I Am Sam Page #15

IFTY:

Irreparable.

All eyes TURN to the back of the room. Ifty is there trying

with all his might to help his friend.

IFTY (CONT'D)

Joanne, don't do that, please. Don't do

it twice, not to him. Then Meryl Streep

can't even look at Dustin Hoffman after

that.

TURNER:

Right, "Kramer vs. Kramer." Thank you

for the commentary, Mr. Bhutto. It's

hard to find words isn't it, Mr. Dawson.

It's confusing. It's confusing to know

what to say to Lucy half the time, isn't

it?

Mortified, so uncomfortable in this strange world, so at a

loss how to swim through it, beginning to believe everything

Turner's saying, Sam looks out at the faces in the courtroom.

Rita, stunned and incredulous; Turner and his associate

smirking at him; Ifty, shaking his head; Robert, his face in

his hands; Miss Wright, Margaret Brown, the State's Expert,

almost willing him to fail. Are they right? Are they?

SAM:

No, yes, no.

TURNER:

No what?

SAM:

Let me see let me see let me see.

TURNER:

You don't know what?

SAM:

Yes.

TURNER:

Yes. You're right, you don't know. You

don't know enough to really raise your

daughter?

RITA:

Objection. These aren't questions,

these are attacks.

SAM:

(frantic)

I am Lucy's father.

TURNER:

Are you? Are you really? I'm not

talking about the fact that you got some

homeless woman pregnant.

RITA:

Objection your Honor. I motion a

recess.

JUDGE MCNEILY:

Denied. Get to the question, Mr.

Turner.

TURNER:

The question is if you love your

daughter as much as they say you do

don't you think she deserves more?!

Don't you? In your heart of hearts,

secretly question yourself every day?

Don't you?!

SAM:

Yes.

TURNER:

Was that a "yes?"

RITA:

Objection.

SAM:

Yes. She does. She deserves

everything. In my heart of hearts.

TURNER:

Yes she does. And you agree with

everyone, you can't give her that?

SAM:

(in unbearable pain)

Maybe. Maybe everybody's right.

ON TURNER:

There. He got it.

ON RITA:

Anguished. Watching Sam unravel as he stands up and starts

walking around in a circle in the witness box.

SAM (CONT'D)

No more no more! Let it stop! No more!

No more! No more!

The Judge watches Sam, sad and stunned. The verdict is

obvious. Sam has passed judgement on himself.

EXT. CHILD AND FAMILY PROTECTIVE SERVICES - HALLWAY

Sam, broken, walks down the long hallway with Rita toward

Margaret Brown's office. Suddenly, Rita stops as she and Sam

both see -

LUCY:

Sitting, hopeful on the bench. She searches Sam's face for

the verdict. The minute she sees sorrow in his eyes, she

knows. She runs to him, gluing herself to his chest.

LUCY:

No Daddy! No Daddy! No Daddy!

In a SERIES OF WORDLESS DISSOLVES, they hold each other in

the hallway through the entire forty five minute visit. The

only thing moving is the hands of a large wall clock in the

background. Pained, Margaret reaches for Lucy.

MARGARET BROWN:

C'mon, Lucy. It's time to say goodbye.

LUCY:

NOOOO! Don't let go don't let go don't

let go -

Sam's tears mix with Lucy's as they sob, clinging to each

other. With such fierce love; a parent and a child.

LUCY (CONT'D)

Don't let them Daddy don't let them!

Don't ever let me go!

He can't let her go. That he can't do. Margaret, steel

herself, turns to Rita, no matter how many times she's done

this.

MARGARET BROWN:

Please help me.

Rita, aching from a place she thought she buried long ago,

shakes her head, NO. Now, Margaret literally has to wrench

Lucy away from her father's arms. Lucy bellowing as she

pulls her down the hallway. Sam is frozen in incalculable

pain.

EXT. SAM'S APARTMENT HALLWAY - NIGHT

We hear "Fool on the Hill". We follow a trail of PINK LIQUID

melting down the hall and come to Annie's door where a pile

of grocery bags and newspapers sit in a PUDDLE OF STRAWBERRY

ICE CREAM. Suddenly, the needle SCRAPES LOUDLY across the

record, followed by a mysterious POUNDING against the wall.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

The CAMERA MOVES to the WINDOW. Inside, the lights are dim.

Lucy's HAMMOCK SWINGS EMPTY, ghostlike. Sam, curled into a

ball in Lucy's bare corner, bangs his head over and over

again against the wall, overcome with grief.

INT. DANNY'S ROOM - RITA'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The POUNDING CONTINUES as we see Rita standing in the

doorway, watching her sleeping child. This stranger that

she's raised. She moves to cover him, this tough little boy,

when she sees POOH BEAR tucked under his arm. She tucks them

both in, tenderly.

EXT. CARPENTER HOUSE - DAY

Saturday in idyllic suburbia. Sam, directions and a map in

his hands, tentatively rounds the corner. A small bouquet of

flowers in his hands when he stops - STARING AHEAD AT --

REVERSE ANGLE:

Lucy looking absolutely radiant in a new spring dress. She

stands on the front porch with RANDY, who wears a red smock

and is setting up TWO EASELS AND PAINTS. There's a tiny

chair for Lucy and a tiny chair for her.

CLOSE ON LUCY AND RANDY

The tension in Lucy's face, Randy straining to connect with

her.

RANDY:

Your teacher told me you were an artist.

LUCY:

You wear too much perfume. You're

trying too hard.

RANDY:

I am, aren't I. Maybe you could teach

me how to paint.

LUCY:

My daddy's coming today. We're going to

open my birthday presents. Why don't

you just go do something.

BACK TO SAM:

From where he stands, all he sees is Lucy getting everything

she deserves. He looks down at the tiny bouquet in his hand -

feeling profoundly inadequate, he reaches for some flowers

from a garden he's passing. Puts them in his bouquet. Then

stops. Feels guilty. Tries to put the flowers BACK. He

stares up at Lucy on the porch a few houses away.

Lucy sits on the steps. Randy sits right next to her.

BACK ON SAM:

Where he WAS standing, but is now GONE. The flowers lay in

the dirt. From the porch, Lucy looks out and waits. And

waits. And waits.

INT. STARBUCKS - DAY

It's Saturday. The place is buzzing. Sam listlessly cleans

the tables, without the usual energy and verve. A TODDLER

marches around a table, playing under the adoring gaze of his

parents.

MAN:

Excuse me, my kid knocked over a coffee,

could you clean this up?

Sam sees a FAMILY at a table covered with spilled coffee.

MAN (CONT'D)

I said I need a refill and a towel over

here.

SAM:

(snapping)

You need a towel? A refill? A glass of

water? You need more than you already

have? You have everything -

(all his fury and frustration)

Everything. But it's not enough. Take

my daughter, too!

Sam's out of control, the whole shop stares at him as he

backs into a shelf of MUGS he so carefully arranged. They

CRASH onto the floor.

SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. CARPENTER PORCH - DAY

Paints and brushes go FLYING across the porch as Lucy KNOCKS

THEM OVER. Totally out of control.

LUCY:

You gave him the wrong address! You're

hiding me from him!

As Randy reaches for her, Lucy pours black paint on her.

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