Apt Pupil Page #2

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Todd jumps back a little but then recovers.

TODD:

Tell me, wasn't it Ilse Koch who made the

lampshades out of human skin?

DUSSANDER:

Now I don't know what you're talking about.

TODD:

Sure you do, Mr. Dussander.

DUSSANDER:

Denker. Denker. Denker. You don't listen,

boy. The television has fried your brain.

Pause.

TODD:

Your hands are shaking.

DUSSANDER:

Yes, they're shaking. I'm old. We all

shake. You are most tiresome, and rude. Now

if you have a point I wish you'd come to it.

TODD:

We're in no rush. If I thought you had

plans, I'd say cancel them, but since I know

you don't...

DUSSANDER:

You know nothing of my business --

TODD:

What business? You sit in that ugly chair

and watch soap operas all day. Except on

Friday afternoons when you walk down to the

movie theater. And twice a week you take the

bus downtown to do your shopping. You always

use the express lane because you never have

more than ten items.

DUSSANDER:

You have been following me?

TODD:

Of course, I followed you. You think I

normally go around to peoples' houses and

accuse them of being Nazi fugitives?

DUSSANDER:

Perhaps for me you made an exception.

TODD:

No, for you I had to be sure. For Kurt

Dussander I had to be absolutely certain.

...Now, I am, and that's why I'm here.

Todd sits on the sofa.

DUSSANDER:

Oh, yes, I see now. As I am this ex-Nazi

fellow, as you say, then this must be the

part where I offer you my hidden stash of

gold, taken from the mouths of old Jewish

men, of course, which I keep buried in the

basement. Isn't that right, boy? Well, I'm

afraid you're wasting your time. I have no

money. If I did I might even give you some

just to be done with this nonsense.

TODD:

I don't need money. You don't have any

anyway. At least, I don't think so. You

probably had to spend it all to sneak in the

country. A good American passport is

expensive on the black market, that I know.

DUSSANDER:

Do you? Good for you.

TODD:

Yes, I do. I know it all, Dussander. You're

my One Great Interest.

DUSSANDER:

Your what?

TODD:

My One Great Interest. Well, not you

personally, but, ...well, it's something I

learned back in eighth grade. Our teacher,

Miss Harmon, she said we'd have to find our

One Great Interest in life. You know, the

thing that would really grab us. Once we did

that, everything would fall into place. Like

hers, she said, wasn't teaching, but

collecting nineteenth-century postcards. I

guess there's no money in that, so she has to

be a teacher. Anyway, she told us to start

thinking about it. So I did, but nothing

happened. Until the following summer, in

Ronny Pegler's garage. That's where I found

it.

INT. RONNY PEGLER'S GARAGE - DAY

Todd and RONNY, both 13, rummage through several large boxes in

the corner of the garage. We see that the boxes are filled with

old war magazines. Ronny tosses several of them to the ground

as he digs for his dad's old copies of Penthouse. Ronny selects

one Penthouse and rifles through it. He discards it a moment

later.

RONNY:

One of these has three girls doing it at the

same time.

But the old war magazines catch Todd's attention. He picks one

up curiously and carefully flips through the tattered pages. We

see a few of the photographs: Nazi storm troopers, prisoners

behind barbed wire, the ovens.

RONNY (CONT'D)

I got it! Check this out. ...Todd, look.

TODD:

Hang on a sec.

As young Todd stares into this secret world, his voice comes

in...

TODD (CONT'D)

It was all there... pictures of stuff I'd

never seen, stuff they never put in the books

anymore, especially the ones they give us to

read. And here were stacks of them.

INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Todd speaks excitedly. Dussander, very bored, clearly indulges

him.

TODD:

It... grabbed me. It was just like Miss

Harmon said. I couldn't believe it. But

there it was, the camps, the uniforms, the

...the way they saluted each other. But what

am I telling you for? You know more about

this stuff than anybody.

DUSSANDER:

Yes, what are you telling me for?

TODD:

(ignoring him)

Then last year I wrote my big term paper on

Dachau. I got an A+. It was the only A+ she

gave. I mean I always do real well. A's on

everything. That's why I'm accelerated.

DUSSANDER:

Accelerated?

TODD:

You know, accelerated. I skipped two grades,

second and ninth. I didn't need them.

That's why I'm already a junior.

Dussander sits.

DUSSANDER:

I see...

TODD:

Some kids resent me for it. That's not

important. Anyway, my paper really floored

my history teacher. I guess because I got

through all those books without throwing up.

But I learned something. I learned that when

you talk about the camps now, you have to

remember to sound really disgusted. I mean,

you can't just say what happened like the

magazines did and leave it at that. If I

tried that the teacher would have freaked and

called my parents in.

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