I Am Sam Page #16

EXT. CARPENTER HOUSE - DUSK

Lucy sits in a ball on the corner of the porch. Her eyes

swollen from crying. Finally, she gets up and moves to the

tiny chair that Randy put out for her. Straightens the easel

and begins to paint.

The front door opens and Randy comes out having washed her

face and hair. Without speaking, Randy straightens her easel

and sits down next to Lucy and begins to paint. Randy and

Lucy paint in silence for a long time. Then -

LUCY:

You're going to send me away now, aren't

you?

RANDY:

(tenderly)

No.

We hear what sounds like a child's hand playing the song

"Here, There and Everywhere..."

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - EVENING

We see SAM sitting at Lucy's miniature toy piano as he plays

with one finger. IN A SERIES OF DISSOLVES, as DAYS and WEEKS

PASS, we see SAM'S HANDS at the PIANO -

INTERCUT:

EXT. CARPENTER HOUSE - DAY

With Lucy and Randy's hands as they PAINT side by side to

Sam's sad melody. Lucy's pictures start ANGRY, angular with

blacks and blues, then GRADUALLY soften and the dark figures

recede. By the END, there is a BRUSHSTROKE of the red of

Randy's smock peeking into the corner of Lucy's picture.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - DAY

We come back to Sam, having withdrawn completely into himself

serenading no one.

INT. LUCY'S BEDROOM - DAY

We see Lucy and Randy sitting on her bed unwrapping the

birthday presents. TIME HAS PASSED. They look close, almost

like a mother and daughter. Lucy finishes unwrapping Sam's

present and we see a stack of ONE HUNDRED DENNY'S NAPKINS.

RANDY:

Oh, he must've forgotten to put the gift

in.

Randy picks up one of Lucy's pictures and moves to the wall.

RANDY (CONT'D)

You know, this wall really needs

something special on it.

Lucy half-smiles and unconsciously begins to fold one of the

Denny's napkins into an origami bird. Then crushes it. Then

cautiously:

LUCY:

What's the longest any one of those kids

stayed with you?

RANDY:

Megan stayed a little over a year.

LUCY:

(averting her eyes)

Did you ever want any of them to stay

longer?

ON RANDY:

Moved herself. Understanding how huge a question this is

coming from this bruised little heart.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - WEEKS LATER - DAY

Sam sits in a dark corner; maniacally folding newspaper into

an odd origami pattern. There's a knock at the door - Sam

doesn't move, he just continues folding his paper.

RITA (O.S.)

Sam it's me! Open up!

He doesn't answer it, just methodically folds.

EXT. SAM'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

Rita stands there impatiently.

RITA:

I don't have time for this! You were

supposed to show up for your first

evaluation. And I leave work early to

get there and where the hell are you?!

Open the door! Sam! Open the goddamn

door!

(nothing)

Alright. If you don't care enough to

open the goddamn door I'm outta here!

I've ruined my practice, I've alienated

my colleagues - I sent my kid off on a

fishing trip with his father so I could

work with you and you won't open your

goddman door for me?! Fine! THAT'S IT!

I've had enough!

She starts down the hall when suddenly she turns and - with

the mastery of a karate black belt - RUNS AND KICKS the door

down.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

Rita bursts through the door and then stops. Sam has created

an origami wall of newspapers, intricately woven together.

A fortress against the world. He keeps folding - doesn't

even look at Rita. He's more far gone than she could

imagine, she walks gingerly to the wall and knocks gently on

it.

RITA:

Sam, it's Rita. Can I come in?

SAM:

No room. No room.

RITA:

Hey. I lived in the East Village. I

don't need a lot of room.

SAM:

Sam makes life too hard. Sam makes life

too hard on everyone.

RITA:

Sam, I can go at least nine more rounds.

But you gotta let me in. Please Sam.

Please.

He pulls out one small brick of origami, opening a window.

RITA (CONT'D)

Thank you. Now I can see your kind

eyes...George told me you needed a break

from work.

SAM:

I don't want to work there anymore. Too

many people.

RITA:

Maybe we could find you a quieter job.

Because remember one of the judges

conditions is you have to earn more

money; you've got to keep earning more

money for when we get you Lucy back.

SAM:

Lucy doesn't need me anymore. She has a

new family. She doesn't need me

anymore.

RITA:

Is that what she said?

SAM:

She didn't have to say it. I may be

stupid, but I know. I know.

RITA:

Well that's the first stupid thing I've

ever heard you say.

Sam looks at her through the window. A CHINK in the wall.

RITA (CONT'D)

Sam, Sam you can get her back. The

court favors reunification. The only

thing that can block you is if the

foster family petitions to adopt. And

from what I've heard, Lucy's making

their life miserable - that's our girl.

Sam, fight for her.

SAM:

I tried. I tried.

RITA:

Try harder.

SAM:

You don't know. You don't know.

RITA:

I don't know?

SAM:

You don't know what it is to try and try

and never get there. You were born

perfect, perfect.

RITA:

Is that right? Everyone else is perfect

but only Sam feels loss and pain?

SAM:

That's right. People like you don't

know.

RITA:

People like me?

SAM:

People like you don't know, don't know

what hurt feels like, people like you

don't feel, don't feel anything.

She slaps him. STUNNED, he slaps her back. STUNNED, she

slaps him again. HE SLAPS HER. She rips the newspaper wall

down.

RITA:

You think you got the market cornered on

human suffering? Well let me tell you

something about "People like me."

People like me feel little and lost and

ugly and dispensable. People like me

have perfect husbands screwing someone

far more perfect than me and my son, my

son hates me, I try too hard and I push

and he knows it and I talk in that

voice, that voice I promised I'd never

use, and I've screamed, I've screamed

horrible things to him, a five year-old

because he doesn't want to get in the

car at the end of a day and he stares at

me with such anger and I hate him then.

I know I'm failing you, I know I'm

disappointing you, I know you deserve

better but get in the f***ing car! It's

like every morning I wake up and fail,

and I look around and anybody, anybody

can pull it off, but somehow I can't.

And I know, I know I have everything,

and I'm still miserable and it's

pathetic. I know it's pathetic. No

matter how hard I try, something about

me will never be enough.

She's crying too hard to continue. He pulls her to him.

Before she realizes what's happening, she's holding him

tightly. He whispers in her ear.

SAM:

You're enough. You're so much more than

enough.

He looks her straight in the eye - she's undone by the

intimacy of the moment, by the strength of his purity. And

staring into his eyes, she begins to sob, walls crumbling.

He kisses her elbow, her shoulder, her forehead, her eyes,

her tears. And something ignites between them - something

confused and scary and deep and filled with a passionate

ache.

SAM (CONT'D)

Lovely Rita...

On a bed of newspaper that was once a wall they come

together, whole again.

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