Hero Page #22

BERNIE:

(actually stops, faces

her)

You whaaaaaat? You paid it? You

gave a bondsman ten percent?

DONNA:

I was inspired by the hero, how he

stuck his neck out for others, how

he took a chance...

BERNIE:

(apoplectic)

That fake inspired you to loan a

guy who's been fired off his job

twenty-five hundred goddamn dollars?

A guy you say is probably gonna do

time! You're s'posed to be an

attorney for Chrissake! You're

s'posed to have good judgment!

DONNA:

(fighting tears)

Well, as you like to point out,

Mister LaPlante, I'm relatively

inexperienced. My naivete may have

worked to your benefit in this

instance.

BERNIE frowns at that, starts walking again.

BERNIE:

Well, you're right, I'm glad you

got me out, I appreciate that.

BERNIE charges out the door, exiting the building with DONNA

right behind him.

EXT. HALL OF JUSTICE - DAY

Hurrying down the steps, BERNIE barks over his shoulder at

DONNA.

BERNIE:

Listen, now that I owe you

twenty-five hundred bucks plus, how

about loaning me twenty for cab

fare?

DONNA:

So you can call me "naive," Mister

LaPlante.

BERNIE:

Hey, you could call me "Bernie,"

forget the "Mister LaPlante" stuff.

(seeing Donna open her

wallet)

You are naive.

DONNA:

I read the probation report. It's

not good. I think you're going...

going to prison, Mister... Bernie.

I know that scares you but..

BERNIE:

TAXI! HEY, TAXI!

(turning on her)

Well, at least I'm gonna get my

goddamn million bucks.

(screaming at a cab)

TAXI FOR CHRISSAKE!

A cab pulls to the curb and BERNIE jumps in, talking.

BERNIE:

I seen on the TV where that

do-gooder a**hole's gonna go visit

sick kids at three-thirty.

(to the Cabbie)

Children's Hospital, on the double.

DONNA:

(alarmed)

You mean John Bubber?

BERNIE speaks out the window of the cab as it pulls away.

BERNIE:

(then, through the

window)

That bozo don't just owe me a

million bucks for my shoe, he's a

goddamn menace! Look what he done

to you! He's makin' people insane.

He's a whacko, he' gotta be stopped.

Stunned, DONNA watches the cab disappear in traffic with BERNIE

raving from the open window.

EXT. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - LATER (DAY)

Limos are parked out front of the hospital and there is a

gathering of TV vans as BERNIE exits a cab and charges toward

the entrance of the hospital, a tiny figure dwarfed by the huge

building. He disappears inside.

INT. CORRIDOR/CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

We discover BERNIE wandering around, lost. A NURSE gives him

a glance in passing and BERNIE suddenly is aware that his

appearance is unusual. Disheveled. Unshaven. He tries to

smooth his hair a little as he turns into a doorway.

INT. SPECIAL CHILDREN'S WARD/CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Stepping through the door BERNIE is immediately horror stricken.

Rows of beds. A room full of seriously SICK CHILDREN. Palsied.

Eyes out of sync. Motor disorders, spasms. Terrifying

paraphenalia... tubes, machines, monitors, bags of fluid. A

place of sUffering. To BERNIE it's a vision of a leper colony!

A SEVEN YEAR OLD spots him, clutches at him with clawlike hands,

jerky movements.

BERNIE recoils in horror, backing away.

A FIVE YEAR OLD, "blinded" by the gauze wrapped around his face

"looks" toward BERNIE and speaks.

"BLIND" CHILD'S VOICE (O.S.)

Is that him? Is he here yet, Miss

Roberts?

An EIGHT YEAR OLD with a bandaged arm responds, looking at

BERNIE.

EIGHT YEAR OLD:

Naw, it's just some guy.

A nurse MISS ROBERTS, appears from behind a curtain suddenly

and restrains the SEVEN YEAR OLD as she addresses BERNIE...

MISS ROBERTS:

Excuse me, sir. Can I help you?

BERNIE:

Uh, well I... what I...

Looks "wrong," acts "wrong." Looks like a child molester!

MISS ROBERTS:

You'll have to leave, ,sir. This

ward is off limits. If you want

to arrange a visit...

Just then a couple of CAMERAMEN back through the door shooting.

It's the head end of an entourage of REPORTERS, CAMERAMEN,

HOSPITAL PERSONNEL and a couple of SECURITY GUYS that are

traveling with BUBBER.

BERNIE is bumped backward by a CAMERAMAN just as he sees BUBBER

enter surrounded by MEDIA PEOPLE.

BERNIE'S P.O.V.

seeing BUBBER unhesitatingly reach out to the grotesque SEVEN

YEAR OLD and lift him into is arms, eyes shining with warmth,

smiling genuinely like he likes picking up hideous looking kids.

ANGLE ON MISS ROBERTS

tapping one of the SECURITY OFFICERS on the shoulder and

indicating BERNIE to him.

ANGLE ON BERNIE:

remembering why he's here. It's not going to be as easy as he

thought. He starts to move through the entourage looking very

out of place.

BERNIE:

Excuse me, pal. Uh, couldja lemmee

through here? Thanks I...

THE SECURITY OFFICER is suddenly between BERNIE and his

destination.

SECURITY OFFICER

You gotta press pass, sir?

BERNIE:

Press pass? Uh, hey, I lost it.

Listen...

ANGLE ON BUBBER:

holding the SEVEN YEAR OLD. Smiling broadly, the child radiates

joy in the warmth of BUBBER'S embrace, his grotesqueness

miraculously minimized by his mood.

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