Mimic Page #10

LEONARD:

(Wearily)

Now don't tell me.

INT. HOLE

Susan's hand withdraws.

LEONARD (OS)

You lost a token, right?

CUT TO:

INT. SUBWAY PLATFORM - LATER

SHH-SHH-SHH. A felt rag is expertly being pulled across a

set of pristine black shoes.

REVEAL Leonard sitting like a king in a chair, getting his

shoes shined by Manny. He leans back laconically while

arguing with Peter. Ernest examines the ootheca picture.

PETER:

Look, I showed you my badge...

LEONARD:

Yeah, and you gonna have to show me a lot

bigger one you wanna go down there.

That's the old maintenance grid, Doc.

Swiss cheese:
tunnels, tracks...

PETER:

The Department of Public Health...

LEONARD:

...should know better'n to go sneakin'

around my turf...

PETER:

Fine. You want me to call your

supervisor?

LEONARD:

Please do. He's a lonely guy.

Uninterested, Leonard looks over to Susan and Chuy.

ANGLE ON SUSAN:

She leans against the wall, inspects her dirty hand. Ernest

gives her his handkerchief.

CHUY (OS)

Gucci. Flat pump.

She looks down at Chuy, who sits nearby, holding a PAIR OF

SPOONS.

ERNEST:

Your shoes.

She stares down at her shoes. Gucci flat pumps, all right.

Susan smiles.

Just then, a SUBWAY TRAIN pulls up. The doors open,

disgorging passengers. Chuy flips into action. He starts

playing his spoons, CLICKING them together, slapping them

against his knee.

Susan watches in wonder as the boy begins to use the spoons

to IMITATE the different rhythmical step patterns of the

VARIOUS COMMUTERS: The rolling, comical gait of A FAT MAN,

the lithe haughty step of A PRIM LADY.

SUSAN:

(Laughs. To Chuy.)

That's wonderful! What grade are you in?

Chuy doesn't answer.

ERNEST:

No school. Shoes're all Chuy knows about.

Ernest discreetly points to his forehead.

MANNY:

(immediately)

He's special.

LEONARD:

He can imitate anything, you just watch

him.

PETER:

(Irritably, to Leonard)

Excuse me, I'm talking to you.

LEONARD:

No, you talkin' at me.

Leonard hands Manny a $5.00 bill for the shine, gets up and

walks past Peter as if he were invisible.

ERNEST:

(discreetly, to Susan)

Is there some reward for this?

SUSAN:

I guess that could be arranged.

Ernest smiles, pockets the ootheca picture.

PETER:

For Chrissakes. You gonna lay a two-

bit bureaucratic, territorial number

on me?

LEONARD:

You wanna keep up the conversation, you

best come back with the proper permits

and the right attitude.

Leonard saunters away with Ernest in tow.

Peter shakes his head angrily. He takes Susan by the arm,

heads off in another direction.

Chuy, without watching, clicks his spoons to the imitation of

their steps.

INT. SUBWAY STAIRS - DAY

Susan and Peter walk up the stairs; Peter still fumes.

PETER:

You give someone a f***ing uniform

and... Did you hear how he talked to us?

SUSAN:

I heard how you talked to him.

PETER:

Oh, so I'm the bad guy now?

Susan spares him an ironic look.

SUSAN:

He was just doing his job.

PETER:

Fine, then I'm the bad guy. Jesus!

At the top of the stairs they're completely engulfed by

sunlight.

PETER:

He wants a permit, I'll get him a

permit.

CUT TO:

INT. SUBWAY TRACKS - DUSK

A train blurs by.

A FLASHLIGHT BEAM over dirty gravel. TILT with the beam to

see Ernest walking his beat past TRACKS and GIRDERS. Hulking

out-of-service SUBWAY CARS surround him. He shines his light

on the ootheca picture and then around him at the walls.

A SOUND catches his attention. A RUSTLING.

He notices something off to a corner, walks over to it.

A SHINY BROWN LUMP in the corner, covered in garbage.

He touches the lump with his shoe. It STIRS slightly.

He touches it again...

...and a PAIR OF LEGS suddenly LASH OUT, kicking at him

reflexively.

Ernest jumps back.

Another SET OF LEGS emerges...

Oddly enough, Ernest relaxes.

ERNEST:

Chrissakes...

He grabs the surface of the lump, and pulls it. We see that

it was just a SHINY BROWN TARP.

Underneath, a group of THREE HOMELESS PEOPLE -- emaciated,

toothless -- sleeping intertwined for warmth. In the dim

light, they almost seem like a single organism.

ERNEST:

Guys, c'mon.

The Homeless People stare back at him mutely. Ernest starts

getting annoyed.

ERNEST:

I told you to stick by the maintenance

area.

BAG LADY:

Nah... It's private property now.

Ernest looks at her, confused.

SKELETAL BUM:

He eats down there.

ERNEST:

Who?

HOMELESS MAN:

The Stickman.

BAG LADY:

Long John.

The homeless man points. Ernest turns his light.

Another SILHOUETTE of the OVERCOAT MAN drawn on the wall. An

arrow below it points east.

ERNEST:

Graffiti artist, uh?

(To Homeless People)

Look guys, just get off my beat, you

hear? Get moving.

Ernest hustles them out. The homeless people glare at him,

pick up their things and head into the gloom.

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