Mistress America Page #15

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TRACY:

If I’m not in my body, where am I?

PSYCHIC:

Five feet to the left and unhappy.

EXT. HUDSON RIVER. DAY

Tracy hurls her briefcase into the water.

INT. OFFICE. DAY

Tracy sits in front of the Advisor.

TRACY:

If a person wanted to start theirown club, how would a person goabout it?

ADVISOR:

Well, I think it’s pretty much donefor this semester, but you couldput in an application for fundingfor next semester...

INT. TONY’S DORM ROOM. DAY

A knock on the door. Tony answers it.

TRACY:

Hey, can I come in?

TONY:

OK.

Tracy sits on the floor.

TRACY:

You going home for Thanksgiving?

TONY:

No, going to Baltimore withNicolette.

107.

TRACY:

Oh...nice.

TONY:

Her dad fries a turkey apparently.

You?

TRACY:

Nah.

She hands Tony a couple of pieces of paper.

TRACY:

It’s an application. Two.

TONY:

I don’t want to join Mobius. I’ve

had enough rejection.

TRACY:

It’s not for Mobius. I quit thebriefcase club. You were right,

they’re self-appointed douche bags.

I’m starting my own zine and I’mnot saying you’re in, but I amsaying I’d be very interested ingetting your and Nicolette’sapplication.

Tony stands, he thinks about this for a moment.

TONY:

I’ll fix us some screwdrivers.

TRACY:

OK.

CUT TO:

Tracy goes by the restaurant. For Let.

Tracy goes to Soul Cycle, a different instructor.

Thanksgiving Day parade.

Tracy watches the floats alone.

INT. BROOKE’S APARTMENT BUILDING. HALLWAY. AFTERNOON

Tracy knocks on a door. Kareem, in a tie, answers.

KAREEM:

Hello.

108.

TRACY:

Hi - I’m sorry to bother you onThanksgiving, but I met you once -

I went through your window? It was

in the middle of the night...

KAREEM:

Yeah...

TRACY:

I was with Brooke.

KAREEM:

You’re her sister, right?

TRACY:

Well, I was going to be. Do youhave a number for her? The old one

isn’t working...

KAREEM:

I don’t-

TRACY:

Anyway - I was going to ask you: doyou know where she went?

Kareem indicates for Tracy to follow him. She passes througha cozy apartment. The table is set for the holiday. A

couple of kids run through.

KAREEM:

Her front door is still bolted

shut.

They reach the window. Kareem opens it.

KAREEM:

She’s upstairs.

EXT. FIRE ESCAPE. DAY

Tracy climbs the fire escape. She gets to the top window andlooks through the glass.

The place is mostly empty save for stacked boxes andsuitcases.

Brooke walks into the room and places some books into a box.

She wears her red pants. Tracy knocks. Brooke looks up andcomes to the window.

She and Tracy stare at each other through the glass.

109.

TRACY:

(through the glass)

Hi.

BROOKE:

Hi.

TRACY:

Can I come in?

CUT TO:
Tracy sits on some boxes watching Brooke move aroundpacking.

TRACY:

You’re leaving?

BROOKE:

In a couple of hours. I’m going totry my luck out west.

TRACY:

You’re going today? On

Thanksgiving?

BROOKE:

New York isn’t the New York I used

to know. There’s too much

construction. Maybe LA is my lady.

In LA I qualify as well-read.

TRACY:

I wanted to say-

BROOKE:

I know you’re sorry.

TRACY:

I’m not really that sorry.

BROOKE:

You’re not?

TRACY:

No.

BROOKE:

Oh then f*** this.

Brooke opens the window again.

TRACY:

No, no wait...

(pause)

I looked for you.

110.

BROOKE:

I’ve been around.

TRACY:

Are you OK? Like, financially?

BROOKE:

Yeah. Mamie-Claire gave me what

would have been my share of our T-

shirt profits. It was just enough

to pay off my debts and get out of

town.

TRACY:

What will you do in LA?

BROOKE:

I don’t know. I think I’m sick.

And I don’t know if my ailment has

a name - it’s just me sitting and

staring at the internet or the

television for long periods of time

interspersed by trying to not do

that and then lying about what I’ve

been doing. Then I’ll get so

excited about something that the

excitement overwhelms me and I

can’t sleep or do anything - and

then I just am in love with

everything but can’t figure out how

to make myself work in the world.

TRACY:

I think I have that too.

BROOKE:

I wish we lived in feudal times

when your position in the world

couldn’t change. If you were a

king or a peasant you had to just

be happy with who you were.

(pause)

But...wait!

Brooke looks inside an open box. She finds a piece of paperand hands it to Tracy.

CLOSE:
SAT results. 2200.

TRACY:

You can tutor SAT’s now.

111.

BROOKE:

Well, I thought I might actually goto college. I’m not an amputee.

TRACY:

(confused)

Right.

BROOKE:

I filled out a couple ofapplications. I wrote my collegeessay all about you.

TRACY:

(apprehensive)

Really?

BROOKE:

Oh snap! No. It’s about my mom.

But I had you there.

TRACY:

Yeah.

Brooke goes into the other room to retrieve more books.

BROOKE (O.S.)

I let Mamie-Claire and Dylan keepthe cats. It’s like, I gave them achance for a better life, betterthan I could have provided forthem.

TRACY:

The cats went from stolen to givenbecause you changed your mind.

BROOKE (O.S.)

Don’t put that in a story. Not

because I care but because it’s not

a very good observation.

Tracy sees the Mobius Literary Journal (the one with herstory) inside an open box. She’s about to say something, butthinks better of it. Brooke reenters and tosses books into

the box.

TRACY:

You know what’s funny... I’m not

even done with my first semester ofcollege.

112.

BROOKE:

This won’t even be your big

“college story.”

TRACY:

I think it’ll always be pretty big.

Brooke hesitates, emotional for a second. She musses Tracy’shair like a kid.

BROOKE:

Well, thanks for stopping by, but Ihave more packing to do beforeKareem and I break down the front

door.

TRACY:

It’ll be hard for me not to look at

New York and think of you somewherein it.

Brooke shrugs.

BROOKE:

Yeah.

Tracy moves toward the window. She looks back at her friend.

TRACY:

Hey Brooke...

Brooke turns around.

TRACY:

It’s not going to be as great aswhat my mom and your dad wereplanning, but... Do you want tohave Thanksgiving with me?

EXT/INT. VESELKA. DAY

We watch Brooke and Tracy through the window eating pierogisfor Thanksgiving.

TRACY (V.O.)

Meadow had made rich fat women less

fat and rich stupid kids lessstupid and lame rich men less lame.

And she wanted so badly to be onthe other side - to be fat and

stupid and lame and rich.

(MORE)

113.

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

But what she couldn't see most of

all, more than she couldn't see

that she was never going to get the

restaurant, was that those people

were nothing compared to her. They

were matches to her bonfire. She

was the last cowboy - all romance

and failure. The world was

changing and her kind didn’t have

anywhere to go. Being a beacon of

hope for lesser people is a lonely

business.

And as Brooke and Tracy talk and reminisce and laugh, we CUTTO BLACK.

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