Game 6 Page #3

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NICKY:

I never see you anymore. Where are

you all day?

LAUREL:

I go to college. I thought you

knew.

NICKY:

Do you want to get some coffee?

LAUREL:

I don't drink coffee, Daddy. And

this is not what we should be

talking about.

NICKY:

What do you want to talk about?

I'll talk about anything. What's

this?

Nicky lifts a small radio and headset out of her bag.

LAUREL:

I'm seeing your play tonight,

remember?

NICKY:

Why do you need a radio?

LAUREL:

So at the intermission I can listen

to the ball game. Do you know that

mother is seeing a prominent

divorce lawyer?

NICKY:

That's completely crazy.

LAUREL:

Is it?

NICKY:

Don't talk like that. How

prominent? What are you implying?

LAUREL:

She's doing like those Iranians. `I

divorce thee. I divorce thee. I

divorce thee'

NICKY:

(indicating driver)

And he hears it the same time I

hear it? What happened to family

secrets?

Driver's nameplate ---

TABATTABI:

ABULHASSAN:

LAUREL:

Mother is totally, you know, upset.

NICKY:

Abulhassas, we'll be getting out

here.

Nicky pays the driver.

EXT. THE STREET

Nicky stands alongside the first taxi and pays his original

driver. Laurel reluctantly exits the second taxi.

INT. COFFEE SHOP

47th Street between First and Second Avenue.

Nicky and Laurel enter the coffee shop they are greeted by

the owner, a hefty Greek named GEORGE.

GEORGE:

Nicky, you don't come in for a

while. Everything's okay?

NICKY:

Hello George. You're so healthy and

thick-bodied I want to punch you in

the chest. This is my daughter

Laurel. Just to hear the sound it

makes.

GEORGE:

I saw your picture in the paper.

Two papers.

NICKY:

That means they're getting ready to

kill me.

GEORGE:

That's not what I hear. I have

four, five actors working here.

`His best play since "Yessiree Bob"

I'm telling you, they say it.

LAUREL:

He doesn't want to hear it.

He leads them toward a booth.

INT. COFFEE SHOP - LATER

Nicky is launched into a full breakfast. Laurel has a tea bag

in a cup -- no water.

NICKY:

If lawyers for the mob are called

controversial, why are divorce

lawyers called prominent?

LAUREL:

Because they get outstanding

settlements. And Mother is

determined that this time there's

no turning back.

NICKY:

I just had breakfast with her. She

didn't say a word about this.

A young waiter recognizes Nicky and unobtrusively points him

out to another waiter.

LAUREL:

Because you refuse to believe she's

serious. You've always refused.

NICKY:

Don't be so steely-eyed. It's that

course you're taking in

criminology.

LAUREL:

Oh please. Not now.

(beat)

She wants you to stop seeing What's-

Her-Name. Finally. Now and forever.

Do you think that's too much to

ask? For a wife of nineteen years.

NICKY:

You're too young to be studying

criminal behavior. It's making you

obsessive.

LAUREL:

She is kicking you out.

NICKY:

Your mother and I have something

between us that's too strong to

damage permanently. Believe me, I

know this. That's right, nineteen

years. And what about the days and

minutes? Sharing small moments,

sharing memories, raising a

beautiful child. We're wedded in

the deepest and strongest ways.

Lillian isn't only my wife. She's

my best friend.

Nicky shrugs.

LAUREL:

Bullshit, Daddy.

INT. COFFEE SHOP - NEAR THE CASH REGISTER - LATER

Nicky and Laurel stand on a short line at the cash register,

each holding a check.

LAUREL:

Mother won't tell me how long

you've been seeing this person.

She's embarrassed to tell me. So

why don't you tell me?

NICKY:

Don't call her Mother all the time.

It makes her sound tragic and

unforgiving. What happened to Mom?

LAUREL:

I didn't turn her into Mother. You

did.

NICKY:

This person and I are a thing of

the total past. I promise you.

Nicky takes Laurel's check away from her, intending to pay

himself.

Laurel snatches it back.

LAUREL:

Know what Mother said to me?

Daddy's demons are so intense he

doesn't even know he's lying.

EXT. THE STREET

Bank towers. The Bank of India, Banco di Napoli, Bear

Stearns, the Bank of New York, The Chemical Bank,

Manufacturers Hanover. A sense of real institutions looming

over the busy street. The bank names engraved on bronze

markers, carved in granite, incised on glass.

Street level. A glimpse of the bronze statue called "Taxi on

Park Avenue" -- a man with and attache case and raincoat,

hailing a cab. The real people hailing cabs, well-dressed men

and women striding along with briefcases -- purposeful,

successful.

INT. TAXI

Nicky rides again.

NICKY:

It's life, it's taxis. People

trying to make contacts, make

deals, meet their lovers. Taxis are

sexy. You can't have Manhattan

without taxis. I was proud of my

taxi. I kept my taxi clean.

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