Fargo Page #2

MOE:

Dad said I could get pie for lunch.

MICKEY:

(snickers)

Ya. Hair pie.

Sam WACKS Mickey in the back of the head. Moe cracks up.

Oblivious, Lester stares at the washer dryer. Walking by,

Hess recognizes him.

SAM HESS:

(stopping)

Will ya look at that. It’s Lester

Niggered.

Lester turns, sees Hess. It takes a moment for him to

recognize him, but when he does he looks nervous.

6.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

LESTER NYGAARD:

Come on now, Sam. It’s -- well,

it’s Nygaard. Same as in high

school.

MICKEY:

You went to high school with Lester

Niggered, dad?

MOE:

Ya, dad, did you --

SAM HESS:

Shut up. How you been, Lester?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Oh, can’t complain.

SAM HESS:

You look like a damn pumpkin. You

turn into a pumpkin at midnight?

You got stepsisters?

MICKEY:

Stepsisters were evil, dad. They

weren’t fairies.

SAM HESS:

Shutup.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Um, uh. You look good, Sam.

SAM HESS:

Why wouldn’t I? Got my own

trucking company now. Hess and

Sons. These are the sons. God help

me.

MICKEY:

Yeah, we’re the ...

SAM HESS:

Shutup. Got rigs all over the

Great Lakes.

(to his sons)

Hey, you remember I told you the

story of the boy I put in the oil

drum and rolled onto the highway?

MICKEY:

Is that him, dad?

7.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

MOE:

Ya, dad. Is that him?

SAM HESS:

Oh you betcha. Good old Lester

pencil dick. Say, Lester. What

was the name of that girl you went

with in high school? The curvy

one?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Pearl.

SAM HESS:

Ya, Pearl. What a rack on that

girl.

MOE:

(to Mickey)

Dad’s saying she had big titties.

MICKEY:

I know what rack means, ya fairy.

Hess smacks both boys in the back of the head.

MICKEY (CONT’D)

Ow.

MOE:

Ya, dad. Ow.

SAM HESS:

(to Lester)

You know she gave me a tug once.

Homecoming, senior year. Had these

nice fat hands. Real soft. Let me

feel up her tits while she did it.

LESTER NYGAARD:

We’re married now. Going on

eighteen years.

Sam is taken off guard by this. The kids crack up.

MICKEY:

Oh, dad. That’s embarrassing.

MOE:

Ya, dad. Super embarrassing.

Hess’s eyes narrow. His face is burning and he doesn’t like

the feeling.

8.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

SAM HESS:

Eighteen years, huh? That’s

something.

(beat)

Never knew what she saw in you,

really.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Oh, well --

SAM HESS:

I mean, help me out. No looks. Or

brains. Or money.

Lester can tell he’s in danger.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Ya. Well. I should get back to it.

But Hess moves in front of Lester.

SAM HESS:

A little guy like you.

MICKEY:

He’s real small dad.

MOE:

A real pee wee.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Ha. Ya. Real good seeing you, Sam.

Real good. And meeting your boys.

But Hess won’t let him go

SAM HESS:

(to his sons)

Did I ever tell you how I used to

beat this little guy up in high

school? I’d write my name on my

fist in Sharpie fore I punched him,

so everyone would know who did it.

MICKEY:

That’s a good one, dad.

MOE:

Ya, dad. A real good one.

Hess lifts his fist, shows Lester.

SAM HESS:

Remember?

9.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

LESTER NYGAARD:

Ha. Ya. That was -- a long time

ago.

Slowly, Hess moves his fist right in front of Lester’s face,

enjoying his fear. Lester stands there, humiliated, not

knowing what to do. Hating his helplessness, his base

cowardice.

Then Hess drops his fist and smiles to show it’s all just a

big joke. Lester starts to relax. Then HESS FAKES A PUNCH.

Lester panics, turns and RUNS FACE FIRST into the PLATE GLASS

WINDOW of the appliance store -- CRACK! He falls to the

ground, lays on his back.

MICKEY:

Geez, dad. His face is pretty

messed up.

MOE:

Ya, dad. It’s real messed up.

CLOSE UP OF LESTER’S FACE

As he lays there, his nose broken and bleeding, staring up at

the sky. Beat. We PULL OUT and discover we are now in ...

INT. WAITING ROOM. HOSPITAL. SAINT CLOUD, MN - DAY

Lester, now sitting, lifts an ice pack to his nose. He is on

a bench in the emergency room. And just as we realize this,

we see that sitting next to him is LORNE MALVO, a nasty

bruise and cut on his forehead from the car crash.

Lester lowers the ice pack. Beat.

LESTER NYGAARD:

What a day.

(to a passing nurse)

Excuse me, miss. Do ya think --

will it be much longer? This thing

hurts like the dickens.

NURSE:

We’ll call your name.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Ya, but I been here an hour

already.

NURSE:

We’ll call your name.

10.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

She walks away. Lester opens a soda, tries to drink, but it

hurts too much. He puts the soda down.

MALVO:

Could I have a sip?

Lester turns. Malvo is looking at him.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Heck, take the whole can. I can’t

drink the darn thing without a

straw.

He hands Malvo the soda. Malvo tips it back and drains it.

Lester tries not to stare at Malvo’s head injury.

MALVO:

Obliged.

(puts down the can)

What happened to your nose?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Oh, well. That was just -- a

misunderstanding.

MALVO:

Is that you misunderstanding the

other fella, or him

misunderstanding you?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Pardon?

MALVO:

Who misunderstood whom?

LESTER NYGAARD:

No. What I’m saying is -- it’s not

good to dwell on these things.

MALVO:

Why?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Pardon?

MALVO:

Why is not good to dwell on things?

Especially things that put you in

the hospital.

Beat. Lester doesn’t know what to say. Malvo watches him.

11.

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

LESTER NYGAARD:

It was -- I was outnumbered if you

wanna know the truth. Three to

one. Big guys too. Well, one of

them. The other two were just

kids. But big fer their age.

(beat, getting worked up)

Ya know -- if I was any kind of man

-- I’da shown that Sam what’s what.

MALVO:

Sam?

LESTER NYGAARD:

Hess. He was a bully in high

school and he’s a bully now.

MALVO:

So why didn’t you?

(off Lester)

Show him what’s what.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Well, his, uh, he had his sons with

him, and --

MALVO:

So you let a man beat you in front

of his children. To send them a

message.

LESTER NYGAARD:

No. That’s not --

(frustrated)

Heck. Just -- heck.

MALVO:

In my experience, you let a man

break your nose, next time he’ll

try to break your spine.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Sam? No way. I mean, I don’t think.

It’s just -- I guess I embarrassed

him in front of his boys.

MALVO:

You embarrassed him.

LESTER NYGAARD:

By -- he was telling me about a

time when he and my wife -- see,

they --

(gesturing)

12.

(MORE)

TV Calling - For educational purposes only

-- but he didn’t know she was my

wife, is the thing. And when I

told him --

MALVO:

A man slept with your wife, and

you’re worried you embarrassed him.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Not slept with -- they didn’t -- he

said it was just -- she has soft

hands, see? -- and I --

MALVO:

Mister, we’re not friends. Maybe

one day we will be. But I gotta

say, if that was me -- in your

position -- I woulda killed that

man.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Well, now. Hold on.

MALVO:

You said he bullied you in high

school?

LESTER NYGAARD:

(reluctantly)

Four years. Gave me an ulcer.

(humiliated)

One time he put me in an oil barrel

and rolled me in the road.

MALVO:

Seriously?

(Lester nods)

And now he tells you he had

relations with your wife. Then

bullies you again in front of his

children. Friend, this is not a

man who deserves to draw breath.

Beat. All the humiliation and pain Lester has suffered

threatens to bubble up.

LESTER NYGAARD:

Ya. Okay. But here’s the thing --

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