Away from Her Page #16

RECEPTIONIST:

I’ll go fetch her. She’s just in

her office right now. But she’s

expecting you.

The Receptionist exits into the back office.

GRANT:

Please Fiona. Not now. I can’t go

away from you like this.

Fiona smiles a little. Lets this sink in for a minute. Puts

her hand tenderly on his face.

86.

FIONA:

You’ve been good to me Grant. We

had nothing to tie us down Grant.

You could have just driven away and

forsaken me. But you didn’t. And I

thank you for that.

Over Fiona’s face, looking sincerely up into Grant’s we hear

Grant, telling Kristy the rest of the story.

GRANT (O.S.)

And then we went to her room, and

she asked me to make love to her

there and then go. And so I did. I

went. And I never really saw her

again... Or she never really saw me

I suppose.

147 EXT MEADOWLAKE -JANUARY 2005-DAY 147

Kristy watches Grant. Taken aback. She shakes her head. She

stubs out her cigarette and walks away from him. Grant

watches her go.

CUT TO:

147A INT MEADOWLAKE STAIRWELL - JANUARY 2005 - DAY 147A

We see Grant stand alone as Kristy walks away from him. Pull

back to reveal Fiona, watching.

148 INT CONSERVATORY - FEBRUARY 2005-DAY 148

Grant reads to Fiona from Letters From Iceland. She is far

off.

GRANT:

The desires of the heart are as

crooked as corkscrews

Not to be born is the best for man

The second best is a formal order

The dances pattern, dance while you

can.

Grant notices how far off Fiona is. Stops reading.

87.

GRANT:

Fiona?

She doesn’t respond.

GRANT:

Is there any way to let this go? Do

you think?

Fiona smiles sadly. Strokes his hand.

FIONA:

(weakly)

If I let it go, even for a minute,

it’ll only hit me harder when I

bump into it again.

GRANT:

Okay. Okay.

Grant grabs her hand. Kisses it.

He goes back to reading to her. She cries silently.

GRANT:

Dance, dance, for the figure is

easy

The tune is catching and will not

stop

Dance till the stars come down with

the rafters

Dance, dance, dance till you drop.

149 INT MADELEINE’S OFFICE -FEBRUARY 2005 -DAY 149

Madeleine sits across from Grant, Fiona’s file in front of

her.

MADELEINE:

The thing is, I’m sure you know, we

don’t do any prolonged bed care on

the first floor. We do it

temporarily if someone isn’t

feeling well, but if they get too

weak to move around and be

responsible we have to consider

upstairs.

Grant thinks for a moment.

88.

GRANT:

Would you happen to have Aubrey’s

address?

MADELEINE:

Excuse me?

GRANT:

Aubrey and his wife. Do you know

where they live?

150 INT BRIGHT HALLWAY- FEBURARY 2005 -LATE AFTERNOON 150

Grant watches Fiona walk away from him down the long

corridor, bathed in that late afternoon light.

MARIAN (O.S.)

Fiona. Her name’s Fiona huh? And

what’s yours? I don’t think I ever

was told that.

151 INT MARIAN’S KITCHEN - FEBRUARY 2005 - MORNING 151

Marian stares at Grant, inquisitively. GRANT looks down,

feeling slightly defeated by her attitude.

GRANT:

It’s Grant.

She suddenly sticks her hand out across the table.

MARIAN:

Hello Grant. I’m Marian.

He shakes her hand, tentatively.

MARIAN:

So now we know each other’s name,

there’s no point in not telling you

straight out what I think. I don’t

know if he’s still so stuck on

seeing your - on seeing Fiona. Or

not. I don’t ask him and he’s not

telling me. But I don’t feel like

taking him back there in case it

turns out to be more than that. I

can’t afford to risk it. I don’t

want him getting hard to

handle.I’ve got my hands full with

him as it is. I don’t have any

help. It’s just me here. I’m it.

89.

GRANT lowers his voice to a whisper.

GRANT:

Did you ever consider - it is veryhard for you - did you ever

consider his going in there for

good?

MARIAN doesn’t seem to feel the need to lower her voice.

MARIAN:

No. I’m keeping him right here.

GRANT:

Well. That’s very good and noble of

you.

MARIAN:

You think so? Noble is not what I’m

thinking about.

GRANT:

Still. It’s not easy.

MARIAN:

No it isn’t. See, I don’t have much

of a choice. If I put him in there

I don’t have the money to pay for

him unless I sell the house. The

house is what we own outright.

Otherwise I don’t have anything in

the way of resources. I get my

pension next year, but even so I

could not afford to keep him there

and hang on to the house. And it

means a lot to me, my house does.

GRANT:

It’s very nice.

MARIAN:

Well, it’s alright. I put a lot

into it. Fixing it up and keeping

it up.

GRANT:

I’m sure you did. You do.

MARIAN:

I don’t want to lose it.

90.

GRANT:

No.

MARIAN:

I’m not going to lose it.

GRANT:

I see your point.

MARIAN:

The company left us high and dry.

Basically he got shoved out. It

ended up with them saying he owed

them money and when I tried to find

out what was what he just went on

saying it’s none of my business.

What I think is he was doing...well

he was pretty stupid. But I’m not

supposed to ask so I shut up.

You’ve been married. You are

married. You know how it is. And in

the middle of all this we’re

supposed to go on this trip with

these people and can’t get out of

it. And on the trip he takes sick

from this virus you’ve never heard

of and goes into a coma. So that

pretty well gets him off the hook.

GRANT:

Bad luck.

MARIAN:

I don’t mean exactly that he got

sick on purpose. It just happened.

He’s not mad at me anymore and I’m

not mad at him. It’s just life.

GRANT:

That’s true.

MARIAN:

You can’t beat life.

She flicks her tongue in a cat’s businesslike way across her

top lip, getting the cookie crumbs.

MARIAN:

I sound like I’m quite the

philosopher don’t I?

(MORE)

91.

MARIAN (cont'd)

They told me out there you used to

be a university professor.

GRANT:

Quite a while ago.

MARIAN:

I’m not much of an intellectual.

GRANT:

I don’t know how much I am either.

MARIAN:

But I know when my mind’s made up.

And it’s made up. I’m not going to

let go of the house. Which means

I’m keeping him here and I don’t

want him getting it in his head he

wants to move anyplace else. It was

probably a mistake putting him in

there so I could get away, but I

wasn’t going to get another chance,

so I took it. So. Now I know

better.

She shakes out another cigarette.

MARIAN:

You’re thinking - there’s a

mercenary type of a person.

GRANT:

I’m not making judgements of that

sort. It’s your life.

MARIAN:

You bet it is.

Marian looks at him for a moment. Takes him in.

GRANT:

Did your husband - did Aubrey work

in a hardware store in the summers

when he was going to school?

92.

MARIAN:

I never heard about it. I wasn’t

raised here.

Grant smiles. He has lost.

GRANT:

No. No I didn’t think so.

152 INT MARIAN’S HOUSE HALLWAY -FEBRUARY 2005- MORNING 152

Marian opens the door for Grant. He shakes her hand.

GRANT:

Thank you for your time Miriam.

She’s suddenly sensitive. A bit vulnerable.

MARIAN:

It’s Marian.

She seems hurt. The door closes. MARIAN thinks for a moment.

Then leans on the door.

MARIAN:

(to herself)

What a jerk.

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