Kafka Page #2

CONCIERGE:

Yes, I'm sure you could.

She treats him like dirt.

EDUARD'S ROOM

The door unlocks and the two of them come in. Kafka goes to

open the window curtain. He turns around to see the

Concierge already poking about in drawers.

He ignores her and looks around the room on his own. Eduard

isn't here. Nothing else seems out of place. He wonders

instead how he can dissuade the Concierge from her

unbelievable snooping.

KAFKA:

Well, he's not here.

The Concierge takes a tie from one of the drawers and models

it over her own ample chest.

KAFKA:

Do you think you ought to do

that?

She looks at him indignantly.

CONCIERGE:

The manners of a tramp! It's my

house, isn't it?

CUT:

OFFICES - AFTERNOON

Kafka is in another section of the building, finding his way

through a department he's vaguely unfamiliar with. He

searches out a particular person -- a strikingly beautiful

woman with flaming hair and wild eyes.

KAFKA:

Miss Rossmann?

GABRIELA looks around from a file cabinet.

KAFKA:

I'm Kafka -- I work upstairs in

Accident --

GABRIELA:

I know.

KAFKA:

You're a friend of Eduard Raban's.

GABRIELA:

Why would you suppose so?

KAFKA:

Oh -- well, I thought he once

mentioned --

GABRIELA:

(shuts file cabinet)

One of you must be mistaken.

He follows her to a counter where someone stamps the document

she thrusts forward without even glancing at her or it.

KAFKA:

I'm sorry, but I just wondered --

GABRIELA:

(brushing past him)

Excuse me, I have to copy this for

Central Docketing by 2:30.

Kafka watches her go -- then notices some smarmy young clerks

giggling over what they suppose was a romantic rebuff.

CUT:

KAFKA'S DEPARTMENT

Burgel sees Kafka coming back in toward his desk, immediately

walks to intersect him.

BURGEL:

You're late -- I knew it would

happen one day.

Kafka ignores him utterly, leaving Burgel standing clutching

his files with a sour expression.

Kafka pauses at Eduard's desk, still untouched, then

continues on to his own.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK

Partitioned off from the rest, but commanding a full view of

all. Through the glass windows the CHIEF CLERK, a stern-

Looking fellow, notices Kafka and takes his watch out of his

pocket for a look.

CUT:

THE OFFICE BELL - EVENING

RINGS, signalling the end of the work day. The office

workers clear their desks, start to leave.

OFFICE STAIRWELL

The office workers stream down the stairs that wind around a

central elevator shaft, the gated elevator grinding upwards

at the same time.

When Kafka reaches the ground floor he passes a pair of

SENIOR PARTNERS conferring together -- and does a double-take

when he hears his name mentioned -- then sees the two men

shake hands conclusively and turn away. Kafka continues

walking away himself, worried about his future.

OUTSIDE:

The office workers pour out of the building, all going in

different directions. Three of them get jammed in the

doorway, untangle themselves, and Kafka is the next to

emerge.

CUT:

THE CONTINENTAL COFFEE HOUSE - NIGHT

A lively place, crowded with chattering, smoking, arguing

students, poets, painters ...

Kafka joins a group of friends. It's clear that this is a

regular gathering and, from their warm reception, considered

incomplete without him.

MARGARETE:

-- This is our friend Anna who

works with us on the magazine.

KAFKA:

Hello.

ANNA:

I've been hearing all about you.

Kafka cringes.

ERNST:

Don't worry, Kafka -- I championed

your virtues.

KAFKA:

I'd like to hear them.

JULIUS:

Anna's new to the city -- we

wouldn't frighten her needlessly.

KAFKA:

I've lived all my life in this city

-- it frightens me. As it draws me

closer into its web.

STELLA:

-- This is an ancient lament.

KAFKA:

No, but do you realize why? -- it

has no present.

ANNA:

-- I'm hoping to live in the Old

Quarter.

KAFKA:

Even the so-called New Town isn't

so new. Only the people. People

of the future living in buildings

of the past.

(abruptly)

Has anyone seen Eduard?

MARGARETE:

Who?

My friend Eduard from the office --

I've brought him here lots of times

-- you used to marvel at his travel

stories.

JULIUS:

Oh, him.

KAFKA:

What d'you mean, oh him? He's

a perfectly nice person, he's never

missed a day before.

ERNST:

Perhaps he's taken up with those

traveling players you two were

so fond of.

KAFKA:

No, it's me who always wanted to

run away with them -- except that

that life would be far too hectic

for me. I'm worried about him, no

one's seen him.

STELLA:

Haven't you ever called in sick

and gone roaming about, free of

responsibility to anyone, if only

for a day?

KAFKA:

When you work for a medical firm

you can't call in sick. They know

malingerers like a dog knows fleas.

ANNA:

You work in the insurance department?

KAFKA:

You have been hearing the sordid

side then.

MARGARETE:

Be pleased -- you constantly inspire

people to take an interest in your

life.

ANNA:

I should think it's very interesting

work.

Kafka shrugs shyly.

KAFKA:

My father always said I had

no ambition.

CUT:

NEAR THE FRONT DOOR - LATER

Smoke heavier in the air, the coffee house more crowded with

strange groups of characters. Kafka and his friends

preparing to leave.

STELLA:

The cabaret will be packed this

time of night -- we'll never get in.

JULIUS:

Well, it has to be the cabaret

because there's nowhere else to go.

MARGARET:

Home, I think.

JULIUS:

Home?

MARGARET:

(head on Ernst's shoulder)

You know I can't stay up late.

VOICE:

Home is the last resort --

BIZZLEBEK:

The owner of the voice. A man sitting at the bar nearby,

turning on his stool to face them. A dissipated dandy of a

man.

ERNST:

(introducing him)

-- Do you know Bizzlebek --

the gravedigger?

BIZZLEBEK:

Stonecutter, if you please.

MARGARETE:

Sculptor, if only he'd admit it.

BIZZLEBEK:

No one should admit being an artist

unless they're paid for it. If

you go to the cabaret mention my

name -- they'll find a table for you.

Turning round again.

ERNST:

Bizzlebek has ways and means denied

lesser mortals. It comes from working

in the cemetery all day -- he's able

to transcent the physical world.

Bizz1ebek turns round again, with a bored sign.

BIZZLEBEK:

No -- it only makes me view people

dispassionately as so many ... slabs.

He looks about, characterizing various coffee house types:

BIZZLEBEK:

Quartz ... slate ... gravel ...

granite ... flint ...

(and then)

Marble.

It's GABRIELA from the office. Kafka is surprised to see

her, instinctively walking over to where she's sitting at a

far table.

JULIUS:

My God, look, he's marching forward

willingly to make human contact.

Anna smiles. She's interested in Kafka. (Which means we

must see this warm attractive girl as a threat, a curse, a

trap!)

GABRIELA:

--On the other hand, is an enticement. Kafka can't help

walking towards her. Sitting with her own friends, though

there is something less than friendly about them. Two men,

two women.

GABRIELA:

(as Kafka comes over)

Hello again.

KAFKA:

I've never seen you here before.

GABRIELA:

Have you looked?

Kafka feels as awkward as she knows he feels. He looks to

her friends, expecting an introduction, but no one makes a

move.

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