The Limey Page #15

WILSON:

How long've you lived here?

Elaine sits on the bed, fastening her skirt. Her bra strap

cuts across her bare back.

ELAINE:

This town's been chewing my flesh

since... what we now refer to as "the

early 70's."

(thinks back)

Christ, my past became nostalgia and no

one even asked me.

WILSON:

Early 70's. I was away.

(tries to remember)

Maidstone. Possibly Brixton.

ELAINE:

These more highlights from the Zagat

prison guide?

Wilson looks at her: she's the one who goes to bed with ex-

cons.

WILSON:

You don't seem bothered.

ELAINE:

You don't know how I've compromised my

standards.

WILSON:

Tell us about it.

ELAINE:

It's too involved; a lifetime of non-

involvement. Anywhere else I'd be an

interesting little number, here I'm just

SAG number forty-eight thousand and one.

(quickly)

SAG meaning Screen Actor's Guild.

WILSON:

Oh, I was gonna say...

ELAINE:

Still, there have been rewards. It's

sunny. And some of the producers who

call even have credits.

WILSON:

I can see the attraction.

She glances up at him to try and see how he means that. Is

he looking at her or out the window?

ELAINE:

What did you do? To make them take the

early 70's away from you.

WILSON:

A jeweller's up the West End. We

tunnelled our way under the shop floor

from the public lavatory down the road.

Filthy work. Trouble was, the bloody

thing collapsed -- after we'd made the

grab, 'n all. Would you Adam n' Eve it.

ELAINE:

You mean if they'd nabbed you before you

actually broke and entered you would only

have been charged with making a mess.

WILSON:

We were lucky to be nicked. Me and the

lads went down there Sunday evening, we

weren't discovered till the Monday. Good

job we were still breathing.

ELAINE:

It didn't discourage you, though.

WILSON:

Hey?

ELAINE:

From pursuing your chosen profession.

WILSON:

I'll tell ya something: it made me a

model prisoner. Put me right off any

escape attempts. Tunnel my way to

freedom after that experience? Not

bloody likely.

ELAINE:

I was inside once. I punched a cop at a

demo.

WILSON:

Did you. What was that in aid of?

ELAINE:

Who remembers.

WILSON:

Get seven years, did you?

ELAINE:

Overnight. What about just now?

WILSON:

Just now?

(playful, goes over, ready for

more)

Overnight?

ELAINE:

You have been away.

(lies back, regards him

carefully)

Or is all this just new to you?

WILSON:

It's true. Has to be said. I got off to

a slow start.

ELAINE:

I don't believe it.

WILSON:

Honest. Didn't know where to look till I

was 21.

ELAINE:

Pushing the legal limit even then.

He stands again, vaguely disappointing her.

WILSON:

Me mate introduced me to a woman up the

street. Funnily enough, she was married

to a milkman. Straight up. I said,

"Good is she? Been around?" He said,

"Good? Listen, mush, it's not that she's

been around, it's that she's been around

hell of a long time."

He laughs uproariously at that. But the point is: he's sort

of complimenting both Elaine and himself. They've been

around, had their knocks, they've lasted. Elaine remains

unsmiling.

Still leaning back on her elbows on the bed, in bra, skirt,

hose, no shoes. She asks again the question Wilson avoided

answering.

ELAINE:

Your most recent incarceration. What was

that for?

And again he evades the answer she wants.

WILSON:

It was for nine years.

(buttoning his shirt)

The last nine years.

CUT.

EXT. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY. MORNING.

For the first time, we see the Pacific coastline. Impressive.

And a sleek Italian sports car. Heading north.

INT. SPORTS CAR.

Valentine at the wheel. Adhara besides him.

ADHARA:

I've lived in L.A. all my life, I've

never done this drive.

VALENTINE:

All your life. That happened while I

swam the length of my pool.

Adhara looks back over her shoulder. Checking the road

behind.

VALENTINE:

What's the matter?

ADHARA:

Nothing. I guess it's hard to pass on

this road.

VALENTINE:

The freeway's faster, but lacks a certain

majesty.

ADHARA:

Just feels like the car behind has been

following us the longest time.

VALENTINE:

I sure hope so.

INT. THE CAR BEHIND.

A big utility vehicle. With Avery in the front passenger

seat. And three bodyguards he's brought along to protect

Valentine. RICK driving, TOM and LARRY in the back.

TOM:

All I'm sayin' is travel time shouldn't

be the same rate. Travel time is down

time, right? I mean, we're not even in

the same car as the client.

(to Avery)

You told me the job was at the house.

When we get to it. Well, are we shadowing

the client right now or are we just going

the same way? The company I was with in

Seattle, these distinctions were made.

Now, I don't dispute him getting the full

whack.

(he means Rick, who's older)

Seniority and all that. But if I'm

getting paid the same hourly rate when

we're at the house as I am in this car,

that doesn't sit well with me and I feel

obliged to say so. 'Cause in Seattle

what you're paying now for so-called

travel time was half what we got for

actual clock-time with the client. So I

just feel we should get more when the job

actually commences.

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