Sweet November Page #7

SARA:

Clothes are clothes. All theydo is cover up a body.

NELSON:

Yeah, well, it's just that thisbody likes to be covered in itsown clothes.

Sara grabs Ernie.

SARA:

Ernie, you're gonna stay with mefor a while until I find you somedecent parents.

(turns back to

Nelson)

When do I get to meet your

parents?

He stalks toward her, eyes burning.

NELSON:

My parents are dead.

Sara sets Ernie on the floor.

(CONTINUED)

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SARA:

I'm sorry.

NELSON:

Sara, I am not amused. I want

my clothes back. Now.

SARA:

I told you, I gave them away.

I'll never lie to you.

Too defeated to fight, Nelson throws on the jeans andsweatshirt. The jeans are about four inches too short.

As he is getting dressed, CHAS (30) shambles through thedoor, looks exhausted.

CHAS:

I slept three hours last night.

Tried valerian root, melatonin...

(points to sweatshirt

on Nelson)

Hey, that looks like my

sweatshirt.

Chas goes straight to the coffeemaker, pours a cup,

kisses Sara.

CHAS:

You know what finally put me tosleep? Jimmy Cagney. Public

Enemy. Violence as a

tranquilizer, how twisted isthat?

Nelson staggers forward, too dazed to speak.

CHAS:

Hello, you must be November.

NELSON:

I must be November.

SARA:

His name is Nelson.

CHAS:

(extends hand)

I'm Chas. Keep the sweatshirt.

It looks better on you.

NELSON:

Is this some communal, culty,

Squeaky and Charlie type of deal?

(CONTINUED)

SWEET NOVEMBER - Rev. 4/28/00 42.

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CHAS:

(laughs)

Funny. Much hipper than October.

What a wanker.

(checks his watch)

Gotta go. See you around, Nelson.

And just as quickly as he entered, he exits.

shuts behind him, Nelson glares at Sara.

As the door

NELSON:

I think I'll pull myself out ofmonthly rotation while I'm ahead.

55 INT. LOFT BUILDING - STAIRCASE - DAY 55

Nelson exits the loft, and Sara follows.

SARA:

-- Nelson, I told you helping menis my gift.

NELSON:

You didn't tell me it was a

cottage industry. And who the

hell was that, your pimp?

SARA:

Chas lives upstairs.

after each other.

We look

NELSON:

It doesn't seem like he needs

looking after.

SARA:

Everyone needs looking after,

Nelson.

56 EXT. SARA'S BUILDING - DAY 56

On the street, they pass two old-guard bay area hippiesin their 60s -- husband and wife AL and OSIRIS. They'reunlocking the door to their bookstore, Christopher'sBooks, with pictures of Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti in thewindow.

SARA:

Hey, guys, this is Nelson.

But Nelson's off, without saying a word to them.

barrels after him.

Sara

(CONTINUED)

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56

SARA:

That was so rude! Al and Osiris

are great! They were closepersonal friends of JackKerouac!-

NELSON:

I don't care. I don't read.

Diagonally across the street, a vegetable market. The

vendor, a Chinese woman, wags her finger and shouts atpictures of her family propped up on her Buddhist altar.

Sara gives her a wave and continues with Nelson a fewsteps, where they encounter ABNER (10). He wears a red

balaclava, practices balancing on one leg. Seeing Sara,

Abner stops balancing and avidly follows her as if shewere the Pied Piper. Nearby, a HOMELESS MAN rummagesthrough the garbage, incongruously dressed in the chicestgear imaginable.

HOMELESS MAN:

Sara, can you spare fifteen bucks?

SARA:

Okay, now you're just beinggreedy, Bruce. I already gaveyou those clothes.

Nelson puts a brake on, gasps.

NELSON:

Jesus -- those are my Prada

pants!-- my sweater -

Petrified, Bruce takes off running.

SARA:

Doesn't it feel good to give?

NELSON:

No!

Nelson calls after the Homeless Man.

NELSON:

Hey, hey. Give me back my pants.

ABNER:

Are you November?

NELSON:

Where am I?

(CONTINUED)

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SARA:

Nelson, this is a great kid,

you've got to meet him. Abner.

He wants to set a world record.

What's today's project, Abner?

ABNER:

Standing on one leg.

(hands Nelson watch)

Would you time me, I have tobreak the current record of

300 hours.

NELSON:

No.

Abner does a head-to-toe on Nelson, doesn't like the

attitude.

ABNER:

Nice pants -- expecting a flood?

NELSON:

Nice hat -- planning a bankrobbery?

Bored with Nelson, Abner peels off in the otherdirection.

SARA:

That's pathetic -- you let aten-year-old wind you up?

NELSON:

Forget him, what's the deal withyou? You sleep with half thecity, get the whole neighborhoodinvolved?

SARA:

Would you prefer I was a virgin?

NELSON:

Considering the alternative, yes.

SARA:

That tender tender male ego isbruised, isn't it?

(sweetly, tenderly)

I'm yours, Nelson Moss. All

yours.

That sends alarms ringing in his confirmed bachelor'sbrain.

(CONTINUED)

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NELSON:

Look, Sara, you're great. You're

a very sexy, smart, interesting,

somewhat unusual woman...

She just looks at him so guilelessly, he fumbles.

NELSON:

But we... ah... don't know where

this is... I always think it'sbest to clarify issues... thebeginning of... I'm not readyfor... I can't be your man-man...

She starts to laugh so hard tears roll down her cheeks.

SARA:

You are the most egotisticallunkhead I've ever met!

(settles down)

It's one month, Nelson. Get it?

Now he's insulted. And amazed. He's never been treated

this way before. To save face, he acts tough.

NELSON:

The truth is, I don't have a

month. Time is money...

SARA:

Okay. How long can you put yourbig fat lucrative career on holdto try this thing out? Wait a

minute -- you're unemployed -

NELSON:

(stung)

You know, the more I think about

it, this 'project' of yours feelslike an excuse to get laid.

That hurts. She flushes, looks away. He feels bad,

didn't expect her to react this way.

NELSON:

I'm sorry, I didn't think

you'd...

(gentler)

I just don't understand why you'redoing this, is all.

SARA:

I have my reasons.

(CONTINUED)

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She starts to walk. He comes abreast of her, chastened.

NELSON:

Still friends?

And like a brilliant emotional acrobat, she flips hermood back to lighthearted, done with consummate grace.

SARA:

Only if you give me what I want.

What?

NELSON:

Time.

SARA:

NELSON:

All I can do is a day.

57 EXT. PACIFIC HEIGHTS SOCIETY BUILDING - DAY 57

Sara's Barking Mad Dog Day Care van is parked outside aritzy building.

58 INT. SOCIETY LADY'S HOUSE - DAY 58

Nelson stands stiffly behind Sara, who gesturesexpansively toward a rail-thin Nancy Kissinger-styleSOCIETY MATRON.

SARA:

-- Nelson's helping me today.

loves dogs.

He

Sitting on the sofa, floor, chairs, posed like perfectlittle stuffed animals, are Society Lady's six beloveddogs. Immaculately groomed, heads daintily cocked, frontpaws folded over each other -- they are glaring coldly atNelson. Sara pats their heads as she clips leashes onthem.

SARA:

And these are the best behaved

doggies in the whole wide world,

aren't they? So elegant, sodignified. Just like their mommy.

SOCIETY LADY (MATRON)

(with supreme falsemodesty)

I like to think so.

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