Pi Page #5

Max attempts to pull away but Marcy is firm on leading him to

the car. Meanwhile, the Shinny man is heading right at them.

The CHAUFFEUR reaches out to him. Max yanks his arm free and

runs away. He whips around a corner.

INT. BODEGA - DAY

Max barrels into the grocery store and buys a Journal. He

heads to the back of the store and lays the paper across the

juice section. He checks the listing.

MAX:

On the nose. On the damn nose.

Max turns the page on the Journal and sees the Lancet-Percy

ad. Then he notices one of the bodega owners staring at him.

EXT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max scouts his front door. The coast is clear.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max examines the smashed Euclid mainframe. He uncovers some of

the strange filo-like substance. He carefully touches it. Then

he grabs a small pinch of it.

He examines it near a light bulb. He can't guess what it is.

He sniffs it. He carefully tastes it with the very tip of his

tongue. He still doesn't have a clue.

Max opens his closet. He pulls out his dusty brass microscope.

He dusts it off. Next, he pulls out a slide Kit.

Max places the instrument on the windowsill. He grabs an old

glass slide and puts some of the flaky stuff on it. He slides

it under the microscope. He looks into the lens, but doesn't

see anything.

He gets up quickly and heads for the

HALLWAY:

where he looks at Devi's door, nervously. He gathers his

courage and knocks on her door. Through the door hears.

DEVI (O.S.)

Farrouhk?

MAX:

Um, no, it's Max from next door.

Devi opens the door wearing a sexy nightshirt.

DEVI:

Max, is everything all

right?

MAX:

Do you have any iodine?

DEVI:

(concerned, she reaches for Max's hands)

Iodine...did you cut

yourself?

MAX:

(Pulling his hands away)

No. I just need it to stain a

slide.

DEVI:

Ah, science, the pursuit

of knowledge. One second.

She heads to her bathroom. Max waits impatiently.

DEVI (O.S.)

Here we are. What are you

examining—

(At the door)

a potato!?

She hands Max a bottle of iodine.

MAX:

Just something with my

computer.

MAX'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Max uses his pinky to drip a drop of iodine on the slide.

Through the wall he hears Farrouhk arriving home.

DEVI (0.S.)

The neighbor's up

to his old science...

FARROUHK (O.S.)

What neighbor?

DEVI (O.S.)

Next door.

Max listens to the conversation for a few moments.

FARROUHK (O.S.)

Why are you talking to that dork!

DEVI (O.S.)

Shh! I just helped ...

FARROUHK (O.S.)

Pounds on wall. Hey, dork, leave

my girlfriend alone!

DEVI (0.S.)

Farrouhk!

Max shakes his bead. Then he finishes preparing the slide and

slips the glass under the turret.

Max catches the low-hanging sun in the microscope's mirror and

reflects it through the sample and up the turret

into his eye.

MAX'S POV DOWN THE TURRET of some strange

Substance.

Max pulls out the slide and looks at it.

FARROUHK (0.S.)

I don't give a sh*t.

DEVI (0.S.)

(Laughing)

Shh! C'mon, Farrouhk.

FARROUHK (0.S.)

I'll kill the dork.

(Exploding again)

You hear me! I'll kill you.

I'll f***ing kill you!

Then an idea comes to him. He takes out his brain book. He

looks through it until he finds a picture of neurons. He

compares the image to the view through the turret. They look

different but there are similarities.

DEVI (O.S)

Shh! Baby! Come here, baby!

Max rushes out.

EXT. PLAYGROUND - LATE AFTERNOON

Max sifts through the trash can where he threw his picks from

yesterday. Frustrated, he dumps the trash onto the sidewalk

and starts looking through it Mrs. Ovadia watches him.

Max sees her and is embarrassed for a moment.

MAX:

I just threw out something.

I didn't realize I needed it.

MRS. OVADIA

Humph.

MAX:

Just a printout. I, uh,

lost my data...

Max looks back at the trash And forgets about Mrs. Ovadia.

Soon, Max gets up and kicks the trashcan. He heads home.

IN FRONT OF MAX'S APARTMENT BUILDING

Max watches Marcy get out of the limo and call to Mrs. Ovadia.

Max backs away when he smacks into someone.

It's Lenny Meyer - the young Jewish man.

Max jumps back in fear.

LENNY MEYER:

Max! How you doing? Lenny

Meyer.

MAX:

Oh, hey...

Max tries to quickly pass him.

LENNY MEYER:

Hey, where you going? You

got a few moments to do Tefillin?

Max turns around and notices Marcy talking to Mrs. Ovadia.

Mrs. Ovadia points up the street

toward him.

LENNY MEYER:

I gotta car, we can cruise

over to my...

MAX:

You gotta car?

LENNY MEYER:

Yeah, right there. That's

Ephraim, my friend.

We swing around with Max and see a station wagon.

EPHRAIM sits in the passenger Seat. He's a big-boned, bearded,

Orthodox Jew.

MAX:

All tight, lets go.

LENNY MEYER:

Great...

They head for the station wagon.

INT. BASEMENT SHUL - NIGHT

The synagogue is a claustrophobic, fluorescent-lit room in

general disarray. Two rows of imitation-wooden pews face a

makeshift altar and Ark. Young Hasidic Men study texts. Some

work alone, reading and dovening. Others are in small groups

sharing in heated discussions.

Lenny wraps the Tefillin around Max's arm. Max just wants to

get out of there. Ephraim prays in the background.

MAX:

Lenny, I don't really

want to do...

LENNY MEYER:

Do it for me? It

means a lot, having someone

of your stature performing a

mitzvah in my presence.

(Beat)

When you told me your name was

Max Cohen, I didn't realize you

were the Max Cohen. Maximilian Cohen.

MAX:

You know me?

LENNY MEYER:

0f course, I've

followed your research since

your Columbia days. It's

revolutionary. You've inspired

the work we do.

MAX:

I have?

LENNY MEYER:

Yes, very much

so. The only difference is,

we're not looking at stocks.

We're searching for a pattern

in Torah.

Lenny finishes wrapping Max's arm. He reaches for another box

and strap.

MAX:

What kind of pattern?

LENNY MEYER:

We're not really

sure. Our calculations have

shown us that there is a

number encoded in the text.

MAX:

What sort of number?

LENNY MEYER:

We don't know.

All we know is that it's two

hundred and sixteen digits long.

Max, stunned looks at Lenny.

LENNY MEYER:

Don't worry. This one just

goes over your head.

Lenny places the other Teffilin over Max's head. Max collects

himself.

MAX:

(Coolly)

Two sixteen?

LENNY MEYER:

Yes. Now we have to say a

small prayer, repeat

after me.

Bewildered, Max does. After the prayer...

LENNY MEYER:

That's it. Wasn't

so bad, was it? You feel

anything?

Lenny starts removing the Teffillin from Max.

MAX:

What is it?

LENNY MEYER:

It's a prayer about our

dedication to our one and

only God.

MAX:

(Attempting calmness)

No, I mean the number, the

two sixteen number? What is

it?

LENNY MEYER:

Oh. We don't know. We just

know that it's the most

common number encoded in

the text. It might be some

type of linguistic pattern.

If we could figure out what

the number is we could maybe

answer that.

MAX:

Tell me more.

EXT. SOL'S APARTMENT - DAWN

Max firmly rings SOL's bell.

In a few moments, Sol answers the door in his pajamas.

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