Kafka Page #13

He looks out the window and sees a POLICEMAN walking by on

the street below. He thinks again about going to the law --

but goes back to work.

He hears a SOUND. He looks around. A sort of a SCRATCHING

sound. It's coming from the other end of the office

somewhere. Maybe the bathroom.

Kafka walks slowly back there. At the bathroom door he

pauses momentarily, then turns the handle to go inside.

BATHROOM:

SCRATCH, SCRATCH. Kafka looks for the source of the sound --

and in sudden startled shock instantly finds it -- where a

huge arm has just been thrust through a small, high window --

and the ugly hand at the end of the arm is feeling around for

the window-latch.

Kafka starts backing away -- as the hand flips open the latch

-- and now the window, swinging open with a bang, and the

rest of the intruder starts coming into view -- out before

all of him appears Kafka has run out and slammed the door

behind him.

OFFICE:

Kafka pulls a desk across the bathroom doorway.

BATHROOM:

The MANIAC -- because that's what his posture and breathing,

seen from the back, suggest -- lurches into the bathroom from

the window.

OFFICE:

Kafka grabs his coat -- and an umbrella off a rack. He looks

back at the bathroom -- the desk rocking back and forth as

the intruder behind the door pushes. Kafka runs away.

HALLWAY:

He runs to the elevator, sliding open the gate.

OFFICE:

CRASH! The desk tips over as the bathroom door is forced

open.

ELEVATOR:

Kafka descending. The elevator cranking slowly downwards.

Then, nearing the ground floor, it slows down even further.

Then it suddenly stops dead. Kafka reaches for the walls to

steady himself. He looks through the gate, assessing the

distance to the ground floor below. He tries the gate but it

won't open.

KAFKA:

(calls down there)

-- Help! HELP!

He looks around the tiny space of the elevator. The roof

hatch. He reaches up, pushes it open, starts to climb up --

and YAAHH! -- the Maniac's face appears in the opening! It's

another monster face -- this one even worse than the one

Kafka uncovered at the quarries. A groaning, drooling,

misshapen lump of wrinkled tissue. And its owner's arms now

come through to stretch after Kafka.

Kafka beats them back with the umbrella while still trying to

pull the unyielding gate open. The Maniac yelps as Kafka

bashes the umbrella up at him, dodging his head out of the

way each time the umbrella sweeps back at him, swinging his

thick arms wildly to ward off blows and try and snatch the

umbrella for himself. He finally retreats under the barrage

of blows and Kafka quickly takes the opportunity to lever

open the gate with the umbrella.

The Maniac's face reappears overhead. Kafka stabs the

umbrella up at him some more -- and the Maniac manages to

grab it. Kafka sits down on the elevator edge to jump down

to the ground floor and --

THE MANIAC:

Lunges forward from above, scooping both arms down in a vain

attempt to catch Kafka just as he drops out of sight --

landing on the ground floor with a roll.

The Maniac HOWLS at his failure, his features even more

horribly contorted, Practically filling the small opening of

the roof hatch as he SHRIEKS. And as his atrocious face

comes CLOSER and CLOSER and CLOSER -- one of his eyeballs

falls out! -- POP! -- out of the socket suddenly -- dangling

into the elevator, hanging by a single sinewy bloody thread.

The Maniac cries out and reaches for the eyeball, bringing it

back up to try and stuff back in place ...

STREET OUTSIDE:

Kafka runs away from the office building, in horror, off into

the night.

CUT:

KAFKA'S STREET - NIGHT

He stands at a corner, looking at his own house, scared even

to go home. But everything seems normal. He starts walking

there. But when he reaches his front door:

VOICE:

Did you think you'd be safe back

in your little burrow?

Kafka turns. One of the Assistants stands next to him.

OTHER VOICE:

No matter how deep a hole you dig

for yourself, the beast will always

find you.

Kafka turns the other way. The other Assistant is on his

other side. Kafka looks between the two of them.

OSKAR:

We're to take you to the Castle.

Kafka might have expected this.

KAFKA:

So. You're the guides up there.

And we thought it was Burgel.

One of the Assistants draws a revolver. The other chuckles.

LUDWIG:

They wouldn't let Burgel into

the Castle. You should look upon

this as a great favor.

Kafka starts walking the way a flick of the revolver

indicates, the Assistants flanking him.

KAFKA:

I don't want any favors from

the Castle -- just my rights.

LUDWIG:

We answer directly to Ekman, the

Senior Partner -- he practically

runs the Castle. In a case like

this you're better off dealing with

the highest authority -- even

though it's equally futile.

OSKAR:

When you speak to him you have to

lean quite near his right ear

because the left doesn't work so

well.

AROUND THE CORNER

They head up in the direction of the Castle.

KAFKA:

For all your incompetence I was

beginning to think you were at

least loyal to me. You're very

good ham actors.

OSKAR:

-- Just doing our job.

KAFKA:

It's a farce.

LUDWIG:

We think you'd better accept your

position instead of pointlessly

annoying us.

KAFKA:

What position? Being prosecuted

in a case like this means having

already lost it.

OSKAR:

Still, we're probably closer to you

at the moment than any of your

fellow human beings.

KAFKA:

Close only by virtue of antithesis.

One of the Assistants keeps making a show of wiping his brow,

though it's by no means hot.

ANOTHER STREET:

Kafka walks stiffly between the Assistants, the three of them

almost locked together as one unit, like lifeless matter.

KAFKA:

(shaking his head)

My assistants. I should have known.

Nothing is given to me. I have to

acquire everything.

OSKAR:

(laughs)

It's all right to be sarcastic in

private to us -- because we have a

sense of humor -- but when we're up

at the Castle we suggest you don't

make a fuss. It would spoil the

not unfavorable impression you make

in other respects.

LUDWIG:

Frankly, we don't understand why

you've even bothered pursuing this

business.

KAFKA:

It would be more accurate to say

that it has pursued me.

OSKAR:

But your goal is so hard to reach.

Do you think the official network

would surrender to one man? We

would never think of attempting

anything remotely as difficult.

LUDWIG:

My mother used to tell us of the

young man who decided to ride to

the next village and how she was

afraid that -- not even mentioning

accidents -- the span of a normal

happy life might fall far short of

the time needed for such a trip.

Kafka suddenly points at the ground.

KAFKA:

You've dropped some money.

The Assistants immediately bend their heads to look -- and

Kafka bangs them together as hard as he can.

The Assistants sit on the ground in a stupefied daze while

Kafka's running footsteps echo around the dark street.

CUT:

CONTINENTAL COFFEE HOUSE - NIGHT

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