The Anniversary Party Page #11

JOE:

You must have been a baby.

MONICA:

Oh yes. Nineteen...just.

(a moment)

I'm cold.

JOE:

Come here.

Joe holds Monica.

MONICA:

(a moment)

That's very nice.

JOE:

I like you.

MONICA:

I'm so glad. You know, I recognize that

passage in your book. The bit about us

running into each other in the movie

theatre.

JOE:

Sorry?

MONICA:

I know you changed it to a bookstore.

And the color of my hair. But the moment

was exactly the same. The same, you

know, dynamic. And almost verbatim,

wasn't it?

JOE:

(humors her)

Yeah, it was. For a writer nothing's

sacred.

(thinks a moment)

No, nothing at all.

MONICA:

I think it's great that I made an

impression at all, you know.

Joe regards the open trusting face, is touched by it. Leans

in, kisses her lips very lightly... and again. Her arms

can't make up her mind, whether to come up around him or not.

Finally do.

SALLY (O.S.)

Otis!! Otis, come! Oh f***!

She appears beside them.

SALLY (CONT'D)

Someone left the goddamn gate open. Otis

got out. Skye and I, well the... I came

out of the house and the f***ing gate was

wide open.

JOE:

Oh for f***'s sake. Nobody uses that

gate.

MONICA:

(horrified)

I'm sorry.

SALLY:

(raging)

There's a goddamn sign on the gate.

MONICA:

I'm so sorry.

SALLY:

You f***ing cow, can't you read?!

MONICA:

(at a loss)

I...

SALLY:

How long ago was it?

JOE:

Stop being such a b*tch, Sal.

MONICA:

I'm so sorry.

JOE:

It was a mistake. This isn't a plot to

do in Otis.

SALLY:

Don't be so sure.

JOE:

Listen to yourself...

(to Monica)

Don't worry, it's alright. We'll find

him.

(to Sally)

What's wrong with you?

SALLY:

(re:
Monica)

She left the f***ing gate open.

JOE:

Well he can't have gone far.

SALLY:

Can't have gone far? He's like a

greyhound. He could be miles away.

JOE:

He'll find his way back.

SALLY:

There are f***ing coyotes out there.

JOE:

(calming)

Sally, calm down. We're not going to

find him any quicker by you being

hysterical.

Monica retreats, backs off a step or two.

SALLY:

F*** you.

JOE:

Or shitty!! Otis!!

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

America and Rosa are cleaning up. Ryan hangs around

chatting.

RYAN:

How long have you worked for the

Therrians?

AMERICA:

(shrugs, polite but annoyed)

A long time.

RYAN:

So you were here when they were doing the

work on the boundary fence?

AMERICA:

Oh yes.

RYAN:

Did you know the contractor?

AMERICA:

Very well.

RYAN:

Was it a contractor?

AMERICA:

It's the way they do things.

RYAN:

To code?

Her back is to him. She exchanges a glance with Rosa, and

the Spanish equivalent of "who is this wanker?"

RYAN (CONT'D)

Did you see permits? Did he have a

license?

AMERICA:

You should talk to Mr. Joe.

Monica bursts into the room.

MONICA:

Ryan, you've got to come! You've got to

help me find the dog! I let their dog

out. We need to find the dog.

RYAN:

You're not serious.

MONICA:

I left the gate open and Otis got out!

He could get hit by a car!

RYAN:

God willing.

MONICA:

We have to find the dog, Ryan.

RYAN:

Why?

MONICA:

(regards him)

Because we're nice people, and because

what goes around comes around.

(desperate)

Because, God help you if something

happens to that dog?

RYAN:

Excuse me?

MONICA:

All the ugly phone calls? We're not the

only people with a tape recorder, Ryan.

(a beat)

They've gone to the canyon, we should go

towards the PCH.

EXT. CANYON - MOMENTS LATER

Panes and Skye search the canyon for Otis. They both carry

lanterns.

PANES:

Otis!! Shostakovich identified with the

Jew. He felt persecuted, hunted, crushed

under the thumb of Stalinist imperialism.

SKYE:

Not to mention Andrew Zhdanov... Otis,

come!!

PANES:

Andre Zhdanov? How the hell do you know

about Andre Zhdanov?

SKYE:

Who doesn't know about the infamous

composer's conference of 1948 where

Zhdanov persecuted the leaders of Soviet

Music - Shostakovich, Prokofieve, and

Myaskovsky.

PANES:

I'll tell you who doesn't know, cute

girls don't know.

SKYE:

Do Peter Sellers again.

PANES:

(a la Sellers)

Otis you crazy dog! Otis are you in this

God forsaken Canyon? My people are very

hungry.

SKYE:

I just did a movie about Bob Yar, I

played Gittle, the Jewish milkmaid who

gets shot in the head, and they used

Shostakovich's 13th Symphony.

PANES:

Set to the poem of Yetveshenko!

SKYE:

Exactly! So I dug it, and I did a lot of

research.

PANES:

Do you really, you really, like

Shostakovich?

SKYE:

Yeah.

PANES:

Would you, like, marry him?

SKYE:

If he were still alive, maybe.

PANES:

How about someone who really really liked

Shostakovich?

SKYE:

(smiling)

Are you asking me to marry you?

PANES:

No, I'm just testing to see how deeply

perverted and impulsive you are.

SKYE:

(laughing)

Very.

PANES:

Oh good, I'm worse... Are you really

twenty-two?

SKYE:

Who told you that? No. I'm twenty...

(lops off two years)

Five.

EXT. CANYON - CONTINUOUS

Sally and Joe have lanterns. Panes and Skye are up ahead.

We hear them calling for Otis.

SALLY:

Otis!!!!

JOE:

(on her heels)

Otis!!!!

SALLY:

Otis, good boy, come here. Oh my god, oh

my god, oh my god.

JOE:

This is a nightmare. We should have kept

him upstairs.

SALLY:

It was done. When Sophia put the kids to

bed, America brought Otis in the room and

closed the door. It was done.

JOE:

Well someone clearly let him out before

Monica opened the gate.

SALLY:

Oh f*** you, and f*** Monica while you're

at it. But I guess that's what I

interrupted.

JOE:

Jesus, Sally. You are a medical miracle.

The only person who's ever taken ecstacy

and become angrier.

SALLY:

Yeah, let's talk about that. You seem to

be rather an expert. I don't remember in

the last five months of counselling your

ever mentioning ecstacy or going to rage

parties.

JOE:

Rave parties?! That's so typical - you

would think it was called rage. Perfect!

SALLY:

What else don't I know about, Joe? Let's

get really clear here.

JOE:

Sally, so I took a few pills. I went out

dancing. I tried to forget how upset I

was about splitting up with you. I

haven't lied to you. I told you about

the people I've slept with. I just

didn't mention the few occasions I took

drugs because you're so f***ing

judgmental I knew I'd never hear the end

of it, and you have so little faith and

so little trust in me. Sally, we're

back, I love you. Trust that. Please

let's not do this.

SALLY:

Otis! Come! Good boy! Come!

JOE:

Otis!

SALLY:

I'm not sure we understand that word in

the same way.

JOE:

Love?

SALLY:

You walked out on a five year marriage.

JOE:

That hasn't the first f***ing thing to do

with love. It's whether we can live

together... like this! All the time.

SALLY:

It's not like this all the time.

JOE:

DO I want anyone else? No. Do I want to

be with you for the rest of my natural

life? I'm trying.

SALLY:

And how hard it hit?

JOE:

Just stop right there, Sally. We've been

through this.

SALLY:

You've been through it. That's how you

love people. When it's easy for you,

when it's convenient for you.

JOE:

Sally, first of all, you're talking

bullshit. And second...

SALLY:

You want to talk about bullshit? Lucy

called you three times this week. She's

a f***ing mess, Joe. Your sister is a

f***ing mess. She needs you. I talk to

her more than you do.

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