STAY Page #4

PIANO MOVER 1

Easy, easy.

A small BOY, accompanied by his MOTHER, runs down the street

holding a red balloon. He trips and falls and the balloon

begins to float away.

BOY:

(yelling at escaping

balloon)

Wait! Wait!

The piano movers hear the boy's cries and see the balloon.

Piano Mover 1 makes a valiant effort to capture the escaping

balloon; he runs after it and leaps... but he can't quite

reach it.

Everyone watches the red balloon drift skyward.

PIANO MOVER 1

Sorry, kid. It's gone to balloon

heaven.

Sam smiles and enters his building, where the DOORMAN greets

him.

INT. SAM'S APARTMENT -- DUSK

Lila meets Sam at the door and kisses him on the lips.

LILA:

I didn't think you were going to

make it. I need you to make a fire.

You're the only Eagle Scout I've

ever dated.

She leads him into the bedroom.

21.

SAM:

I never made Eagle Scout. The Troop

Master caught me drinking Mad Dog

20/20 in my tent with Lydia

Eumanian.

LILA:

Lydia Eumanian?

SAM:

The horniest thirteen-year-old in

Northern New Jersey.

Lila curls up at the foot of her bed and watches as Sam grabs

a bundle of twigs from beside the fireplace and starts laying

down the kindling.

LILA:

Only because I never lived in

Northern New Jersey.

Sam begins stacking the logs.

LILA (CONT' D)

Are you okay, baby? You look a

little tense.

SAM:

That student. Henry. He told me he

was going to kill himself Saturday

night.

LILA:

Kids at Columbia are always talking

about killing themselves. It's hip.

It's like wearing black.

SAM:

I don't think it's a front for this

one. Saturday at midnight, he says.

Just like that. Like it's a date

he's made.

Sam rolls an old newspaper and inserts it beneath the stacked

logs.

LILA:

Why Saturday?

Sam strikes a match and lights the fire.

SAM:

Hm?

22.

LILA:

Why does he want to do it on

Saturday? What's so special about

midnight Saturday?

Sam watches the kindling catch.

SAM:

He left before I could ask.

Confident that the fire is in good shape, Sam walks over to

the bedside table, picks up the phone and dials a number. He

waits for a moment and then shakes his head.

SAM (CONT'D)

(on phone)

Beth, it's Sam again. Where are

you? You all right? Uh, okay, give

me a call when you get this.

He hangs up and sits on the edge of the bed.

SAM (CONT'D)

I'm starting to get a little

worried about her.

LILA:

I'm starting to get a little

worried about you, baby. It's a

hell of a job, listening to these

crazy boys and girls all day.

SAM:

At least I get you all night.

Lila grabs Sam by the collar and pulls him over to her. They

kiss.

SAM (CONT'D)

Don't go crazy on me.

INT. BETH LEVY'S OFFICE -- MORNING

Thursday

Sam sits behind the desk and Henry sits facing him. Sam holds

a typed contract.

SAM:

I want to propose a deal. I've

written up a contract.

(MORE)

23.

SAM(cont'd)

It says you won't do anything to

hurt yourself without contacting me

first. And here's my card. It has

my home phone and cell phone, so

you can call me whenever you want.

Henry leans forward and takes the contract and business card

from Sam. He reads the contract quickly, signs his name, and

hands it back to Sam. He pockets the card.

HENRY:

Saturday at midnight I die.

Consider yourself contacted.

Sam, bewildered, looks at the contract for a moment and then

sets it aside.

SAM:

Why Saturday?

HENRY:

It's my twenty-first birthday.

SAM:

I think the tradition is to go out

and get drunk, not blow your brains

out.

HENRY:

Have you heard of Tristan R.veur?

He was one of the Dada artists.

When he was eighteen he told

everyone he would live three more

years and then go to New York and

kill himself. And that's exactly

what he did. He came to New York

for his twenty-first birthday, saw

the sights, and shot himself in the

head.

Both of them are silent for a while.

SAM:

What about your parents? Have you

considered what this might do to

them?

HENRY:

They don't care.

SAM:

How do you know that?

24.

HENRY:

It's pretty obvious.

SAM:

Do they live around here?

HENRY:

No. They're over in Mahlus Gardens.

SAM:

Mahlus Gardens? Where's that?

HENRY:

It's a cemetery in New Jersey. I

thought you read my file.

SAM:

(startled)

I did. It didn't mention anything

about that.

HENRY:

It's a little out of date, then.

Henry stands, walks over to the office window and looks out

across the campus.

SAM:

Any other family?

Henry shakes his head.

SAM (CONT'D)

Friends?

(off Henry's silence)

Who are you closest to?

HENRY:

What do you mean, closest to?

SAM:

If you got into trouble and you

needed someone, who would you go

to?

HENRY:

I am in trouble.

Henry does not say this in a self-pitying way. He is simply

stating a fact.

SAM:

Yes, I think you are.

25.

HENRY:

Then you've got your answer.

Sam does not understand.

HENRY (CONT'D)

I came to you, Doctor. I guess that

means I'm closest to you.

SAM:

To me? We met two days ago.

Henry inspects his fingernails.

HENRY:

There was a girl.

SAM:

(perking up)

A girlfriend?

HENRY:

I barely even talked to her. She

was my waitress at this diner I

used to go to. On Canal Street.

(beat)

She'd keep filling my coffee cup.

She'd say, "Is everything okay?" I

mean, I know waitresses are always

asking that, but... this is stupid.

SAM:

No, it's not stupid. This waitress,

did you ever get her name?

HENRY:

Athena.

SAM:

Athena? Really?

(beat)

All right, that's a start.

HENRY:

No, it's not. She was in my life

for a few minutes and now she's

gone.

SAM:

She's not gone. She's somewhere

else.

26.

HENRY:

There is no somewhere else. If

you're not in my life, you don't

exist.

SAM:

(smiling)

You think I disappear when you're

not watching?

HENRY:

I'm always watching.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

We're back in the DRIVER'S POV again, speeding along the

Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The Brooklyn Bridge looms in the

distance, Gothic arches majestically lit.

.

We look at the green-eyed woman, but she's speaking to

someone in the backseat. Her mouth moves but everything is

silent.

We turn to the road again. The bridge is waiting for us.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK ZOO -- AFTERNOON

MONTAGE:

Henry enters the Zoo beneath the Delacorte Clock, the bronze

animals playing their instruments, marking the hour.

Henry watches a lone silverback GORILLA who sits on a large

rock, staring back at Henry.

Henry sits on a park bench, watching an OLD MAN throw bread

crumbs to a horde of squawking pigeons.

Henry sits in the last row of the bleachers overlooking the

seal pool. The front rows are filled with screaming CHILDREN.

On an island in the middle of the pool, TRAINERS toss fish to

the SEALS as rewards for various tricks: clapping their

flippers, jumping through hoops, kissing each other,

balancing balls on their noses.

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