JFK Page #37

LOU:

Dave?

FERRIE (V.O.)

Yeah, you got it. Since you're the

only straight shooter in that f***in'

office, I'd like an answer from you.

Did you plant it?

LOU:

Dave, do you think we're out of our

minds? The whole building's been a

zoo since that broke. We can't get

a thing done. Reporters crawling

everywhere. You think we want that?

We see Ferrie in a phone booth on the street outside his

apartment house in the French Quarter. He's a nervous wreck,

watching the reporters and TV cameras surrounding his place,

waiting for him.

FERRIE:

(yelling)

Somebody planted that f***ing story!

And somebody tipped off the press

I'm one of Garrison's f***ing

suspects. I can't go home.

I'm out on the street. The maggots

are everywhere! Do you know what

you've done to me? It's all over

the national news now. You know

what you've done to me?

LOU:

Calm down, Dave, what?

FERRIE:

I'm a dead man! From here on, believe

me, I'm a dead man.

LOU:

What are you talking about, Dave?

You weren't mentioned in the story.

Don't jump to conclusions.

FERRIE:

You think your investigation's been

all that secret? You know, when you

talk to people, they talk to other

people.

LOU:

What did they...

FERRIE:

You still questioning any Cubans?

LOU:

Dave, you know that's where this

road leads.

FERRIE:

It leads farther than that.

LOU:

Dave, just calm down. Meet me in

the lobby of the Fontainbleau in 20

minutes. I'll have a suite reserved

for you under an assumed name.

FERRIE:

(unsure)

The Fontainbleau? 20 minutes?

LOU:

(hopeful)

Yeah. Come on, Dave, come on our

side. I guarantee you the boss'll

protect you...

(there's a long silence

as Ferrie, torn,

agonizes)

Dave?

FERRIE:

(dreamy)

...give me protection?

LOU:

Yeah! He'd kill for you Dave. He

likes you. Your mind.

FERRIE:

I got no place to sleep. I'll meet

you in 20 minutes.

Ferrie hangs up. Pause. At his end, Lou Ivon hangs up,

excited.

GARRISON'S HOME - NIGHT(1967)

The phone rings. Liz picks it up. Jim is watching the TV

news:
Martin Luther King is delivering a speech against the

Vietnam War.

KING:

(on TV)

President Kennedy said on one

occasion, "Mankind must put an end

to war, or war will put an end to

mankind." I pray God that America

will hear this before it's too late,

because today we're fighting a war

I'm convinced is one of the most

unjust wars that has ever been fought

in the history of the world.

LIZ:

(on the phone

meanwhile, testy)

No, he's not here now. And he would

not take calls here if he were! So

please call the office number. Thank

you.

(hangs up)

Two of them even had the gall to

come to the door this afternoon, one

all the way from England.

JIM:

Did they live?

LIZ:

It's not funny, Jim, I'm scared.

JIM:

Don't be. Nothing to be scared about,

honey, I been through four years of

war - this is nothing.

The phone rings again.

KING:

(on TV)

...sending them 8,000 miles away to

guarantee liberties in Southeast

Asia which they have not found in

Southwest Georgia or East Harlem.

So we have been repeatedly faced

with the cruel irony of watching

Negro and white boys on TV screens

as they kill and die for a nation

that has been unable to seat them

together in the same school.

LIZ:

I haven't, Jim.

JIM:

Nothing is going to happen to you.

I won't let it.

LIZ:

Leave us ALONE for God's sake!

(recognizes the voice)

...Oh, it's Lou.

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