Session 9

1

[ Water dripping ]

[ Changing radio stations ]

MAN ON RADIO:
They come in here,

they're taking American jobs

from American, hard-working

American...

MAN:
Those f***ing idiots

on this thing.

WOMAN ON RADIO:
But I see

that another man...

MAN:
Think I have something here.

[ Rock music plays ]

There you go.

Know this?

Gordy?

You look tired, man.

You look beat.

Your turn to feed Emma?

No, well, she still has that, umm...

...ear infection.

MAN:
She's still got that?

She had that at the christening.

She's still got it? Wow.

How's Wendy holding up?

Tired. Same as me.

You need anything, Gordon,

you let me know, okay? I'm here.

Hang in there, man.

You're gonna be fine, all right?

MAN 2:
Uh-huh. No.

About 15 minutes. Yeah.

Okay, all right, I'll tell him right now.

[ Hangs up car phone ]

That was, uh,

Bill Griggs on the phone.

He says he's getting off the ramp.

He'll be here in a minute.

- Okay. Thank you.

- Thank you very much.

You know what?

Can I ask you a quick question?

Yeah, sure.

When was the hospital

actually closed?

'85.

- MAN:
'85.

- GUARD:
Yeah.

Yeah, because you know I'm curious,

because you know they got you

and you got the -- the firearm on.

And it's not like people

are trying to get out, right?

No, no, not out, in!

You know, kids,

delinquents, homeless.

Oh, yeah, a lot of patients

ended up in the streets

when this place closed down.

And some of them, they come back.

I found a half a dozen

squatting up there last spring.

The patients come back?

Yeah, they come back.

I mean, God knows why.

Wait till you see the place.

I mean, Jesus, I'd rather sleep

in the street, personally.

- But, then, you know, I'm not nuts.

- Obviously.

[ Car horn honking ]

- Hey, there he is.

- All right.

- Good luck, fellas.

- Thanks.

- MAN:
We first in line?

- GORDON:
Nope.

Environmental Solutions,

American Yankees

were up here last week.

Wow. What was their bid?

Under the Yankees,

bid was fast and low.

But that's the way Griggs likes them.

He likes jobs fast, Gordon.

- I like them safe, though.

- But we cannot gamble with this.

Gordon, you want me to talk to him?

Phil, I know what I'm doing, okay?

Okay?

Holy sh*t! Look at this.

Look at this.

MAN:
1871, that's when

she went up, gentlemen.

We called her the "Kirkbride Building",

named after Dr. Thomas Kirkbride.

Well, it's a pretty simple layout really,

you know?

If you consider a giant flying bat.

You know, the main staff building

in the middle, the bat body.

And slanting off to each side are

these, like, giant crooked bat wings.

You know, one for female patients,

the other for male, you know?

[ Making bat noises ]

A bat.

[ laughs ]

Yeah, believe it or not,

this place is listed

in the national historic register.

You know, that's why I can't

tear it down. I'd love to, you know?

Only one-tenth of it is salvageable.

But the land, the land is priceless.

You know, put up a Wal-Mart maybe,

but the town manager

wants to reclaim it, so...

Whoa! What the f*** is this?

GRIGGS:
Oh, what,

are you a little scared, Phil?

[ Griggs laughs ]

This is hydrotherapy.

Used to be cutting edge.

They'd soak the nut jobs

in cold water.

I guess that was a way

to chill 'em out, I don't know.

Or they'd give 'em a lobotomy.

Yeah, yeah, the pre-frontal lobotomy

was perfected here at Danvers.

PHIL:
Sounds like you've done

your homework.

GRIGGS:
Well, you know, my wife

Elizabeth, she's the town historian.

She likes to keep me in the know.

Hey, there's a fantastic morgue

in the basement

where they do the post-mortem...

Bill, Bill, could you show us

the problem areas?

- Yeah. Sure, sure.

- Thank you.

[ Water dripping ]

PHIL:
Feed a f***ing army in here!

[ Briggs laughs ]

Well, they did.

It was a self-contained town.

Church, movie theater,

bowling alley, you know?

Oh, there's a lovely cemetery

up behind the machine shop.

No headstones, just numbers.

You really ought to check it out.

Watch your step here.

This will become the municipal

archives, my wife's department.

GRIGGS:
It was a dining area.

GORDON:
Is there gonna be

a lot of foot traffic?

GRIGGS:

Well, yeah, it's like a library.

All these tiles will have to go.

These are deadly.

- They're loaded with asbestos, Bill.

- GRIGGS:
Really?

You know, the other bids

didn't point that out.

GORDON:
Oh, they should have, man.

It's standard.

GRIGGS:
All right, I'm gonna take you

to the female wing now. Ward C.

It'll become Administration,

Town Manager's office.

- Department of Public Works.

- PHIL:
In other words, your office.

GRIGGS:
You better believe it!

Okay, each wing

is made of four wards.

Wards A, B, C, and D.

Ward A, which I call the wing tip,

is the farthest away

from the staff building.

This is where they'd keep

the extreme patients.

What do you mean, extreme?

Well, psychotic.

Keep the most dangerous ones

furthest away, right?

Hey, you're so smart, Phil.

Whoever said you weren't smart?

You know what they called Ward A?

The snake pit.

Now, you follow these two down,

they'll take you to C.

But I wouldn't advise

walking on the floors.

- There's water damage.

- How do we get over there?

GRIGGS:
Any of you guys

scared of the dark? What?

Over here.

[ Water dripping ]

[ Static noise ]

GHOSTLY VOICE:

Hello, Gordon.

PHIL:
Gordy? It's me, man.

Come on.

Survival rations.

GRIGGS:
Yeah, duck and cover,

my friend.

Bend over

and kiss your ass good-bye.

You know, this place was used

as a fallout shelter.

To me, that is a weird idea.

GORDON:
All these ducts are gonna

have to be wet-stripped. You see this?

GRIGGS:
Yeah.

GORDON:
That breaks off,

dust gets into the east tunnels.

You're gonna pollinate

the entire building.

GRIGGS:

Oh, Jesus, I wouldn't want that.

GORDON:
Believe me,

you don't want that to happen.

PHIL:
No, you don't.

Gordon, let me lead.

Hold on.

PHIL:
Jesus. Okay.

Yeah, this used to be a solarium.

I call it the carpet-toned room.

[ Griggs laughs ]

GRIGGS:
Well, here we are,

gentlemen, Danvers Town Hall.

Reclaiming the dark past

to build a brighter future.

Something like that. Huh?

- Crocidolite.

- Crocli... what?

- Oh, Crocidolite.

- Crocidolite?

Yeah, worst kind.

This is decaying, friable.

Uh, I'd say circa 1940s.

- Really?

- Yeah.

So, what's the deal, then?

Well, if I were you, Bill, I would...

I'd seal off the whole area.

Full poly, a couple of neg air

machines, decon showers,

the whole bit.

GRIGGS:
You know,

OSHA won't let me start

until you guys clean her up,

and I got to get construction crews

in here by Columbus Day. So...

You got a guesstimate on how long?

Roughly? Ballpark? What?

These rooms, game room, tunnels,

I would say...

Three weeks, minimum.

GRIGGS:
Three weeks.

Two. Two weeks.

- Two weeks.

- GORDON:
Two weeks.

PHIL:
Yeah.

You guys Mack and Myer for Hire?

What is it? Three or two?

Two. Two weeks.

- Two weeks.

- He's the captain, right?

You better believe it.

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