I Am Sam Page #2

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - 9 P.M.

Sam paces, carrying Lucy who screams at the top of her lungs.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - 11:25 P.M.

Sam rocks the CRYING BABY in the hammock. He's exhausted,

but she's just getting started. He puts another blanket on

her.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - 1:30 A.M.

Peace. A punch-drunk Sam lays the sleeping baby into the

cradle as if she were a bomb that might detonate.

He tiptoes, his FIST raised victoriously - "YES!" He doesn't

get two steps before Lucy wakes screaming. Defeated, he

picks her up. HELP. The PHONE RINGS. HE PRESSES speaker.

RASPY WOMAN (O.S.)

What the hell are you doing to that

baby?!

He looks out his window and sees ANNIE CASSELL, his neighbor

on the phone, watching him through her window. She is a

strange creature with very thick glasses. We sense a

uniquely profound intelligence behind all that armor.

SAM:

Everything's so tiny, tiny. Tiny.

Everything. Won't you please come over?

Help. I need somebody. Won't you

please please help me.

ANNIE:

You know I can't do that. What does her

mother say?

SAM:

Her mother? Her mother said "This isn't

my life. I'm outta here when she comes.

It didn't mean anything, Sam. It was

just one night. The two of you. That's

all I need..." Annie, what if she's

sick?

EXT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

ANNIE has her door open a crack. Annie feels the baby's

forehead. Lucy stares up at her, quiet now, fascinated.

ANNIE:

She's overheated and not eating enough.

How often are you feeding her?

SAM:

A lot, Gerber, Carnation, Gerber.

ANNIE:

What's a lot?

SAM:

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Three

squares hot.

ANNIE:

Babies need food every two hours, Sam.

SAM:

Oh. I'm sorry Lucy Diamond.

ANNIE:

What time does the little diamond wake

up?

SAM:

She never really goes to sleep.

ANNIE:

Okaaaay. Well, let's assume she's up at

six. Keep your TV on Nickelodeon. I

want you to feed her first while

"Bewitched" is on. Then again, when

"Hogan's Heroes" starts. After that,

well until "Father Knows Best..."

CUT:

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - EVENING

We are watching "Hogan's Heroes". We hear SHULTZ'S INFAMOUS

RESPONSE:
"I know nothing, absolutely nothing!" Sam feeds a

content Lucy.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - LATER

"Father Knows Best" on TV. Lucy blissfully falls asleep in

Sam's arms. Euphoric, he tiptoes to the cradle and places

her ever so gently, when suddenly, the FRONT DOOR FLIES OPEN.

Sam's BEST FRIENDS DESCEND inside: IFTY, a Pakistani

gentlemen with a gentle face and a wide smile, carrying a

large stuffed giraffe with a bow on it. BRAD, who sees

himself as a real ladies man, in tight jeans and a Farrah

Fawcett T-shirt; and ROBERT, highly paranoid, thinks the

world's out to get him. Lucy WAILS. Sam RUNS to the CRIB.

SAM:

What are you doing here now?! Her first

sound sleep, not a sound, not a sound.

BRAD:

Eight years every Thursday Video Night

and you forgot?!

SAM:

Oh my god, Video Night. First Thursday

of the month. Video night at Sam's

house. I'm sorry, I forgot.

IFTY:

Becca's gone. "Gone with the Wind" is a

very sad movie.

ROBERT:

Oh here we go...Everything changes now.

Soon you'll forget about Wednesday night

Denny's and Friday night Karaoke. And I

got hit by a car today.

SAM:

You did?

ROBERT:

It's probably that guy from the V.A.

BRAD:

What guy?

ROBERT:

(closing window)

I can't discuss it. And now this.

Ifty makes ORIGAMI BIRDS out of newspapers. Lucy's rapt.

SAM:

She looks smart, doesn't she?

IFTY:

Of course, look. She's already reading

the newspaper. I have five smart

sisters in Pakistan. I am only brother.

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" was a

wonderful movie I forgot to bring last

week for Video Night...

BRAD:

Did you get "Blade Runner" for tonight?

ROBERT:

Now it's all my fault?!

BRUCE:

Don't tell me you forgot again. I broke

a date with a daydream to come here.

There's a knock at the door. Ifty goes to get it. Brad

moans when he sees his 65 YEAR OLD MOTHER, ESTELLE, standing

in the doorway.

BRAD:

Mom! I told you Video Night's over at

nine! It's only six-thirty!

ESTELLE:

(unaware of the baby)

Sorry. I'll wait in the lobby.

She exits. Lucy begins to CRY. Brad takes her - like a hot

potato, Robert takes her - now Ifty runs around in circles.

IFTY:

She needs motion. My father drove my

sisters in his taxi to get them to go to

sleep. Two-fifty surcharge on all

taxi's from the airport...

ROBERT:

I got hit by a taxi on Tuesday.

And it all starts again and we --

CUT TO:

EXT. BUS - NIGHT

An empty bus makes its way through the city at night.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

BUS DRIVER:

Main and Temple...again. She out yet?

The camera moves along and stops on the long seat at the

back. Sam lies with Lucy spooned into the crook of his arm,

almost asleep.

SAM:

Almost there, almost there. One more

round and she'll be down for the night.

We hear the song "Golden Slumbers". In a SERIES OF

DISSOLVES, we see Lucy and Sam in DIFFERENT SLEEPING

POSITIONS on the bus seat. Gradually, she GROWS in HIS

PROTECTIVE EMBRACE --

ONE MONTH, THEN TWO. NOW FIVE. She's BIG AND ROUND at SIX

MONTHS. And on and on into the night...

INT. WALMART'S PHOTO BOOTH - DAY

We see Sam and Lucy CRAMMED into the booth, wearing birthday

hats, taking HER FIRST BIRTHDAY picture. We see the PHOTO

STRIP as it comes out of the slot. Sam's shoulder with

Lucy's ear - Lucy's nose with Sam's elbow, their faces never

made it into the picture.

INT. STARBUCKS - 8:30 A.M.

The place is packed. Sam moves from table to table,

cleaning.

SAM:

Double macciatto, low foam, low-fat.

Good choice, very good choice.

Sam turns and WE SEE LUCY attached to him in a handmade

snugly, crocheted by Annie. She faces outward, all hands,

all 16 MONTHS of her; too big for the snugly. She grabs a

croissant from a customer. George looks confused. Then

makes a SWIPE for a customer's coffee, knocking it to the

ground. It SPLATTERS all over an anorexic, on-her-fourth

double-latte WOMAN in a designer exercise outfit. She begins

shrieking. George looks at Sam, this can't go on.

INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY - MORNING

Sam, Lucy by his side, has his foot in Annie's door.

SAM:

Please, Annie! She's too big to take to

work.

ANNIE:

I'm not a baby-sitter. I'm too busy.

LUCY:

Annie, Annie, Annie...

ANNIE:

(suspicious)

Did you teach her that?

SAM:

It was her first word. Very first word.

Annie opens the door, takes Lucy's hand, and pulls her in.

ANNIE:

And people worry you're not smart.

INT. ANNIE'S APARTMENT - ONE WEEK LATER

The apartment looks like a fallout shelter. The kitchen

contains enough canned goods to last a year. Brightly

colored crocheted doilies - Annie's hobby - adorn every

available surface. The BRIGHTLY COLORED WEB of an

AGORAPHOBE.

Lucy sits in Annie's lap, getting her first piano lesson. WE

SEE LUCY'S TINY FINGERS on the keys. In a SERIES OF

DISSOLVES, it is joined by Annie's hand tapping out one note,

now two notes, and as the weeks pass, a chord. Until finally

the notes merge to become the most unlikely duet of "Twinkle,

Twinkle, Little Star".

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