Out of the Past Page #3

Wait a minute.

When are you taking me back?

- Is that why you kissed me?

- No.

Whit didn't die.

- He didn't?

- No.

- Then why...

- He just wants you back.

I hate him.

- I'm sorry he didn't die.

- Give him time.

- You are taking me back.

- There's no hurry.

I could have run away last night.

- I'd find you.

- Yes, I believe you would.

Are you glad you did?

I don't know.

I am.

- There was a little business about $40,000.

- I didn't take it.

How'd you know it was taken?

It's what you meant.

I don't want anything of

his or any part of him.

- Except his life.

- I didn't know what I was doing.

I didn't know anything,

except how much I hated him.

But I didn't take anything.

I didn't, Jeff.

Won't you believe me?

Baby, I don't care.

JEFF:
I never saw her in the daytime.

We seemed to live by night.

What was left of the day went away

like a pack of cigarettes you smoked.

I didn't know where she lived.

I never followed her.

All I ever had to go on was a

place and time to see her again.

I don't know what we were waiting for.

Maybe we thought the world would end.

Maybe we thought it was a dream...

and we'd wake up with a

hangover in Niagara Falls.

I wired Whit, but

I didn't tell him.

"I'm in Acapulco, " I said,

"I wish you were here."

And every night I went to meet her.

How did I know she'd

ever show up? I didn't.

What stopped her from taking a boat

to Chile or Guatemala? Nothing.

How big a chump can you

get to be? I was finding out.

And then she'd come along

like school was out...

and everything else was just a

stone you sailed at the sea.

- I didn't know you were so little.

- I'm taller than Napoleon.

You're prettier too.

- Did you miss me?

- No more than I would my eyes.

- Where should we go tonight?

- Let's go to my place.

JEFF:
It was the first time she had

mentioned her place or going there.

Maybe she'd decided something, or it was

because the sky looked full of rain.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

JEFF:
It was a nice little joint with

bamboo furniture and Mexican gimcracks.

One little lamp burned.

It was all right.

And the rain hammering like that on the

window made it good to be in there.

Here.

Hey, hey, not so hard.

(MUSIC PLAYING OVER GRAMOPHONE)

- Now yours.

- No, Joe, it's all right.

- Oh, come on.

- No, not so hard, Jeff. My earring.

Hush! I'm trying to dry your hair.

- JEFF:
Are you going with me?

- Where?

- Wherever it takes us.

- Why?

To make a life for ourselves, to get

away from Whit. He knows I'm here.

- When?

- Tomorrow.

Pack in the morning, meet me at

the hotel if you can make it.

- I can make it. Can we get away with it?

- Let's find out.

- You don't know Whit. He won't forget.

- Everybody forgets.

Not Whit.

So we'll send him a

postcard every Christmas.

Jeff, I'm glad you're

not afraid of him.

I've been afraid of half

the things I ever did.

- And this time?

- I'm only afraid you might not go.

Don't be.

I'll be there tomorrow.

- Love me?

- Mm-hm.

- Poco?

- What's that?

- A little.

- Mucho.

(WHISTLING)

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

(WHISTLING)

- Well, the last guy in the world.

- I hate surprises myself.

- You wanna just shut the door and forget it?

- No, no. Come on in.

I like surprises. When I was

a kid, we were so busted...

that if we got anything at all for

Christmas it was a big surprise.

- Sit down, have a chair.

- Thanks.

- Been here long?

- Oh...

- WHIT:
How long, Joe?

- JOE:
Hardly at all.

JEFF:
I just wondered who

might be following whom.

What makes you think that?

Look, I know how you trust people. About

as far as you can throw Stephanos here.

And that's all right with me, only

let's not get so cute about it.

I'm on my way to Mexico City,

see a man about a horse.

On the level. A racehorse

from South America.

- Checking out?

- JEFF:
Sure. Why waste your money?

- Did you find her?

- No, only her trail.

Not quite as hot as a prairie fire, but

there. Sometimes a little too obvious.

She's a clever little girl.

- Is she?

- Wouldn't you say so?

You should have told me, I would

have played it differently.

Maybe she wouldn't have

heard my shoes squeaking.

Always a hop, skip and a jump ahead

of me. Mexico City to Taxco to here.

- And here, Jeff, did you see her?

- No. I wish I had.

I don't like playing games

when I'm the fall guy.

You might remember that, Whit.

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

Thank you.

(SPEAKS IN SPANISH)

- Nice shoes. Sporty for you, aren't they?

- JEFF:
Yeah, I got them down here.

As I said before, I thought

maybe the others squeaked.

Let's go down to the bar. You can cool

off while we try to impress each other.

Fine.

Nice place. I'd like to

stay here a while myself.

You did, by proxy.

Something tall and cool,

I don't care what.

- JOE:
Two.

- JEFF:
Make it three.

Certainly, sir.

- So you blew it.

- Anybody can have bad luck.

- And squeaky shoes.

- Think of a number, Joe.

- Where were you off to?

- The telegraph office to wire you.

I told you, I don't like

to spend your money.

- I can stand it.

- Well, it's your business.

Whit, my friend, there's a million dames

in this world, and they all look like her.

No, they don't.

So she was here.

Well, according to all

available evidence, she was.

Maybe I should've sent Stephanos.

- Could you find one dame in a million, Joe?

- A one with 40 grand.

(WHIT CHUCKLES)

Sorry.

You picked up some nerves.

I don't need a crack like that

any more than I need your dough.

That's what I've been telling you. I missed

her. The dame caught a boat south.

- Where?

- Look, I got along before this job.

I ate good, and I grew as big as you did.

If there's something you don't like, say so.

- I just asked where.

- Chile. Guatemala.

You wanna go see the guy in the steamship

company? You wanna talk to him right now?

Why not?

- Taxi, sir?

- Yeah.

I'm sorry. You missed

her and you feel bad.

I shouldn't have joked about it.

All right, then I won't either.

You get your 5 grand back and

Stephanos can take over from here.

WHIT:
You're wrong.

I fire people, but nobody quits me.

You started this and you'll end it.

Besides, Joe couldn't find

a prayer in the Bible.

You'll find her. Take it easy.

Take your time. Well, better

get back to the airport.

Good luck, Jeff.

See you someday.

JEFF:
It wasn't all a lie

because she did take a steamer.

It was just that it went

north instead of south.

And I was on it too.

I opened an office

in San Francisco.

A cheap little rat hole

that suited the work I did.

Shabby jobs for who'd ever hire me.

It was the bottom of the barrel,

and I scraped it, but I didn't care.

I had her.

JEFF:

We kept pretty much to ourselves.

We found a little movie

house in North Beach.

We were on the run. We went to places

we never would've seen in our lives.

And after a while, we grew a

little more sure of ourselves.

We drifted back to more familiar

places, ballparks and the racetracks.

Why not? After all, there wasn't one chance

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