Barney's Version Page #12

BOOGIE:

You sly bastard - you planned thisall along.

BARNEY:

Who could plan this?

BOOGIE (O.S.)

I don't see any Scotch, but lookhere...

Boogie comes back up with an open WOOD BOX containing theGUN from Izzy. He takes it out, waves it around.

BOOGIE (CONT'D)

What do you say? Duel at high noon?

But I don't think we have enoughbooze to get us there.

Barney grabs the gun away from Boogie.

BARNEY:

That's loaded, shmuck. There's more

Scotch in the kitchen.

INT. DEN - COTTAGE - LATER

Ice is dropped into two tumblers. More Scotch poured.

They've gone through half the bottle and are visibly drunk.

Boogie peruses Barney's book collection. He picks up Clara'ssketch that's leaning against the wall.

WHITE 10-23-09 68.

BOOGIE:

Did you hear they named a newauditorium at Barnard after her?

Crazy Clara Chambers - she wasn'ttoo bad a poet, actually.

I bet this is worth a pretty pennynow. Hey, who gets the residualsfrom her books?

BARNEY:

I signed the rights over to charityright after she died. Listen, willyou testify or not?

BOOGIE:

I'll think about it.

BARNEY:

You know what? It's time you camethrough for me for once.

BOOGIE:

Really?

BARNEY:

How many times have I bailed you outover the years?

BOOGIE:

I wasn't counting.

BARNEY:

Neither was I.

BOOGIE:

You sure about that?

BARNEY:

When I had nothing, I borrowed for

you. You owe me.

BOOGIE:

Well isn't this getting interesting.

But I'd like to go for a swim andthink it over. You must have a

snorkel and flippers here.

Boogie grabs the bottle of Scotch and heads to the sunroom.

Barney follows him out, the gun still in his sweater pocket.

EXT. SUNROOM - COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS

Boogie rifles through a trunk and finally comes up with aSNORKEL, MASK AND FLIPPERS.

WHITE 10-23-09 69.

BARNEY:

How's your novel coming along?

BOOGIE:

Are you asking as a friend or aninvestor?

BARNEY:

Both.

BOOGIE:

I'm still working on it.

BARNEY:

You're a fraud.

BOOGIE:

Oh, have I let poor Barney down?

BARNEY:

Yeah, you have.

BOOGIE:

Too f***ing bad. You know what,

man? I brought you in. I educated

you. I put the right books in yourhands, and look what you've become.

A TV hustler, married to a rich man'svulgar daughter.

BARNEY:

Not so vulgar that you wouldn't bang her.

BOOGIE:

And she wasn't the only wife of yoursI had. Next time I'm in New York

I'll call on your tart and make it atrifecta.

Boogie pushes through the screen door.

EXT. COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS

Boogie staggers toward the dock, drunk and barely able towalk a straight line.

BARNEY:

F*** YOU.

Barney CHARGES Boogie. They start to wrestle but are toodrunk to really take it anywhere serious. They break apart,

winded and woozy.

BARNEY (CONT'D)

What happened to you?

WHITE 10-23-09 70.

BOOGIE:

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happenedto me; and that's what you take as apersonal offense. I am not your petproject. Not your vicarious life.

Not your hope.

BARNEY:

Not my friend?

Boogie doesn't even think to answer. He just swigs from thebottle again.

BARNEY (CONT'D)

Do you realize you haven't come closeto giving me an apology?

BOOGIE:

Let me recommend another book to stock

your shelf with; "The Life of Heinrich

Heine", who upon his death bed wasbegged by his loved ones to ask forGod's forgiveness before he passed.

But good old Heinrich had only thisto say: "God will surely forgive me after

all, that's his f***ing job".

BARNEY:

Don't count on it.

BOOGIE:

I'm going for a swim.

Boogie slips on the flippers, waddles onto the dock.

BARNEY:

Boogie, stop! You're too drunk and

you can barely swim anyway. I'll

shoot, you prick, I will!

Barney fires a WARNING SHOT straight up into the air.

BOOGIE:

There you go!

But this time shoot it at me youfucking coward! See for yourselfwhat's really inside this mossy,

dampened cavity you think is a heart.

C'mon, do it!

Barney stares him down. A silent rage boiling inside. Boogiegrins, snaps on the goggles and the snorkel, spreads hisarms wide, tilts his head back...

WHITE 10-23-09 71.

BARNEY:

Don't you f***ing move.

Barney drunkenly staggers forward, pointing the gun at Boogie -

AND THIS ALL HAPPENS IN HAZY FLASH: Barney TRIPS -- the gunFIRES -- Boogie lets himself FALL backward into the lake.

It appears the gun fired into the air, but he could have easilyfired in Boogie's direction. We can't be sure.

Barney turns and heads back up into the house. We DO NOT

see Boogie resurface.

INT. DEN - COTTAGE - MOMENTS LATER

Barney stumbles in.

Barney hits the bottle hard - one shot after another.

INT. DEN - COTTAGE - DAY

LATER:

The bottle now empty. Barney's passed out on the sofa.

INT. DEN - COTTAGE - DUSK

EVEN LATER:

Barney on the floor, woken by the the RUMBLING of a TWIN ENGINEAIRPLANE, starting from a distance and approaching fast.

EXT. DECK - COTTAGE - DUSK

He stumbles out to the porch, still half drunk. The PLANE

flying over a distant hillside.

BARNEY:

(calling out)

BOOGIE?

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. DOCK - COTTAGE - MORNING

UNIFORMED POLICEMEN and SEARCH DOGS scour the property aroundBarney's house. DIVERS break the surface of the lake's water.

A POLICE BOAT out there too.

Barney watches all this from the dock.

O'HEARNE (O.S.)

Busy day. There's a big fire a fewmiles east.

WHITE 10-23-09 72.

DETECTIVE SEAN O'HEARNE, younger, slimmer, healthier than weknow him to be, steps up along side Barney.

O'HEARNE (CONT'D)

Twenty cottages burned so far.

BARNEY:

They're wasting their time out there.

I told them I looked all over the

lake in my boat. He's broken into a

cottage, emptied it of all the boozeand pills he could find and moved on.

O'HEARNE

But he leaves his clothes and wallet

here?

BARNEY:

He took someone else's clothes.

O'HEARNE

No break-ins have been reported.

Got something to drink?

INT. KITCHEN - COTTAGE - MORNING

Barney opens the refrigerator and passes O'Hearne a cold beer.

O'Hearne saunters through the house, sipping the beer.

He stops at the FRAMED SKETCH BY CLARA leaning against the wall.

O'HEARNE

That's kind of sick.

BARNEY:

My first wife made that.

O'HEARNE

(taking out notepad)

Oh yeah? What's her name?

BARNEY:

She's dead.

O'HEARNE

Did you catch her f***ing someone

too?

BARNEY:

She killed herself.

O'HEARNE

Beat you to it, I guess.

WHITE 10-23-09 73.

BARNEY:

What the f*** does that mean? I

called you guys.

O'HEARNE

Yeah, you did. So why didn't youmention this gun?

O'Hearne pulls out Barney's GUN, in a plastic evidence bag.

BARNEY:

My dad is a retired cop. He gave itto me for protection.

O'HEARNE

(dawning)

Are you f***in' Izzy Panofsky's kid?

BARNEY:

Yes.

O'HEARNE

No sh*t. So why are there two roundsmissing?

BARNEY:

Boogie and I were horsing around.

O'HEARNE

By shooting off rounds?

BARNEY:

We were drunk.

O'HEARNE

This was after you caught him fuckingyour wife?

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