Asylum Page #11

HOLLY:

I'm not hungry, really.

DOUG:

Get me a couple of beers and a salami.

CHRIS:

We could make a start on the floor

afterwards.

DOUG:

No, We aren't going to do it.

CHRIS:

What?

HOLLY:

Seems a shame!

DOUG:

The way I look at it, I've carried the

camel to water and stuffed it's head under

- if it doesn't drink now, we might as well

shoot the thing and call it a day.

CHRIS:

Now, you're making sense.

Chris exits towards front side-door.

INT - ASYLUM AUDITORIUM - DOUG/HOLLY/CHRIS - DAY

Doug goes down into the auditorium and Holly sits down on the foyer

steps. Doug goes to the centre and spins around slowly.

DOUG:

Friends, Czechs, Socialists, lend

me your ears! I come in peace and bring

pyramid-selling. You have been freed from

under that cloak of evil and corruption

Hear me out I beg of you. They build

another McDonalds not one mile from here

and plan yet more. Trust me blindly.

Holly smiles and shakes her head.

DOUG:

I beseech you, look not West for guidance

but to me, I am your hope, your future.

Follow me and you will need no other.

Where there is darkness, I shall put

streetlights, where there is misery, I

shall visit and where there is desperation,

I will telephone.

Holly begins to laugh.

DOUG:

We shall all live as one with me in the

castle and you but a metro ride away.

Give me a sign!

Chris comes back with some sandwiches and beers and stands behind

Holly with two fingers up to Doug.

HOLLY:

Booooooo! Booooooo!

Doug smiles and comes back to join them and they sit.

ANGLE door and entry of JAHN, leading a group of SIX Czech STUDENTS

carrying tools and some minor building materials.

CHRIS:

I don't believe it!

Doug gets up to greet them and speaks with Jahn.

DOUG:

(nodding to stack of wood)

Well, that's what we've got to work with,

we need a walkway over all this sh*t.

(pointing to pipe area)

And some kind of floor down below......

Think they can do it?

Jahn speaks in Czech to group leader who nods profusely and raises an

eyebrow occasionally, when checking thickness of the wooden boards.

JAHN:

They'll do it.

DOUG:

Great. And your all set for the

performance?

JAHN:

Yeah, it's a simple piece. If they get

the floor done in time, me and the

others will rehearse tomorrow afternoon,

but it's not critical.

DOUG:

Don't go making it too simple,

we're on the cutting edge here.

Jahn laughs.

JAHN:

For us it's simple, for you it's

incredible.

Doug smiles and slaps Jahn on the back. The students get straight to

work, they are professional stage/set guys. Doug grabs a beer and

offers it to Jahn.

JAHN:

No thanks, I must go, but maybe you

could get some beers for the guys.

DOUG:

Don't worry. Thanks.

Jahn exits. Chris and Holly join Doug.

DOUG:

We're going to need more beer, got

any money Chris?

Chris gets a couple of crumpled notes out and hands them to Doug.

CHRIS:

That's all I got on me!

Holly gets a small wad of money out and gives some to Doug.

DOUG:

Thanks. Come on Chris, give me a hand.

CHRIS:

I can't, I've got to split. I have

to take a class at two o'clock.

HOLLY:

I'll help.

Doug checks Holly with a look.

DOUG:

Okay, let's go.

Doug leads Holly then Chris out of Asylum. ANGLE some guys working,

marking out the floor and walkway design.

EXT - BETLEMSKA STREET - DOUG/HOLLY - DAY

FOLLOW Doug and Holly around the corner and up the street a little to

a small grocery shop, they enter.

INT - POTRAVINY(Czech grocers) - DOUG/HOLLY - DAY

Doug and Holly fall in at the back of a THREE-WOMAN queue. There is

one Czech LADY serving behind counter. Show some shelves and basic

contents. There is a cold meat & cheese display unit. Service is

slow, but Doug and Holly are accustomed. A MAN comes in the shop and

stands behind Doug and Holly.

SHOP ASSISTANT:

Prosim!

DOUG:

(pointing to some beer bottles)

Pivo.....Twenty, ugh Dvacet.

Assistant isn't goes out back and starts bringing the bottles out and

putting them on the counter.

DOUG:

Sac, prosim?

Assistant hands him a bag.

DOUG:

Derva!

Assistant reluctantly gets him another bag and finishes bringing the

beer out. Doug and Holly load up the bags and stick a few bottles in

their pockets.

SHOP ASSISTANT:

Scheck-No?

DOUG:

(nodding)

Ano.

Assistant adds it all up on a piece of paper.

SHOP ASSISTANT:

Sto, dervat-set ossum pas-de-saht.

Doug gives Holly a quizzical look. Doug then shows the Assistant what

money he has. Assistant takes a two-hundred crown note and gives him

some coins back. Assistant moves quickly to next customer who gently

pushes Doug out the way. Doug and Holly exit.

EXT - BETLEMSKA STREET - DOUG/HOLLY - DAY

Doug and Holly walk away from the shop, weighed down by beer. SHOW

old building facades and a LADY walking a small DOG. Doug and Holly

head back to Betlemska.

HOLLY:

Why are you doing all this, what for?

DOUG:

Well, I've failed at everything else

I've done and I can't hack it as a

journalist, even for the Bugler.

HOLLY:

What's the Bugler?

DOUG:

It's a student magazine networked

through Eastern Europe and funded

by Republican do-gooders back in the

States.

HOLLY:

I figured you more as a Socialist?

DOUG:

I moving more to Communism now it's

dying out.

HOLLY:

A champion of lost causes huh?

DOUG:

No, I'm just running scared, same

as everyone else.

HOLLY:

We_re not all running away

DOUG:

I know, some are trapped, usually

by money.

Holly

Well I have some money and I chose

to be here.

DOUG:

It_s the same, too much or too little,

neither_s comfortable reality-wise.

They turn into Betlemska street and walk towards Asylum with it's

sign-written entrance doors.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT - ASYLUM - DOUG/STUDENTS - DAY

Show a dozen empty beer bottles lying around, mainly on foyer steps,

sounds of work abound. All lights are on and the work has progressed

well. Show some joists in place over pipe area and floor supports

laid out on the auditorium_s earth, the first sheet of floor boarding

is being nailed into place. It is a hive of activity with

sawing/hammering and orders being shouted in Czech. Doug brings the

ghettoblaster down to auditorium and switches it on, tuning it in to a

Czech radio station and turns to a nearby STUDENT(1).

DOUG:

(to the student)

Okay?

STUDENT(1)

Yo, dobree!

Doug heads to the anteroom.

INT - ASYLUM ANTEROOM - DOUG/HOLLY - DAY

Show Asylum cafe and aftermath of the previous night's party tidied

into piles of bottles and rubbish. Holly is collecting plastic cups.

HOLLY:

Shall I wash these out?

DOUG:

Yeah, we'd better keep them for now,

I'll try and get some glasses for

tomorrow night.

Holly brings out a bucket of dirty water from behind the bar, Doug

moves to help her.

DOUG:

Here, let me get some fresh water.

Doug takes the bucket and exits. Holly looks at the artwork and

sweeps up a little. Doug returns with water and puts it down for

Holly who proceeds to wash out cups. Doug sits down and has a

cigarette and watches Holly working.

INT - ASYLUM FOYER - STUDENT(2) - DAY

FOLLOW STUDENT group leader up from auditorium. Show further progress

on floor and walkway. All beer bottles empty and some snack wrappers

dropped around. He goes into the anteroom.

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