Elle Page #8

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H.L.NE

No, no, it’s fine. This is great.

It’s great to finally meet you. Iwas thinking... I was hoping...

41.

MICHELLE:

At least, Richard won’t have to

introduce us now. We got theawkwardness out of the way.

H.L.NE

Was there awkwardness?

MICHELLE:

Well...

H.L.NE

I mean, of course, I’m sure there

would be... I guess there is... was.

MICHELLE:

But we’ve survived it.

H.l.ne smiles. Another awkward beat.

H.L.NE

We should get together some time.

MICHELLE:

We should... In fact, I’m having aChristmas party next week. Youshould come. You have to come.

H.L.NE

(smiling)

If I have to.

MICHELLE:

I’ll call Richard and give him allthe details... Anyway, I should letyou get back...

H.L.NE

Well, very nice to meet you.

(seeing Michelle,

sweating, almost faint)

Would you like some water?

MICHELLE:

I’m fine, thanks. Very nice to meet

you.

Michelle gets out of there as fast as she can.

42.

54 INT. A-V OFFICES -- DAY 54

As soon as Michelle steps off the elevator, she notes thechanged atmosphere in the office. Her co-workers seem to lookaway quickly whenever she looks at them.

55 INT. MICHELLE’S OFFICE -- DAY 55

Michelle’s secretary sticks her head in.

SECRETARY:

Vincent called. He was calling fromPort Royal.

MICHELLE:

The hospital?

56 INT. HOSPITAL -- DAY 56

Michelle anxiously moves down the corridor, looking in roomsshe passes, getting little glimpses of mortality.

Vincent meets his mother out in the hall. A nervous wreck,

he’s still wearing his McDonald’s uniform. A very tall, dark-

skinned young man wearing a McDonald’s uniform stands by.

Inside the room, Josie starts screaming at a NURSE.

JOSIE (OFF)

Don’t tell me what the doctor told

me, b*tch! I know what the doctor

told me!

VINCENT:

She had blood in her underwear so

we came to the emergency room. Theyjust did an ultra-sound. They sayshe had a... a placenta...

The other kid in the McDonald’s uniform speaks up

MCDONALD’S KID

Placental abruption.

VINCENT:

They say everything’s ok butthey’re going to induce labor...

This is Omar.

MICHELLE:

Hello.

McDonald’s kid nods back. Richard arrives.

43.

VINCENT:

Dad!

RICHARD:

No news?

Vincent anxiously shakes his head. Father and son embrace.

57 INT. HOSPITAL - VENDING MACHINES -- MOMENTS LATER 57

Michelle inserts a dollar in a coffee machine. The bill is

noisily rejected.

RICHARD:

Suddenly we’re having a Christmas

party?

MICHELLE:

I thought we should meet. She’s

lovely, by the way.

Richard doesn’t believe this for a second. Michelle finishes

smoothing out her bill, inserts it again. Again, rejection.

RICHARD:

The whole thing sounds like one of

your little traps.

MICHELLE:

I’ve got bigger things to worry

than plotting diabolical Christmas

dinners... By the way, is there

anything she won’t eat? Any

allergies? Marty’s shedding like

crazy.

Richard’s skeptical. The machine makes its irritating SOUNDas it keeps rejecting the bill. He takes out his wallet.

RICHARD:

I never said a word when you went

with that violinist.

MICHELLE:

You know the difference! He was

married. With three kids. He had

all the requisite qualities. But

her... She’s a young, single woman

of child-bearing age. You broke the

rules.

44.

Richard puts his own bill in machine. It’s accepted.

RICHARD:

If we had an agreement like that,

you should’ve told me. It’s not myfault...

MICHELLE:

It is your fault. We should stillbe together. It is your fault.

RICHARD:

You left me, Michelle.

MICHELLE:

You hit me.

The words chill the air between them. She takes her coffee.

RICHARD:

If there’s one thing in my life Icould take back...

Vincent finds them, excited...

VINCENT:

It’s here!

58 INT. HOSPITAL - MATERNITY WARD -- DAY 58

Michelle, Richard, and Omar look at the brand new, lightlydark-skinned BABY, being held up by the Nurse on the otherside of the glass. Reverent silence till-

MICHELLE:

There’s going to have to be a DNA

test.

The others look askance at Michelle. She doesn’t notice, or

at least acts like she doesn’t.

59 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM -- DAY 59

Vincent slips an ice cube between the pale lips of Josie whooffers a wan smile and chews.

JOSIE:

Are they bringing him in?

VINCENT:

Right now.

45.

She gets suddenly emotional. Tears in her eyes.

JOSIE:

Everything’s going to be good for

him. I’m going to be good for him.

VINCENT:

What are you talking about? You’re

perfect.

That makes her start to out and out cry. The mid-wife rollsin the baby in an incubator. Josie brightens immediately.

Vincent spontaneously gives his father a big hug. He thenturns to Michelle and starts to hug her too but then holdsback as if remembering not to, just giving her a smileinstead.

Michelle watches as the baby is handed to Josie who seems alittle disconcerted as it starts crying.

VINCENT (CONT’D)

Guess he’s hungry.

Josie looks around at everyone in the room, seeminguncharacteristically shy.

VINCENT (CONT’D)

We’ll give you a minute.

Josie looks at Michelle. Her expression turns resolute,

defiant.

JOSIE:

No. It’s alright.

Josie bears a breast and we now see what she was abashed

about:
a crude and truly ugly tattoo, a banner over a fadedheart with the name ‘ERIC’. Josie doesn’t avert her eyes fromMichelle, silently communicating she knows it’s a legacy ofpast stupidity and daring Michelle to say anything about it.

60 EXT. HOSPITAL -- NIGHT 60

Michelle smokes a cigarette by the breezeway. The Nurse isout here too. Michelle trades smiles with her.

MICHELLE:

I had him here in this same

hospital- my son.

NURSE:

That’s amazing.

46.

MICHELLE:

Not really. But what is a little

amazing, I guess, is that my friend

Anna... you met her?

NURSE:

I did.

MICHELLE:

She had her baby here the same

night. This is where we met. Her

child was still-born. She asked if

she could breast-feed my baby.

NURSE:

Oh my.

MICHELLE:

I said “go ahead.” I wonder about

that - they’ve always been

exceptionally close, Anna and my

son. I wonder if some kind of

imprinting took place. Like with

ducks. On the other hand, myself-

sometimes, I look at Vincent, this

inconsequential lout I squeezed out

of my own body and realize I don’t

know him at all.

Michelle notices the tall, turbaned McDonald’s kid exitingthe hospital. He throws Michelle a cheerful wave in passing.

Michelle directs the Nurse’s attention to him with a nod.

MICHELLE (CONT’D)

He’s got a bounce in his step.

You’re something of an expert- does

he have the air of a new father?

The nurse isn’t sure what Michelle is implying, so she justsmiles.

MICHELLE (CONT’D)

See? I don’t know anything I should

know. Like telling Anna “go ahead,”

all those years ago - was that what a

normal woman would have done? There

are just some things I never learned.

61 INT. MICHELLE’S CAR -- NIGHT 61

Almost every house on her street has its colorful Xmas lightsup now. Approaching her driveway, Michelle stops, seeing aPRIVATE SECURITY CAR in the middle of the street.

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