Hancock Page #10

HANCOCK (CONT'D)

(CONTINUING)

From manure to pure cane sugar. That's

change. Today... you're a boy. Tomorrow,

Mr. Penis comes knocking. Shakes your

hand. Takes you for a walk... and tells

you about life's simple pleasures. You're

a man. And you don't look back..

(BEAT)

You see... things evolve. Nothing is

wholly inert. A step in any direction...

you're walking into pockets of evolution.

That is living... taking those steps. And

change. Can start by changing some

principles.

Blank best describes Aaron's face.

43.

AARON:

Principles?

HANCOCK:

Principles. Here's one; very simple. Just

about all you need to know: a man's got

to do what a man's got to do.

(beat; smokes)

I look at your face, the shiners. You

took a shove and you let it go clean. Not

good. That's a formula for future

abuse... an invitation to the loser's

dance. Letting it go. Walking away.

,(shakes head)

Bad policy. Won't be long 'fore you're

running, looking for a place to hide.

AARON:

What am I suppose to do?

HANCOCK:

You do what is necessary.

AARON:

I wanted... there were three of them.

HANCOCK:

What is necessary.

(HEAT)

Let me tell you something, kid. There was

this infantry unit, you see... badly

outnumbered.

(thinks about it)

Wait, let me put it in kid terms. So you

relate, OK? There's a fox, you relate? A

fox and he's walking through what, the

woods, the forests, right? Next thing the

fox knows, he's staring down a pack of...

hounds. Bloodhounds. And there's this

chase, the fox's running his ass off,

over boulders and through streams and,

but the damn hounds are still on his

tail. Finally the fox comes to this

cliff, a precipice... and it's what, a

seven hundred foot drop onto jagged

rocks. He's in trouble 'cause the hounds

are closing in and they're going to tear

him to pieces. So what does he think...

"I jump and I die for sure. I stay,

confront them and I'll get my ass

butchered." Decision time. He thinks,

"stay and least I'd have something, a

chance.

(MORE)

44.

HANCOCK (CONT'D)

To slip away, maybe." The fox decides to

go down fighting, make a stand. Right?

(BEAT)

The hounds come. What do you think

happens?

AARON:

(thinking about it)

He gets away.

Hancock inhales what's left of his cigarette. Blows smoke.

HANCOCK:

No. The fox gets his ass kicked and

some... I mean ripped apart by the dogs,

like cheap fabric.

AARON:

What're you saying?

HANCOCK:

But you know, when the last hound was

through with him,-and he's walking away,

he hears this noise. It's the fox and

he's muttering something under his

breath... words. The dog goes over. Gets

up close. To hear what he's saying. You

know what the fox's saying... just before

he keels off?

Aaron - negative.

HANCOCK (CONT'D)

(CONTINUING)

Now he's gurgling, choking on his own

blood, right? A massacre. The fox's lying

next to his entrails, you know... and you

know what he says?

(raises his fist in the air)

"No regrets."

AARON:

What?

HANCOCK:

No regrets. You make a decision and you

stick to it. Like a man's got to do. And

"no regrets."

Aaron - submitting it to memory.

AARON:

Why're you telling me all this?

45.

HANCOCK:

(a beat to think)

Look at it this way... I got to do what I

got to do.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET - DAY

Through the street darts Mary, eyes berserk in search for herher

son. She looks at her watch. And up... up ahead, by steps

apartment - Aaron, levitating in air.

Hancock explains this defiance of gravity. He gently lowers

Aaron on the sidewalk, before his mother.

She beckons him. Like a shield, she envelops him with her arms.

She stares up at Hancock - her eyes, stricken with fear. Or

possibly, they were awestruck.

.CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

Horus, in his bed - smothered in slumber.

He begins to stir, wrestling some unseen dream. He wakes, in

defeat.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Close on a TV set, featuring a COMMERCIAL - in mid-hype. A

portly man states his purpose.

His name tag reads - DR. HOLE.

DR. HOLE

at the Hole Institute, our

experienced staff and cutting-edge

technology means you need not spend

another day in discomfort from

hemorrhoidal flare-ups. Also, for anal

fissures, warts, and secondary yeast

infections, the institute is your

complete rectal service clinic.

(BEAT)

And remember, I'm not just the Hole

Institute spokesperson. I'm also a

client.

As Dr. Hole proceeds to exhibit an enlarged PHOTOGRAPH of his

hemorrhoidal tissues, the TV channel changes. A NEWS program, in

progress.

46.

On the living room sofa squats. Hancock, remote in hand.

REPORTER (O.S.)

. more.on the neighborhood robberies in

our next hour.

(BEAT)

World news, today. Hundreds are believed

dead when an explosion ripped through a

crowded market place in...

Hancock staring into footages of bedlam, bloodshed. From the TV

set, maternal CRIES spew forth grief and anguish.

Hancock grabs the remote. Fumbles around for the power button.

He pumps the volume instead - the WAILS intensify his state of

panic, pain.

CLICK. Mary - by the tube, switches off the mayhem. She studies

his reaction, now marked with relief.

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