Election Page #18

JIM stands at his own back door, beaten and ashamed. He lifts a hand

and knocks. After a moment the door opens, and there is Diane.

JIM:

Diane, I...

Diane looks at JIM in silence. Her face reveals nothing, but there is

a deadness in her eyes. After a moment, she turns back inside,

leaving the door open.

JIM follows his wife inside, closes the door. The camera moves to

peek in the kitchen window, from where we watch JIM and Diane but

cannot make out anything they say.

JIM (VO)

I don't know how Diane and I made it

through that night, but we did. Our

marriage had gone right to the brink,

but in the end I guess it was saved by

one simple fact:
we truly loved each

other. So we made a commitment to begin

the painful process of piecing our lives

back together. The worst was over; the

mistakes of the past were behind us.

INT. MILLARD HIGHJIM'S CLASSROOM -- NIGHT

A WASTE BASKET peeks out from under Jim's desk.

We hear a distinctive rhythmic squeak, and a shadowy head appears in

the window. Keys jingle. The door opens, and Lowell turns on the

lights. He approaches the waste basket and slides it out.

EXT. MILLARD HIGH TRACKDAY

FROM OVERHEAD - JIM circles the track.

ON THE GROUND -- JIM does pushups. Then sit-ups.

JIM (VO)

The next day held the promise of a new

beginning. After all, what harm had

really been done? No one was dead.

INT. MILLARD OFFICEDAY

Now all clean and refreshed and whistling a merry tune, JIM pops in to

check his box, giving a wave to Miss Seeder.

JIM:

Hi, Linda.

JIM continues to whistle as he looks through his mail.

JIM (VO CONT'D)

Life would go on, and I would certainly

be a stronger and wiser person from the

experience.

MISS BEEDER:

Uh, Jim?

JIM:

Hmm?

MISS BEEDER:

Walt needs to see you.

JIM:

Oh. Okay.

Still absorbed in his papers, JIM heads over to Walt's door.

INT. WALT'S OFFICECONTINUOUS

JIM:

You rang?

JIM stops cold. Walt is not alone. Barbara Flick and a bleary-eyed

Tracy are there. So are Larry Fouch, Ron Bell, and Lowell the janitor.

Prominently displayed on Walt's desk are TWO CRINKLED BALLOTS. JIM

takes an eternal few seconds to absorb what is happening.

WALT:

Mr. McAllister, I hope you can help us

clear something up.

BARBARA:

Look at his face! He knows he's been

caught. Look at his face!

(to Jim)

Your ass is grass, Mister!

LARRY:

You said I was a liar You're the

liar, you're the --

WALT:

Larry, you just take it easy

All turn and stare at Jim. Come to think of it, he does look awfully

guilty.

INT. SPANISH CLASS-- DAY

MS. HOY leads the class in recitation. Paul responds along with his

companeros.

MS. HOY

Yo --

CLASS:

pierdo.

MS. HOY

Tu

CLASS:

pierdes.

MS. HOY

El/ella -

CLASS:

pierde.

A STUDENT AIDE enters the classroom and hands a note to the teacher,

who upon reading the note looks up at Paul

MS. HOY

Senor presidente?

The class laughs fondly. Paul looks around, beaming with

embarrassment and pride.

MS. HOY (CONT'D)

Quieren verte en la oficina.

PAUL:

Huh?

INT. MILLARD HALLWAYDAY

Paul walks down the hall, a bounce in his step on this fine spring

morning.

PAUL:

Senor presidente. Yo soy senor

presidente... El grande presidente...

PAUL (VO)

I don't know why, but finding out there

was a mistake and I hadn't won the

election after all didn't bother me that

much. Winning had seemed kind of unreal

anyway. I guess I should have voted for

myself. Oh, well.

Paul reaches the --

INT. SCHOOL OFFICECONTINUOUS and enters Walt's office. Everyone

is there

WALT:

(standing up)

Take a seat, son. We've got something

hard to tell you.

PAUL:

Is Tammy okay?

WALT:

She's okay. It's about the election.

Walt closes the door in our faces. We hold on the door.

JIM (VO)

After Paul got the bad news, Walt asked

for a few minutes alone with me. It was

very simple, really. I offered my

resignation, and he accepted. Very

quietly, it was all over for JIM

McAllister at Millard High - twelve

years of hard work down the drain.

The door opens revealing that only wait and JIM remain. The office

staff is hushed as JIM the Zombie Cyclops emerges into the office and

walks somberly toward Miss Boeder. His voice quavers at half-volume.

JIM:

Walt will be speaking with you about

this, but I need you to find someone to

take over my classes. The lesson plans

for the rest of the year are in my top

right drawer.

MISS BEEDER:

Okay, Jim. I understand.

JIM:

Thanks. Well. I'm going home now.

EXT. HILLARD HIGH (REAR PROJECTIOH) -- DAY

As JIM moves toward the parking lot, the school recedes in an odd REAR

PROJECTION that suggests he is floating. The MUSIC here reinforces the

gravity of the moment, the inevitability of his fate.

JIM stops walking, and a disembodied STEEPING WHEEL floats into his

hands. The scene behind changes to:

INT./EXT. JIM'S CAR REAR PROJECTION - DAY

The city passing by outside is another strange REAR PROJECTION. JIM

grips the floating steering wheel and makes turns wildly out-of-sync

with the background.

JIM (VO)

I don't remember driving home, or much

of anything that happened in the next

few days.

JIM lets go of the steering wheel, and it drifts away. JIM turns his

back to camera to face -

INT. MCALLISTER HOUSE (REAR PROJECTIOH) -- DAY

JIM drifts toward his house, and it absorbs him through the front

door.

INT. MCALLISTER LIVING ROOM - DAY

We're no longer in rear-projection land: reality has caught up with

Jim. As he walks across the room, he strips off his shirt, shoes,

socks, and finally pants. Left only in his underwear, he walks through

the house and out into the -

EXT. MCALLISTER BACKYARDDAY and flops down in the grass, facing

the sky.

JIM (VO CONT'D)

There were news stories in the paper

and on television, former students

calling with their support, endless

hours of doing nothing, thinking

nothing.

A shadow falls over Jim's face, and a hand offers him a glass of iced

tea. Grateful, JIM takes it, and looks up at -

DIANE, her head blocking the sun.

JIM (VO CONT'D)

Diane stood by me through the entire

humiliating ordeal, in a way, it sort of

evened things out between us.

Diane leaves. JIM looks up at the sky.

JIM (VO CONT'D)

Soon school was over, and summer

stretched out in front of me as it

always had. Funny how the rhythm of the

school year remains ingrained in you for

life. in mid-June we found out Diane was

pregnant.

FADE OUT:

UNDER BLACK we hear the opening bars of a bouncy TIJUANA BRASS SONG.

EXT. METZLER CEMENT PLANT NIGHT

PAUL IS DANCING,

twisting to the music at a PARTY, a giant grin on his face, a big

sombrero with tassels on his head. Behind him we can see an enormous

illuminated GRAVEL CONVEYOR. SUPER-IMPOSED: "ONE YEAR LATER."

PAUL (VO)

Senior year was great I Sure, I didn't

get to play ball or be president, but I

got elected homecoming king and prom

king anyway. I got into Nebraska like I

wanted and early-rushed Phi Delts. At

the end of the year me and my buddies

threw a hitching Mexican party down at

the cement plant. Sh*t, that was a good

party. That was a good party!

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