Lean on Pete Page #3

---

- Your dad needs to rest.

- (MONITOR BLEEPS)

Hey.

Does it hurt?

No.

They got me pretty doped up.

(RAY INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY)

You're gonna be OK.

I hope so. Yeah.

Do you think he's gonna come back?

No. He won't be back.

Big f***er.

Yeah.

- He's the biggest guy I've ever seen.

- Yeah.

I'm sorry...

...that he threw you

through the door like that.

Hey...

...I'm gonna be fine.

- You should go home. Get some sleep.

- No.

I'm gonna stay right here, OK?

I'm not gonna be much company.

I'm gonna stay right here.

- It's OK.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna stay right here.

OK.

OK.

Hey, Dad.

Do you think you could give me

the number for Aunt Margy?

Why?

Well, just so I could call her.

I mean...

maybe she could help, right now.

We can take care of ourselves.

You and me,

we don't need anyone's help.

No, I know.

But... with you being here...

and me being back home...

(RAY WINCES)

You know what you need to do?

You need to go home,

get a good night's sleep.

You're the only one working.

We need that money.

I ain't gonna get sh*t being laid up.

So it's up to you.

OK.

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

(DOOR HINGES CREAK)

(GLASS CRUNCHING UNDERFOOT)

(DOG BARKS OUTSIDE)

(PETE SNORTS)

(PETE BLOWS)

(SIGHS)

Hey, buddy.

It's just me.

I'm gonna be staying next door

for a little while until Dad gets better.

Promise not to tell Del.

You know he wouldn't like it much.

It's gonna be fun 'cause I'm gonna

get to come visit you a lot more.

(PETE NICKERS)

(CHUCKLES)

No, I understand but can you tell him

I'll be away for the night,

- but that I'll be back tomorrow?

- NURSE:
Sure, I'll tell him.

- Now, you promise you'll tell him that?

- Yes, I promise I'll tell him.

- He's doing fine.

- OK.

- Don't worry.

- Thank you very much.

- (CAR HORN HONKS)

- DEL:
Charley, hurry the f*** up!

You too. Thank you.

- There she is.

- (HONKS CAR HORN)

Move over.

Get in the front.

Hey.

- This is Charley.

- Charley, I'm Bonnie.

Are you a jockey?

No, she's too fat to be a real jockey.

I just lost seven pounds.

- I'm down to 122.

- Yeah?

I swear to God,

get a f***ing scale right now.

Yeah, OK.

(MUSIC ON RADIO)

BONNIE:

So what do you like to do, Charley,

when Del here isn't making you

do all his dirty work?

- I run. I play football.

- At school?

Yeah, but not yet.

I played in Spokane.

I was on the freshman team.

We won eight games in a row.

What position?

Corner. And sometimes wide receiver.

But I'm too little to play anything else.

I'm waiting to lift weights

until I stop growing.

I haven't grown in six months,

so... maybe soon.

Why did you move to Portland?

- My dad moved here for work.

- What's he do?

Can we not talk?

I ain't talking to you.

I'm talking to the kid.

I was tired of talking to you

15 minutes after I met you 20 years ago.

(LAUGHS)

That's a good one.

I just tell it like I see it.

(TURNS UP VOLUME OF COUNTRY MUSIC

ON RADIO)

(ROY DRUSKY AND PRISCILLA MITCHELL:

Yes, Mr. Peters)

...'cause my wife don't mind at all

Please hurry up, dear

'Cause I'm so in love with you

(CHILDREN SQUEALING)

CHARLEY:

Is it hard being a girl jockey?

It isn't easy, that's for sure.

I used to work out horses up at the track

for a couple of trainers.

They always promised me rides.

And then when it came time,

never called my name.

So I just had to wait around for the

horses no one else wanted to ride.

Did you ever get hurt?

Yeah, once at a race in Union,

which is way out in eastern Oregon.

I was in the gate, this horse reared up,

flipped over backwards,

and I couldn't get out.

He landed on me.

- What happened?

- Broke my pelvis, punctured a lung.

My mom was there. She saw me

on the ground, screaming out in pain.

All she said was, "You're not too hurt

to run in the seventh, are you?"

Got a job at the Red Lobster after that.

I like that place.

I went to the one in Spokane with my dad

for my 13th birthday.

But then I went back.

And that's what happens.

I started riding for this guy

that made Del look like a good guy.

I mean, a real pervert.

He liked to watch girls taking a piss.

Then there was another horse that spooked.

Threw me into the rail,

and I broke my back.

- Sh*t.

- It was worse for the horse.

Broke both his forelegs;

something I'd hardly ever seen before.

Hey, what can I get you?

- Uh... elephant ear.

- All righty.

And then what?

Then I met Del. He lets me ride.

- Thank you, ma'am.

- Thank you.

Sometimes I think I might quit.

There's only so many times

you can fall down, right?

You could go back to Red Lobster.

- That I could.

- (BOTH LAUGH)

(CHEERING AND SHOUTING)

TANNOY:

Ain't that Rooster something?

Hope you had a couple of bucks on Rooster.

- Hey, Bonnie.

- What?

I heard someone down by the track

saying that Del runs his horses

into the ground.

You think he'll do that with Pete?

Well, it's true. If Del's broke,

he'll run his horses every two weeks.

Sometimes even once a week.

And is he broke?

He's broke a lot more than he used to be.

We haven't done the fair circuit

in a long while. We're here now, so...

Don't worry about Pete.

He's a quarter horse,

so he's got that going for him.

And he's probably been laid up

for a while.

Listen, you can't get attached

to the horse.

Why not?

'Cause you can't think of them as pets.

They're here to race and nothing else.

If they lose too much, they get fired.

Just the way it is.

Come on, let's get going.

TANNOY:

This race is a quarter-horse event.

Just a 200-yard dash

down the straightaway.

Don't blink or you might miss it.

Here's Bonnie Durand riding No.1,

Lean On Pete.

Come on, Pete.

Lean On Pete into gate one on the inside.

(HORSE WHINNIES)

(HORSES SNORTING AND BLOWING)

- (MAN SPEAKS SPANISH)

- Let's go, let's go.

And they are all in the start gate.

- Come on, Ray!

- Let's go!

- Oh. OK.

- (WHINNYING)

(JOCKEYS SHOUTING)

Faster, Pete! Go, go!

(SHOUTING)

But it's all Lean On Pete.

Lean On Pete and Bonnie Durand

winning with ease.

- We won!

- Yeah.

Did you see?

Bonnie Durand had Lean On Pete

ready in the starting gate

and he just took off like a rocket!

- He won, right?

- Yes.

TANNOY:
(FARON YOUNG:

Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young)

And leave a beautiful memory

I got a hot-rod car

Here.

- Did you get rid of it?

- Yep.

Looks like Rodriguez

is gonna send out a search party.

Don't worry about it.

Is he OK?

Yeah, he just ran faster

than he should have.

- What are the tests for?

- (PETE WHINNIES)

They test the winner for drugs.

Did Del give him something?

- Is that why he ran fast?

- No. Keep your voice down.

What did you tell him you got rid of?

A buzzer.

- What's that?

- Don't worry, they won't find it.

- Yeah, but what is that?

- Just gives the horse a little shock.

What kind of shock?

Hi.

(PETE NEIGHS AND WHINNIES)

DEL:

We good?

Let's get the f*** out of here.

- See you, Richie!

- All right.

Man, that Rodriguez

is one suspicious son of a b*tch.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes