St. Vincent Page #12

OLIVER:

He okay, ma?

She puts her arms around him.

MAGGIE:

You’re such a brave little man.

OLIVER:

We thought he was dead.

MAGGIE:

Who’s we?

OLIVER:

Robert Ozinski and I.

MAGGIE:

The bully kid?

OLIVER:

We get along better since I broke

his nose.

MAGGIE:

I don’t even know what you’re doing

anymore.

Maggie starts to get teary, she rubs Oliver’s head.

OLIVER:

Ma. Stop feeling sorry for me.

And yourself. We’re doing good.

You’re working hard, every day and

we need the money. It’s okay.

75.

Holy sh*t. Maggie is speechless, he’s a grown-up all of

a sudden.

MAGGIE:

I think he’s had a stroke. You

know what that is?

OLIVER:

I’ve seen some billboards. “Know

the signs of a stroke and call 911

immediately.” But they never say

what the signs are so...

MAGGIE:

It’s a blockage in a brain artery.

Oliver knows this is serious.

OLIVER:

That’s not good.

Maggie puts her arm around him.

INT. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES - DAY

Crespi’s class. Oliver’s standing in front of the

darkened classroom, presenting, using the Smart Board.

OLIVER:

I chose Saint William of Rochester,

the patron saint of adopted

children.

Oliver clicks the Smart Board and a picture of Saint

William pops up on the screen.

OLIVER (CONT’D)

As a young man, William led a “wild

and misspent youth.” Which

included gambling, womanizing,

drinking and other things

considered inappropriate-

Brother Crespi interrupts (from the back of the room.)

BROTHER CRESPI:

Why did you chose Saint William?

Throughout, Oliver clicks through slides on the Smart

Board.

OLIVER:

Well, he found a baby on the church

steps and took it in and raised it

as his own. He named him David.

Click.

76.

OLIVER (CONT’D)

And then years later he went on a

pilgrimage to the Holy Land with

his son. And David went,

like...crazy, and clubbed Saint

William and cut his throat and then

robbed the body.

The slides are stock footage pictures of a crime scene.

Blood. Mayhem.

BROTHER CRESPI:

Ouch. Okay. Didn’t see that

coming.

OLIVER:

It’s a pretty interesting story.

Which is why I chose it. The other

saints I looked at were all so...

“saintly” I guess.

BROTHER CRESPI:

What’s “saintly” mean to you?

OLIVER:

I don’t know. I don’t really

believe in saints and all that

stuff. I mean, it seems like St.

William gets to be a saint just

because he was killed by the boy he

adopted. People get killed

everyday these days. They don’t

get to be saint for it.

BROTHER CRESPI:

So you don’t think we have saints

living amongst us?

OLIVER:

I don’t know any.

BROTHER CRESPI:

Thank you, Oliver.

Oliver walks to his seat. Brother Crespi moves to the

front of the class.

BROTHER CRESPI (CONT’D)

Despite young Oliver’s reticence.

I believe there are saints all

around us today. They might never

be recognized as such by a

religion, but they’re every bit as

important to our society as the

saints in the textbook.

He flips on the Smart Board: “Modern Day Saints” is the

heading.

77.

BROTHER CRESPI (CONT’D)

Thus...you’re going to research

someone you know, or know of, and

determine if they have the

qualities of a saint. Hence the

catchy title:
Modern Day Saints.

Hands go up, lots of questions.

EXT. VIN’S HOUSE - LATER

Oliver’s walking home from school. He sees SOMEONE

sitting on Vin’s steps. It’s Charisse.

CHARISSE:

Where’s he at? His car’s here.

OLIVER:

He’s in the hospital.

CHARISSE:

Doin’ what?

Oliver just stares at her.

INT. MISSION HILLS HOSPITAL - LATER

Maggie, Oliver and Charisse are walking down a hallway of

PATIENT rooms.

MAGGIE:

How do you know each other?

CHARISSE:

I work for the old guy.

MAGGIE:

Doing what?

CHARISSE:

Working for him.

Maggie looks at Oliver. He’s buttoned up.

INT. VIN’S HOSPITAL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Vin’s lying in bed, wide-eyed. He looks pissed. A

SPEECH THERAPIST is trying to “therapize” Vin.

The stroke has caused Aphasia and language apraxia. It’s

a struggle for Vin to talk, and hard to understand.

The Speech Therapist holds up a flash card with the word

“Dog” printed on it.

78.

SPEECH THERAPIST

Try to sound it out.

Vin pretends to think, then holds up his middle finger.

SPEECH THERAPIST (CONT’D)

Not quite.

Vin holds up the other middle finger. Double bird.

SPEECH THERAPIST (CONT’D)

You didn’t lose your sense of

humor.

Maggie, Oliver and Charisse walk in.

MAGGIE:

You have some company, Vin.

CHARISSE:

Ain’t staying long. Don’t like

hospitals.

Oliver walks to Vin’s bedside.

OLIVER:

You look a lot better.

VINCENT:

(slurred, re:
Therapist)

Getttt this dippppshitt outta here.

Oliver’s confused with Vin’s slurred speech.

OLIVER:

Wha’dya say?

VINCENT:

Getttt this...dipppppp...

Vin gets frustrated, his mouth won’t work. He swipes

hospital effects off the bedside table.

VINCENT (CONT’D)

Getttttt outtta herrrrr.

Maggie interrupts.

MAGGIE:

Okay, Oli. Let’s let Vin work with

the therapist.

SPEECH THERAPIST

Thank you. We’ll be about an hour.

VINCENT:

Fuccckkk you, annnnn hour.

SPEECH THERAPIST

Maybe less.

79.

Maggie covers Oliver’s ears.

CHARISSE:

Why you all grumpy n’ sh*t? You’re

still breathing.

Maggie pulls Charisse and Oliver out of the room.

MAGGIE:

Let’s go get a snack.

INT. HOSPITAL BREAK / SNACK ROOM - LATER

Maggie, Oliver and Charisse are sitting in the visitor’s

lounge drinking coffee. Charisse is eating a candy bar.

MAGGIE:

He may talk like that for a while.

That’s what happens sometimes when

a person has a stroke.

OLIVER:

He sounds...

CHARISSE:

Retarded.

Out of anyone else’s mouth that would be offensive.

CHARISSE (CONT’D)

Well, he ain’t smart anyways. So

retarded ain’t that far owf.

Charisse finishes her candy bar.

CHARISSE (CONT’D)

Anybody gotta dollar? I’m

starvin’. Didn’t eat nothing

today.

Maggie digs in her purse.

MAGGIE:

I do.

She opens her wallet. Pulls out a dollar.

CHARISSE:

I think it’s a dollar fifty.

Maggie...gives her two bucks.

CHARISSE (CONT’D)

Bueno.

She’s off to the vending machines.

80.

MAGGIE:

(re:
her belly)

Is that Vincent’s...?

OLIVER:

Baby?

MAGGIE:

Yea.

OLIVER:

I don’t know. It’s not polite to

ask a woman if she’s pregnant. So,

I avoid the whole situation.

MAGGIE:

Well. She’s obviously

pregnant...so...

OLIVER:

Vin’s like 90 something. That

would be inappropriate.

Charisse returns with two chocolate bars. She offers one

to Oliver.

CHARISSE:

If you hit it just as it’s dropping

the first one, you can get two to

come out.

Oliver takes it. Unwraps. The three of them sit

awkwardly comfortable together.

EXT. VAN NUYS - DAY

Time passes. Spring is in the air.

-- A Homeless Guy, wearing shorts, soaks up the sun from

a bus stop bench.

-- The Buck. An ARTIST is painting the front window for

St. Patty’s Day.

-- Doctor’s Office. Ozinski gets his nose bandage

removed. His nose is completely crooked.

-- Vin’s House. The lawn is out of control. A foot

high. A MAILMAN bends down and puts mail in the toppled

mailbox.

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