Lost in America Page #11

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SHUSTER:

(chuckling)

That's wonderful.

(he gets up)

Well, Mr. Howard, nice to meet

you.

DAVID:

What do you mean nice to meet

me? You said this is wonderful.

SHUSTER:

We're kidding each other here,

right?

(starts to

laugh again)

I gotta tell you, this is one of

the best things I've ever heard.

What's the board gonna say again?

"Gamblers, come and get your

money back."

(he laughs)

Great. That's great.

DAVID:

(standing up)

No. No. Wait... Not "Gamblers,

get your money back."

That's wrong. We're not gamblers.

We're the few people in society

that have tried to do something

with our lives. See? We're drop-

outs. We're finding ourselves.

Someone's got to help the few

people like us, because if they

don't, nobody will ever drop out

again. Nobody will ever have

the courage to find themselves.

SHUSTER:

Well, I understand what you mean,

but I don't think The Desert Inn

can help find you. I'm sorry, but

thank you for the idea and good

night.

He begins to escort David to the door.

DAVID:

(stopping him)

Listen, I've experienced this

before. I've had clients that

didn't understand the idea until

they saw it on television and

then they said, "My God! What a

brilliant idea! Why didn't I

understand this?" I might have

used the wrong phrase. Okay,

picture this:
maybe, my wife

and I will do a television

commercial for you and there

could be a jingle and it could

go:

(begins to sing)

"The Desert Inn has heart! The

Desert Inn has heart! The Desert

Inn has heart!" Something like

that. See what I mean?

SHUSTER:

That's a nice jingle. Mr. Howard,

let's assume you're serious here.

What if this caught on? Could you

imagine what would happen? Why,

we would have to return everybody's

losses. The casino would just

crumble. We couldn't pay our bills.

You know the casino accounts for

a great deal of our profits.

DAVID:

I understand. Of course, you don't

pay back everybody's losses. You

make a distinct division between

the bold, who are out there searching,

and all the other schmucks, who come

here to see Wayne Newton.

SHUSTER:

I see. Now, I like Wayne Newton.

So, I fall into what category?

DAVID:

(realizing this was

not the best example)

Oh, look, I picked a name out of a

hat. I like Wayne Newton, too.

I'm saying a schmuck, representing

the gambler and a bold person,

representing me and my wife and the

one or two others that probably

wouldn't come here anyway. You

wouldn't have to do this more than

once or twice, there's not too many

bold people around. I think it was

a mistake to use entertainers as

the dividing line. We could find

another system. Anyway, what do

you say? We do need that nest egg

back.

SHUSTER:

I say good luck to you and stay

away from the tables next time.

DAVID:

Oh, that's for sure, but come on?

Half the money, for courage?

Shuster opens up his office door. He escorts David out.

30INT. LOBBY AT FRONT DESK

SHUSTER:

Mr. Howard, nice to meet you.

A pleasure.

DAVID:

Hold it. What about "Miracle

on 34th Street?"

SHUSTER:

Christmas picture, right?

DAVID:

(now rambling on very

fast, desperate, rea-

lizing his plan is

about to fail)

More than a Christmas picture. What

happened there? Macy's didn't want

to send their customers to Gimble's

because the president of Macy's

thought they would lose all of their

customers and lose a tremendous

amount of money and it would be taken

wrong. But it wasn't taken wrong.

What happened? Macy's did much better

than they ever did before. And that's

what would happen to you. The Desert

Inn would do much, much better because

you would get Gimble's business and

the casino would be full.

SHUSTER:

Well, I'm not too familiar with

that picture but didn't Macy's have

Santa Claus to help them out?

(he starts to laugh)

I mean, if they didn't have Santy

Claus there, they might have done

very badly.

He continues to laugh. David now starts to laugh along

with him, except David's laugh has a pitiful ring to it.

He senses this is not going to work.

DAVID:

Yes. I guess they did have Santy

Claus. Well, thank you. Thank you.

And just so I understand, we can t

get any of our money back, right?

SHUSTER:

Well, not today, no. But if the

policy ever changes, we'll write

you.

(still chuckling as

he goes back into

his office)

That's wonderful. Very good.

He closes the door. The desk Clerk, who has just seen

Shuster laugh, turns to David, who is standing there

looking as bad as he's ever looked.

CLERK:

I think he likes you. He rarely

laughs at anything.

David just nods a sickly "thank you."

CUT TO:

31EXT. MOTOR HOME - DAY

David and Nancy are driving. They are well outside of

Las Vegas. Nancy is staring out of the window. David

is driving in silence. Obviously, they have been driving

for a great deal of time without saying anything. Nancy

finally breaks the silence.

32INT. MOTOR HOME

NANCY:

I can't take this. Say something.

Yell at me. Hit me. Drive off

the road. Do anything. Just stop

being so silent.

DAVID:

I have nothing to say.

NANCY:

I can't keep apologizing. I'm

sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I feel horrible. I would do

anything to change it.

David says nothing. He just clears his throat.

NANCY:

(continuing)

You're going to make yourself

sick. It's unnatural. I

understand. If I were you, I'd

be furious. Don't hold it in.

Go ahead.

DAVID:

(looking at her)

I'm fine.

More silent driving. Nancy is desperately uncomfort-

able. Obviously, David is not fine. How could he be?

He's seen ten years of earnings dissipate in less than

three hours and he didn't participate in any of the

dissipation. After a while, Nancy tries a new approach.

NANCY:

Obviously, I can't apologize anymore

for what I did so we should talk

about what we're going to do.

DAVID:

And what would that be?

NANCY:

Well, our dream is still the same.

We just don't have any money.

David clears his throat again.

NANCY:

(continuing)

And, also, we should stop saying

we don't have any money. We do

have some.

DAVID:

(very patiently)

We have eight hundred and two

dollars.

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