Morning Star Page #16

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MIA:

Yes... and... I thought we had aconnection... the way you look atme. Maybe I finally just wentcrazy. Maybe I just wanted it to bethere...

WEBBER:

On the basis of a look, you lie toa UN official? It can’t be that

simple.

He looks into her eyes. Searching for answers. Getting none.

he lets her go. Walks away. On his way out, Webber detours tothe spinning orb. Touches it and it falls.

WEBBER (IN FRENCH) (CONT’D)

It’s a gyroscope for a XenoDigger’s drill-bit. There are noportals in this world except theones that flow down to the Seine.

Having sufficiently killed the buzz, Webber walks out. Miafights the urge to go after him.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE THEATER -- DAY

NEWS scrolls across a building: ...sixty thousand additionalUN troops to Austro-Italian border... below, TWO MEN INEXPENSIVE SUITS fight on the sidewalk like barroom brawlers.

Webber walks past, ignoring it all, lost in his own crisis.

77.

INT. L’HOSPITALE ST. VINCENT -- DAY

Webber enters the doorway of the darkened private room wherehis FATHER sleeps peacefully. Something seems to drive himinto the room. He approaches the bed, watching the old mansleep. When his father opens his rheumy eyes, Webber tenseslike he’d been caught at something.

FATHER:

D-did you go down to the river..?

Webber shushes him, awkwardly but gently.

WEBBER:

That was Ohio. This is Paris.

There’s a different river here.

His father slowly returns to his senses. Webber helps him situp, plumps his pillow. The old man, now that he’s conscious,

seems surprised to see Webber there.

FATHER:

You came this month already...

didn’t you? Is something wrong?

WEBBER:

No. I’m fine. I haven’t talked to

them about your condition yet.

The old man smiles at Webber’s deadpan candor. He reaches forhis glasses but his hand is shaky. Webber helps his fatherget his glasses on but quickly backs off again when the oldman touches his arm. His father notices. Smiles again. Webberlooks at the old man as if studying him... then his eyes landon a bedside photo. His father as a young man with his armsaround his young wife, Melissa and his real son, the childMartin. Webber stares at the woman in the picture.

WEBBER (CONT’D)

When you met your wife... mymother... you told me she came intothe shop where you worked andbought a magazine and you had abrief conversation...

FATHER:

Yeah?

WEBBER:

You told me within thirty secondsthat you knew this is the woman youwere going to marry. Was that true?

I know it’s a conventional thing to

say.

(MORE)

78.

WEBBER (CONT'D)

But it must refer to somethingreal... or does it? I mean, if youknew, if you actually knew, theremust have been something concrete.

A gesture... Something...

FATHER:

You came here to ask me that?

WEBBER:

(as if realizing)

I don’t know.

FATHER:

(smiling, nodding)

You were always stubborn aboutwanting to get things right. Whenwe played catch when you were akid, you’d get so mad at yourselfwhen you dropped the ball.

Webber realizes he’s been foolish. Nods, to himself. ..

WEBBER:

I have to go.

FATHER:

(desperate for company)

Want to watch TV? I get all theEnglish stations...

WEBBER:

I can’t.

Webber tries a smile and prepares to leave. His father’sglasses slip off. Webber puts them back on again for him.

FATHER:

You know- she was wearing theseround glasses, your mother. Theymade her look smart... There mightbe something there.

He knows his gambit to keep his son here has failed. Heshrugs with a smile. Overcome by an impulse he doesn’tunderstand, Webber touches the old man’s face. Tenderly. Hisfather looks very touched and very confused at the same time.

WEBBER:

I would have liked to stay and

watch TV.

His father nods, smiling now as if to comfort him. Webberleaves before things get too painful.

79.

CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL - HALLWAY

A male NURSE passes Webber in the opposite direction. Webberglances at the man’s flat, black shoes before he boards theelevator at the end of the hall.

CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL - ELEVATOR

A moment after the doors close, Webber looks at the two other

occupants of the elevator. Two more NURSES. He looks at theirshoes. They both wear white athletic shoes. Webber

immediately pushes a button to stop the elevator.

CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL - HALLWAYS

Webber tears out of the elevator, runs for the staircase. He

charges up the stairs, past startled cleaning staff...

Reaching the hall one floor up, he gets a view of hisfather’s room- swarming with MEDICAL PERSONNEL. A crash cart.

Webber frantically scans for a sight of that Orderly heglimpsed before but he knows he’s gone. It’s useless.

He enters his father’s room. Stands there, uselessly,

watching the medical staff try to revive the old man.

WEBBER:

If it’s possible to resuscitatehim, even for just a minute...

there’s something I have to tellhim.

Webber says this flatly, as if it were a reasonable request.

The lead doctor just looks at him. Webber sees his fatherFLATLINE. Just a hint of urgency touches his voice-

WEBBER (CONT’D)

I’d just need a second, really.

The Doctor stops working.

DOCTOR:

He’s passed. I’m sorry.

Webber seems to not quite process. The Doctor motions to theothers and they give Webber a moment alone. Webber approachesthe old man’s body slowly. Looks at the blotchy hand lyinglimply at his father’s side. Webber takes the hand in his.

He stands there, holding his father’s hand, looking lost.

80.

INT. WEBBER’S APARTMENT -- NIGHT

Webber sits in the dark, his gun on the endtable beside him.

His phone RINGS. He answers, slowly.

MARLING (O.S.)

Kemp’s wife and child have turnedup, in a manner of speaking...

WEBBER (INTO PHONE)

Dead?

MARLING:

Six months ago, Adele and littleAnn-Louise were found in a bog nearArlon. Necks broken, expertly. Kempis still wanted for questioning.

WEBBER:

Send me everything.

MOMENTS LATER:

Footage on Webber’s phone: A reporter in a provincial villagesquare talks grimly to the camera. They cut to footage ofAdele pushing Anne-Louise on a swing. Happier days. Webber’seyes fill with emotion. He looks away.

Webber removes his earphones and moves to the window. Lookingacross the courtyard, he sees Mia in her window. She’s alone,

smoking in her kitchen.

INT. CAR -- DAY

Webber drives through marshland. A sign says “Arlon 1km.”

EXT. A BOG -- DAY

Webber surveys a spookily deserted hollow. A swing hangs in atree. A sign somebody had a good time here once.

INT. CAR -- DAY

Webber drives past a picturesque rural village. He slows,

seeing something that draws his interest.

81.

EXT. CHURCH -- DAY

Webber approaches a dilapidated brick structure at the back.

Shabby, mostly elderly LOST SOULS rest here and there in theshade. A few CHILDREN from the village play nearby. But whathas drawn Webber is a perfect square of barren earth.

He sniffs the dirt. A youngish, balding PRIEST passing byobserves Webber's interest. (Scene in FRENCH.)

PRIEST:

Everything died, all at once.

Overnight. It was tempting to seeit as some kind of sign.

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