Infinitely Polar Bear Page #9

CUT TO:

The family sits in the living room eating dinner in front of

the television. A large roll of paper towels that is sitting

on the coffee table is knocked over and rolls to the floor,

leaving a long trail of paper towel. Nobody picks it up.

CUT TO:

53.

Cam lies on the sofa, drinking a beer and watching

television. His head rests on the pile of clean laundry.

Amelia and Faith roller skate around the room.

CUT TO:

The phone parts have been pushed under the piano bench to

make room for Cam’s bicycle, which stands upside down as he

fixes the brake mechanism. He puts his glass down on top of

the piano, in front of a large model ship. The top of the

piano is now filled with dirty glasses, beer cans and empty

yogurt containers with spoons sticking out of them.

CUT TO:

Cam sits down in his armchair and starts taping wide silver

duct tape over a large tear in the arm.

Pull back on the living room. Nothing has been picked up or

put away. It is a disaster.

CUT TO:

Faith stares miserably at the stack of dirty dishes in the

kitchen sink.

INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

Cam sits in his armchair. The TV is on. He is trying to

brush the snarls out of Amelia’s hair.

AMELIA:

Ow! Daddy!

CAM:

Sorry.

AMELIA:

OW!

CAM:

This is what happens when you don’t

brush your hair for two weeks.

Faith marches out of the kitchen, furious.

FAITH:

Daddy, if you’re not going to do

the dishes, then I’m doing them.

Cam blinks at her. It is an odd threat. He shrugs.

54.

CAM:

Okay.

Faith marches into the kitchen. A cupboard opens and slams

shut. He turns his attention back to Amelia’s hair.

AMELIA:

You’re hurting me! I’ll do it!

She turns and rips the brush from his hand.

CAM:

Fine. You do it.

Amelia stomps away to the bedroom. Seconds later Faith

marches back to the living room with a sponge held between

two fingers.

FAITH:

Where are the sponges?

Cam becomes immediately stern.

CAM:

What’s wrong with that sponge?

FAITH:

It smells!

CAM:

Then don’t smell it!

FAITH:

My hands stink just from touching

it!

CAM:

That’s because someone left it

soaking in the dishwater! I keep

telling you girls, it needs to be

rinsed and squeezed when you’re

through with it!

FAITH:

You brought it from your old

apartment! It’s probably five

years old! It’s disgusting!

CAM:

We are not the kind of people who

throw perfectly useful things away!

FAITH:

You won’t throw anything away!

55.

CAM:

That is a perfectly good sponge

with plenty of life left in it!

Faith throws the sponge at him.

FAITH:

Fine! Then you do the dishes!

CAM:

Fine! I will! With this sponge!

Faith runs away. The downstairs neighbor pounds on the

ceiling. Cam angrily pounds back.

INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

Maggie, wearing her coat and holding her suitcase, stares

with dismay at the wreckage of the apartment.

CAM:

We lost some momentum, but we’ll

get it back.

(beat)

I did get a new sponge.

(pointed, to the girls)

Even though I washed the old one

with soap and it smelled fine.

INT. APARTMENT. DAY

Maggie, wearing yellow rubber gloves and her hair tied back,

cleans furiously. Cam and the girls make piles.

INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

Amelia helps her mother make her bed on the sofa. Faith

practices her pirouettes.

AMELIA:

Faith and I thought of the perfect

job for Daddy. A crepe cart in

Harvard Square. Like they have in

Paris.

Maggie and Cam look at each other, amused.

MAGGIE:

You do make the best crepes.

56.

CAM:

And I do love standing outside in

January, freezing my ass off for

pennies.

Maggie laughs.

FAITH:

We’re working on the menu.

MAGGIE:

I like chocolate and coconut.

FAITH:

We have that!

She does a dramatic pirouette. Her parents laugh.

INT. LIVING ROOM. NIGHT

It is late. Maggie sits up in her bed on the sofa, sewing a

button on a little girl’s sweater. Cam sits at the other end

of the sofa. The girls have gone to bed. Cam is feeling

sorry for himself.

CAM:

...and the building is packed with

single mothers who are always

checking in with each other and

getting together for coffee but do

any of them ever ask how I’m doing?

Do they ever invite me for coffee?

I’m pretty sure they all got

together for wine and cheese two

nights ago.

Maggie has to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

MAGGIE:

I’m sorry, it’s not funny.

CAM:

(smiling)

It is funny. It’s pathetic. I’m a

pathetic whiner. Which is probably

why they don’t invite me.

MAGGIE:

They’re leery of men, that’s all.

Especially married men with

children.

57.

CAM:

I’m not exactly a married man.

(beat)

Am I?

MAGGIE:

Well. We’re a family.

Cam slides his hand up her leg. She shifts away.

CAM:

So is this really how we’re going

to do it? You come every weekend

and take up residence on the sofa?

MAGGIE:

For now.

CAM:

Come on, Maggie. We haven’t slept

together since before my breakdown-

He leans forward and kisses her, but after a moment she rolls

off the sofa and moves away from him. He chases after her,

playful, flirting.

MAGGIE:

I don’t know what will happen, Cam.

I just want to get through this

period. Can’t we see how it goes?

As he attempts to unbutton her top:

CAM:

And what happens at the end? You

move back in here and what happens

to us? Where do I go?

MAGGIE:

I want you to be the person we all

know you can be. It will take

steady, sustained effort. You can

do it, Cam. If you want to do it.

He puts his hand on her breast.

CAM:

Sexy, sexy answer.

She laughs at his unrelenting flirtation.

MAGGIE:

Honest, honest answer.

58.

CAM:

So what is this? Some big test?

MAGGIE:

Don’t think of it like that. You

hate tests --

CAM:

Not if this was on the test...

He kisses her. This time she kisses him back.

INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY. NIGHT

The girls stand outside the closed door to Cam’s bedroom,

listening and whispering to each other.

FAITH:

Are they having sex?

AMELIA:

I think maybe.

The girls celebrate silently. Then they hear raised voices:

MAGGIE (O.S.)

I’m sorry, Cam. I just can’t make

promises right now -

CAM (O.S.)

What a bunch of baloney. You must

think I’m the biggest sucker on the

planet.

The girls scurry into their room as Cam’s bedroom door is

ripped open. Cam walks out, pulling his shirt on. He grabs

his coat. Maggie runs after him.

MAGGIE:

Are you taking your lithium?

CAM:

Oh, sh*t. Lithium doesn’t stop you

from feeling lonely and

unappreciated. Enjoy your sofa.

He exits. The front door slams.

59.

INT. LIVING ROOM. NIGHT

Maggie lies on her bed on the sofa. Amelia walks up to her.

Maggie lifts the covers and Amelia gets under the blankets

next to her mother.

AMELIA:

When you and Daddy met at WGBH, was

he the way he is now?

MAGGIE:

(delicately)

In some ways. He was funny.

Compassionate. He knew everything

about the outdoors. He had a job,

which was good for him. He was a

terrific lighting designer. But in

the end, it was too much

pressure... I didn’t understand

about the manic-depression.

Besides, everyone was having

nervous breakdowns in the 60s, so I

didn’t realize what a big deal it

was.

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