Mistress America Page #11

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BROOKE:

(coyly)

It’s a good one.

76.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

We’re having dinner at the Baskins.

I’m sorry to say it but you guyswill have to leave now.

Tony holds up a Chipwich.

TONY:

Can I have this?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

YES!

He leaves, eating the Chipwich.

DYLAN:

Marty and Jiselle can wait.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

Didn’t you guys park over at

Harold’s?

DYLAN:

(confused)

You guys know Harold? How do youknow Harold?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

They don’t!

DYLAN:

She’s an old friend, she can stayover if she wants. We have the

room for her and her students.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

They’re not her students. It’s

much weirder than that.

(definitively)

I’ll walk you out.

Mamie-Claire leaves through the door toward the living room.

No one follows.

BROOKE:

They’re my friends.

DYLAN:

Always running with a young crowd.

TRACY:

She’s starting a restaurant.

77.

BROOKE:

I can’t wait to tell you about it.

Mamie-Claire reenters, realizing no one followed.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

Dylan, let’s not do this. She

already lost her sh*t once.

DYLAN:

What’s the restaurant?

Dylan starts doing the dishes/loading the dishwasher.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

Brooke, this is uncomfortable.

Dylan doesn’t want to do this.

DYLAN:

(to Mamie-Claire)

You don’t know what I want. I know

you see me a certain way, but I’mnot just some square. I saw

Nirvana live and this was waybefore Nevermind.

TRACY:

(piping in)

You seem really cool to me.

DYLAN:

I DJed at my college radio station,

the 2AM slot. We played Mudhoney,

Superchunk, Trip Shakespeare, I

mean...

MAMIE-CLAIRE

No one wants to hear about yourglory days in college radio, Dylan,

OK.

TRACY/BROOKEI do./I do.

DYLAN:

(back to Mamie-Claire)

I play this part for you. I playthis guy wearing a fleece, but I’mnot just some a**hole bankrollingyour fitness goals.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

I’ve gotten really intotriathalons.

78.

TRACY:

Brooke teaches cycling.

DYLAN:

So cool.

MAMIE-CLAIRE

No, I only like cycling when it’scombined with running and swimming.

DYLAN:

(to Brooke)

Why did you think of us?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

Because we “owe” her!

BROOKE:

Because you’re into cool things.

DYLAN:

We are! You guys want to smokesome weed?

He opens the freezer.

DYLAN:

I have some frozen weed. MC,

where’s that weed Jason gave us?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

You’ve just said “weed” likefifteen times.

DYLAN:

(head in the freezer)

MC??? Did that kid take my weed!?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

NO! No one has touched it. It

should be next to the Chipwiches.

CUT TO:
Tony knocks on the upstairs bathroom door. He’s

eating a Chipwich.

TONY:

Are you sick?

NICOLETTE (O.S.)

No, I’m healthy.

TONY:

Don’t shut me out! You know how

hard that is for me!

79.

NICOLETTE (O.S.)

You sound like you’re eatingsomething.

TONY:

I have a Chipwich for you.

NICOLETTE (O.S.)

(softening)

You brought me a Chipwich?

TONY:

I can get you another one.

BATHROOM:

NICOLETTE:

LEAVE ME ALONE!

Nicolette reads the story on the sink counter.

TRACY (V.O.)

It was clear that the thing thatMeadow wanted most in the world -

the thing that she wanted to defineher, to absolve her from thestruggle of explaining herself,

to give her a place to put her timeand talents - her everything - therestaurant.

Tony pounds on the door.

TRACY (V.O.)

It was clear that it would never

happen. The most surprising thingwas that Meadow was actuallysurprised by it. She could see the

whole world with painful accuracybut couldn’t see herself or her

fate.

TONY (O.S.)

Baby, come out!

KITCHEN:

Brooke finds herself standing next to Karen.

TRACY (V.O.)

The most surprising thing was thatMeadow was actually surprised byit.

(MORE)

80.

TRACY (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And because I was in love with her,

I decided I couldn’t see it either.

The conversations overlap.

BROOKE:

I’m starting a restaurant.

KAREN:

Oh...I’m an attorney.

BROOKE:

That’s awesome for you. I never

went to college.

KAREN:

That doesn’t have to be a permanentstate. You aren’t an amputee.

BROOKE:

I know that.

KAREN:

You can still go to college.

DYLAN:

(head still in the

freezer)

We’ll get lifted and you’ll tell usabout this venture.

Dylan reemerges holding a Chipwich.

DYLAN:

Do any of you kids know how to makean apple bong?

MAMIE-CLAIRE

(nearly apoplectic)

Nobody knows how to make an applebong!

Tony comes back:

TONY:

I do.

DYLAN:

(suspicious)

Did you take my herb?

TONY:

No.

81.

DYLAN:

I’ll get you an apple.

TRACY:

Why don’t we all sit down somewherecomfortable and listen to what

Brooke has to say...

DYLAN:

Yes. You’ll pitch us.

BROOKE:

What?

DYLAN:

That’s what you do. If someone

wants something. They pitch. Come

pitch us on our media stage!

Dylan, Tracy, Tony and Brooke all troupe down the hall.

Mamie-Claire hurries behind:

DYLAN:

We just ran Apocalypto on Blu Ray.

Stunning. Stunning. I’ve gottenvery into vinyl.

TRACY:

I’m into compressed MP3’s. Just

joking.

DYLAN:

I have a great early Mother LoveBone EP that would be perfect for

this occasion.

BROOKE:

Records are so warm.

Brooke is suddenly yanked out of the line of people, by Mamie-

Claire who stands in the dark in the guest bathroom:

MAMIE-CLAIRE

(intense whisper)

I want you to know that I reallylove Dylan. I love his blonde hair

and his beard. I know you onlyloved him for his money but I lovehim as a person and I also love himfor his money but not in thatorder. I’m committed to being ahappier person. Do you understand?

She releases Brooke back out into the hallway.

82.

LIVING ROOM:

Dylan, Mamie-Claire, Tony, Karen and Tracy sit on the couchin front of an elevated stage which is usually used toproject movies.

Brooke stands behind a curtain. Tracy presses a button andthe curtain slowly opens.

Brooke appears before them. Brooke backs up and kind of getsa little presentational about the whole thing.

BROOKE:

Umm, well...it’s a restaurant, butalso like where you cut hair...

(hesitates)

Can I start over?

DYLAN:

Of course. We’re old friends.

Murmurs of “yes, of course.”

BROOKE:

Okay, great.

She does a weird “rewinding” type action. Everyone stares.

BROOKE:

I was, that was pretend rewind.

Like...

Then she does it again.

BROOKE:

(breath)

So...it would have big heavy woodentables and chairs and...

Suddenly a projection of the red FBI warning from a DVDappears across Brooke’s body. She hesitates.

Dylan pulls the remote control from under his body.

DYLAN:

Sorry.

He shuts off the image.

BROOKE:

Umm... It would feel like the home

everyone wishes they had beenraised in. It...it...it...it.

83.

Brooke is struggling. Tracy can’t help but pipe in from thecouch.

TRACY:

No one who comes there will want to

take out their cell phones becauseit won’t feel that way. It would

be like taking out your cell phonein the woods - totally wrong.

DYLAN:

It’s so rude. I concur.

TRACY:

Yeah. It will always feel likefall inside - even on hot summer

nights with all the windows open.

BROOKE:

Loaves of bread that people tearoff pieces. It would be the kind

of place where at 2AM the chef andthe wait-staff would come out and

eat something simple they fixedthemselves with the remainingguests and open a bottle of goodwine.

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