The Truman Show Page #4

TRUMAN sits by himself in the rattling subway car, defeated.

The only other occupants in the train, a TALL WOMAN, mid-

thirties, reading a pulp novel and two MALE YOUTHS, late-teens,

sitting opposite the woman, slouching, ogling her.

YOUTH 1

(to woman)

You wanna read to me?

His companion smirks.

YOUTH 1

(more insistent)

You wannna read to me?

The woman looks up, unaware of the boys' presence until now.

She quickly avoids eye contact and returns to the book. The

other boy reaches over and snatches the novel from her grasp.

YOUTH 2

(menacing)

My friend asked you a question.

The woman picks up her bag from the floor in a reflex and

holds it to her. She looks around the train for assistance,

briefly catching Truman's eye. The youths also look in

Truman's direction, staring him down, daring him to interfere.

Truman quickly averts his gaze.

WOMAN:

(reaching for the book)

Please...

The boy returns the book to the woman, but before doing so rips

out the last page from the novel and stuffs it in his shirt

pocket.

YOUTH 2

Now you're gonna have to ask me how it ends.

The train pulls into a deserted station. Feeling vulnerable,

the woman jumps up from her seat and exits. The youths, sensing

a chase, also exit. Scanning the empty platform, the woman

realizes she has made a serious error. Truman watches through

the train's open door as the boys corner the frightened woman

but still he remains in his seat.

YOUTH 1

We're gonna tell you how it ends, baby.

One of the youths produces a knife from his pocket and waves it

in the woman's face.

YOUTH 2

Don't you wanna know how it ends?

The boys pin the woman to the station wall with the weight of

their bodies. The woman looks again in Truman's direction.

Again she makes eye contact, eyes pleading.

WOMAN:

(screams)

Help!! Please, help!!

The woman's second scream is muffled as the train door closes.

Truman looks up to the emergency handle beside the door. There

is still time to act. He stands up and half-reaches for the

handle but moves no further.

The train abruptly pulls away, leaving Truman time to see one of

the youths covering the woman's mouth while the other reaches

under her skirt before the train enters the tunnel. Truman bows

his head in shame as the train rattles on.

INT. SUBWAY STATION. DAY.

The train safely out of sight, the YOUTHS promptly release the

WOMAN. She calmly hitches down her skirt, no longer afraid.

The young men, no longer angry, help fix her hair and retrieve

her shoulder bag.

WOMAN:

Thanks.

The threesome walk along the platform together, as if lifelong

friends.

WOMAN:

(pondering the incident)

He did nothing.

YOUTH 1

(shrugs, suddenly more couth)

Physical violence paralyzes him. Always

has.

EXT. TRUMAN'S HOUSE. DUSK.

The backyard of a modest but tidy one-story tract home. Beyond

the plank fence at the end of the property flows a busy

Expressway.

TRUMAN wheels a lawnmower towards the garage as his wife, MERYL,

pulls up the drive in her four-year-old Toyota Camry. She has a

sensible blue vinyl bag over her shoulder and carries a new

knife-set in a wooden block. She kisses Truman affectionately

on the cheek.

MERYL:

(proudly referring to the knife-set)

I got it free with the tune-up.

Looking over Truman's shoulder, she notices a small uncut patch

of grass, missed by Truman in one of his passes.

MERYL:

You missed a section.

Meryl enters the house. Truman restarts the lawnmower and

obediantly pushes it towards the offending patch of lawn. As

the mower brushes up against the unconforming blades of grass,

Truman pulls back abruptly. He checks the kitchen window for

Meryl and wheels the mower away, leaving the patch uncut.

INT. TRUMAN'S HOUSE - KITCHEN. DAY.

MERYL is applying ointment to her wrists as TRUMAN enters.

TRUMAN:

(referring to her hands)

Do they hurt?

MERYL:

I was afraid I'd seize up during cross.

One of the keys kept sticking.

Truman picks up Meryl's newspaper and skims idly through it. He

notes an article headlined, "SLAYING TRIAL ENTERS SIXTH WEEK".

TRUMAN:

(referring to the article)

Is he gonna take the stand?

MERYL:

(dispassionate, matter-of-fact)

No point. Two eye witnesses saw him

near the dumpster where they found the legs.

She flexes her arthritic wrists.

MERYL:

You gonna eat before you leave?

TRUMAN:

I'll get something out.

MERYL:

(sensing something odd

in his demeanor)

Did something happen today?

Truman turns to her too sharply, his guilt showing.

TRUMAN:

(composing himself)

What could happen?

EXT. UNOPENED FREEWAY. NIGHT.

An abandoned freeway project in Queens. The four hundred yard

stretch of deserted freeway is paved but unmarked. At one end

is an off-ramp that abruptly ends in inid-air, reinforcing steel

protuding from the concrete.

TRUMAN stands at the end of the off-ramp with MARLON, thirty-

two, the kind of physique some descibe as fat, others big.

Marlon drinks beer from a can while Truman addresses a teed-up

golf ball with a number three wood.

Truman winds up and swings, making a healthy contact with the

ball. The ball arches away into the night sky, lit by the

adjacent operating roadway. From a new angle we see the ball

take a huge hop on the outside lane of the abandoned freeway and

continue down the asphalt.

Marlon tosses Truman another ball from a bucket of badly scarred

golf balls - a ball initialed with the letter, "T". Truman sets

the ball up on the makeshift tee area and launches himself into

his second shot. With a slight fade, the second ball carries

even further than the first.

Rate this script:2.0 / 1 vote