STAY Page #9

MRS. LETHAM

It doesn't matter anymore. Let's

not talk about it, please.

SAM:

Where do I go on the weekends?

MRS. LETHAM

You go the city. You've been going

to the city since you were old

enough to take the train.

.

SAM:

And where do I go in the city?

Abruptly, Mrs. Letham goes cool. She breaks off the hug.

MRS. LETHAM

You used to go to your classes,

before you met Athena.

SAM:

Athena?

MRS. LETHAM

(increasingly angry)

Now you might not even graduate,

your grades are so bad.

SAM:

Do you remember where Athena lives?

53.

MRS. LETHAM

Athena this, Athena that, always

Athena, beautiful Athena. I'm sick

of Athena! I'm sick of her!

SAM:

Mrs. Letham-

Sam abruptly stops talking, seeing what we now see. Blood

trickles down the side of Mrs. Letham's face, leaking from

underneath her kerchief.

A large drop of the blood falls and splatters on the white-

tiled floor.

Mrs. Letham sees the blood and grabs a sponge from the sink.

She drops to her knees and begins violently scrubbing at the

spot on the floor.

MRS. LETHAM

How could you? Your own mother, how

could you?

Meanwhile the blood is beginning to stream down her face. She

scrubs ferociously but more and more blood spatters on the

tiles.

Sam kneels beside her.

SAM:

Let me look at your head.

When he reaches for her kerchief she slaps away his hand and

snarls.

MRS. LETHAM

You did this!

Olive leaps upon Henry, knocking him to the floor, biting

viciously at his face and throat.

Sam desperately holds the mastiff off, the slobbering jaws

inches from his jugular.

Mrs. Letham watches for a few seconds before speaking.

MRS. LETHAM (CONT'D)

Olive! Off!

Upon her command the mastiff immediately disengages and

retreats. Sam bleeds from the hands, neck, and face.

.

54.

MRS. LETHAM (CONT'D)

You better leave, Henry. You're not

welcome anymore.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM-- EARLY MORNING

Saturday

Sam sits while an INTERN finishes sewing up the gash on his

neck.

INTERN:

The Percoset will make you a little

drowsy, so-

SAM:

I know.

SHERIFF KENNELLY knocks on the open door and peeks in.

SHERIFF:

Dr. Foster? I'm Sheriff Kennelly.

Could I have a word with you, sir?

The intern drops the needle into the biohazard waste

receptacle and exits the room.

SHERIFF (CONT'D)

You got bit up pretty good. Got

your rabies shot already?

SAM:

Yes.

Sheriff Kennelly pages through a notebook.

SHERIFF:

Now, I've been looking through the

report Deputy Carlyle gave me. And

I just wanted to check on

something. You said the assault

took place at 9625 Rickover Street?

SAM:

That's right.

SHERIFF:

Home belonging to the Letham

family.

55.

SAM:

Right, her dog attacked me. She's--

Mrs. Letham-- she's very sick right

now. She's had some sort of head

trauma, and she's showing signs of

schizophrenic paranoia. She's all

alone and she needs help. She

should be in a hospital.

SHERIFF:

The thing is, Doctor, I knew

Maureen Letham. I went to high

school with her.

SAM:

Oh. Okay, well maybe you know her

son, then. Henry. He's a patient of

mine at Columbia University. That's

why I visited her.

SHERIFF:

Sure, I remember Henry. Pale,

skinny kid. Always reading.

(laughing uncomfortably)

Kind of gave me the creeps.

SAM:

That's him.

SHERIFF:

What's strange, Doctor, what I'm

trying to figure out, is who you

were speaking with over at 9625

Rickover Street.

SAM:

I'm sorry, I thought we already

established that. Maureen Letham.

SHERIFF:

There's a basic problem here I'm

trying to work out. See, I

mentioned I went to high school

with Maureen Letham. I also went to

her funeral. She's been dead for

six months.

Sam stares at the sheriff, dumbfounded.

56.

SHERIFF (CONT'D)

Car wreck. Her and her husband. As

far as I know, that house is empty

still. The family's trying to sell

it.

SAM:

I was talking to Maureen Letham

last night. We were talking about

her son.

SHERIFF:

Well, it's probably just someone's

confused. How long they keeping you

here?

SAM:

I've got to head back to the city

as soon as possible. Listen, 9625

Rickover Street:
I was there.

Henry's mother was there.

The sheriff stares at Sam. Finally he nods and stuffs his

notebook into his jacket pocket.

SHERIFF:

All right, Dr. Foster, we'll be in

touch. I've got your number.

The sheriff turns to leave. When he's halfway down the

corridor, Sam calls out to him.

SAM:

Sheriff?

SHERIFF:

Yep?

SAM:

Maureen Letham. Did she have a

birthmark right here?

Sam points to his left cheek. The sheriff squints at Sam.

SHERIFF:

Yes sir, she did.

EXT. WEST 44TH STREET -- NIGHT

Henry walks down one of the few blocks near Times Square that

still looks like the old Times Square: erotic bookshops, peep

shows, adult theaters.

57.

Everyone else on the street is dressed for the cold night,

but Henry still wears the same T-shirt he's had on all day.

He doesn't seem to notice the cold.

He looks up at the marquee of a porn movie theater. INT.

PORNO THEATER -- NIGHT

.

He walks down the aisle and finds a seat in the front row. We

hear the soundtrack: the usual moans and gasps over the usual

cheesy music.

CLOSE ON HENRY:

We watch Henry's face bathe in the flickering light from the

screen.

Henry looks weary. His hair lies flat and wet across his

scalp. Now, below the synthesized music and the grunting we

hear a low and distant thump.

The thump slowly gets louder-- it's a heartbeat. Louder and

louder until all other sound is masked.

Finally we see the screen. A FETUS curled up within its

mother's womb, silently swimming in the amniotic fluid.

We pull back to see the other viewers in the theater. Many of

them are asleep, street people who went inside to escape the

cold.

Those still awake stare at the screen as if nothing strange

were happening. A grizzled old VETERAN in an army jacket. Two

TEENS from the suburbs, wearing their varsity jackets. An

OBESE MAN, peering through coke-bottle lenses.

And we go back to Henry, who sits silently watching the

screen.

Back on screen, a montage of a life in the form of brief

clips from what could have been home movies.

A hospital nurse presents the baby boy to his mother. The boy

rattles the bars of his crib. The boy takes his first steps.

HENRY:

(under his breath)

Stop.

In each new image the boy is slightly older. Sledding down a

snowy hill. Blowing out candles on a cake.

Henry turns to look at the projector, lighting the screen

with its story.

58.

HENRY (CONT'D)

Please stop it.

On screen:
the boy raising his hand in class. Down by the

shore, throwing a tennis ball for Olive (the mastiff looks

exactly like she did when we first saw her). Kissing a girl

for the first time (judging from his closed eyes and hesitant

pucker). Reading a novel. Stealing second base. Drinking

whiskey with his friends.

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