Cat People Page #11

OLIVER (cont'd)

(drawing out the word)

Hey --

(pulling out his

handkerchief)

Wait a minute!

ALICE:

(blowing her nose)

I can't help it. I just can't help

it.

(looking up at him)

I can't bear to see you unhappy. I

love you too darn much, and I don't

care if you do know it. I love you.

OLIVER:

(a pause)

I didn't' know it.

ALICE:

Of course, you didn't. What do you

think I'd do...drag my blooding

heart across the drafting tables?

It just had to come out now. It's

been too hard to love you...to see

you in love with Irena...and to

see you unhappy.

They stand looking at each other. Alice gives a final blow

to her nose, hands the handkerchief back to Oliver, and

manages a grin.

ALICE (cont'd)

Forgot it. There's Irena... you're

in love with her.

OLIVER:

(puzzled)

I don't know. All this trouble has

made me think -- I don't know what

love really is. I don't oven know

whether I'm in love with Irena.

Alice looks at him very thoughtfully.

ALICE:

(simply, sincerely)

I know what love is. It's

understanding. It's you and

me...and let the rest of the world

go by. It's just the two of us,

living our lives

together..happily...proudly. No

self-torture...no doubt. It's

enduring and it's everlasting.

Nothing can change it. Nothing can

change us. That's what I think

love is.

Oliver looks over at the water bubbles rising in the cooler.

He looks intently at them, almost as if counting them as they

rise, burbling to the surface. He speaks without looking at

Alice, his eyes on the bubbles rising in the water cooler.

OLIVER:

I don't feel that way about Irena.

It's a different feeling. I'm

drawn to her. There's a warmth from

her that pulls at me...I have to

watch her when she's in the room. I

have to touch her when she's near.

But I don't really know her. In

many ways were strangers.

He turns and looks at Alice. She reaches out and takes his

hand. They stand together like two people on a street corner

shaking hands.

ALICE (SIMPLY)

You and I...we'11 never be

strangers.

He smiles at her and she returns his smile.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. IRENA'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Irena is in the window alcove, busily engaged in washing her

paint brushes. She twirls them between her palms to get the

water out of them. Oliver is in his easy chair. He holds a

magazine in his hands, but he is not reading. Suddenly he

puts the magazine down.

OLIVER:

Irena.

Irena turns toward him, but continues to twirl the brush

she has In her hands.

OLIVER (cont'd)

(rising and coming

toward her)

Irena, I'm worried. What's

happening to us?

Irena looks up at him as she stops twirling her brush. She

speaks very simply, as if this explained and adjusted all

difficulties.

IRENA:

I love you, Oliver.

OLIVER:

I know -- but people can love,

and people can still drift apart.

And that's what I feel is happening

to us. We don't talk together

openly � you are not frank with

me...

IRENA:

(interrupting)

I have never lied to you.

OLIVER:

I ran into Dr. Judd today.

Irena looks at him and then down at the brush in her hand.

OLIVER (cont'd)

You haven't been back to see him.

IRENA:

He cannot help me.

OLIVER:

You won't lot him help you. You

won't let me help you. You won't

even help yourself. It's what I

said to Alice this afternoon �

At the mention of Alice, Irena has repeated the name softly,

furiously, the while a look of concentrated fury has come to

her face. The rest of Oliver's speech has been lost to her

through her own anger.

OLIVER (cont'd)

You're content to go on as we

are.

IRENA:

(softly, but savagely sibilant)

Alice!

Oliver looks at her. He sees her anger, realizes that she is

just about to burst forth savagely. He makes a gesture of

resignation.

OLIVER:

(restraining himself)

I promised you we'd never quarrel.

Let's calm down a bit.

(starts toward the door)

I'll go down to the office � I've

got some work to do.

At the door he picks up his hat and coat and goes out,

closing the door quietly behind him. No sooner has the door

closed than Irena jumps to her feet, paces quickly toward

it, then back again.

EXT. OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT

Oliver comes up in front of the office building that houses

the Consolidated Ship and Barge Construction Company. A

plaque on an entrance cornerstone bears the name of the

company. There has been snow, followed by thaw, so that the

streets are wet. Oliver stands on the wet street, watching

the revolving door slowly move around with abrupt jerks. No

one, however, is in any of the door compartments. Then as

the door comes around, we see that in one of the

compartments, on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor, is

a thin charwoman, Mrs. Agnew, her blowsy hair falling down

over her face. As she gets around in front of Oliver, she

looks up, brushing the hair out of her eyes. A lighted

cigarette, with a long ash dangles from one corner of her

mouth. She picks up her bucket and scrubbing brush and

starts to move out of Oliver's way.

MRS. AGNEW

You want to go up to the office,

Mr. Reed?

OLIVER:

No, I think I'll go around the

corner to Sally Lunn's and get a

cup of coffee before I got to work.

(starting off down the

street)

I'll be back.

Mrs. Agnew nods. The long ash of her cigarette falls down the

front of her dress. She brushes off the ashes with ladylike

strokes, as if it were a usual occurrence,

INT. SALLY LUNN'S TEAROOM - NIGHT

Oliver comes into the tearoom. It is a typical quaint

tearoom of the type seen in Manhattan side streets. A Negro

waitress, Minnie, dressed in a stylized soubrette costume

(something like the kind worn by the Brown Derby waitresses)

turns around as Oliver enters.

MINNIE:

(with a broad smile as he

sits down)

Maybe you'd like some nice chicken

gumbo, Mr. Reed.

OLIVER:

No, thanks, Minnie. How about some

apple pie and a cup of coffee?

MINNIE:

(disappointed)

Yes'r, Mr. Reed.

(as she turns to get his

order)

My goodness, don't nobody like

chicken gumbo?

DISSOLVE:

INT. DRAFTING OFFICE - NIGHT

Alice is working alone late at night. She has just hung up

the last T-square on the back wall. Now she turns out the

light above her desk, leaving the room illuminated by a

single light near the door. On her under-lit drafting

table, taking full advantage of the warmth, his forepaws

snuggled under his chin, is the most decorous sort of

office cat. He looks like a bookkeeper. Alice is putting on

her hat when the telephone rings. She picks up the phone.

ALICE:

(Into phone)

Hello.

(no response)

Hello.

(still no response)

INT. IRENA'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Irena has the telephone in her hand, and over the phone we

hear Alice's voice.

ALICE'S VOICE

Hello -- Hello �

Irena quietly hangs up the phone.

INT. DRAFTING OFFICE - NIGHT

There is a faint click from the other end of the wire, as of

a receiver being put softly back onto the cradle. Alice,

disgusted, slams her own receiver into place.

ALICE:

(addressing the cat)

John Paul Jones, don't you hate

people who do that?

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