Infinitely Polar Bear Page #4

CAM:

I think we should find a therapist

for her to talk to.

MAGGIE:

Do you think that’s something your

parents might pay for? Mine can’t

help anymore.

CAM:

I’ll ask them.

Maggie smiles at him gratefully and unpacks the groceries.

They move around the tiny kitchen. In the living room,

Amelia starts playing a jaunty version of “The Entertainer.”

CAM:

She’s getting good.

(calling)

That sounds great, Big Little!

(to Maggie)

How’s the job going?

MAGGIE:

Oh, the job.

She hangs her head.

MAGGIE:

I graduated from Sarah Lawrence. I

can’t believe I’m doing this.

Maggie looks sad and tired. Cam puts his arm around her and

Maggie leans into his shoulder. Amelia walks into the

kitchen and puts her arms around both parents, joining them

in this sweet moment. They smile down at her. Then Maggie

deflates.

19.

MAGGIE:

I forgot the laundry -

AMELIA:

We’ll get it!

She pushes her parents together and runs from the room.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING HALLWAY. MOMENTS LATER

The apartment door slams. Amelia and Faith walk down the

hall with a hamper. They look at each other hopefully.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING STAIRS NEAR LAUNDRY ROOM. NIGHT

Amelia and Faith walk away from the laundry room with their

hamper full of clothes. Three children are playing cards on

the stairs in the hall. KIM, 10, and ALI, 8, are Korean

sisters. Also with them is THURGOOD, 12, who is black and

very tall, friendly and fey.

KIM:

Hi.

AMELIA/FAITH

Hi.

KIM:

I’m Kim. This is Ali. This is

Thurgood. We live on the ninth

floor.

THURGOOD:

(with a floppy wave)

Hey there.

AMELIA:

I’m Amelia and this is Faith.

KIM:

You guys go to Lincoln?

AMELIA:

No. We go to Peabody.

Kim squints angrily.

KIM:

Peabody is the best public school

in the city. We’re not in the

Peabody School district.

20.

Thurgood puts his hand to his mouth, mock afraid.

THURGOOD:

(sing song)

Uh oh. Somebody’s telling a big

fat fib!

KIM:

If you live here, you’re supposed

to go to Lincoln. A school that is

totally one hundred percent

terrible.

THURGOOD:

Unless you like getting your ‘A’

kicked by Irish kids.

FAITH:

I don’t want to get my ‘A’ kicked.

THURGOOD:

Honey, nobody does.

AMELIA:

Well... we go to Peabody.

As Amelia and Faith struggle up the stairs with their hamper:

KIM:

You don’t get it. What you’re

doing is illegal. And it’s not

fair. It’s not at all fair. You

guys are going to go to jail.

Amelia and Faith hurry away. Faith looks back.

FAITH:

Bye.

INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

The family sits at the table, having finished the dinner Cam

made. Music plays on the record player.

AMELIA:

What if someone asks me where I

live? I don’t want to lie.

MAGGIE:

Peabody is the best public school

in the city --

21.

AMELIA:

I don’t care. I don’t want to lie.

CAM:

You’re not lying, sweetheart. Your

mother is lying.

Maggie furrows her brow at him.

FAITH:

I don’t want to go to Lincoln!

They said we’re going to get beat

up.

CAM:

Don’t worry, Faithie. I’ll teach

you how to fight.

AMELIA:

What if my teacher finds out I’m

lying?

MAGGIE:

Miss Kendricks loves you. You’re

her best student.

FAITH:

(wailing)

They said we’d get our ‘A’ kicked

by Irish kids!

MAGGIE:

You’re not going to get your ‘A’

kicked -

CAM:

(riled up)

-- you’ll be kicking ‘A’!

AMELIA:

If you want us to go to the Peabody

School so bad, why didn’t we move

into the Peabody School district?

MAGGIE:

We can’t afford the Peabody School

district. We’re lucky to have

gotten a rent-controlled apartment.

AMELIA:

But Daddy’s family is so rich -

22.

MAGGIE:

(losing it)

Yes, but we have no money! Can you

girls understand that! We have no

money! I send out my resume and I

get nothing! I just spent my last

twelve dollars! You want to be

poor and get a bad education?

The neighbor below bangs very angrily on the ceiling. They

all sit in silence. Then:

CAM:

Seconds, anyone?

Faith holds out her plate. Cam serves.

MAGGIE:

Thank you, Cam, for this delicious

dinner.

CAM:

Could be like this every night...

Maggie stiffens.

MAGGIE:

That would be nice, but I need a

husband, not a wife.

CAM:

I’d like to be a husband but my

wife won’t let me.

MAGGIE:

Girls, go play in the lobby.

FAITH:

But -

MAGGIE:

Go!

As they scurry out of the apartment:

CAM:

I’m lonely, Maggie. I don’t want

to move to some shitty apartment, I

want to come home!

23.

EXT. HALLWAY. NIGHT

The girls listen at the door with concern as their parents

continue to argue.

MAGGIE (O.S.)

I’m lonely too, Cam! This, here,

is lonely, but you have to show me

that it’ll be different this time.

Bohemia is over -

A neighbor across the hall opens the door and looks annoyed.

INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

Maggie lays out three Business School applications on the

dining room table: Harvard, Columbia, Wharton.

EXT. STREET. DAY

Cam is on a pay phone on Mass Ave. He is leaving an

answering machine message. He wears a green polo shirt and

madras shorts. He wears a Polaroid 250 around his neck.

CAM:

Hi, Maggie. It’s me. It’s a

beautiful day. I’m skulking around

Harvard Square. Anybody home?

Pick up if you’re there.

He waits. No answer. He continues his message.

CAM:

Just wanted to see...

INT. RESTAURANT PHONE BOOTH. DIFFERENT DAY

Cam stands at a restaurant pay phone, leaving another

message. He wears a battered corduroy sportcoat.

CAM:

...what you and the girls are up

to. Thought we could go sailing.

I think Eliot Perkins would let me

borrow his sailboat...

EXT. STREET. DIFFERENT DAY

Cam is at a different pay phone, leaving another message. He

wears a three-piece suit. He wears the Polaroid 250.

24.

CAM:

...Or “Bringing up Baby” is playing

at the Orson Welles and there’s

also a Buster Keaton festival --

A loud BEEP. The machine hangs up on him. Cam hangs up the

phone and walks out alone into the bustling street.

INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY. DAY

Amelia sits on a bench outside the Principal’s Office,

hugging her backpack, trying not to cry. Maggie exits the

Principal’s Office and sits down next to Amelia.

AMELIA:

What’d he say?

MAGGIE:

(lightly)

He said we’re not in the Peabody

School district so you and Faith

have to go to Lincoln.

Amelia’s face crumples.

AMELIA:

I’m sorry, Mommy.

Maggie hugs Amelia to her.

MAGGIE:

Don’t apologize to me. Please

don’t apologize to me -

AMELIA:

He asked where we lived and I

wasn’t sure what to say -

MAGGIE:

You did the right thing. I never

wanted you to lie.

AMELIA:

He said it was illegal what we were

doing.

MAGGIE:

I guess I wasn’t thinking of it

that way. I just wanted you to go

to the best school.

Maggie sits back and wipes at Amelia’s tears.

25.

AMELIA:

What if Faith gets beat up and it’s

all because of me?

MAGGIE:

Don’t worry about Faith. Faith

bites.

Amelia laughs, then:

AMELIA:

I love my teacher.

MAGGIE:

And she loves you. She stopped me

in the hall and told me...

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