Birthday Girl Page #19

JOHN:

Listen. I didn't go rooting around

in your private stuff.

John remembers he did. Nadia looks across knowingly.

NADIA:

Funny. Usually it's the first thing

they do.

Pause.

JOHN:

So what? Do you just switch off in

your head or do you imagine you're

with him, or what?

NADIA:

Sometimes.

JOHN:

Sometimes which?

NADIA:

Sometimes neither.

JOHN:

Some... What does that mean?

NADIA:

There's nothing wrong in liking sex,

John.

JOHN:

I don't like sex. I don't think I'll

be having sex ever again.

NADIA:

Why?

JOHN:

Well, it's just that the thought

trying to charm up an erection in

front of a woman, or alone for that

matter, makes me want to die.

NADIA:

So now you hate all women?

JOHN:

I think it's my safest bet, don't

you?

NADIA:

Oh. I think you will recover okay. I

think you got what you paid for.

John looks across.

JOHN:

What?

NADIA:

You...

JOHN:

I got what I paid for.

NADIA:

You didn't mind too much.

Pause.

JOHN:

(quietly)

It wasn't what I wanted.

NADIA:

So what did you want? I think we

understand each other, no?

JOHN:

(quietly)

You don't understand me.

NADIA:

You don't understand you either.

John turns to her.

NADIA:

It's no big thing. You are the same

as most men. You are a man so you

are a savage. Not a monster, but

half animal. You put on a tie and

you go to the bank, but really you

are a beast. But also you are from

woman so you have a soul. Half beast,

half soul. But you hide your beast

in the bottom of the wardrobe. It's

not so healthy. It's f***ed you up,

no?

John stops the car.

JOHN:

Get out.

She sits there.

NADIA:

Excuse me?

JOHN:

Get out

NADIA:

You are throwing me out.

JOHN:

Get out.

She collects her bag from the back seat, her cigarettes,

gathers up her belongings, clicks open the door and gets

out, leaving the shot. John sits there staring ahead. We

hear her voice offscreen.

NADIA (O.S.)

You prefer your women mute.

John turns the key in the ignition. The engine bellows and

screams. Silence.

He tries again. The engine shrieks and wails like a soul in

torment. A terrible, mournful grinding noise. Silence.

NADIA (O.S.)

Car trouble?

John tries to start it. It lets out a whimper, a crying, a

few juddering moving sobs, and dies.

John sits in his dead car. He shakes his head. He rubs his

face. He sits there.

EXT. ROADSIDE VERGE - DUSK

The two of them on a verge ten feet apart. John stares into

the distance.

Nadia studies the map.

NADIA:

It's another twenty miles. It's going

dark.

She gets her holdall from inside the car and stuffs the map

inside.

NADIA:

What now?

Nadia scans the horizon with her binoculars. John watches

her.

JOHN:

Jesus. You weren't even on the plane.

Nadia lowers her binoculars and looks at John.

FLASHBACK - INT. AIRPORT - DAY

John watches the passengers stream out of the arrivals gate.

A woman is greeted and spun around.

Across the airport, Nadia lowers her binoculars. We pull

back to see she is standing next to Alexei.

They say goodbye in Russian. Even though we don't see

subtitles, it's a telling exchange. She kisses him, and he

watches her leave him and walk across the floor.

Alexei watches Nadia approach John, and see him shake her

hand.

They walk away together.

FLASHBACK - EXT. JOHN'S STREET - NIGHT

Alexei, dressed in a suit, stands outside John's house,

looking up. Nadia is in the window, her lipstick smeared.

They gaze at each other.

EXT. DIFFERENT FOREST - NIGHT

In a clearing, John watches Nadia carry a pile of sticks to

a fire she is building. She lights it with her gun cigarette

lighter, and teases the flames to life.

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