Kafka Page #5

LUDWIG:

(shaking hands)

Ludwig.

OSKAR:

(now it's his turn)

Oskar.

KAFKA:

You look like brothers.

ASSISTANTS:

Yes -- we do.

KAFKA:

Have you worked here long?

ASSISTANTS:

No, no, no -- quite a long time,

yes.

Kafka doesn't quite know what to make of these two, but they

seem pleasant enough fellows and they're looking at him with

such wide-eyed innocence he doesn't know what more to say to

them. So he turns to look around the new area he's been

assigned -- a burrow all to himself now -- even a personal

clothes peg on the wall for his coat.

The Assistants make stupid faces at each other behind his

back, but look serious again when he turns around.

KAFKA:

Well, we'd better move things

from my old desk.

ASSISTANTS:

Look at each other with identical frowns, then back at

Kafka. Oskar nods, as if to say "oh, all right, if we

must." And Ludwig grins.

CUT:

KAFKA'S NEW OFFICE - DAY

Kafka types up forms. He hears some noise and glances over

his shoulder to see how the Assistants are getting on --

they're sharing another desk, facing each other, and seem to

be working quietly, though with pouting expressions.

Kafka rolls a new form into the typewriter -- when a shadow

falls over the page.

GABRIELA:

Eduard and I had lunch together

one day ... and you saw us.

Kafka looks up at her. He nods.

KAFKA:

On the Embankment.

CUT:

THE EMBANKMENT - MIDDAY

Kafka and Gabriela stroll by the River, Kafka finishing off

his lunch as they go, occasionally offering tidbits to

Gabriela who either samples or refuses them.

GABRIELA:

I was having an affair with

Eduard.

(notes Kafka's reaction)

He didn't tell you?

KAFKA:

No.

GABRIELA:

He would have. You were his best

friend. A better friend than me.

KAFKA:

I suspected that he -- well.

GABRIELA:

What?

KAFKA:

That he was -- satisfied in that

regard. I didn't want to pry.

GABRIELA:

(throws her hair

back proudly)

It's not that we wanted to deceive

anyone -- but you know how these

things are looked upon at the office.

Kafka lets out a smile at that. Gabriela is suspicious of

smiles.

GABRIELA:

What's funny?

KAFKA:

This morning it was suggested to

me that my own sense of office

fellowship could bear improving.

GABRIELA:

As long as it's on their terms.

If your work and your private

life don't correspond to their

specifications you're labelled a

dangerous agitator -- with no

recourse whatsoever.

The gnarled, barren branches of a nearby tree shiver over the

two of them.

KAFKA:

How long were you and Eduard --

GABRIELA:

Two or three months, that's all.

(adds)

-- I seduced him.

HIGH TERRACE:

A flight of stone steps takes them up here to this vantage

spot overlooking the River and the city beyond. Kafka stands

by a railing -- and the huge, distorted shadow of SOMEONE

looms suddenly on the high wall under him.

GABRIELA:

You know as well as I do that he

didn't commit suicide.

Kafka looks at her.

KAFKA:

No, I don't. I'm amazed that anyone

is able to bear life with any

assurance at all.

GABRIELA:

Eduard didn't see it as something

that needed bearing.

KAFKA:

The police would know the

difference, wouldn't they?

GABRIELA:

Do you think people in the New

Town care what happens over here?

(nodding across the

water)

This will always be the ghetto.

KAFKA:

He wasn't robbed. He was

identified by his wallet.

GABRIELA:

And you believe everything the

authorities tell you.

KAFKA:

When I have no reason to doubt.

GABRIELA:

The very fact that they're

authorities should give you reason.

People will do anything to protect

their own interests. For all you

know he was killed at the hands of

the police.

KAFKA:

-- What could he have done to

warrant that?

For a moment she seems about to tell him, but then looks

away. Kafka follows her gaze.

IN THE DISTANCE:

Someone else has paused at the embankment wall further away

to stare at the roiling water. He's too far away to see

clearly. Probably nothing sinister about him at all.

Still ...

GABRIELA:

Turns back to Kafka.

GABRIELA:

Are you free tonight?

KAFKA:

Tonight?

GABRIELA:

There are some people I'd like you

to meet. Can you come to the

Musil district at eight o'clock?

KAFKA:

... All right.

Her eyes lock on his for a moment. She's beautiful. He's

fearful.

GABRIELA:

You almost married recently,

didn't you?

KAFKA:

Last year. I -- it was broken

off.

GABRIELA:

Eduard wanted to marry me.

KAFKA:

And you ...?

GABRIELA:

I'm suspicious of men who want

to marry. I believe they think

it's the only thing that will

make them equal to their fathers.

THE SHADOW ON THE WALL BENEATH

Disappears, the ominous black mass flowing off the large flat

surface as abruptly as it arrived. While up there on the

terrace we see Gabriela walk away from Kafka.

KAFKA:

Stays where he is a moment, watching her. He may have found

his ideal woman.

KAFKA:

(then follows

behind her)

-- I don't know the Musil

district.

GABRIELA:

(without turning)

You won't have any trouble finding

it.

CUT:

FAT MEN - NIGHT

Sit laughing, jowls gyrating, around a table filled with an

abnormal amount of food. One of them stops laughing then,

and the others follow suit, one after the other in turn,

until they're all silent, looking at the same thing.

We're in a fancy restaurant, and the other customers have

also turned away from their dinners for the moment to stare

at the Man in Black who stands before the Fat Men.

The man wears a black mask as well. He presents the Fat Men

with a covered tray. They look at it, then back at him --

but he's walked away. They look at the tray again -- and one

of them lifts the cover. Underneath lies the classic black

bowling ball -- with a fuse burning at the top. The Fat Men

all try to stand up at once but --

BOOM! Their booth explodes with them in it.

At the doorway, holding a revolver loosely in one hand to

discourage heroes, the Man in Black turns calmly to face the

stunned restaurant.

MAN IN BLACK:

(hoarse voice)

Long live anarchy!

He leaves. Fire in his wake.

CUT:

THE OLD TOWN - NIGHT

Kafka walks the crooked streets -- in the direction of the

plume of smoke and illumination coming from the burning

restaurant.

In the dark distance behind him there seems to be a person

following him.

NOISY BEER SHOP:

Neighborhood denizens have come out, hearing all the

excitement not far away. Kafka walks past. He looks behind

him, but the following figure has gone.

TWISTED LITTLE STREET

Kafka comes around a curve -- and sees ahead a dark figure

a black cape standing waiting under a lone lamppost. When

Kafka gets a bit nearer, the figure starts to walk slowly

away, as if expecting Kafka to follow.

DIRTY YARD:

The dark figure walks alongside a row of black window panes,

turning around the corner where they end. Kafka follows

around the corner -- and through a dingy doorway.

A LOPSIDED STAIRWAY

Leads him up to a large attic. Warning shadows.

ATTIC:

Gloomy except for the light around a table at a far end.

Kafka advances, seeing Gabriela sitting there with her same

companions from the coffee house. Kafka stops in front of

the table.

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