Inherent Vice Page #7

Behind the club, on the docks, she speaks:

JADE:

I can't stay here long. This is

Golden Fang territory. And a girl

don't necessarily want to get into

difficulties with those folks.

DOC:

What is it? A band?

JADE:

You wish. I just wanted to say how

sorry I was. I felt shitty about

what I did...

DOC:

Which was what again?

JADE:

I'm not a snitch. The cops told

us they'd drop charges if we just

put you at the scene, which they

already knew you were -- so where

was the harm? I'm like, so sorry,

Larry...

DOC:

Call me Doc. It's cool, Jade.

JADE:

That copper?

DOC:

Bigfoot?

JADE:

He's a warped sheet of plastic.

DOC:

And was it Bigfoot who put me on

the Buenos Noches Express? Or did

he subcontract it?

JADE:

I missed all that, man. Last

thing I remember was eating

Bambi's p*ssy -- and Puck

Beaverton's tattoo -- like it was

pulsating...

39.

DOC:

What's a Puck Beaverton?

JADE:

He's an a**hole you don't want to

meet. Me and Bambi, we're so

freaked with the BadAss Brigade

stomping in there we didn't stick

around -

DOC:

How about those jailhouse Nazis

who were supposed to be covering

Mickey's back?

JADE:

All over the place one minute,

gone the next. Like a raid, when

people know it's gonna happen?

They all cleared out except for

Glenn.

DOC:

Like someone forgot to tell him

something?

JADE:

Listen -- there's somebody who

wants to talk to you. He thinks

you can help each other out. He's

a new face. I'm not even sure of

his name but I know he's in some

trouble.

DOC:

Okay...

JADE motions over her shoulder... OUT OF THE MIST

WALKS... COY HARLINGEN. DOC blinks a few times. JADE

disappears.

DOC:

Howdy, Coy.

COY:

I would've come to your office,

man.

But I thought there might be

unfriendly eyeballs.

DOC:

Is this safe enough for you. Out

here?

COY:

Let's light this and pretend we

came out to smoke.

They light a joint and pass it back and forth.

40.

COY:

I'm supposed to be dead.

DOC:

There's also a rumor that you're

not.

COY:

That don't come as such great

news. Bein' dead is part of my

job image. Like what I do.

DOC:

Are you working for these people

here at the club?

COY:

I don't know. Maybe. It's where

I come to pick up my paycheck.

DOC:

Where are you staying?

COY:

House in Topanga Canyon. A band I

used to play for, The Boards. But

none of them know it's me.

DOC:

How can they not know it's you?

COY:

Even when I was alive, they didn't

know it was me, man. ‘The Sax

Player.’ The session guy. Plus,

over the years, there's been this

big turnover of personnel, like,

The Boards I played with have most

of them gone off by now and formed

other bands. Only one or two of

the old crew are left, and they're

suffering with heavy doper's

memory.

DOC:

Story is you came to grief behind

some bad smack. You still into

that?

COY:

No. God. No. I'm clean these

days. I spent my time

rehabilitating up -

DOC:

It's okay. I can't hear too good.

And how can I talk about what I

don't hear?

41.

Coy is delicate now, sizing Doc up, looking around, words

get more whispery:

COY:

The thing I wanted to see you

about... Just wondering if you

could check in on a couple of

people. A lady and a little girl.

See that they're okay -- and

without bringing me into it. It's

down in Torrance.

(hands him address)

Just see if they're still livin'

there. What's in the driveway.

Law enforcement in the picture,

any details you find interesting -

DOC:

I'm on it.

COY:

I can't pay you right now.

DOC:

When you can. Unless maybe you're

one of those folks who believe

information is money, in which

case, I could ask you something?

COY:

Bearing in mind that either I

don't know or it'll be my ass if I

tell you, what is it?

DOC:

Ever heard of the Golden Fang?

COY:

Sure. It's a boat. A big

schooner, somebody said. Brings

stuff in and out of the country

but nobody wants to talk about

it...

DOC:

Because?

COY turns and look out over his shoulder into the HARBOR.

It's foggy... DOC squints through stoned eyes... Coy

turns back to him:

COY:

That was it.

DOC:

How do you know?

COY:

Saw it sail in. Got here the

same time I did tonight.

42.

DOC:

I don't know what I just saw.

COY:

Me neither. Fact, I don't evenwant to know.

Doc blinks and like that... Coy's gone... Doc is leftstanding alone, very confused, and paranoid.

30 EXT. BEACH/SAND DUNE - DAY 30

DOC looking through binoculars, SAUNCHO is here, over hisshoulder. They're looking at a THREE-MASTED SCHOONER,

GOLDEN FANG.

SAUNCHO:

Meet the schooner Golden Fang, outof Charlotte Amalie.

DOC:

Where is that?

SAUNCHO:

Virgin Islands.

DOC:

Bermuda Triangle?

Close enough.

SAUNCHO:

DOC:

Sizable vessel.

SAUNCHO:

She has a tendency to show up inthe middle of the night, norunning lights, no radio traffic.

See, the problem with this vesselis trying to find out anything.

People back off, change thesubject, get creepy and head forthe toilet, never to reappear...

the owners are listed as a

consortium in the Bahamas.

31 INT. FISH PLACE 31

Doc and Sauncho at a disgusting restaurant.

SAUNCHO:

Her name isn't really the Golden

Fang.

(MORE)

43.

SAUNCHO (CONT'D)

Her original name was Preserved

after her miraculous escape in

1917 from a tremendous

nitroglycerin explosion in Halifax

Harbor which blew away most

everything else in it, shipping

and souls. After World War II she

was bought by Burke Stodger.

DOC:

Burke Stodger, Burke Stodger.

Burke Stodger, the actor? .45

Caliber Kiss Off -- Burke Stodger?

Sauncho motions to the wall -- a few 8xl0 headshots of

film stars who have visited the Fish Place -- one of them

is BURKE STODGER from his younger days in BLACK AND WHITE

HEADSHOT...

SAUNCHO:

... Burke Stodger got blacklisted

for his politics, branded a

communist and was forced to take

the boat and split the country.

Which is where the Bermuda

Triangle comes in.....

Sauncho hushes up as the waitress arrives...

SAUNCHO:

Ordinarily I'd have the Admiral’s

Luau -- but today I'll have the

house anchovy loaf to start and

the devil-ray filet. Can I get

that deep fried in beer batter?

DOC:

I'll have the jellyfish teriyaki

croquettes and the eel trovatore.

SAUNCHO:

And two tequila Zombies.

Waitress leaves, Sauncho back to whispers:

SAUNCHO:

... so Burke's blacklisted, splits

town on the boat... but somewhere

between San Pedro and Papeete, the

ship disappears, till one day, a

couple years later, boat and owner

suddenly reappear --Preserved

in the opposite ocean, off Cuba,

and Burke Stodger on the front

page of Daily Variety in an

article reporting his return in a

big budget major studio project

called Commie Confidential. He

followed that up with Squeal,

Pinko, Squeal and I Was A Red Dope

Fiend.

44.

DOC:

Soooooooooooo Burke's working

again?

SAUNCHO:

And his politics have miraculously

changed. It's wrecking my

appetite just talking about what's

happened to this great ship --

they removed any traces of soul

she once had...

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