Calvary Page #9

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(CONTINUED)

50.

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LAVELLE:

Tough choice when you put it like that.

FIONA laughs. There is silence for a moment.

FIONA:

You’ll tell me it would’ve been a

mortal sin, I suppose. Would I have

suffered eternal damnation, Father?

LAVELLE:

(after a pause)

God is great. The limits of His mercy

have not been set.

59

EXT. PRISON - DAY 59

*

A GUARD escorts LAVELLE around the prison.

GUARD:

Which of the lads are you here to

see, Father?

LAVELLE:

Freddie Joyce.

The GUARD pauses and looks at LAVELLE.

LAVELLE:

Freddie Joyce? He’s-GUARD

I know who he is. What in the

hell d’ya want to see him for?

LAVELLE:

He’s an old pupil of mine.

He asked to see me.

The GUARD stares at LAVELLE. Then proceeds.

60

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY 60

FREDDIE JOYCE at a table. Thirties, thin, hair all over

the place, hands cuffed behind his back.

JOYCE:

Y’know I’ve asked them to hang me.

*

LAVELLE opposite. A Bible and rosary in front of him. The

room is gloomy, lit by a single lightbulb.

(CONTINUED)

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LAVELLE:

There’s no capital punishment in

Ireland, Freddie, as you well know.

Why do you want them to hang you?

JOYCE:

‘Cause that’s the way Lesley Ryan

died.

LAVELLE:

You’re saying you feel remorse.

JOYCE:

I’m not a monster. Do I look like

a monster?

LAVELLE:

What do monsters look like?

JOYCE:

“To thine own self be true,” they

say. Well I was, and look where

it’s got me.

LAVELLE:

They’ve never really thought that

one through, you’re right.

JOYCE:

It’s a terrible world. When you

think about it.

LAVELLE:

Yes it is. And a beautiful one.

JOYCE:

It wasn’t for me.

LAVELLE:

You’re not the whole world.

JOYCE:

That’s a matter of opinion.

He watches a cockroach scuttling around in a corner of the

ceiling.

JOYCE:

I’m reading Paradise Lost at

the moment. You know that one?

“Better to reign in Hell--”

LAVELLE:

“--than serve in Heaven.” Yeah.

Yeah I know that quote. Yeah.

JOYCE:

You’re making fun of me.

(CONTINUED)

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LAVELLE:

Have I hurt your feelings?

JOYCE stretches his arms, flexes his fingers.

JOYCE:

I had the cops in here the other

day. The third degree. Wanting

to go over all the gory details.

LAVELLE:

Which I’m sure you were only too

happy to provide.

JOYCE:

They’re obsessed with cannibalism.

“What did it taste like?” Told ‘em

it tasted like pheasant. Bit gamey.

LAVELLE:

Good for you. Make a joke about it.

JOYCE looks blankly at him.

LAVELLE:

Why were they-

JOYCE:

Same as always. They want to know

where the last one is. The one I

connected up. The one they never

found.

LAVELLE:

Why can’t you tell them, Freddie?

Give the family some kind of peace.

JOYCE:

I wanted to, Father, but for the

life of me I can’t remember. I know

it was out in the woods somewhere-

LAVELLE:

Where did I leave my keys.

JOYCE:

No. I wasn’t in my right mind.

The LSD. It was like a fairytale-

LAVELLE:

Yeah you said all that at the trial.

It’s getting kind of tiresome now.

JOYCE:

She was a lovely girl...Y’know she

told me she’d been abused before.

So I said, “Well once more won’t

make any difference, then.”

(CONTINUED)

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He laughs to himself. LAVELLE reaches for the rosary.

Fingers the beads absently.

JOYCE:

You see the light go out in their

eyes and you become God.

LAVELLE:

No you don’t. No. You don’t.

JOYCE smirks. Watches LAVELLE fingering the beads.

JOYCE:

“The woods are lovely, dark and

deep, but I have promises to keep.”

(with a laugh)

It’s like that joke. You know that

joke? There’s a fella with this young

lad driving into the woods, right.

It’s getting darker and darker the

deeper into the woods they go, and

the young lad says, “I’m getting

scared, Mister.” And the fella says-

LAVELLE:

Yeah I do know that joke. I’ve heard

it before.

JOYCE:

You’re always one step ahead, aren’t

you, Father? It’s like when we were

back in school-

LAVELLE:

(angrily)

Why am I here? For the love of God.

JOYCE:

(taken aback)

I just wanted somebody to talk to.

LAVELLE:

I don’t think you feel any guilt

whatsoever about anything you’ve done.

JOYCE:

(suddenly sobbing)

I do, Father, I do.

(sniffling; wiping his nose

on his shoulder)

I believe what the Bible teaches.

I believe if I repent my sins I’ll

be forgiven and I’ll be able to go

up to Heaven and see those girls

and tell them how sorry I am, and

I’ll hug them and I’ll kiss them

and I’ll love them with a real true

love, and have no desire to hurt

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

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JOYCE (CONT'D)

them in any way.

(sobbing again)

God made me, didn’t he? I mean,

didn’t he? He understands me.

He must do.

LAVELLE looks blankly at him.

JOYCE:

I mean, don’t you think?

LAVELLE:

I think if God can’t understand you,

Freddie, no one can.

61

EXT. LYNCH’S BAR - EVENING 61

LYNCH is keeping up a ping-pong ball with a table tennis

bat. The sound of Irish music can be heard. LAVELLE

appears, nods to LYNCH.

LYNCH:

You know they’re foreclosing on me.

LAVELLE:

Who?

LYNCH:

Who? The banks. Who else.

LAVELLE:

I’m sorry to hear that.

LYNCH:

How come I never hear your mob

preaching about that?

LAVELLE:

About what?

LYNCH:

All these bankers who’ve brought

the country to its knees. Still

throwing people out of their

homes, though, when they can’t

make their payments. Never hear

your mob talking about that.

Those are sins, too, aren’t they?

LAVELLE:

Yes they are.

LYNCH:

Ah sure, I suppose when you have a

history of screwing the Jews out

of their money and collaborating

with the Nazis then, it’s like the

pot calling the kettle black, hah?

(CONTINUED)

55.

CONTINUED:

61

LAVELLE:

Yes, I suppose it is. Been getting

the full use out of your library

card, there, Brendan.

LYNCH:

The library’s been shut down,

did you not hear? Cutbacks.

62

INT. LYNCH’S BAR - EVENING 62

A rowdy CEILIDH BAND is playing on a dais in a corner.

FIONA waves to LAVELLE as he enters. Then returns to her

conversation with some SURFERS. *

LAVELLE notices JACK and VERONICA BRENNAN at a table

together, not speaking. SIMON ASAMOAH is the other side of

the room, talking to a blonde SURFER CHICK.

STANTON and HARTE are knocking back shots at the bar.

STANTON sees LAVELLE. Raises his shot glass in salute.

FATHER LEARY is talking to a handsome blond SURFER DUDE. *

MILO HERLIHY is sitting on his own with a Guinness.

LAVELLE sits down beside him.

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