Moonstruck Page #11

RONNY:

I don't care! I ain't no freakin

monument to justice! I lost my hand,

I lost my bride! Johnny has his hand,

Johnny has his bride! You come in

here and you want me to put away my

heartbreak and forget?

He goes to the big table, which is floured and covered with

bread. He sweeps everything off the tabletop during the next.

RONNY:

Is it just a matter of time till a

man opens his eyes and gives up his

one dream of happiness? Maybe. Maybe.

All I have... Have you come here,

Stranger, Bride of my Brother, to

take these last few loaves from my

table? Alright. Alright.

The table is bare. He stares at it blankly. He wanders away,

to the back room where the flour sacks are kept. We hear a

single sob escape him from that room, and then silence.

Everyone in the oven room looks after him. Then Chrissy

approaches Loretta. She holds the big knife at her side.

CHRISSY:

This is the most tormented man I

have ever known. I am in love with

this man. He doesn't know that. I

never told him cause he can never

love anybody since he lost his hand

and his girl.

She holds out the knife.

CHRISSY:

Here. Why don't you just kill him?

It would be so much more kind than

coming here and inviting him to a

wedding like he'll never have.

Loretta considers Chrissy, decides what she's going to do,

and goes to the flour room.

INT. OF THE FLOUR ROOM - DAY

Many 50 lb. bags of flour are stacked under a bare electric

bulb. A rough stone staircase opposite is lit by daylight

from above. Ronny, quietly distraught, stands leaning by his

forehead against a stack of flour. Loretta approaches him.

She feels for him.

LORETTA:

Where you live?

He points to the stone staircase.

RONNY:

Upstairs.

She touches his shoulder.

LORETTA:

Come on.

He follows her up the stairs.

EXT. THE STAIRCASE ENTRANCE ON THE STREET

Loretta and Ronny emerge. He gestures. They enter the

apartment building behind the bakery.

INT. THE PEACOCK CAFE — DAY

It's a dark Italian coffee and dessert house. Reproductions

of Roman statuary adorn grottos and alcoves. In the back is

a glass case displaying various desserts, and behind the

case, a big burnished gold cappuccino machine. The place is

almost empty.

MUSIC:

An album of "NEAPOLITAN FOLK SONGS" is PLAYING on the cafe's

SOUND SYSTEM.

The CAMERA TRAVELS along the face of an exposed brick wall,

DISCOVERING busts of Romans occasionally, and then IT COMES

TO the figure of COSMO. He's sitting at a table which is

inset into a nook, so we cannot see who he's with.

DARK NOOK IN THE CAFE

At a little table away from prying eyes, Cosmo sits with

MONA, his girlfriend. Mona is a pretty but overripe Italian

woman in her late forties. She's all done up, and she looks

at Cosmo with adoration.

COSMO:

And then there is copper, which is

the only pipe I use. It costs money.

But it costs money because it saves

money.

MONA:

And what did they say?

COSMO:

The man understood me. The woman

wanted to be cheap, but the man saw

that I was right.

MONA:

You have such a head for knowing.

You know everything.

COSMO:

I brought you something.

He takes out a small velvet box and hands it to her.

COSMO:

It's a present.

She opens the box. It's a gold bracelet with a pattern of

stars and birds.

MONA:

Oh, Cosmo!

COSMO:

They are little stars and birds.

Birds fly to the stars, I guess.

EXT. RONNY'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY

A three-story walk-up above Cammareri's Bakery.

INT. RONNY'S APARTMENT - DAY

It's a two-bedroom apartment. The decor reflects Ronny's

love of the opera. The furniture is overstuffed, fringed in

the colors of Italian passion. But it is all a bit faded,

the remains of an old flamboyance. The walls are decorated

with opera posters; and over the fireplace there is a painting

depicting a scene from "La Boheme": Mimi is standing in the

snow. Ronny stares at the picture of Mimi in the La Boheme

poster. Loretta comes in from the kitchen and sets down a

cup of coffee.

LORETTA:

You ready for the coffee?

Loretta moves back into the kitchen. Ronny turns and watches

as she walks down the hall.

RONNY:

Loretta. What's that smell?

LORETTA:

I'm making you a steak.

RONNY:

You don't have to help me.

LORETTA:

I know that. I do what I want.

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