A Most Violent Year Page #5

ABEL:

We are working on it.

ARNOLD KLINE:

Thirty day close I hear, you better

be.

ABEL:

We are, thanks for your concern.

26

BARBER JIMMY finishes ABEL, and he stands up to leave. ABEL

has his back to KLINE as he pays.

ARNOLD KLINE:

I saw a couple of your trucks over

in Rego Park the other day.

This brings ABEL around to look at him square.

ABEL:

Really? When was that?

ARNOLD KLINE:

A couple times.

ABEL:

It’s possible.

ARNOLD KLINE:

Is it?

ABEL:

Yes.

ARNOLD KLINE:

That’s a tough market.

ABEL:

It is.

ARNOLD KLINE:

My father struggled for years

before he broke in there.

ABEL:

Any new market is a tough one. I’ll

see you.

ABEL walks out of the shop and looks around. It is now dark

outside.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NEXT MORNING

ABEL is jogging again but this time he is deep in the woods.

He runs along the road. We then hear a car coming from behind

him. The car noise then turns into more of a truck noise. He

stops and turns around as we see a large truck coming towards

him.

He gets himself over to the side of the road. We have a

slight fear it might hit him. But as it passes we see it’s a

large moving truck. There’s a second one following right

behind it.

27

As the trucks pass it registers on ABEL’s face. He cuts into

a path in the woods.

EXT. DRIVEWAY

ABEL walks up to his house, and we see the moving trucks

preparing to unload. ANNA gets out of her car with the kids,

and they run around and check out the house as ANNA directs

the movers.

ABEL comes up and stands next to her. They smile a protected

smile at their new home. ABEL gives her a kiss.

INT. DINING ROOM OF NEW HOUSE - NIGHT

The whole family sits around the table in candlelight. They

are eating takeout, but with a mismatch of formal and

everyday tableware that has been unpacked. There are boxes

all around them.

ANNA:

I know it has been a long road, and

that not all of you wanted to do

this, but thank you. For me...

ABEL:

A toast.

All six raise a glass.

ABEL (CONT’D)

A toast to our new home. It’s as

beautiful as my wife and daughters

and as strong as me...(kids laugh)

May we be happy, prosperous and

safe here. Cheers.

INT. GYMNASIUM GIRLS YOUTH SOCCER GAME - NEXT MORNING

ABEL is standing watching the game as he waits for his coffee

to come out of the snack bar. Over his shoulder we hear...

PETER FORENTE:

So you made the move?

ABEL turns and sees PETER FORENTE standing there. He’s in his

mid-forties, very well-dressed, and handsomely bald.

ABEL:

Peter... it’s official as of

yesterday.

28

COUNTER PERSON:

Sir.

ABEL picks up his coffee, and they both walk back over to the

sideline together. Although they are standing a bit off to

the side from everyone else.

PETER FORENTE:

So I heard about your rig getting

picked off again.

ABEL:

Yes.

PETER FORENTE:

We should probably get together to

discuss this and go over some of

the preventative measures that

we’ve been taking. We haven’t had

an incident since November. It

doesn’t do any of us any good to

have this kind of attention brought

to us.

They both stare out at the court for beat.

PETER FORENTE (CONT’D)

So I think I may have seen one of

your new trucks the other day.

They look at each other.

PETER FORENTE (CONT’D)

Out near here, at the Miller Road

diner?

ABEL:

That’s possible.

PETER FORENTE:

The driver looked like a member of

the Hitler Youth. I haven’t seen a

teamster that blond and blue-eyed

since I was a kid.

ABEL:

He’s from Ohio. Played football. I

like my drivers to fit in with the

neighborhood...

PETER FORENTE:

That’s new territory for you, no?

This brings them both back in to look at each other.

29

ABEL:

Just picked up a few new accounts

over there. Weekend houses of some

old clients from in the city.

PETER gives a bit of a stronger look. Then finally turns back

towards the field.

PETER FORENTE:

Which one is yours?

ABEL:

Right there.

They look out.

PETER FORENTE:

She’s beautiful.

ABEL:

Thank you.

PETER FORENTE:

Welcome to the neighborhood. You

should be proud.

ABEL:

Proud?

PETER FORENTE:

Yes.

INT. GARAGE OF THE NEW HOUSE - DAY

The garage is filled with boxes. ABEL stands in the middle of

a few that are partially unpacked. He has set up an old radio

in the corner of the garage, and it is playing a New York

Giants football game. ABEL takes an object out of one of the

boxes and looks at it with significance.

Coming from the main house we hear the doorbell ring. ABEL’S

oldest daughter, ANNIE, comes to the door of the garage.

ANNIE:

Dad. Mr. Walsh is here.

ABEL looks around behind ANNIE to see ANDREW standing there.

He waves him into the garage. The boxes are stacked almost

to the ceiling around them.

ANDREW WALSH:

I’m sorry for the dramatic drop in

but your phone doesn’t seem to be

working.

ABEL:

It’s not set up yet... So I am

guessing this isn’t good news here

on a Sunday night.

ANDREW WALSH:

No... It looks like they are coming

after us.

ABEL:

That describes many people at this

point.

Slight smile.

ANDREW WALSH:

The D.A.

ABEL:

How bad?

ANDREW WALSH:

I still haven’t seen it yet. But my

guy in his office just gave me a

heads up an hour ago. It’s not

good.

ABEL:

Where are we exposed?

ANDREW WALSH:

I’m not sure, a couple places

probably.

ABEL:

A couple places?

This hits ABEL. He thinks for a beat than goes over to the

door to the house and calls for his wife.

ABEL (CONT’D)

Anna... Anna!

They wait. She enters, she is a bit surprised to see ANDREW

in her garage.

ANNA:

Andrew.

31

ANDREW WALSH:

Anna... sorry you’ve got no phone.

ABEL:

As of tomorrow I’ll have my new

radio hooked up though so you

should be able to reach me wherever

I am...

He is making light of the situation, but as she looks at

their faces she knows there is a problem.

ANDREW WALSH:

The D.A. is going to bring down

charges on us tomorrow.

ANNA:

For what?

ANDREW WALSH:

We don’t know yet.

ANNA:

Who else?

ANDREW WALSH:

Right now they are just saying us.

ABEL:

Where are we exposed?

ABEL looks at his wife. She looks at ANDREW.

ANNA:

We follow standard industry

practice on every front.

They all give each other a long look, as this means they have

been bending the rules in several places, as do all their

competitors.

ABEL:

What does that mean?

ANNA:

You know what that means.

ANDREW WALSH:

It means we may have some

accounting exposure where we have

pushed things a little too far.

ABEL:

How far?

ANDREW WALSH:

You always told us to push until we

couldn’t push any further. Well, we

may have hit that line. So we will

handle it and move on.

ABEL:

Anna?

ABEL shoots her a stinging worried glance.

ANNA:

I need to know what they are saying

we did.

ANDREW WALSH:

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves

here. You have always followed

standard industry practices. We

aren’t even sure what this is yet.

I just wanted to make sure you had

all the information I do. This is a

badge of honor, it means we are big

enough to give a sh*t about now.

Don’t worry.

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote