I Am Sam Page #4

The game continues. The GOALIE'S FATHER, DUNCAN RHODES,

handsome, commanding and dressed in a suit, calls to his son:

MR. RHODES

C'mon, Conner! On your toes! They're

all counting on you!

Conner tenses up, alert under the pressure. Meanwhile, down

at the other end, the ball heads toward Lucy. She kicks it!

Hard. Right into her team's own goal. The crowd GROANS.

SAM:

Hurray, Lucy! You're getting the hang

of it now! You've got them scared now!

Lucy's bursting with confidence, plows toward the ball and

NAILS IT! The ball goes flying. The parents in the stand

are completely baffled! Sam is completely ecstatic!

SAM (CONT'D)

L-u-c-y! That's our battlecry!

The ball heads into the goal, just passing the goalie,

Conner. Sam runs to embrace Lucy when he hears Duncan

reaming his son --

MR. RHODES

The whole game was right in front of

your nose! I leave work early to watch

you blow the whole game!?

Conner slouches against the fence as his father walks away.

Seeing this, Sam whispers to Lucy.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - AFTERNOON

A child's hand double jumps across a checker board.

CONNER (O.S.)

Ha!

Lucy and Conner are playing checkers while Sam cooks dinner.

Two carrots cut into ten pieces. Bow Tie Pasta - 35 pieces

each.

CONNER (CONT'D)

What's wrong with your father? Why's he

acting like a retard?

LUCY:

He is.

Their hands graze against each other on the check board - he

pulls his hand away.

CONNER:

Are you?

LUCY:

No.

CONNER:

Are you sure?

LUCY:

Yeah.

CONNER:

How do you know?

LUCY:

He told me.

CONNER:

But he's a retard.

LUCY:

Yeah well it takes one to know one!

He crowns her - her eyes shift to Sam in the kitchen, for the

first time a bit uneasily.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Sam's reading Lucy her homework book.

SAM:

"They perched in sisisi..."

LUCY:

"Silence."

SAM:

"...silence for a long time." Boy.

Your teacher chose a hard book this

time. "How can we be so difdifdif..."

LUCY:

"Different."

Sam glances up at Lucy self-consciously. Lucy grabs the book

from Sam, tosses it on the pile and picks up another.

LUCY (CONT'D)

I don't like that book - let's read

"Green Eggs and Ham".

Relieved, Sam plunges into the book, which is more memorized

than read.

SAM:

"I am Sam, Sam I am. Do you like green

eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam I

am!"

They both laugh, delighted. Lucy looks sleepy.

MATCH DISSOLVE:

Lucy is getting drowsy. Sam is just getting started.

SAM (CONT'D)

"And I will eat them here and there.

Say I will eat them ANYWHERE. I do so

like green eggs and ham, thank you thank

you, Sam I am!" One more time!

LUCY:

Daddy, I have school tomorrow...I don't

wanna be too sleepy.

SAM:

Just the part about the boat and the

goat in the rain in the train?

LUCY:

Daddy, Hamburger Hamlet has twelve

different kinds of hamburgers. Can we

go there Wednesday instead of Denny's?

SAM:

But Wednesday night's Denny's,

Thursday's Video Night, Friday Night

Karaoke.

Lucy nods, a little deflated.

SAM (CONT'D)

How about one more time, just the

beginning? "I am Sam, Sam I am..."

Lucy sighs and closes her eyes against her father's chest.

INT. CLASSROOM - DAY

Lucy draws a picture while everyone reads aloud from

"STELLALUNA".

MISS WRIGHT:

Lucy, your turn. Start where Sara left

off...Lucy?

LUCY:

I can't.

MISS WRIGHT:

Sure you can.

LUCY:

"They perched in sisisisi..."

MISS WRIGHT:

Silence.

LUCY:

(throws down book)

There. I told you. It's too hard.

MISS WRIGHT:

Lucy! I know you can read this!

LUCY:

No, I can't! And you can't make me!

Lucy runs out of the class.

EXT. BUS STOP - DUSK

Sam, in sunglasses, waits for the BUS. A YOUNG WOMAN, LILY,

sits down next to him. The WIND CATCHES her floral dress

that's just left of innocent; just right of alluring. She

reads a TABLOID.

LILY:

Look here. "Premature baby claims he's

cupid - has the arrow to prove it." Do

you believe that?

SAM:

Well, if he has the arrow.

LILY:

Yeah. You got a good point.

She crosses her legs. A tuft of pink dress falls on Sam's

knee.

SAM:

You're a good reader.

LILY:

Yeah, I've always been smart.

SAM:

You're lucky. I'm looking for a smart,

good mother.

LILY:

I can be a mother. A real good mother.

SAM:

Oh, good. Good.

LILY:

I could even spank you.

SAM:

Oh no no no. I don't believe in that.

LILY:

Okay okay. I can be very gentle.

SAM:

Gentle. Gentle. Yes. Do you tell

stories?

LILY:

I got stories up the wazoo. Why don't

you come with me. I'll tell you a nice

story.

SAM:

I have to pick up Lucy at Annie's first.

LILY:

A menage a toi?

SAM:

French, French the language of France.

You could teach my daughter, Lucy.

LILY:

Your daughter?! Can't you pick her up

after?!

SAM:

After?! No no, Lucy comes too.

LILY:

Whatever.

She takes Sam's hand, they move to get on the bus JUST AS

ANOTHER HAND brusquely lands on theirs.

COP:

Not so fast. You're under arrest.

Solicitation.

LILY:

He wanted to bring his kid, I said no.

A lightbulb flashes and we --

SMASH CUT TO:

INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - THAT NIGHT

Sam blinks as his MUGSHOT is being taken. Now the profile.

He turns so they can get the back of his head. Now the

FINGERPRINT.

Now Sam, in the corner of the room, on the phone making

thumbprints on the wall. While the COP discusses his case

with a social worker, MARGARET BROWN. Over the years she's

seen it all, and to get through it has had to pretend it's

just a job.

COP:

It's the first time in nineteen years I

actually believe the guy when he says he

didn't know she was a hooker --

MARGARET BROWN:

You say that like it's a good thing.

SAM:

...Your teeth don't sound like they were

brushed. Do it with me now.

COP:

Let him go. He says he's never spent a

night away from his kid... Come with me -

I got a guy who beat the sh*t out of his

two year old. Again.

Her cell phone beeps.

MARGARET BROWN:

Yes. I am seeing you tomorrow, Mr.

Rabins. She's still screaming? No,

McDonald's won't help...she's four

months old.

SAM:

Thirteen up...not on the gum line not on

the gum line, 1, 2, 3.

Margaret watches Sam as he talks to Lucy on the phone.

INT. PRINCIPALS OFFICE - DAY

The WALLS are lined with CHILDREN'S ART. Various

interpretations of the family. We stop at one of a very

small man and a very big little girl with her arm around him.

MISS WRIGHT:

It gives us a great deal of insight into

what she must be feeling. And in the

classroom, it's becoming clear she's

holding herself back. It's as if she's

literally afraid to learn.

We PULL BACK and see Sam staring at the picture. Mrs. Wright

and the principal watch him.

MISS WRIGHT (CONT'D)

No one doubts that you love your

daughter, Mr. Dawson. But the

Department of Social Services contacted

us. They shared with us that your

records show that your intellectual

capacity is around that of a seven year

old. Our concern is what happens when

Lucy turns eight?

PRINCIPAL:

Mr. Dawson, do you understand what Miss

Wright is trying to tell you about Lucy?

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