are the hardest thing. You just never know. He's absolutely serious, like a man plagued for years by an imponderable dilemma. He retreats back into his kitchen before reappearing again with the pot of tea, two mismatched cups and some saltine% on a tray. SAYER I hope you'll forgive the inelegant presentation. I don't entertain much. ∑/∑ . 113. 113. INT. SAYER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY They've cleared places on the sofa and chair and sit thereQ sipping their tea. * REV. 10/13/89 p.60 SAYER I can date my interest in science precisely, actually. I'd been * sent off to boarding school - a place perhaps not quite as Dickensian as I remember it - when I happened to come across the periodic table of elements. (smiles at the thought) I memorized it. Which I admit was a rather precocious thing for a seven year old to do. And I remember feeling . . . not so much a sense of accomplishment . . . as comfort. The halogens were what they were. The alkali metals were what they were. Each element had its place, and nothing could * change that. They were secure, no * matter what. * Leonard nods, perhaps more out of politeness than * understanding. Sayer nods too, feeling, perhaps, a little * exposed. LEONARD : You're not married.* It seems to Sayer a non sequitor. * SAYER No.He smiles. Sips his tea. Silence except for the ticking of a *clock somewhere. Then, very matter of factly - SAYER I'm not terribly good with people. I like them. I wish I could say I had more than a rudimentary understanding of them. (pause) Maybe if they were less unpredictable . . .He shrugs. Silence again. LEONARD Eleanor would disagree with you. *Sayer stares at him blankly. He doesn't seem to know who"Eleanor11 is. . * REV.10/13/89 p.61 SAYER-~ Eleanor?^r * LEONARD Miss Costello. SAYER Oh, yes, of course. (uneasy) She's spoken to you about me? Leonard nods. Sayer can't imagine why, nor what she might have said. Fearing the worst -- SAYER What'd she say? LEONARD ' That you're a kind man. That you care very much for people. Sayer shifts in his chair uncomfortably. a. LEONARD But you meant normal people. Sayer seems at a loss as to how to respond. The accompanying/til**) silence grows awkward. 7 SAYER We should be getting back. Sayer crosses over to the sideboard, to the pairs of glasses, stares at them for several moments, and picks up two pairs. 114. OMITTED 114 114A. EXT. PARKING LOT - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 114A. Climbing out of his car, Kaufman sees Sayer striding toward him. He glances to the sky, Kaufman, to God, and silently complains to Him. '4 115. INT. STAFF CAFETERIA, BAINBRIDGE - LATER - DAY 115 Cafeteria workers carting serving trays back to the kitchen. Nurses and orderlies and office workers at tables with finished' meals and cups of coffee. They seem unaware of Drs. Sayer and Kaufman at a table near the door. KAUFMANz^ When you say expensive, what are we talking about? made out in her name. Kaufman turns it over. She has endorsed it back to Bainbridge Hospital. Fernando walks by and out, leaving his salary check on the table. Then Ray, the pharmacist, leaving his. Then the nurse who reluctantly read "Moby Dick" to the patients. Then a cafeteria worker. A secretary. A clerk. A janitor. The cafeteria is soon empty, except for Sayer and Kaufman. Long silence. 116. INT. BOARD ROOM - NIGHT 116 8mm film of Leonard before L-Dopa -- a wide shot of him absolutely motionless in his wheelchair. SAYER O.S. There was extreme rigidity of the axial musculature . . . only vague available motion in the neck . . . no voluntary movement in the limbs . . . A tight shot of Leonard's entranced face appears on the screen. SAYER O.S. Perhaps most striking was the profound facial masking -- which we now know should not have been confused with apathy. * Tight on Sayer, the light from the projector flickering on his face. SAYER Virtually aphonic, Mr. Lowe could articulate no words, but rather only, with considerable effort, an occasional noise, a kind of, "h .. . " A ∑ In the darkness sit Kaufman, the rest of the Board of Directors, some elderly patrons of the hospital, and, near Sayer, Miss Costello. She hands him a scribbled note. "Less scientific" it reads. SAYER Isolated circumstances -- the mention of his name, notes of particular pieces of music, the touch of another human being -- managed on occasion to briefly summon him, but these awakenings were rare and transient, lasting only a moment or two.Sayer glances to Miss Costello. She nods, "Good, that'sbetter." SAYER The rest of the time he remained in a profoundly eventless place ~ deprived of all sense of history and happening and self -- encysted, cocooned, enveloped in this metaphorical if not physiological equivalent of sleep . . . or death.Tight on the screen, on Leonard, as he was. Looking more likea photograph of a man than a motion picture of one. SAYER This was his condition when first seen by me in a remote bay of this hospital. And the quality of his life for the last 30 years.The "before picture" of Leonard on the screen is replaced withthe "after" -- his eyes alert, his hands exploring a deskmicrophone. He glances up and off at something. LEONARD (FILM) Now? SAYER'S VOICE Whenever you're ready. LEONARD (FILM) My name is Leonard Lowe. It has been explained to me that I have been away for . . . quite some time . . .He seems to withdraw, to wrestle with the thought, to try tosomehow come to terms with it, to somehow resolve it. He nodsas he finds within himself some source of strength and looksdirectly at the camera. LEONARD (FILM) I'm back.117. INT. BOARD ROOM, LATER - NIGHT 117The lights are on, the screen rolled up, the board members andpatrons visibly moved, almost shaken, and silent.Eventually one of the patrons, an old woman, reaches into herpurse for her checkbook and a pen. Another patron, an elderlyman, pulls a checkbook and pen from an inside jacket pocket.Another already has hers out in front of her ...Sayer and Miss Costello exchange a glance. The room isabsolutely silent, except for the muted scratch of pens onpaper. 118.118. INT. THE PHARMACY - DAYThe raw L-Dopa powder, 20,000 dollars worth, has arrived. Itsits on a pharmacy counter in large clear bags. Sayer and Raypeer between racks of medicine at two teenage girls and twovery old men chatting in a corner of the pharmacy. RAY They're volunteers from the : neighborhood. SAYER Wonderful. v 119.119. OMITTED120. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 120.Several empty medicine paper-cups. The "garden of stone,"reassembled. Sayer knows better than to sit and wait, thatnothing is going to immediately happen, but he sits and waitsanyway. As does Miss Costello. As does Leonard and hismother.121. INT. STAFF ROOM - NIGHT . 121Sayer asleep on a couch that's too short for him. MissCostello asleep on another. VOICE Dr. Sayer?Sayer wakes to find a night nurse standing over him. SAYER What is it? ry (continuity only)121. CONT. 121. NIGHT NURSE It's a miracle.121A. INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT 121A. iThey move along a silent corridor that seems to stretch outforever -- the doctor, the two nurses -- carrying themselvesprofessionally, with sobriety and restraint. But as they nearthe ward, as they're joined by others, other nurses, orderlies,their steps and hearts quicken. They break into a trot. 122.122. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHTThey appear at the threshold, Sayer, Miss Costello, the nightnurse, the others, and peer into the darkened room:In the quiet, in the shadows, in the moonlight filtering inthrough the windows, the post-encephalitics are emerging fromtheir "cocoons," rising from the "dead" like Lazarus from theearth, reborn.Moving slowly past the beds: A figure rediscovering thefeeling of her skin; another, the sound of his breath; another,'the beating of her heart.A figure still asleep . . . wakes. And for the first time innearly half a century sees herself in the world.Tight on Sayer, on the look of awe on his face as he stares atthe scene going on in the darkened ward. His glance findsLeonard who is sitting up in his bed, smiling.123. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 123,Tight on Lucy's face, deep in thought, lost in thought. Afterseveral moments of silence, she speaks -.,:, ∑ . :... . ,.LUCY V . .∑ * .-.. . . . . I just had the strapgest dream . . .A cacophony of off-screen voices - from a radio, thetelevision, and the awakened post-encephalitics themselves -rises up as another woman, Miriam, moves past Lucy's face. Wefollow her, as does a nurse with a blood pressure guage onwheels. , 11/ b/ aa) tireen Pg123.CONT. NURSE 12 Miriam, please, I - (have to check your blood pressure - ) MIRIAM (interrupting) I've been sitting for 25 years, you missed your chance.Miriam and the nurse trailing after her pass in front of a man *with no English (Josef) trying to explain something to a coupleof orderlies. One to the other - . ORDERLY 1 You're Italian, he's Italian, what's the problem? ORDERLY 2 I was born here - X don't speak ∑ Italian.Nearby, another man. This one does speak English - BERT I want a steak, rare. I want mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans, a slice of pie and a ' chocolate phosphate.Anthony turns away with the tray he just brought in - broth,jello and juice - and carries it away, passing the "cardplaying nurse," Margaret. ANTHONY I think I prefer them the other way.Having settled on Margaret: she smiles, glances to "her"patient, Rose, who, staring at her reflection in a hand mirror,tugs at her grey hair. ROSE And some dye. Black. MARGARET (jotting down the request) Black, are you sure? ROSE And some clothes . . . my. clothes. i.1/ b/´y)Green Pg.123.CONT. - 123Sh e p ull s at he r f ade d s hape les s d res s w ith gre at dis dai n. ROSE Who put me in this?A be wi ld er ed m an o n st if f l eg s (F RA NK ) wa lk s by . Fo ll ow in gh im , we c at c h a gl i m ps e of a D u tc h wo m an i n a wh e el c h ai r , w i t ha nurse - MAG DA ... t he garden er, he mus t prune the fruit trees ... the roses . . . I think he's forget . . .- be f or e se t t li n g o n M i s s C o st e ll o wi t h a ma n wh o se e ms l os t ina w or ld o f hi s ow n, h is he ad n od di ng s li gh tl y t o mu si c fr om a nunseen radio. M I SS C OS TE LL O Ca n you s pe ak to me , Ro lan do ? Ro lan do, it' s M iss Co ste llo. C an yo u u nde rsta nd me?Ap p a r e nt l y n ot . A fi g u r e bl u r s pa s t . An d a m om e n t la t e r ,an oth er, t he nu rse w ith t he pr ess ure g auge , sti ll tr ail ingaf te r Mi ri am. T he c ame ra f ol low s th em - NUR SE Miriam ... Miriam . . .- befor e set tling on a man , Des mond, doin g a soft- shoe.Le on ar d, a nd a f ew o th e rs , wa tc h. Fr an k bl ur s b y ag ai n, p as se sa w oman , Fra ncis, sort of l ost, seat ed Wi th a nurse : F RANCIS . . . I was aware of things, but no thi ng mea nt a nyt hin g, the re w as no connection to me. (vagu e recollec tion:) There was a war . . . (pailse) ... or two . . .Mi ss C os te ll o no ti ce s F ra nk , st an di ng n ea rb y, lo ok in g pu zz le d. M IS S C OS T EL LO F r a nk ? A r e y o u al l r i gh t ? FRANK < M y wi fe a nd s on . A re th ey w el l? xu/ os > vaU.bL>£NKUD Pg.6123.CONT. 123.Hiss Costello finds herself at a loss for a moment . . . MISS COSTELLO We'll find them for you. We'll track them down.Lucy again, Sayer still at her side. LUCY . . . I called to my sister, but she couldn't hear me. No one could hear me. I was alone . . . (pause) And then I woke up.She smiles. Sayer tries to. He hesitates ... but finallycan't help asking her - ∑ SAYER Lucy, what year is it? LUCY What year is it? You don't know?He shakes his head 'no.' She glances around the place, thenleans close to him and whispers - LUCY ∑26. MIRIAM O.S. DoctorI Doctor! . * ,Sayer turns to the urgent voice, concerned, and sees Miriamflanked by a large group of staff from other parts of thehospital gathered at the threshold of the room. MIRIAM I walked all the way over there. And back. What a perfect day.The group at the doorway applauds, and it CARRIES OVER:123A. OMITTED 123A.123B. INT- CORRIDOR - SAME TIME - DAY 123B. *The corridor, and the sound of a woman's voice, very faint, .*from somewhere unseen: * PAULA O.S. " . . . Like crowds storming the * Bastille ... *124.-128. OMITTED 124.-12129. INT.'POST-ENCEPHALITIC DAYROOM - CONTINUED - MORNING 129.Sidney bursts into the room out of breath and scans the facesof the awakened post-encephalitics and staff. He spots Sayer,seated with a woman, her back to him and the door. She slowlyturns to look over her shoulder and, seeing Sidney, smiles. LOLLY Hi, Sidney.There's a kind of hush. Conversations, activities cease.Everyone is looking at Sidney. Not knowing what else to say,he manages a hesitant -- SIDNEY Hi. iHe smiles and crosses toward her, but by the time he reachesher the smile has disappeared. Something troubling hasoccurred to him. He glances to Sayer and whispers -- SIDNEY Is it real . . . or . . . SAYER : As real as real can be. CONTINUED: fAs they crowd in, she wedges out, and down the hall, Leonard watching after her. ANTHONY Len - come on. Leonard steps into the elevator, the last one in. 131. EXT. BAINBRIDGE -SAME DAY 13 They're going on a field trip. As they're escorted onto an idling hospital bus, Leonard, outside it, tries to reason with his mother: MRS. LOWE Sidney's going. LEONARD He's a patient, Mom.A3 MRS. LOWE MRS. LOWEC -j He's not the same kind of patient. XX / XU /O y / V aU J jU K NK U D P 131.CONT. . 13 LEONARD He's still a patient. You're not a patient. MRS. LOWE I'm your mother. Inside the bus, Miriam, anxious to leave, leans over the driver to honk the horn. Leonard kisses his mother on the cheek and turns away. MRS. LOWE Wait a minute. (he turns back) What on earth have you done to your hair? He's parted it, apparently, on the "wrong" side. She pulls a comb from her purse, recombs it "correctly," straightens his jacket lapels and steps back. ' MRS. LOWE There. LEONARD There's your bus. . The public bus, behind her, coming down the street. As she hurries to the corner, Sayer climbs down off the hospital bus. SAYER Ready? * LEONARD I've decided not to go. He waves to his mother. Sayer stares at him. LEONARD I'm staying here. SAYER Why? What's wrong? LEONARD Nothing. Wave. He waves again to his mother; she's boarding the public bus. Sayer does as he's told, waves too. Impatient, Miriam honks the horn again. MIRIAM'(_J) Let's go, already.131.C0NT. . 131As the public bus pulls away, Leonard pats Sayer on theshoulder. LEONARD I'll see you later, have a good time.He climbs the hospital steps and disappears inside, Sayerstaring after him. Miriam honks the horn again, and he climbsaboard. The doors hiss shut and driver turns to him. BUS DRIVER Where to?Sayer suddenly realizes he has no idea "where to." He glancesover his shoulder at the expectant faces of the patients, alldressed up with nowhere to go. It's up to him . . .His face brightens; he's thought of a good place. 132132. INT. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - NEW YORK - DAYMoving slowly toward a herd of still and silent elephants in acavernous, darkened room.As a nun counts the heads of parochial school children filingpast the huge beasts, Miss Costello counts the heads of thepost-encephalitics.Both come up short and glance frantically around. NUN v (calling) William? MISS COSTELLO (calling) Dr. Sayer?132A. INT. ANOTHER ROOM - NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - DAY 132A.A lifeless polar bear in a diorama "stares" out at Sayer who'speering in, intrigued. Miss Costello appears at his side. MISS COSTELLO It's very hard to keep everyone together, doctor. SAYER Has someone wandered off? MISS COSTELLO You. (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD Pg. 132A.CONT. 1.,->, She leads him away by the arm.CO . . 133. INT. SIDNEY'S DAYROOM - SAME DAY 13 A dayroom thick with inactivity. And the voice: PAULA O.S. "From the sleek skyscrapers of Wall Street where a tickertape blizzard filled the sky . . . From the doorway, from a distance, Leonard watches Paula across the room with her father, reading to him again from the newspaper: PAULA " . . . to the undistinguished bars of a hundred neighborhoods, New York yesterday went pleasantly mad over the World Champion Mets . . . ' ∑ 133A. INT. PATIENTS' CAFETERIA - LATER - DAY 133 Paula moving along the serving line with a tray. Leonard, next in line, moving along with his tray, a little too close. He steals a glance. PAULA You following me? * Startled and embarrassed, Leonard withdraws. PAULA I'm kidding. I'm sorry. I saw you upstairs . . . just now. Leonard nods without looking at her. PAULA Visiting someone? LEONARD No. ∑ PAULA You work here. LEONARD I live here. (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD Pg.75133A.CONT. . 133 PAULA (pause) You're a patient?He admits it with a nod, lags back again, and eventually dares *another glance at her. PAULA You don't look like a patient. LEONARD (pause) I don't?She smiles and shakes her head 'no.1 134.134. INT. PATIENTS' CAFETERIA- LATER - DAYLeonard and Paula at a table. At other tables are patients whodo look like patients. PAULA I don't know if he knows I visit him or not. I don't know that he knows who I am. My mother doesn't think so. She doesn't; come around any more-- LEONARD (pause) But you do. PAULA Sometimes I think I see something. * I think I see a change. And for a * second, I see him like he was . . . *She smiles at the memory of her father like he was . . . but then *it's gone and her smile fades. PAULA Does that make any sense?A slow nod from him . . . ∑ * LEONARD s Yes. ∑ *His tone is that of someone speaking of a fact, rather than *offering an opinion. She studies him . . . and eventually: * PAULA Why are you here? (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD Pg 134.CONT. He doesn't know how to begin to explain it to her. LEONARD (pause)' I receive medication., She waits for more, but it doesn't come. Only a smile. LEONARD, I'm okay now. * - ' 135. OMITTED 1 136. INT. NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - ANOTHER ROOM - DAY 13, . The post-encephalitics filing past still figures in African ∑, ceremonial costumes and masks. s NUN O.S. '"' (calling) William? MISS COSTELLO O.S. (calling) Dr. Sayer? 136A. INT. ANOTHER ROOM - NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - DAY 136 A working display of a tide pool. Anthony's reflection joins Sayer's in the glass. SAYER I've always loved tide pools, haven't you? Anthony doesn't answer. He seems troubled. SAYER What is it? ANTHONY You chose this place? (Sayer nods) Why? SAYER (pause) , I come here all the time. ANTHONY Why? (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD Pg. 136A.CONT. . Sayer glances away, sees Miss Costello coming. She looks a little irritated. As she arrives -ti^ SAYER Miss Costello, I think Anthony thinks they're bored. He says it like, Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? MISS COSTELLO They are. Sayer, taken aback, glances back to Anthony, whose look says, There you go. SAYER I ' d thought about the opera house. Do you think they'd prefer that? ANTHONY The opera house? SAYER The Botanical Gardens? Anthony looks to Miss Costello and rolls his eyes. SAYERy5?. Well, where else is there? 137. INT. ROSELAND - LATE AFTERNOON Roseland's Big Band belting out "That Old Black Magic." On the dancefloor, the post-encephalitics dance with one another amidst "normal" middle-aged and older couples, all having a great time. At the bar, Sayer tries to get the attention of a young bartender busy mixing drinks. Watching, it slowly dawns on Rose that something is "wrong" here. More to herself - ROSE It's legal again? MISS COSTELLO (pause) For some time now. Rose is delighted; she can hardly believe it. She gets the bartender's attention. -( ) ROSE A Rob Roy on the rocks.P 137.CONT. . The young bartender has to think a moment. Rose turns back to watch the action on the dance floor. Gesturing to Rose, Miss Costello whispers to the bartender - MISS COSTELLO A Shirley Temple. 138. INT. LOBBY, BAINBRIDGE - LATE AFTERNOON Leonard and Paula crossing toward the front doors. She's just chatting but he's taking it seriously. PAULA Things happen, people are late. LEONARD They won't be angry. PAULA Oh, they'll be angry. What're they going to do, fire me? He doesn't realize she's not asking him. He has to shrug that he doesn't know. , PAULA _ : (U*T I'll just take the graveyard. Her look to him says, Right? He has no idea what she means, but finally nods in agreement. LEONARD Okay. ] They're almost to the doors. She offers her hand to him. PAULA (pause) Bye. He shakes the hand gently, lets it go. LEONARD Bye. PAULA Thanks for talking to me. ∑ She steps away toward the door. LEONARD He knows. (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD Pg.7 138.CONT. 138 She glances back at him. She's not sure what he means. ∑ LEONARD Your father. He knows you visit him. Whether he's saying it just to be nice doesn't matter to her. It's what she wants to believe. She smiles gratefully. * PAULA I'll see you. She leaves. 138A. 138A. OMITTED ∑ 139. INT. ROSELAND - LATER - EVENING 139. The band in the middle of "You Hade Me Love You." At the bar - ROSE Is he betrothed, do you know? Miss Costello doesn't know who she could possibly mean. She ,- follows her sightline to the opposite wall, to a chair, to Sayer sitting alone. MISS COSTELLO Not that I know of. I kind of doubt it. Rose gets up and crosses toward Sayer. Seeing her coming, he smiles ... but the smile slowly begins to fade as she sings to him: ROSE You made me love you I didn't want to do it ∑ I didn't want to do it . . . Singing as she does it, she pulls him out of his chair. Embarrassed, he resists, but she finally gets on the dance floor. Never more mortified in his life (it seems as if everyone is watching) he "dances . . . " And the band finishes the song. '' (") (REV.11/10/89)GOLDENROD . Pg.76 (continuity only) . 14140. OMITTED 141. INT.- CORRIDOR & LEONARD'S WARD 14Returning from their night out, happy and satisfied, the post-encephalitics come down a quiet corridor, trailed by theirchaperons.Passing the examination room, Sayer hears faint typing, andslows.142. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT 14Sayer steps into the room to find a figure hunched over histypewriter in a pool of lamplight. Glancing over to the door,the figure is revealed to be Leonard. CONTINUED: 142 LEONARD " Everybody have a good time?Leonard doesn't wait for the answer, returns to his typing.Sayer comes closer. SAYER What are you doing?He peers over Leonard's shoulder to read what he's typing, anda slow smile crosses his face. SAYER V.O. "One - typewriters and writing supplies in all dayrooms at all times . . . 143143. INT. BOARD ROOM - DAYDrifting slowly across the faces of Kaufman, the director andthe other board members as Sayer reads to them from atypewritten sheet of paper -- SAYER ; " . . . Two - music and dance classes for those patients who desire them. Three - technical courses for those who wish to learn a trade. Four - patients' grievance committees. Five - the same food in the patients' cafeteria as in the staff's. Six . . . " and I happen to think this is an excellent idea, "the establishment of a permanent hospital library. And "Seven - televisions that work."Sayer sets the paper down on the table -- SAYER "Respectfully, Leonard Lowe."-- and listens to the silence. It's a long one.144. INT. BASEMENT - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 144.Rumbling furnaces. The boiler room. Exposed conduit and pipesand ducts on the ceiling like tangled roots of an enormousmetal tree. (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY Pg 144.CONT. I A subterranean corridor. Deserted except for Sayer and Leonard 153.Amidst the thousands of bottles and jars of medicines, Sayerwonders out loud to Ray -- SAYER I don't know if it's liberation or mania or love. RAY With me?- I never know. ∑ SAYER What he says is absolutely true. We don't really live. . (pause) Does that mean there's something wrong with him or us?The balance of the pharmaceutical scale wavers like the swordof Damocles. SAYER & RAY Us. 154.154. OMITTED155. OMITTED 155.156. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - NIGHT 156A night janitor with a cleaning cart peers into the darkenedroom at Leonard standing at a window looking out. JANITOR . Mr. Lowe? (Leonard glances over) Are you all right? LEONARD Yeah. REV. 12/12/89 (PINK) Pg.85 156.CONT. . 156. The janitor wheels his cart back down the corridor. Leonard stares back out the window, at what lies beyond the grounds of * the hospital . . . the glittering lights of the Manhattan * skyline. 157-158. 157-158. OMITTED 159. INT. BOARD ROOM - DAY , 159. Drifting slowly across the faces of the board members again, and across Sayer - LEONARD O.S. I ' m thankful to everyone in this * room . . . I was dead, and you * brought me back ... * - and reaching Leonard, standing at the head of the table. * LEONARD I ' m thankful, but what I need now isn't here. . . . . Silence. And, eventually, since no one else asks it: KAUFMAN Where is it? : LEONARD ∑ There. Kaufman and Sayer and the others follow Leonard's gesture to * the windows. KAUFMAN * Mr. Lowe, I ' m sorry, I ' m afraid I don't understand. What is it * you want now? * LEONARD The simplest thing. KAUFMAN (somehow doubting it will be simple) And what is that? LEONARD I want to know that I'm free to go for a walk, if I feel like it. Like any normal person. The board members glance among themselves. They seem relieved.{V That is a simple request. REV. 12/12/89 (PINK) Pg.8 159.CONT. KAUFMAN 159. Sayer comes in, finds Leonard in one of the chairs, and kneels to gain some confidentiality. Leonard cranes slightly to see around him, to see the television. SAYER This is a mistake. It's wrong and it's cruel and it should never have happened like this - but you have to understand - nothing quite like this has happened before, no one knows what to do . . . Leonard, please don't ignore me. Leonard condescends a look to him. A moment and Sayer smiles at a thought: , SAYER I wish you could just walk out like that. I wish it were that simple. (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY Pgª9 165.CONT. LEONARD / 165. is. . Sayer's smile fades. Leonard glances back to the set. Tight on the screen: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers dancing. 166.166. EXT. BAINBRIDGE HOSPITAL - NIGHT *Light glows in only a few of the windows.In one, on the third floor, the examination room, a figure in .*silhouette (Sayer), stares out.In another, on the fifth floor, a second figure in silhouette(Leonard), behind bars, slowly paces.166A. INT. WARD 5 DAYROOH - DAY 166A.The blaring TV again. Suddenly the picture goes dark.Leonard, who turned it off, climbs down off a chair and facesthe "somnambulant" men who were "watching."Moving along their chairs he considers each much as Sayerconsidered the post-encephalitic "garden of stone." Reaching one stretched out across three chairs, asleep, Leonard gently nudges him. . LEONARD Wake up.167-163. OMITTED 167-169169A-. INT. ELEVATOR & CORRIDOR 169A.The elevator door slides open revealing an orderly with several *trays of untouched food on a cart. Kaufman steps in and thedoor slides shut. Descending: ORDERLY I guess they're not hungry.Kaufman nods distractedly, not really listening. The orderlybegins whistling a tune to himself. Kaufman glances over long-sufferingly, quieting him. The door slides open, and the youngman wheels the cart past Kaufman. Finally: ~ KAUFMAN Who? ORDERLY Ward 5.The door slides shut. (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY , Pg(7~) 170. OMITTED 170 171. INT. WARD 5 DAYROOM - DAY 171 Leonard paces before the entire Ward 5 population, gathered like the blind and the sick under a revivalist's tent. LEONARD It isn't us that's defective, it's them. We're not in crisis, they are. We've been through the worst that can happen to a person and survived it. They haven't. They fear it. And they hide from their fear by hiding us, because they know, they know . . . The men wa it for the rest, but L eonard loses his tra in of t ho ugh t. F ru str at ed, h is t ics r es urf ac e and ela bor at e. H e seems unaware of them. To one of the men: . LEONARD How long have you been here? * (the man shrugs) You don't know? A month, a year? .sj^ (he doesn't know)(^7 Whv are you here? He doesn't know that, either. To another patient: LEONARD - How do you feel being locked up? WARD 5 PATIENT I don't like it. LEONARD You don't like it? Aren't you an animal? WARD 5 PATIENT I'm no animal. LEONARD Then why are you in a cage? The man's getting agitated . . . they all are. Leonard stops pacing, faces them, and almost whispers: LEONARD Anger . . . REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg.9171.CONT. 171.Silence ... and suddenly, loudly, exploding: LEONARD That's what you feel ... anger!The men erupt in a burst of noisy approval; they cone alive.Tight on Kaufman on the other side of the "cage," watching.And, over the din - SAYER V.O. He's lived for thirty years in abjection and defeat . . . 172.172. INT.' KAUFMAN'S OFFICE - NIGHTSayer and Kaufman alone in the room, arguing - SAYER - He's lived for thirty years without the ability to release his anger - KAUFMAN - So have the others - SAYER I happen to think his behavior's . more natural than theirs - KAUFMAN t Really - and his tics and paranoia? They're more natural - ; SAYER He's in that place. KAUFMAN Oh, is that it - SAYER We wake him up, then lock him up, ª that's not "paranoia," that's a fact. KAUFMAN I've got 20 psychotics up there, "doctor," refusing to eat. They have no idea whv they're refusing to eat. How long should I let that go (on) - SAYER He knows why, hs. wants out. REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg.9CD 172.CONT. KAUFMAN 172. Hell, so do I. Kaufman suddenly looks weary, as if all his years in this place have finally, at this moment, caught up with him. Eventually, calmly, evenly - KAUFMAN Mr. Lowe is not the Messiah of Ward 5, he's a man in trouble. He wasn't "resurrected," he was administered a drug - by. you - that's fallen somewhat short of its "miraculous" reputation - SAYER . The others are fine, they show no signs of - KAUFMAN He's been OQ it longer! Sayer has no rejoinder. A silence before: KAUFMAN . I sympathize with him. I've tried to accommodate him. But . I will not let him endanger the health of other patients. He's resolute; it feels like a threat, or ultimatum. Trying t remain calm, Sayer changes tacks - SAYER I'll talk to him, I'll explain t he problem. He'll listen to (m e) - (Kaufman has to laugh) Without the drug, he's dead. Th e sta teme nt do esn 't hav e qui te the p owe r Saye r may h av hoped. At least not on Kaufman. His eyes seem to go dead . . and then the slightest, slightest shrug. 173/174. INT. WARD 5 DAYROOM - DAY 173/174 Sayer enters the dayroom and is immediately intercepted by three young male patients. SAYER Excuse me. REV.12/13/89 (YELLOW) Pg.93173/174CONT. (continuity only) 173/174.The patients stand their ground forming a kind of human barrierwhich Sayer cannot get past. SAYER Excuse me. WARD 5 PATIENT We can't allow it.Leonard, across the room, pacing slowly, glances over. LEONARD He's all right.Leonard's "bodyguards" step aside. Sayer crosses to Leonardand is greeted in a tone precisely that of master to servant,very courteous yet unmistalcably condescending: LEONARD How are you today? SAYER I'm all right, how are you? LEONARD Never better.A strange gesture, a tic, appears and repeats. SAYER And these gentlemen? ª "CONTINUED: (REV'.'11/22/89) CHERRY Pg.9 173/174.CONT. LEONARD 173/17 These gentlemen protect me. I wish I didn't need them. SAYER Someone wants to hurt you? (no answer) Who? Leonard glances at Sayer with a slight knowing smile. '. . LEONARD That's the thing, isn't it, you never know who. Someone I least expect, I expect. Look at history. SAYER Every patient in this ward thinks there's a plot against him, Leonard. LEONARD Yeah, well they're mistaken, they're crazy. j .. * The smile that appears this time on Leonard's face is as insane as anything Sayer's ever seen. He hesitates. Then: SAYER Something's wrong. LEONARD Hey, buddy. . SAYER * The drug's not working. These are * side-effects and they're consuming * you, and if we don't do - * LEONARD Hey, I appreciate you coming to see me, I have some things to do.Leonard abruptly extends his hand; it's a little twisted. *Sayer doesn't so much shake the hand as hold onto it. SAYER Look at yourself, Leonard.rLeonard tries to pull his hand away, but Sayer's grasp is *stronger. SAYER Look at yourself - (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY Pg.95 173/174.CONT. LEONARD 173/174. (erupting) Look at vou.Leonard yanks his hand free of Sayer's, and, in a torrent: LEONARD * Disease took mjs out of the world, I fought to come back, I failed for 30 years but at least I fought, look at you.But Sayer is looking at him, moving back and forth against thebars on a window, panther-like. He retaliates: SAYER The medicine can be taken away. .' That can be done. You. can wake up " in the morning and it won't be there.The remarks seem to have no effect on Leonard. He seems not to 'have heard them. But as Sayer takes a step closer, Leonard, *without warning, lunges. *Sayer stumbles back and his glasses fall to the floor. He . 'scrambles to his feet, leaving them, and backs away from * *Leonard's bodyguards who are slowly coming toward.him.Orderlies get the cage unlocked and hustle Sayer out. As it *slams shut again, he glances back in at Leonard, and hardly * , *recognizes him.174A. EXT. SAYERªS HOUSE - NIGHT (ALREADY SHOT) 174A. *Beyond the porch windows, Sayer can be seen slowly pacing the *narrow width of his living room. Opera music blares *and CONTINUES OVER: .* 0 *175. INT. WARD 5 - LATER - NIGHT 175.Moving slowly past the sleeping forms of Ward 5 inhabitants.And reaching and settling on a bed that's empty.The opera music CONTINUES OVER:176. INT. SAYER´S HOUSE - LATER - NIGHT 176.The record spinning. And Sayer at his desk, just sitting, his"close work" glasses resting on a page of Ernst Heckle. (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY Pg. 176.CONT. 1/T~-\ The opera music CONTINUES OVER: ∑ 177. INT. WARD 5 - LATER - NIGHT 177 Test pattern on the television. Leonard, in a chair, blankly staring. His eyes are drawn to something glimmering on the floor across the room. Saver's shattered glasses. The opera music CONTINUES OVER: * 178. INT. SAYER'S HOUSE - LATER - NIGHT (ALREADY SHOT) 178. Alone in his room, perched on his bed, Sayer pathetically cleans his remaining pairs- of glasses. The opera music CONTINUES OVER: 178A. INT. WARD 5 - LATER - NIGHT 178A. The shards of the lenses layed out on a table. Leonard picks one up, and, turning it over to consider it, sees that it has already cut his finger. He doesn't set it down. 178B. INT. STAIRWELL - DAWN , 178B. A metallic dang interrupts the music and echoes into silence. Footsteps. Sayer appears, and slowly climbs up through the caged stairwell. He reaches a landing' and unlocks a door. 179. INT. WARD 5 - MOMENTS LATER - DAWN 179. Sayer steps into room and quietly crosses it. He peers in at sleeping figures, and at the one empty bed. LEONARD O.S. How are the others? Sayer turns to the voice, to Leonard, a ticcing figure in shadow hunched in a corner of the dayroom. SAYER Scared. (REV.11/22/89)CHERRY Pg. (continuity only) 179-.CONT. LEONARD 179 (pause) They should be. SAYER (pause) They want you back. I want you back. * CONTINUED:& .REV. 12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.98 179.CONT. 179.Leonard remains in the shadows. Eventually - LEONARD I want to be back.180. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY 180. i '*Sayer has called together the ward staff, the other patients,Kaufman and Ray. SAYER He's aware of his appearance. He's less concerned with it than he is with the effect it may have on the rest of us. .He waits for the patients to acknowledge they understand. Theynod. SAYER We'll be working with his dosage. He's aware of this, too, and says he's prepared for it. He wants us. to be prepared for it. ANTHONY : Hey, Len. .The patients glance away to the threshold of the room. MissCostello and Mrs. Lowe are escorting Leonard slowly in.Anthony comes over, shakes his hand. , ANTHONY Welcome back. LEONARD Thanks.The others come over, shake his hand and pat him on the back, *but all a little too gently, too concerned, like he mightbreak. Leonard manages a smile. LEONARD I' m all right.The others nod quickly in agreement. And the room falls into *silence. LEONARD . Only it's too quiet in here. REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.9 18OA. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - NIGHT 18OA.CO Anthony at the piano, playing, singing; the others echoing the refrains - ANTHONY "You build me up, Buttercup, " Only to let me down ... " v It's like a cocktail party - everybody dressed up, some singing, some milling around talking. Leonard tries to enjoy it, too, struggling to contain,, to hide from the others, the tics that are trying to "come out." LEONARD V.O. . . . I keep acquiring new ones like a junk collector . . . 181-182. OMITTED 181-182. 183. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 183. Through the lens of the 8mm camera - The blackboard. Chalked on it: LEONARD LOWE - 750 MGS. In front of it, Leonard seated in a chair, his hands performing repertoires of tics. He seems wholly unbothered by them. LEONARD (CONT'D) . . . some are new . . . some are * elaborations . . . some are counter- tics. They don't bother me. What bothers me is that I know they shouldn't be there . . . One of his hands makes a movement to his ear, to his pants, to his ear again, like some bizarre genuflection. LEONARD This is new . . . ∑ ' 1 8 4 . OMITTED 184. 185. INT. BATHROOM - DAY 185. Alone in the bathroom, Leonard struggles to get toothpaste onto a toothbrush with two tremoring "disobedient" hands. It's a monumental struggle. 185A. INT. PHARMACY - DAY 185A. The counterweight of a pharmaceutical scale being slid by hand from 750 to 500 mgs. RE V. 12/ 5/ 8 9 ( B LUE) Pg . 1186-188. OMITTED 186-188.189. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - DAY * 189.The other patients at tables, painting.Leonard at another table, with the sketches of his library. On *one showing the placement of tables and desks, he writes theletters, " F L O W " before getting "stuck." LEONARD V.O. (flat) There's no sense of time. It's like being caught between mirrors . . . or echoes . . .Tight on his face, his eyes, transfixed. LEONARD V.O. Something has to happen ...A cockroach runs across the paper and Leonard's eyes "wake up"and his hand finishes the word, " F L O W E R S "190. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY . 190.Sayer and Leonard watching film of him eating from a bowl ofsoup. The hand with the spoon freezes midway to his mouth. LEONARD (CONT'D) It's not that it feels bad, it's, nothing, I feel nothing. Like I'm nothing. Like I ' m dead.191. INT. PHARMACY - DAY 191.The counterweight sliding up from 500 to 625 mgs. 192. *192. INT. OPERATING THEATRE - NIGHTThough the junk has been cleared and some of the railings *ripped out, the place is still grim, unpainted. Wood scraps *and workmen's tools lay around. There's a wheelchair ramp, *half-built, not yet in place. * LEONARD I feel good when I ' m working. I feel good in here. ∑ * In this room. They're alone in it, he and Sayer, by a table- * saw that's cluttered with the original hospital blueprints and *Leonard's plans and notes. REV; 12/5/89 (BLUE). Pg.lCD 192.CONT. LEONARD U 92 . The book list is coming along. SAYER I ' d love to see it. LEONARD It's here somewhere . . . As he hunts for it amidst all the notes, his hands and head begin shaking. The hands seize on some other papers and, hard as he tries, he can't make himself let go of them. The pages crumple. SAYER It's all right, I'll see it some other - i He's interrupted as Leonard suddenly goes into an severe oculogyric crisis, his head thrusting back - LEONARD Get the camera get the camera get ∑ the camera get the camera -.f ' ´ >!ª ' INT. OPERATING THEATRE - NIGHT 193.\S~P ig2, 8mm film of Leonard, in a chair in the middle of the room , where, thirty years earlier, patients had been filmed. His head still back, his eyes darting, his mouth spitting out words - LEONARD (FILM) I-I-I-I-I-- SAYER O.S. (FILM) - I can't do this - I'm turning the camera off - , LEONARD No - no - no - no - watch - watch - watch - watch - SAYER O.S. (FILM) - I have to help you - LEONARD - learn - learn - learn - learn - learn - learn - learn - REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) . Pg.1193A. INT. PHARMACY - DAY 193A.L-Dopa powder, falling like snow onto the scale; and thecounter-weight balancing precariously at 575 mgs.194. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY (WAS SC. 186) 194.The chalkboard: Name and dosage (575 MGS). And Leonard signingon it, clearly, without trouble, "Leonard Lowe." SAYER Good.Leonard sits. He seems fine. Suddenly his hand jerks up andcatches the tennis ball Sayer has thrown. SAYER Good.The ball, without warning, comes back. Sayer lunges at it, butmisses. It hits his wrist and rolls across the floor. SAYER Well, I wasn't ready, was I. Leonard smiles. Sayer smiles. They're both so relieved, they can hardly believe it. It seems they're out of the woods, thatthey've found the "middle ground."Tight on Leonard's pharmaceutical chart on the desk. Sayer'shand comes in and boldly underlines the, dosage - 575 MGS.195. INT. LEONARD'S WARD - DAY 195.Leonard buttons his shirt, then picks up the bow tie he alwayswears when he's seeing Paula. He looks well, he feels good,the only sign of illness some fine motor skill trouble. MRS. LOWE . Here, let me. LEONARD No, I can do it.She watches him try to get the tie on by himself, and castsaround, feeling, perhaps, without a purpose. Eventually, moreto herself than to him: MRS. LOWE What you see in that girl . . . (she trails off) I don't get it. REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.10 195.CONT. LEONARD 195.(D (to himself) She's normal. MRS. LOWE What? (no answer) You're not talking to yourself* again. LEONARD Yeah. MRS. LOWE You shouldn't do that, you know. LEONARD I know. She watches him struggle with the tie a moment more. Finally, * she can't bear it any longer, and reaches to do it for him. * MRS. LOWE You're taking forever, it's hard * to watch. . -. * LEONARD I can get it. * MRS. LOWE * No, you can't. > ∑ LEONARD I can, get away from me. ., * He pushes her hand away and turns his back to her. She can't * believe it. Silence. Then, to herself, in a murmur - * MRS. LOWE . . . thirty years . . . for what . . . * thirty years . . . gone . . . * The tie comes off in Leonard's hand, which begins shaking * uncontrollably. JUMP CUT TO: 196. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - LATER - DAY 196. The trembling has escalated into a full-blown crisis. The staff and other patients can't ignore this one. Sayer wedges past them and into the room, and crosses quickly to Leonard and his mother, both hysterical. All trying to speak at once: * SAYER What happened? REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.1 196.CONT. LEONARD 196. . . . I'm ungrateful . . . I'm ungrateful . . . MRS. LOWE I said a terrible thing . . . LEONARD ... she, she, she, she ... Hi s a rm lash es out , s end ing the mo del of the li bra ry cra shin g * to the floor. SAYER (to Mrs. Lowe) What happened? LEONARD ... she devoted her life to me . . . she'd have a life if it weren't p- for me . . . MRS. LOWE . . . I said the most terrible thing . . . LEONARD . . . I ' m ungrateful . . . I'm ungrateful . . . > Hi s m othe r t rie s t o c omfo rt him , t o h old him , t ear s c omin g t o * her eyes, too. LEONARD I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . . MRS. LOWE I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . . F ran k, kne eli ng t o t he flo or, gat her s t he pie ces of the br oke n * library model. 196A. (NOW SC. 196C) 196A. 196B. INT. LEONARD'S DAYROOM - LATER - DAY 196B. Moving slowly ac ross Jose f's work t able wher e he and F rank are . * rebuilding the library model. LUCY'S VOICE,, There's a song at twilight ,6 When the lights are low J REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.10 196B.CONT. 196B. H er voice C ONTINUES t he verse O VER: Rose, her sad stra nge china doll face. ROSE You'd never know it now, but I used to be so pretty, Dr. Sayer, even you would've thought so. SAYER I do think so. She shakes her head 'no.1 She knows what she looks like. MAGDA O.S. What if he's just had enough of it? Sayer glances to Magda, nearby with a group of other patients, some of them looking off toward the sunroom where Leonard, alone, at a window, stares out. FRANCIS What if it's just a matter of time for all of us? SAYER : There's no reason to think any of this will happen to you. You're individuals. And you're all well. (pause) Aren't you? Most nod, but it's without great conviction. BERT He's the strongest of us. Close on Lucy/ across the room with Miss Costello, finishing the song: LUCY Comes love's old song Comes love's old sweet song . . . Her voice trails into silence. MISS COSTELLO That was lovely. '. LUCY , I learned that song a long, long(\_y time ago. REV .12/5 /89 ( BLUE ) Pg.1 196B.CONT. 196o Sh e gla nc es ac ro ss to t he su nro om , to Le ona rd , sti ll at t he w in do w, u na wa re , or s o i t se em s, o f he r an d th e o th er s. LUCY I know what year it is . . . I ju st ca n' t i ma gin e be i ng o lde r th an tw e nt y- t wo , I h a veno e xper ience at i t. (pause) I know it's not 1926 . . . I just need it to be. 196C . I NT. PH ARM ACY - N IGH T 196C Drifting across Leonard's dosage schedules, minute milligram changes leading to vanishing point of health, across the scale,- with nothing on it, and reaching, finally, Sayer, alone in the room, surrounded by racks of medicine and no solution. They He glances up. Mrs. Lowe has appeared in the doorway, consider each other for a long moment before: MRS. LOWE When my son was born healthy, I never asked why. Why was I sp lucky, what did I do to deserve this perfect child, this perfect life? - Silence. Her face toughens. MRS. LOWE But when he got sick, you can bet I asked why. I demanded to know why. Why was this happening? Silence. Then with an almost philosophical shrug: MRS. LOWE There was nothing I could do about it. There was no one I could go to and say, "Stop this, please stop this, can't you see my son is in pain?" SAYER He's fighting, Mrs - MRS. LOWE He's losing.o REV.12/5/89 (BLUE) Pg.196C.CONT. 196C.Sayer almost recoils, as if from a slap. Silence. Then: * MRS. LOWE The truth is . . . I wouldn't mind if he lost . . . (long pause) I know you can't understand how I could say such a thing . . . CONTINUED: REV. 10/2/89 PAULA .. I worked . . . I had friends(p over . . . I went dancing . . . that's about it . . . Leonard, ticcing, nods, smiles through his grimace, imagining those things. PAULA I know, I should do something with my life. ∑ LEONARD Like what? Those are great things. I've never done any of those things. PAULA You will. Leonard shakes his nead 'no.' LEONARD They'll never let me out of this place. They shouldn't. They consider each other for several moments -- the one, young and healthy; the other, old and ill. LEONARD I'm not well. I feel well inside when I see you. I wish you could see what's inside. Instead of this. PAULA I can see it. Silence. As much as Leonard wants to say "I love you," he knows he cannot, that it would be ludicrous. Instead: LEONARD Goodbye. ∑ He ho lds out o ne of his sh aking han ds to her. S he reach es to it, places her hand on it, holds it, and the shaking slowly, slowly, slowly begins to subside. She lifts him gently out of his wheelchair and leads him away * from the table. She arranges his arms in such a way that he is sort of holding her and begins to slowly dance with him. (REV. 10/16/89) Pink p. 10 199. CONT. . 199. Some patients glance up from their food. Ser vers glance upCO f rom their work . All watc h wi th a sort o f re verie the coup le dancing without music . They watch as Leo n ard 's tics gradually disappear. They watc h as he finds a sens e of grace and ease, as he borrows her gra ce and ease. They w a tch him become, simply, a man dancing with a woman . From somewhere, perhaps imagined, there is music, a quiet melody played on a piano. 200. INT.* DAYROOM - SAME DAY 200 Rolando's hands on the keys of the piano, playing the melody. (NOTE: Hay want to shoot front end of this scene again without Rol ando to l eave op en the opt ion of usi ng the sam e s core Ra ndy writes for Lucy's walk to the window - SC. 51.) L eonar d, r eturn ing f rom t he ca fete ria, walks slow ly in to t he * room. He's bent, his arms at strange angles like the limbs of a diseased tree, his legs managing each step only with great concentration. He nears the center of the room, the area of inconsistent tiles which Sayer and Miss Costello long ago conformed with shoe polish. Some of the black has worn off, and as Leonard reaches * i t, h e f in ds hi ms elf t hro wn b y t he ir re gu lar it y. He t rie s to * step over to "the other side,11 but his feet or legs or mind will not do it. Everyone in the room except Rolando becomes acutely aware of the problem, of the struggle, of Leonard fighting with all his will, and nothing but it, to "cross over." H e-cro sses the "barr ier." And, wit h sur er bu t sti ll di ffic ult steps, passes -the drinking fountain. Tig ht o n th e wi ndow . Le onar d res ts h is gn arle d ha nd on the frame as he p eers down at Paula wal king away from the hosp ital. She glances back briefly before disappearing around a corner. Rolando's musdc CONTINUES OVER: 201. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - NIGHT 201. The original 8mm film of Leonard, h'is eyes alert, his hands exploring the microphone. . ∑ ,, >"∑>;> ' ∑ ∑ ∑.'∑∑∑':'∑∑."∑∑ . . LEONARD (FILM) ∑ NOW? ∑ .∑∑ ∑v : . ... ∑ .. ∑ ' ∑ * ∑..∑ . .' ' .f SAYER S VOICE (FILM) ' . " ;: "'∑ : Whenever youfre ready. . ; OQ L EONARD (FILM ) .(T~^\ My name is Leonard Lowe. It has been explained to me that I have been away for quite some time. Tight on Sayer,- alone in the darkened room, watching the footage, watching Leonard wrestling with the thought. LEONARD (FILM) I'm back. Light moves across the screen. Someone has entered. Miss Costello. She exchanges a long glance with Sayer before they both look back to the screen. LEONARD (FILM) I thought it was a dream at first. Silence except for the sound of the projector. Then - SAYER'S VOICE (FILM) When did you realize it wasn't? Leonard thinks back, trying to recall the exact moment he realized he was "alive.n Finally -- LEONARD (FILM) When I spoke and you understood me. One tear snakes down Saver's cheek. The film cuts to silent footage of Leonard, soon after his awakening, combing his hair and delighting in the fact that he cjan comb it. Quietly, without looking at Miss Costello -- SAYER You told him I was a kind man ... (long pause) It's kind to give life only to take it away? There is self-loathing in his voice. On the screen, Leonard's trying to operate an electric shaver that seems alive. MISS COSTELLO It's given and taken away from all of us. On screen, Leonard buttons buttons on his shirt and glances up smiling, proud. Tight on sayer in the dark room, the projector light flickering behind him. More to himself -- SAYER Why doesn't that comfort me? 3 MISS COSTELLO (quietly) Because you are kind. (pause) And because he's your friend.On screen, Leonard is beckoning to someone unseen. No oneappears but he keeps beckoning. Finally Sayer, embarrassed andcamera shy, appears. Though there is no sound, it is clear heasks, "What?" Leonard turns the doctor so that he is facingthe camera, and points. Sayer again asks, "What?" "There,"Leonard says. "Where?" Sayer demands. Finally, Sayerlooks directly, curiously, into the camera.Rolando's music CONTINUES OVER: )202. INT. DAYROOM - NIGHT 20Through a window, autumn leaves on trees.And the school yard beyond the field, quiet, deserted.Pulling back, panes of glass. Across the walls of the dayroom.Drawings and water colors, of people and: places.To the arm of the metronome slapping back and forth.And a twisted hand, a pen grasped awkwardly in it, writingexcruciatingly slowly, and just barely legibly: & ´ ´ * c # * * * O ª * * r i ' ´ ´ * A ∑ * ∑ x\ ∑ ∑ ∑Th e ha nd , an d th e mu si c, un fi ni sh ed , st op .T he han d i s s till , t he arm is sti ll, th e h ead is sti ll,L eo na rd 's e ye s ar e "s ti ll . "O nl y th e me tr on om e mo v es , ge nt ly s la pp in g.D r if t in g s lo w ly a w ay fr om Le o na rd , h i s fa c e, hi s b od y , hi sbe in g, "a sl e ep " . . . ac r os s t he e mp t y ro o m . . . a n d sl ow l y to w ar dthe window . . ... . w he re it is no w s no win g . . . v, ∑ . . . long sil ence bef ore . . . O LEONARD O.S. */T\ It's winter. His voice is flat, inflectionless. His eyes, with little life behind them, staring at the falling snow. He's in a wheelchair. SAYER O.S. Yes. LEONARD Am I speaking? SAYER O.S. Yes. Leonard's eyes drift to a chair, his mother's chair, the one she has used for thirty years. It's empty. SAYER O.S. Your mother is well. She's home. She visits you on Sundays. Leonard slowly nods. Somehow he knows that. LEONARD :f ~^ She's living her own life. SAYER O.S. , She's trying to. Leonard's eyes drift again, across to silent ghost-like figures in wheelchairs, the post-encephalitics, all of them, "asleep" again. SAYER O.S. They fought, as you did, with great courage. They were strong. Leonard looks down at his hands and feels one with the other. He looks back at the "sleeping" patients, not comprehending why they cannot do the same. LEONARD I'm stronger? Sayer is finally revealed seated beside him. He doesn't answer. Leonard's hands slowly reach to his face and feel its features. LEONARD ,x I'm here, aren't I?& His glance finds the tray beside Sayer, the paper medicine cup and empty juice cup on it. He must be back on the medication again. He looks back to Sayer, who's looking toward the window, to the falling snow. Eventually - SAYER Do you think you can walk?i 203. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY 203 A doctor in a lab coat, one Sayer long ago imparted his "will of the ball" theory to, emerges from a ward. FERNANDO O.S. Dr. Tyler? The doctor turns. Fernando is walking toward him. FERNANDO You got a minute? DR. TYLER (not really) What is it?Fernando arrives, leans against the corridor wall, and sort ofmumbles --∑ FERNANDO You know that woman in Ward 7 . . . Grace, uh ... what's her last name ... Grace ... DR. TYLER (annoyed) Does it matter, Fernando?Sayer and Leonard walk slowly past, behind Tyler. Fernando'seyes briefly meet Sayer's. FERNANDO . . . no . . . I guess not . . .204. INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR, - DAY 204Another doctor emerges from another ward. ∑ * MARGARET O.S. Dr. Sullivan? DR. SULLIVAN (turning) Yeah? REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.114 204 204 CONT. Sayer and Leonard approach. Margaret has positioned herself, like Anthony, against the wall, and, pointing out something on a clipboard to Dr. Sullivan, glances up briefly as Sayer and T~^\( i--J Leonard pass. 205. INT. CORRIDOR / LOBBY - DAY 205. Sayer and Leonard approaching the lobby. As they enter, the switchboard operator glances up, notices them, and glances back down without a word. They approach the front doors. They are almost there. From behind them, loudly -- MISS COSTELLO O.S. Dr. Kaufman? KAUFMAN O.S. Dr. Sayer? Sayer and Leonard stop just short of the doors. They glance back and see- Kaufman -and,v-several* steps .behind..him, looking distraught, Miss Costello. She has failed. SAYER Yes? The two doctors stare at one another for several moments. Clearly Kaufman knows what is happening. Clearly Sayer knows he knows. Eventually -- KAUFMAN , Put a coat on him for Christ's sake. ∑ He turns around, walks past Miss Costello and down the corridor- from which he came. Miss Costello relaxes, turns around and walks away down the corridor. Sayer and Leonard turn and walk outside. 206. INT. DAYROOM - SAME TIME - DAY 206. Though Rolando is not playing, cannot play, the piano, he can hear it, distant, like an echo, as a nurse wheels him toward the windows. Other nurses and orderlies are wheeling Rose, Frank, Bert, and Lucy and the others there. Sidney is wheeling Lolly. They all "peer" out. They all "see" down below, standing across the street, Sayer and Leonard. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.115 207 207. EXT. BAINBRIDGE - SAME TIME - DAYCO Sayer drapes his coat around Leonard. Neither speaks. Neither quite knows what to say. Eventually, Sayer holds out a hand for Leonard to shake. Leonard stares at it for a long moment, then awkwardly embraces Sayer. 208. INT. DAYROOM - SAME TIME - DAY 208 The others "watch" Sayer cross back to the hospital. They "watch" Leonard staring after him. He glances down the street, Leonard, glances down the street the other way. He seems uncertain which way to go . . . He walks away. 209. INT. SUBWAY - EVENING 209 Rhythmic pounding. Metal wheels over metal tracks. Leonard feels things.inside his coat pockets. He,pulls from one several capsules of L-Dopa in a clear plastic bag; and from the other, a wad of money wrapped in paper on which is typed his name and "Bainbridge Hospital, Bronx." He stuffs it all back into his pocket and glances up. : The train is crowded. Everyone seems to be hiding behind a newspaper or the veil of a glazed look; everyone but Leonard and the eleven year old boy seated next to him with his mother. They're taking everything in, Leonard and1 the boy - the rumbl of the train, the overhead lights flashing off and on again, the mounting excitement they both feel. The boy glances up at Leonard, and, like a secret - BOY ON TRAIN (a whisper) We're going to the city. LEONARD . (a whisper back) . Me, too. ' 210. INT. SUBWAY STATION - N.Y. - NIGHT 210 Underground tunnels. People climbing stairs. Leonard climbing with them. Under exposed pipes and ducts. Along passageways. Through an exit turnstile. Up more stairs. And finally - REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.116 (continuity only) 211. EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT 2 1.. 1 Leonard, emerging from down below, reaches the street. People jostle past him but he doesn't move. He stares in wonder at what lies before him . . . lights, skyscrapers, Christmas decorations, taxis, noise, people . . . life. 211A. INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - SAME TIME - NIGHT 211A. An oppressive silence. The oppressive institutional room. Sayer, alone in it, at his desk in the corner. MISS COSTELLO O.S. Good night. Sayer glances up, sees Miss Costello in the doorway to the corridor. SAYER Good night. i She leaves. He-stays. iPuts.a -folder in.a.drawer* Straightens things on the desk. Looks for something more to do. Clearly there's nothing more to do. He gets up. Wanders slowly around the room. Past the medical instruments in the glass cases, the tripod and projector, along tne waii covered with taped and tacked data, notes, Polaroids. Buried in it he sees Leonard's original perception test, and alongside it, the first Polaroid of him . . . Sayer abruptly moves to the window, yanks at it, but it's jammed shut again. Below he can see Miss Costello crossing toward her car. He fights with the window, finally frees it, slides it open and yells out loudly - SAYER Eleanor. She turns to the voice. He turns from the window. Tight on the glasses left on his desk. 211B. EXT. PARKING LOT, BAINBRIDGE - MOMENTS LATER - NIGHT 211B. He hurries out of the building and across the lot. Winded, he reaches her. MISS COSTELLO What's wrong?Q R EV. 12/ 15/ 89 (GRE EN) Pg.1 17 211B.C0NT. 211 He h old s h is han d up wh ile he tr ies to cat ch his bre ath . She s ta re s a t him , co nce rn ed pe rh aps s ome th in g h as ha pp en ed to Leonard. SAYER Nothing ... (he casts around) No , I was wo nde rin g . .. W hat ar e y o u d o i n g ? Y o u pr o b a b l y h a v e plans . . . or . . . M ISS C OSTE LLO No, I ' m just - SA YER Because I was wondering . . . m aybe ... you h ave n o pla ns .. .? MIS S COS TELL O I ha ve no - S AY ER Because -I -was -wondering, ..maybe . . . . you'd . . . we . . . could . . . (grasping for an idea) I do n' t kn ow , go g et a c up . o f cof fee somew here ... t ogeth er ∑ ∑ ∑ or ∑∑∑ O r wh at - s ep er at el y? H e t ra il s of f, p er ha ps w is h in g he h adn't com e out at a ll. SAYER ... Maybe we could just . . . go for a walk ... ? He shrugs. That's the best he can do. A slow, slow smile crosses her face. MISS COSTELLO I 'd be delighted. 212. EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT . 212. A mechanical dog crosses Leonard's path wagging its tail. Unlike everyone else, he stops to admire it. He's enchanted by it. He smiles at the peddler and the "litter of pups" moving around his feet. LEONARD, They're so life-like. ( REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.118212.CONT. PEDDLER 212. And only five bucks, can you believe it?213. INT/EXT. TAXI/STREETS - NIGHT 213.In the back of a taxi, Leonard stares out the window,mesmerized by all he sees. The driver glances back in the rearview mirror. HECTOR How 'bout those Jets?Leonard glances at the rear view mirror and finds in it thedriver's eyes. LEONARD I like them.Leonard glances out the window, a little puzzled, to the sky,to see if there's one flying overhead. HECTOR Broadway Joe.The driver glances back to see what Leonard thinks of that. *Leonard nods uncertainly. LEONARD Yeah.As they rattle along, Leonard peers back but the window atthings going by, and absently pets the mechanical dog in hislap. Eventually - HECTOR You∑re not from here. LEONARD I am. I was born here. But.I've been away a long time. HECTOR Where? LEONARD The Bronx.Hector has to laugh, but it's cut short by the blare of his *horn as he slams it in response to another cab sliding into his *lane.214-217. OMITTED 214-217. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.119218. INT/EXT. TAXI/STREET - NEW YORK - NIGHT 218.The meter clicks over and into double digits. The taxi isparked across the street from a diner. HECTOR I don't mind sitting here if you don't, but to what end are we sitting here?Leonard watches a waitress in the diner, Paula, chatting withsome young customers. His hand moves to and onto the car doorhandle, but then hesitates opening it. Paula is getting hercoat and leaving with her friends. They have ice skates. 219.219. EXT. ROCKEFELLER CENTER - NIGHTPrometheus stealing fire from heaven, dwarfed by the Christmastree that towers over him. Figures glide past the statue.Skaters on the ice rink.It's magical.- At *least´ as-seen, through .Leonard's eyes. Fromthe promenade he watches the skaters gliding gracefully overthe ice. Hector appears at his side. HECTOR : I ' m sorry to bother you, Len, I just thought you should know this is adding up, you know?Without taking his eyes from the skaters below, Leonard digsinto his coat pocket and hands Hector a clump of money,hundreds of dollars. Embarrassed - HECTOR I didn't mean that, just - LEONARD I don't need it, you keep it.Hector puts the money back in Leonard's coat. Leonard findsPaula among the skaters, isolates her from them, and watchesher glide around the rink. A fine mist of snow is falling,veiling her. HECTOR Beautiful, isn't it. LEONARD Unforgettable. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.120 219.CONT. 219´ ^ A blur of faces, of people on the promenade, from Paula's/'"~J~ perspective. Though it is impossible, she thinks for a momentWj she sees Leonard's among them. She arcs and glances back up again, but the man who resembled Leonard is gone. 220. INT. TAXI - NIGHT 220. The cab rattling down another street. LEONARD You have children, Hector? Hector takes a photograph from his chauffeur's permit plate and hands it back. A boy, five, healthy and happy. LEONARD He's lovely. HECTOR I thank God for him every day. Every single day. Leonard begins to weep softly. Once Hector notices, he slows the car, pulls to the curb, and studies Leonard in the rear view mirror. Has this man lost a child? The taxi engine idles. :r-- ' ,\% 221. EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT 221. The cab, empty, parked in front of an apartment building in a working class neighborhood. 222. INT. HECTOR'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 222 The mechanical dog on a bathroom sink. Leonard staring at his reflection in a mirror. And at his hands. It's happening. He's falling apart. HALLWAY. Leonard at a bedroom door. Peering in at Hector's sleeping son. He steps quietly into the room and places the mechanical dog on the pillow beside the boy's head. THE LIVING ROOM. A small Christmas tree. Hector and his wife sitting on cheap furniture with cups of egg nog. Leonard emerges from the hallway. ' * LEONARD I have to be leaving. (having trouble with the words) I want to th-ank you. You've been very kind to me. REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.121222.CONT. . . 222.Hector and his wife are both thinking the same thing: thisman's not well and they shouldn't let him go. HECTOR Leave? You're our guest, we got dinner coming. We're having something to eat.His wife agrees with a couple of words in Spanish as she gets *up and crosses toward the kitchen. . HECTOR Stay with us. LEONARD I can't.And he can't explain why. He takes the crumpled wad of money *(and paper) from his coat pocket and tries to give it to Hectoragain. HECTOR Hey - LEONARD It has no value to me, believe ; me. HECTOR I don't want it. LEONARD It's for your son. It's for him.Hector doesn't take it but doesn't say anything more about itwhen Leonard sets it down on the coffee table. HECTOR At least let me give you a lift wherever you're going. LEONARD No, I think I ' d like to walk. . (to Hector's wife) Thank you.She nods, Your welcome, from the doorway of the kitchen.Leonard offers his hand to Hector to shake. HECTOR What's wrong with you, Len? REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.122222.CONT. LEONARD 222 (pause) This is good, what you've got here. HECTOR I know that.Leonard smiles; the man does know it, and appreciates it. LEONARD Bye.223. EXT. NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT 223.Descending from a fire escape strung with a single strandof Christmas lights . . . down to the street below, to Leonard,moving along the sidewalk, noticing:A young couple, bundled up, hurrying down the stairs of abasement apartment, fumbling with keys;A Christmas tree too large for the doorway of an anotherapartment across the street, being tugged at by someone inside,unseen. >Leonard smiles. His gait and tics, and especially the smile,make him look insane. He passes a shop window with very simpleornamentation as the proprietor inside switches out the lights,and continues on, and into the darkness of the street ahead.224. EXT. EAST RIVER - NIGHT - 224.Black water. The river. The drone of engines and syncopatedrhythms of wheels of unseen cars.Leonard, at the river's edge, stares into the water. His handcomes out of his pocket holding the bag of L-Dopa capsules, andhe lets it fall in. It floats for a moment before a force frombelow, like a hand, pulls it under.224A. EXT. EAST RIVER - DAWN 224A.Leonard on a bench. Behind him, across an empty field, bumshuddled over a barrel fire warming their hands. SAYER O.S. Leonard?Sayer's face appears against a pastel dawn sky. Leonard glances up at him. Behind them, in the distance, Hector stands outside his parked cab. Sayer sits. Long silence . . . REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.123 (continuity only) 224A.CONT. SAYER 224A. I' m sorry. LEONARD What for? He smiles crookedly, then looks out across the water again. LEONARD Isn't that something . . . Sayer looks out. The morning colors are mirroring off the water like paint on glass. They both watch. The colors are deepening right before their eyes. Long, long silence before . . . LEONARD Can you take me home? Sayer helps him up. And as they move slowly toward the waiting taxi. Hector opens the rear door. The only sound is the hiss of tires, the -rhythm of wheels, .until - LEONARD V.O. When I was a boy I felt myself being carried away by illness like a swimmer sucked out by the tide. Drifting slowly out across the water and the Brooklyn Bridge stretching out across it. LEONARD V.O. I feel it again, only this time I've been somewhere. I vent to a J place and felt things I never dreamed of. I went to a place and felt hope and fear and hatred and love, I glimpsed life . . . 225. INT. LEONARD'S LIBRARY - BAINBRIDGE - DAY 225. Drifting slowly across the faces of patients reading in Leonard's library, and settling finally tight on him, "asleep." LEONARD V.O. It's good, life. Spines of books on shelves lining the walls. And Paula's face, considering the titles. [--\ SAYER O.S.;( __ lJ I t doesn't matter wh ich one. ' They'r e all his favorites .r REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.124 (continuity only) 225.CONT. 225 She pulls one of the books down at random and crosses the , library with Sayer, passing patients - including the woman with multiple sclerosis - readiny at tables with flowers on them. SAYER O.S. Leonard? He's in a wheelchair, behind an oak desk on which rests, among other things, the Ouija board. His eyes open but do not appear to comprehend the doctor's presence or his surroundings. His expression is absolutely "expressionless." SAYER I ' m sorry to wake you, but there's someone here to see you. Leonard remains still. "Asleep." And there's a long silence broken only by the sound of pages being turned. And then, from Dickens' "The Old Curiosity Shop" -- PAULA (reading) "Night is generally my time for walking. In the summer, I often leave home early in the morning and roam about fields and lanes.: ' "^ all day. Or even escape for days or weeks together . . . Leonard is unable to acknowledge in any way that he recognizes the words or her voice . . . but he does. And as she reads, the words become alive and the walls recede ... PAULA "But saving in the country, I seldom go out until after dark, though Heaven be thanked, I love its light and feel the cheerfulness it sheds upon the earth as much as any creature living . . . " And he is moving into the light. \ No newline at end of file