Kafka Page #8

KAFKA:

(sighs at her

relentlessness)

Now you've fallen into his trap.

When he goes to bed at night

Burgel dreams of inspiring as much

fear in others as they inspire in

him.

GABRIELA:

It's still easier for you to

understand suicide, isn't it.

She's got his number. He's so in awe of her he has to turn

away -- looking out the room's small window.

KAFKA:

That street down there -- I

always used to call it the approach

road for suicides. It leads

straight down to the bridge and

the River.

GABRIELA:

Burgel hated Eduard. And me. I'm

sure he knew about us -- and I'm

sure it drove him mad.

KAFKA:

Burgel doesn't like anybody!

GABRIELA:

He used to like me -- very much

more than I liked him.

KAFKA:

He's jealous, yes, but that

jealous? He's too cautious.

Gabriela clears some more items off a mantelpiece with a

sweeping gesture.

GABRIELA:

Of course he is -- the Castle

precincts are not the safest part

of the city after dark. People

disappear up there regularly. If

you want to lie in wait for someone,

that's the place to do it.

KAFKA:

Now you're saying Eduard was lured

there?

GABRIELA:

(puts away the last

few books)

How often does one of our clerks

have business in the house of records?

KAFKA:

I've heard of it happening.

GABRIELA:

And Burgel is the bringer of

messages, isn't he?

KAFKA:

Usually.

Putting the bag down, Gabriela goes closer to Kafka, so close

he almost cowers.

GABRIELA:

Or what if there really was an

error? -- I don't know what kind --

any kind that needed correcting --

and what if Burgel was responsible

for it? One mistake -- even a small

one in a firm like ours -- it could

cost him a promotion.

KAFKA:

First these nameless authorities

were the root of all evil, now it's

insignificant Burgel. If indeed

there was a mistake -- and a minor

one at that -- you're suggesting

someone went to a lot of trouble

over something so trivial as to

not matter at all.

GABRIELA:

What seems important to these

people is not determined by the

amount of work it entails -- you're

far from understanding the

authorities if you believe that.

KAFKA:

Now Burgel's one of the authorities?

She turns away from him, reddening.

GABRIELA:

For all his big talk he is. Does

he really have access to the Directors

of the firm as he always claims? --

or only the Deputy Managers -- people

of no importance whatsoever. Someone

ought to follow him for a change.

Kafka sees an opportunity to go to her, to try to calm her,

to make a timid approach to this woman.

KAFKA:

You won't make any sense of it

while you're upset.

-- But she breaks away.

GABRIELA:

Burgel is only there for one

purpose -- to spy on the employees

and report any and all indiscretions,

real or imagined. If he didn't

send Eduard to the Castle, you can

be damn sure he's in league with

whoever greeted him there.

(very upset now)

All those bastards are in league

with each other -- why can't you

see that!

She takes hold of him as if to shake some sense into him --

but really because she needs someone to hold.

KAFKA:

... I don't see anything. I see

a message on its way to me -- with

all the right answers. Only it

never arrives -- it's always just

on its way.

Gabriela doesn't seem to be listening. She's looking around.

the little room, as if it's someone else she's holding ...

GABRIELA:

Eduard ...

Her head against his, Kafka tentatively touches her hair

and she pulls away, the spell broken.

GABRIELA:

Your ignorance of the way things

are here is so appalling that it

makes my head spin to listen to

you and compare what you say and

have in mind with the real situation!

She storms out, vehemently picking up her bag on the way out,

and slamming the door quakingly behind her.

Kafka is too astonished at her behavior to make a move for a

moment, then he glances at the bomb-case she's left behind,

then he goes out to the landing.

GABRIELA:

Rushing down the stairs in anger, tearing open the door at

the middle landing and slamming that one too once past it.

KAFKA:

Following her down.

GABRIELA:

Coming down the final flight of stairs, disappearing through

the door at the bottom, slamming that one as well.

KAFKA:

Almost caught up with her, coming down to the last door.

GROUND FLOOR HALLWAY

Kafka comes through the door from the stairs, out of breath,

and stops. He's too late. The hallway is empty. The front

door at the end of it is shut. He makes a face and a moment

later starts to go back up. Then stops again. Turns. Looks

back at the front door. ... The one he didn't hear slam.

OUTSIDE:

The front door opens and Kafka steps out. He stands on the

stoop. He looks up the street one way. Deserted. He looks

down the street the other way. Deserted.

CUT:

INSIDE - DAY

Kafka leads the police Inspector back along the lodging house

hallway. The two subordinate policemen follow behind.

INSPECTOR:

You said she was extremely upset.

People who are extremely upset --

Kafka -- are given to disappearing

in a hurry. They go and calm down

for a day or so and then they come

back.

They've come to the door to the stairs now.

KAFKA:

But that's just my point -- she was

more than upset, she was livid.

She slammed every door on her way

downstairs -- except that one.

(points at front door)

I was just behind her and I didn't

even hear that one shut -- not at

all.

INSPECTOR:

That's not what I call conclusive

evidence of an abduction.

KAFKA:

If someone was waiting here in the

hallway to spirit her away, wouldn't

they have shut the door as quietly

as possible?

The Inspector stares at him. The two other policemen roll

their eyes at each other.

CUT:

EDUARD'S ROOM

Kafka keeps his eye on the two policemen as they poke around,

one of them getting close to the dumbwaiter.

INSPECTOR:

Why would someone want to kidnap

this woman -- the name is Rossmann?

He says it rather derisively, separating the syllables of the

name.

KAFKA:

You told me to contact you if

anything relevant came up --

Gabriela is relevant. When I

spoke to you before I didn't know

she'd been seeing Eduard.

INSPECTOR:

That's been noted. But where

does it lead us? Unless you have

something more to add.

KAFKA:

She's missing. I went to her house

and she hadn't returned there.

The policeman at the dumbwaiter peers down the shaft -- but

then moves on.

INSPECTOR:

She lost her job today. Just

between you and me, I'd probably

go away and brood a bit myself.

He signals his men, time for them to go.

STAIRWAY:

The two Policemen lead the way back down, the Inspector

behind them, Kafka remaining on the top landing.

KAFKA:

(manages to blurt out)

Maybe it's true then what she said.

INSPECTOR:

(pauses)

What did she say?

KAFKA:

That the police may have allegiance

to something other than truth.

The two other policemen look at each other ominously. The

Inspector turns to them, giving them a look, and they go off

down the stairs. The Inspector plods back up to Kafka Like a

stern parent.

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