The Hollars Page #3

DON:

John had a girlfriend in high school?

JOHN:

It was complicated.

RON:

Jesus Christ, Dad. Where you been our

whole lives anyway?

DON:

Working my ass off so you kids could go

to college. That’s where I’ve been.

RON:

(under his breath)

Yeah. A lot of good that did.

DON:

What did you say?

RON:

Nothing.

JOHN:

(to himself)

Gwen married Jason Owens?

RON:

(To John)

Just had a kid.

DON:

No, tell me what you just said.

RON:

(To Don)

I didn’t say anything.

DON:

You better watch yourself, boy.

RON:

Oh, is that a threat?

DON:

No. It’s a promise.

(CONTINUED)

14.

B10 CONTINUED:
(4) B10

RON:

That doesn’t even make sense.

DON:

I’ll punch you in the face.

RON:

(laughs)

What?

DON:

I swear to God, I will.

RON:

Yeah, well, what’s stopping-Don

slaps Ron hard in the face.

RON (CONT'D)

Ow! Man!

SALLY:

Donald!

RON:

That hurt.

JOHN:

Jesus Christ, Dad. What are you doing?

SALLY:

Donald! Apologize to Ron right now!

Don looks very remorseful for what he’s just done. He

puts his hand on Ron’s back.

DON:

I’m sorry. Ron. I didn’t mean to-Ron

slaps his father.

RON:

A**hole.

Don and Ron get into a pretty serious slap fight.

John tries to break up the fight.

JOHN:

Guys! Guys, stop!

Suddenly Sally just slightly raises her hand.

(CONTINUED)

15.

B10 CONTINUED:
(5) B10

SALLY:

(Quietly)

Boys.

The boys immediately calm down as a quiet Asian man

enters the room holding a medical chart. His name is DR.

LARRY FONG, 40. Everyone turns to look at him.

DR. FONG

(to Sally)

Sally Hollar?

SALLY:

Yes.

DR. FONG

I’m Doctor Fong. Sorry about the wait.

(beat) I was golfing.

SALLY:

No problem, Doctor.

Dr. Fong brings up a cat scan image on a monitor on the

wall.

DR. FONG

I looked over your cat scans.

You have a pretty big brain tumor in the

center of your frontal lobe.

DON:

Oh, Christ. Oh, Jesus Christ.

Don sits down on a chair. He starts trembling. He is way

overdoing this. Sally tries to keep a smile on her face

but she looks terrified.

JOHN:

What does that mean? Pretty big?

Dr. Fong gives John a serious look.

DR. FONG

It means...big.

JOHN:

So, what do we have to do?

DR. FONG

We’re going to have to remove it. Soon.

I’ve scheduled a craniotomy for the end *

of next week.

(CONTINUED)

16.

B10 CONTINUED:
(6) B10

JOHN:

Wait. Slow down. What about a second

opinion?

DR. FONG

You’re free to do as you wish. But I

suggest you do it quickly. We can give

your mother steroids to reduce the size

of the tumor. But the seizures will

continue if nothings done.

RON:

Now, what will the steroids do to her

muscles? Will it make her bulky?

DR. FONG

(a little confused)

No.

DON:

Oh, Christ. Oh, christ. Oh, christ.

RON:

Get a grip, Dad.

Don is not good in a crisis. Sally has a nervous smile on

her face.

JOHN:

Well, is it...cancer?

DR. FONG

We won’t know that until we biopsy a

piece of the tumor.

JOHN:

I don’t understand. How did this happen?

DR. FONG

It could be any number of reasons. We

have no way of knowing right now. I will

say this, it’s not a young tumor. I’d say

it’s most likely been growing inside Mrs.

Hollar’s head for over ten, maybe fifteen

years. To be honest I’m surprised there

haven’t been more symptoms.

Don looks very nervous.

SALLY:

Would loss of sight in one eye be a

symptom?

(CONTINUED)

17.

B10 CONTINUED:
(7) B10

DR. FONG

Possibly.

SALLY:

How about a numbness in the toes and

fingers?

DR. FONG

Probably.

SALLY:

And temporary paralysis?

DR. FONG

Well, definitely.

DON:

Sh*t.

SALLY:

I told you!

JOHN:

What? What is it?

DON:

She might have had some symptoms before

today.

JOHN:

What? When? Why didn’t you have them

checked out?

SALLY:

He sent me to Jenny Craig.

DON:

I thought it was a weight thing.

JOHN:

Oh, Dad. Temporary paralysis?

DON:

I’m sorry. I didn’t know.

RON:

Jesus Christ, Dad!

DR. FONG

Yes, well. You guys seem like you have

some stuff to work out so...

Dr. Fong tries to quietly leave the room. John stops him

in the hallway.

(CONTINUED)

B10 CONTINUED:
(8)

18.

B10

JOHN:

Wait, doctor. Tell me seriously, how badis this?

DR. FONG

She has a tumor the size of a softball in

her head.

JOHN:

Well, is it terminal?

DR. FONG

Not necessarily. We won’t know until we

get in there to remove the tumor.

JOHN:

What can I do?

Honestly?

DR. FONG

John nods. Dr. Fong looks into Sally’s room at Don and

Ron.

DR. FONG (CONT'D)

I’d try to keep them away from her as

much as possible.

10 INT. CAR ON STREET. LATE AFTERNOON. 10

Ron drives on the way home from the hospital.

JOHN:

What’s up with you and dad?

Nothing.

RON:

JOHN:

He seems really pissed off.

RON:

Doesn’t he always?

JOHN:

Not like that.

Ron takes a breath. He doesn’t know if he should tell

John this or not...

He fired me.

RON:

(CONTINUED)

19.

10 CONTINUED:
10

JOHN:

He fired you? I didn’t even know you were

working for him.

RON:

You should really call more.

JOHN:

I don’t like to talk on the phone.

RON:

I’m on Facebook.

JOHN:

Really?

RON:

Yeah. I put it on my status update last

week.

JOHN:

So, what did you do?

RON:

I didn’t do anything.

JOHN:

Well, why did he let you go?

RON:

The business has been operating at a loss

for over a year. Dad’s about three weeks

away from total bankruptcy. When I

confronted him about it he fired me.

JOHN:

Oh my God! Are you kidding me??

RON:

Don’t say anything. He made me promise

not to tell anyone. I’m sure he doesn’t

want mom to worry about it right now.

Ron parks in front of a house. He keeps the car running.

JOHN:

Well, what is he going to do?

RON:

I don’t know. He and mom don’t have any

savings. The medical bills are going to

be crazy. They’re totally screwed.

(CONTINUED)

20.

10 CONTINUED:
(2) 10

JOHN:

Oh my God. Oh my God.

Ron reaches across John to the glove box... and pulls a

pair of binoculars out. He begins to surveil the house

he’s just parked in front of.

RON:

How’s Rebecca?

JOHN:

(puzzled)

She’s fine.

RON:

Mom said things haven’t been great. Is

that why you’re not going to get married?

JOHN:

How would she possibly kn-

RON:

Do you think your kid will mind being a

bastard?

JOHN:

Uh, people don’t really think like that

anymore.

RON:

You sure?

JOHN:

(puzzled)

Yeah, what are you doing?

RON:

Stacey started seeing someone.

JOHN:

You’ve been divorced from Stacey for

years.

RON:

I agreed to a divorce. I didn’t agree to

some strange man hanging around my

daughters.

A man comes to the front window of the house.

RON (CONT'D)

Sh*t! Get down!

(CONTINUED)

21.

10 CONTINUED:
(3) 10

Ron and John get down in their seats. The man steps out

of the house and walks towards the car. He walks over to

Ron’s window and taps. Ron rolls down the window.

MAN:

Hey, Ron. How you doing?

RON:

Fine.

JOHN:

You two know each other?

RON:

Yeah. He’s the new youth pastor over at

mom and dad’s church.

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