A Most Violent Year Page #20

He looks over with a wry smile.

ELIAS:

Yes.

ABEL:

I don’t know how you get anything

done around here.

ELIAS:

I don’t.

Slight smile at each other.

ABEL:

I’m in a bit of a rough patch.

ELIAS:

Yes...

ABEL:

It happens.

ELIAS:

I know.

ABEL:

Good...

ABEL stands and looks around for a good bit. Then thinks

about sitting down again.

ABEL (CONT’D)

That will be your burden...

ELIAS:

What will?

ABEL:

Not having had one.

Then he sits.

ABEL (CONT’D)

I need your signature on this.

ELIAS looks over.

ELIAS:

What is it?

ABEL:

I need to take out a short term

mortgage on our apartment building.

ELIAS:

That thing isn’t worth more than

150 grand though?

ABEL:

210.

ELIAS:

Since when do you need to be taking

out sucker mortgages for 200 grand?

ABEL:

I’m up against it a bit. It will be

fine.

They look at each other for a long beat. And then he signs

it.

ABEL (CONT’D)

Thank you... It’s good to see your

face.

118

ELIAS:

I love you.

ABEL:

I love you too.

They hug and then ELIAS walks off. ABEL sits back down and

just watches him walk away.

INT. FORENTE TENNIS COURT - NIGHT

ABEL walks into the darkened tennis court and looks around.

We aren’t sure what he is there for. On the other side of the

court a light is on in a attached lounge. PETER comes into

the light.

PETER FORENTE:

Well here he is. The caped

crusader.

ABEL:

Yes.

PETER FORENTE:

Come over. Are you alright?

ABEL:

I am.

PETER FORENTE:

Did they catch any of them? Sit.

INT. TENNIS COURT LOUNGE - CONTINUOUS

ABEL:

The one guy didn’t make it out of

the crash, and the other guy

disappeared.

PETER FORENTE:

That was very well said last night.

ABEL:

Thank you. And thanks for seeing

me.

PETER FORENTE:

Of course. So what is it?

ABEL:

I need a loan.

119

PETER’S face scrunches up like he tasted a lemon and he turns

away for a beat. Then comes back.

PETER FORENTE:

You don’t want to do that.

ABEL:

No sh*t... but I’m here.

PETER FORENTE:

What are we talking about here.

ABEL:

Six hundred thousand.

PETER FORENTE:

Jesus. Abel, that’s a problem.

ABEL:

Yes... but if I don’t get it...

PETER FORENTE:

What’s my collateral?

ABEL:

The terminal.

PETER FORENTE:

Yeah me and how many other people

will be coming after it. No way.

ABEL:

You’ll get your money.

PETER FORENTE:

Abel, you know I respect everything

you’ve done. Because of it we

haven’t come down on you the way I

should have for coming into my

service area and poaching my

customers. You’re good at what you

do, probably better than us, and I

accept that. But this would be

different. I don’t want you to be

in this position. We are not nice

people to borrow three quarters of

million dollars from.

ABEL:

I know that.

PETER FORENTE:

Let’s sleep on this. Both of us.

INT. ABEL AND ANNA’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

ABEL comes in as ANNA is sitting at the table smoking. He

walks over and sits down at the table with her.

She gives him a great sly smile.

ANNA:

What a day.

ABEL:

Yeah.

ANNA:

Are you okay?

ABEL:

Yes.

ANNA:

Car chases?

ABEL:

Yeah.

ANNA:

Who knew?

She gives him a loving look.

ANNA (CONT’D)

How was your brother?

ABEL:

He seemed good... But the girls up

at that place are...

ANNA:

Stop.

ABEL:

I can tell you the girls didn’t

look like that where I went to

school...

ANNA:

Enough.

After a brief light moment the cloud comes back over him.

ABEL:

How are we here?

121

ANNA:

It was a lot of things all at once.

ABEL:

Yeah.

ANNA:

How did it go?

ABEL:

We can probably pull it off. Three

different parties... it’ll be a

mess... and the terms... Peter

suddenly showed me his true colors.

He lets out a brutal sigh.

ANNA:

I’m sorry.

ABEL:

I spent my whole life trying not to

become a gangster...

ANNA:

I know.

ABEL:

...And now... on the biggest deal

in my career they will all control

me.

He sits there for a long beat and then she comes and hands

him a piece of paper with a series of numbers on it. He looks

up at her.

ABEL (CONT’D)

What is this?

ANNA:

It’s a bank account.

ABEL just waits for more but gets nothing.

ABEL:

Whose?

ANNA:

Ours.

ABEL:

How much is in it?

ANNA:

A lot.

ABEL:

What does that mean?

ANNA:

It will help. You could replace

Peter’s money and get him out of

the deal.

ABEL:

Where did it come from?

ANNA:

Abel.

ABEL:

Where did it come from?

She stops and thinks, then:

ANNA:

Since 1971 I have been skimming

money out of the company. Some

years a little... others a lot. In

the beginning it was just in case

times got tough but then it was

because you were taking all these

chances... I didn’t know what else

to do... I couldn’t risk having us

be left with nothing.

This knocks him back.

ANNA (CONT’D)

I’m sorry.

ABEL:

What do you expect me to do with

this?

ANNA:

Use it.... Abel...

ABEL:

Is it clean?

ANNA:

What does that mean?

He thinks that through.

ABEL:

It means if you walked into the

office of the people who have been

trying to put us in jail right now

and slapped a check from that

account down on their desk would it

push me further into hell or help

to get me out?

ANNA:

It’s as clean as every other dollar

we’ve ever made.

ABEL:

That’s a f***ing bullshit answer.

ANNA:

I can clear it on the books.

ABEL:

Well it sounds like you should take

this money and keep it right where

it is... because I’m going to

pretend that we never had this

conversation. And you can use that

when they drag me off to jail!

With that he tries to get passed her and head upstairs. She

follows and is standing looking up at him.

ANNA:

So what’s your plan here?

He turns to her and squares off.

ABEL:

I’ll get it done. And it won’t be

as a cheat.

ANNA:

(Yelling, but controlled enough to

not wake the kids.)

Oh you are too much. You’ve been

walking around your whole life like

this all happened because of your

hard work, good luck, and charm.

Mr. F***ing American Dream. Well

this is America... but it’s not a

dream, and that wasn’t good luck

helping you out all those years...

IT WAS ME! Doing the things you

didn’t want to know about...

124

ABEL:

You stole from me!

This stops her in her tracks. And eventually a little smile

comes across her face. She comes way down and almost delivers

this line in a whisper.

ANNA:

Oh... You have always been very

good about not letting your ego get

in the way of business. Don’t start

now just because it’s me.

With that ABEL turns up the stairs and heads to bed.

INT. MASTER BATHROOM - MORNING

ABEL is getting ready for the day shaving. He looks

exhausted. ANNA comes into the room. She stands at the

entryway just looking at him for a very long beat.

ABEL:

We’ll use the money... your money.

It’s the smart play.

ANNA:

It’s our money.

ABEL:

I know...

FADE TO BLACK.

Before we see anything, we hear the sound of a pen writing on

paper.

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