Music Within Page #5

---

When I'm in town, I'm gonna be at home.

I've been working a lot lately

and you've been really great about that.

This is a really big deal.

I know.

Okay. I'm proud of you.

So when are you gonna tell Mike

you're leaving?

Mike's the hardest worker you got, okay?

He's a little bit volatile.

He's a ticking time bomb.

He's effective.

That's the important thing, right?

He's completely out of control.

What happens when you're not here

to baby-sit him?

As it is, no one wants to work with him.

The people that he got work for

will work with him.

Look, I'll talk to him. This job is his life.

I don't care.

I want him gone.

I'm on time, bro. I'm never late.

I wear nice clothes.

Who's placed more people than me,

even more than you?

No doubt, I know.

You got an unorthodox style, man.

It makes management nervous.

So when are you leaving, man?

I go in a week.

F***ing A, brother. You're gonna be great.

Thanks.

Look, man, I don't have to do this

if you're not...

No, don't worry about me.

I'm a survivor, brother. I'm gonna be fine.

Yeah.

Sometimes late when things are real

And people share the gift of gab

between themselves

Some are quick to take the bait

And catch the perfect prize

They wanted me to write

the book on hiring the disabled.

I finally had something to say,

I just didn't know how to say it.

But oz never did give nothing

to the tin man

That he didn't, didn't already have

And cause never was the reason

for the evening

Come on, guys.

Now, I don't wanna see text in your eyes.

Has he told you yet you're full of sh*t?

'Cause if you're any good he will, trust me.

Ladies and gentlemen,

meet Richard Pimentel,

the best student I never had.

That's all for today, thank you.

Tilting at Windmills. You a Quixote fan?

Yeah.

I was reading it one night

and I had an epiphany.

You know, the hardest thing

about being disabled

is the way that other people treat you.

Employers, they don't wanna

hire people with disability.

Why is that?

They lack confidence in us.

- I think you may have that wrong.

- What do you mean?

You don't need to change their minds

about people's disabilities,

you need to change their minds

about themselves.

I wanna show you something.

- Lithium?

- Yeah.

I'm what they call a manic-depressive.

That medicine you're holding

allows me to function.

I don't share that with a lot of people.

For years,

I didn't wanna accept what I was.

The day you auditioned for me

was not a good day.

No, I got a life 'cause of you.

- You could've lost it because of me.

- I make my own decisions.

I lost my hearing.

I gained a superpower, lip-reading.

I can spy on conversations

a hundred feet away.

I could have some fun with that

at those god-awful faculty lunches.

- So you don't wear hearing aids?

- No, they don't help.

I get them from the government, but I just

pass them out like candy for Halloween.

Do me a favor,

I want you to meet someone.

- Richard?

- Yeah.

Bill Austin. Come on back with me.

- Right in here, please.

- All right.

No offense,

but this is all kind of a circle jerk.

I'm just here to humor Ben.

See, I have this ritual with Uncle Sam

every year where he tells me

how much more deaf I am

than the year before,

and then I cash his disability checks.

Well, there doesn't seem to be

too much purpose

in living a life with a hearing problem

if we can find the right solution.

Wait, wait.

What are you gonna do with that thing?

I'm going to stick it in your ear,

unless you have another place

you'd rather I stick it.

Ear's good.

Now we're ready to try

the new hearing aids.

Is that them?

They're like a contact lens for the ear.

We've found that

smaller's better.

We get a more efficient coupling

for the ear when the aid is in the canal.

Can you hear me, Richard?

How does it sound? Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Oh, yeah. That's great.

Wash away my troubles

Wash away my pain

With the rain in Shambala

Wash away my sorrow

Wash away my shame

Once I started writing again,

it was like I tapped a vein.

My central focus was

to change the attitudes of employers

about persons with all disabilities.

It took me a year to write.

Ah, ooh, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Everyone is helpful

Everyone is kind

On the road to Shambala

Everyone is lucky

Everyone is so kind

On the road to Shambala

What page are you on right now?

I'm on page shut the f*** up.

I've got CP, I'm not deaf.

All right, come in.

Come on, man. Say something.

Why did you want me to read this?

'Cause I don't think

I know what I'm doing, Art.

But I never would've written that

if I hadn't met you.

Now, you're the smartest guy that I know,

and if you don't think that's any good,

I'm just gonna tear it up.

You don't have

a clue...

- All right, sh*t.

- No, let me finish.

You don't have a clue how good this is.

You know what we cripples want

besides getting laid?

To be seen.

When they look at me out there now,

you know what they see?

Nothing.

I'm ignored.

How can you ignore this?

But they ignore me,

because

I am so disturbing

to their definition of human,

that I make them feel.

I love that.

What you've created

will help to make them see us.

If you try to tear this up,

I'll kick your ass.

All right.

I threw myself into my career.

I was changing lives and ignoring my own.

I was keynote speaker for

the US government, training every agency.

CIA, NASA, the VA, all of them.

My own subversive little goal

was to make the federal government

into the biggest employer

of disabled persons in the country.

Mike would've dug the irony.

Richard, we made plans

for this months ago.

Why did you wait till now

to tell me you can't go?

- I just forgot all about it. I'm sorry.

- So tell them that.

It's an important conference,

I'm the speaker.

I can't just not show up,

people count on me.

And I don't?

They're strangers at a convention,

an audience.

They applaud, you eat it up.

So I have to wonder,

are you doing this for them or for you?

I'm doing it for them

and I'm doing it for me.

We'll do something special

when I get back.

Okay?

Richard, this is important to me.

I'm asking you not to go.

Stop it! I am not doing this right now.

I'll call you from the hotel.

Until you've seen

this trash can dream come true

You stand at the edge

while people run you through

And I thank the lord

There's people out there like you

I thank the lord

There's people out there like you

While Mona Lisas and mad hatters

Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers

Turn around and say good morning

to the night

For unless they see the sky

Hey, baby, it's me. I know it's

late, but pick up if you're there.

Hello? Just wanna say that

today went really well

and I wanted to see how you were doing

and tell you that I miss you a lot.

And...

Pick up if you're there 'cause I

really wanted to tell you that I...

I think I messed up.

Christine?

Christine?

Oh, boy.

The minute I turn my back,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes