The Grifters Page #5

LILLY:

(startled)

My God!

She turns, hurries back to the living room, looks around for

the phone, crosses to it, dials, SPEAKS. Roy's eyes open, he

frowns.

ROY:

Lilly?

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

Lilly, hard and fast and urgent, on the phone.

LILLY:

Tell the doctor I work for Bobo

Justus, and this is an emergency.

Don't worry, he knows who Bobo is.

INT. BEDROOM - DAY

AN ANGLE down toward Roy, from above, he's weak but troubled.

Eyes closed, frowning, whispering.

ROY:

Go away, Lilly. Go away.

Roy's eyes close. He looks dead. SLOW FADE.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY

The DOCTOR, a nervous heavyset man in his fifties, a drinker

from the look of him, is on the phone in b.g., while Lilly

prowls the room, looking at everything with distaste, then

stopping to frown at the box-framed clown pictures. She

doesn't get it. She touches one of the pictures, trying to

understand. The doctor hangs up, turns to Lilly.

DOCTOR:

(lugubrious)

The ambulance is on the way, for

what good it will do.

LILLY:

What? He's going to be all right!

DOCTOR:

Mrs. Dillon, your son was in some

sort of accident. He's had an

internal hemorrhage, he's bleeding

to death inside.

LILLY:

Well, make it stop!

DOCTOR:

His blood pressure is under a

hundred. I don't think he'll live

to get to the hospital.

LILLY:

(icy, stern)

You know who I work for.

He's uncomfortable, wants to dismiss that part of his life.

DOCTOR:

Yes, yes, but that's --

LILLY:

My son will be all right. If he

isn't, I'll have you killed.

The doctor stares at her in astonishment, then in belief.

SOUND of ambulance siren. To break the moment, he crosses to

the door, opens it. Light bathes Lilly. The doctor steps back

across the threshold, waiting for the ambulance. He looks

back at Lilly, who stares at him.

INT. AMBULANCE - DAY

ECU, Roy, skin pallid, eyes closed and sunken, lips white.

SOUND of siren LOUDER. SOUND SEGUES to CHILD CRYING. CRYING

FADES.

INT. HOTEL LOBBY - DAY

A clumsy slum hotel fifteen years ago, with a tiny lobby, the

DESK CLERK at a half-door in one wall. Lilly, at 24, enters

from the street. This is a definite hooker, with bright

maroon hair and a black-and-white miniskirt. She stops

wordlessly at the desk for her key.

CLERK:

(handing key)

Your kid's in the back here. He's

crying.

LILLY:

Roy? He's always crying.

CLERK:

(sympathetic to Roy)

The kids beat him up, because his

home life is, uh, different.

LILLY:

(ironic)

I like you, too.

The clerk shrugs. He doesn't like this tough broad. He turns

and calls back into his office.

CLERK:

Roy, your mother's here.

Roy, 10, comes reluctantly out to Lilly, sniffling and

rubbing his arm.

LILLY:

So what's your story today?

ROY:

They twisted my arm.

LILLY:

(laughing lightly)

Only one arm?

He tries not to cry, and shows her a space between his teeth.

ROY:

They knocked out my tooth!

LILLY:

Only one tooth?

Roy's frustrated, unhappy, having nowhere else to turn.

ROY:

You always say that!

Lilly won't take him seriously, but she relents enough to

stop teasing him, and to pat his head, ignoring how he

flinches away.

LILLY:

Come on, kid, let's see if there's

any food in the house.

CLERK:

(there's no food)

Hah.

Lilly gives him a jaundiced look, walks Roy to the stairs and

up. The clerk, scornful but sexually interested, watches her

go.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY

ECU, Roy in a hospital bed, with more color in his face,

breathing more normally. He begins to react to the sound of

people speaking.

MYRA (O.S.)

No, really, you're Roy's mother?

That's impossible!

LILLY (O.S.)

Not quite. But I'm not sure who you

are, Mrs... Langtry, was it?

Roy's eyes open, he looks toward the voices.

MYRA (O.S.)

I'm Roy's friend.

WIDE SHOT, Lilly and Myra facing one another across the foot

of Roy's bed, in a two-bed hospital room. (The OLD MAN in the

other bed sleeps through the scene.) Neither woman is yet

aware that Roy's awake. Lilly looks Myra up and down, with

obvious contempt.

LILLY:

Yes. I imagine you're lots of

people's friend.

Myra moves one pace to the side, studying Lilly's face.

MYRA:

Oh, of course, now that I see you

in the light, you're plenty old

enough to be Roy's mother.

LILLY:

(sweet smile)

Aren't we all?

ROY:

(very weak, but amused)

Play nice. Don't fight.

The women, startled, both move toward Roy, one on each side

of the bed.

THREE SHOT, Myra and Lilly both leaning over to look down at

Roy's sleepy face.

MYRA:

Darling!

LILLY:

Roy. You're going to be all right.

ROY:

Sure I am. What made you turn up,

after all these years?

LILLY:

I'm working down in San Diego. Just

for a few weeks.

(awkward laugh)

Thought I'd drop in on my long-lost

son.

ROY:

(cold)

Nice to see you.

(turns to Myra)

What am I doing in here?

MYRA:

You were bleeding inside, honey.

Remember that bruise you had?

ROY:

You called the doctor, huh?

MYRA:

(reluctant)

Well, no, Roy. Your mother found

you.

ROY:

(tossing It away)

Oh, yeah?

(very casual, to Lilly)

Thanks.

(back to Myra)

How long do they say I'm in here?

Myra's willing to fight with Lilly, but Roy's attitude toward

his mother makes her uncomfortable.

MYRA:

Roy... Your mom saved your life.

Roy turns his head, gives Lilly an ironic smile. Lilly waits,

holding herself in.

ROY:

Yeah? Only one life?

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