The Tall Man Page #5

No, I'm ready.

Try not to focus on anything too specific.

You just talk to her, you listen to her.

You try to get her to open up.

If we get anything,

it will be because she didn't realize it.

You understand?

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

I know why you're here.

You want answers.

Yes.

But there's nothing I can say

that's going to give you any comfort.

Julia,

I can't live.

I keep turning things around in my mind,

and I miss him, you know.

It's unbearable, the missing him.

Thinking about him all the time,

wondering where he is.

I know.

I don't think you do, Julia.

But I do know.

I was a mother to each and every one of them.

They had everything

they could ever possibly need.

Julia, I know I live in a dump

J:

I don't have a job, and life for me is hard,

but I would still die for him, you know?

(SIGHS)

It's just the same everywhere.

The defeat

and the pain,

it's a cycle.

A Cycle?

You shouldn't have come here.

(INAUDIBLE)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

What cycle?

The system is broken.

It doesn't work.

There's nowhere to turn. There's no support.

I've seen it all over the world.

It's just easier to give up.

I'm not any better than you, Mrs. Johnson

I've just seen more.

It's not a matter of being a good person

or being a bad person.

It's about how you cope.

We're so limited.

But the eyes of every child

are filled with potential and hope,

and we should embrace

and nourish that potential, but we don't.

We continue to make the same mistakes.

We continue to let

the children grow up broken and lost,

just like their parents.

We have to break the cycle.

It has to be a priority, but it's not.

That's what I've been trying to do.

That's what I've done everywhere.

And what did I change?

Nothing.

Yes, I cared, I helped, I cuddled,

thinking I was bringing change,

thinking I was making a difference,

but when we asked for real change,

all these bureaucrats said,

"No, you can't do that.

"There's a process."

Every time we questioned the politicians,

and the system that makes

poor people poorer, and the children suffer,

they said,

"No, you can't do that. There's a process."

So the cycle goes on,

and goes on and goes on,

and the children continue to suffer,

and no one does anything about it,

and the world will never change.

God, I'm just torturing you.

(BREATHING HEAVILY) If you're done,

can you answer two simple questions?

The parents of Cold Rock need to know,

are the children dead?

(SOBBING) No.

I couldn't keep them all.

Where are they?

They're in the forest,

in the tunnels,

everywhere.

(LOCK BUZZING)

(INMATES SHOUTING)

Hello, baby killer. That's right.

I'll kill you, b*tch!

You're mine, b*tch!

TRACY:
Read my lips, honey.

I'm not bringing her back!

STEVEN:
Neither you

or your f***ing sister has no say!

- Okay?

- TRACY:
No.

STEVEN:
What do you mean, no?

TRACY:
No, my sister and I agreed.

STEVEN:
I don't care what

your f***ing sister said!

Carol needs to come back!

Steven, you bring your voice down.

You're going to wake Jenny!

I'm not going to bring my f***ing voice down!

Oh, you are drunk!

We are going to talk about this tomorrow.

No! No, we're not going to talk tomorrow.

You are going to call your f***ing sister!

Carol is going to come back!

TRACY:
Oh, is that what you want?

You want to talk tough?

STEVEN:
You want me to get tough? Huh?

You really want tough?

You don't know when to

- God damn shut your mouth!

- Mom! Dad!

Get off!

You want to get hit?

(GRUNTS)

Oh, baby, baby.

(GRUNTING)

Get off me, you little runt.

(GRUNTING)

Son of a b*tch!

Baby, baby. Come here. Come here.

(GRUNTS)

Don't you touch her!

Don't you ever touch her!

(EXHALES)

You didn't miss me this time, honey.

(CHUCKLING) Nice shot.

(SCOFFS) You bastard.

(BOTH CHUCKLING)

(SOBBING)

(GRUNTS)

STEVEN:
You want to play rough?

I'll get rough.

- TRACY:
Don't you push me.

- Then do it, do it.

(SOBBING)

TRACY:
Don't ever

lay a hand on the kid again.

Don't you ever strike my daughter!

STEVEN:
The kid overreacts!

(ARGUMENT CONTINUES)

- (TWIG SNAPPING)

- (GASPS)

(RUSTLING)

TRACY:
Jenny!

Jenny, where are you, honey?

(THUD)

Come back, everything's okay. I'm okay.

(BIRD SCREECHING)

- (BIRD SHRIEKS)

- (GASPS)

(SCREAMS)

(SHUDDERING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(ENGINE STARTING)

(DOOR OPENING)

I'm probably not what you were dreaming of,

but you're not a baby yourself, dear.

Can you wait here for a moment?

LADY:
Yes, I think it Will be all right.

TALL MAN:
It has to be.

As far as we are concerned,

Jenny Weaver is dead.

Please meet Vera Parker-Leigh.

Watch over her carefully.

Our field officer was unable

to give her a proper transition.

Be extremely careful the first few weeks.

Her behavior could still

be deemed suspicious and give us away.

- No, ma'am.

- Please, I insist.

I don't want your money.

The women who saved this girl

paid a high price.

One of them is dead, and the other will

never again see the light of day.

I know. I saw her on the news.

Your money is an insult to her sacrifice.

LADY:
Will Jenny be

the last one being taken care of?

TALL MAN:
The last one from that division.

Mrs. Parker-Leigh.

So, there are more of you?

(SONG PLAYING ON RADIO)

(BABY WAILING)

(DOG BARKING)

(CAR APPROACHING)

How are you, Tracy?

I wasn't expecting you.

We haven't found Jenny yet.

I guess Chestnut's doing what he can, right?

Uh...

I put one of my men on the case.

Thanks.

What about Julia?

Well, the prosecution's asking

for the death penalty this afternoon,

but I don't think they're going to grant it.

In case she decides to tell them

where the other kids are buried.

We know that she's not the one

that took my Jenny.

Your Jenny ran away,

and I'm going to find her.

Okay.

Hang in there, Tracy.

Yeah, I've been doing that for 25 years.

Yeah, I hear ya.

(CHUCKLES)

(ENGINE STARTING)

JENNY:
My first mother was a good woman.

Hardworking, generous, affectionate.

We talked, we shared, we laughed,

but then it stopped.

She couldn't talk to us anymore about men,

about her dreams, about her pain.

My first mother loved me,

and I loved my first mother.

(LOCK BUZZING)

INMATE:
Watch your back.

INMATE 21 (WHISPERING) You're mine!

J EN NY:
My second mother only

mothered me for a short time.

INMATE 3:
You're dead, you rat!

J EN NY:
I often think about her.

I try to imagine the moment

she had in the tunnel,

giving one last kid to her husband.

INMATE:
B*tch! You're dead.

JENNY:
Did he implore her

to run away with him?

Or did they both know someone had to stay,

be the monster, pay the price,

and protect their secret?

Whether she was a good person or not,

I'm still not sure,

but my second mother loved me,

and I loved my second mother.

My third mother is

teaching me about the bigger world.

She says knowledge is the key

to open all my doors, so I stay focused.

I observe, and I work hard.

Vera, sweetheart.

JENNY:
I listen to what she says

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