The United States of Leland Page #4

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Mr Pollard said you had

a baseball practice or something.

No.

- I quit last week.

- Why did you quit?

I was playing terrible.

I couldn't get my head in the game.

And it's been a rough year

with my mom and all, so...

But Julie and I are

going to ASU next year.

Maybe I'll walk on there. You know,

things'll be a lot more settled, then.

- Briefcase?

- Briefcase.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

I'm the one going home

with play-off tickets.

Game three, down 0-2 to the Spurs?

That ain't much, man.

The Suns never get out of the first round.

I don't know, man, Marbury's

hitting his shots, we play up tempo?

- Damn fine ball club.

- Your lips.

- I see this kid got to you, too, huh?

- What do you mean?

C'mon man, it's always hard for

me to picture these pimply

little mama's boys doing

what you know they did.

But this one even more so than the others.

I can't see this kid hurting a fly.

He's definitely fascinating.

Yeah, well, you're the writer.

You give it a word.

That's precisely what I plan to do.

Oh, have you ever read Proust?

I know what you

want from me.

Yeah?

I just... I just want you

to have somebody to talk to.

It's the same thing they

want from the trial.

What's that?

You want a why.

Well, maybe there

isn't one. Maybe...

Maybe this is just

something that happened.

Excuse me.

- Isn't the game on?

- What game?

- Could you please just change

the channel? - Yeah.

It's depressing me, too.

I like that title.

It's not supposed to mean

I'm the President or anything.

Mostly it's just a joke.

Well, what do you write about?

I guess, how I see the world.

- How do you see the world, Pearl?

- Full of possibilities.

I think that good things abound,

positive things. What about you?

There's two ways to see it.

One is like what you said,

where life is OK.

Where maybe stuff's wrong

but you just don't see it.

What's the other way?

When you see

what's really there.

He didn't give you any idea

what that might have meant?

He didn't say much.

When I got home,

all he said was that he'd made a mistake.

I saw his hand and I drove

him to the hospital.

He didn't make a

sound on the drive.

It's always there.

Even when stuff looks good.

When kids are playing,

couples are kissing and junk.

It's in all of that stuff. But mostly,

people just look right through it.

What's the "it"?

I mean, what don't they see?

Just how everything's

always slipping away.

How everyone's always

kind of dying inside.

How sad everybody really is.

And seeing things this

way makes you feel sad?

It doesn't make me

feel much of anything.

Did you notice anything

different about him?

Today?

When he visited.

Nothing unusual.

Ever since he

got back this time,

from the moment I

picked him up at the airport...

...something wasn't

right with him.

I figured maybe the

two of you had a fight.

No.

Perhaps he was just

upset about that girl.

Sometimes, things don't

work out between people.

And it's nobody's fault.

- That's a very mature approach.

- I don't know.

Well, you tell me.

How's your girl?

- Miranda? Oh, Miranda's great.

- I meant the other girl.

Oh, that's just something

that happened.

Would it hurt Miranda if she found out

about this something that happened?

Yeah.

So, why did you do it?

She's not gonna find out.

Does that make it OK?

OK?

Look, Miranda's been gone

for a long time now, OK?

I'm not even really

sure where we stand.

And I'm only human, man.

It's funny how people only say

that after they do something bad.

You never hear someone say,

"I'm only human" after they

rescue a kid from a burning building.

- Thanks for the ride.

- You bet.

Hey, Leland.

There's something

I wanted to tell you...

about Becky.

You know the reason she's

in that probation school, right?

She told me she messed up.

You didn't ask how?

I figured she'd tell me

if it was important.

It was drug stuff.

Listen, I don't wanna tell you

anything you don't wanna hear.

No, you can tell me.

You can tell me.

She kind of fell in

with this guy,

this older guy, Kevin.

I don't know, he's, like, 20.

He's a drug dealer.

She ran away with him

for a while last year.

It got really, really messy.

Mrs Pollard had to go

pull her out of there.

- But...

- What?

Kevin got out of jail today.

Mrs Pollard.

The receipt will take a minute so

I'll go ahead and bring her round.

What's the damage?

I didn't even look.

I just signed.

- What's today? The date today?

- It's the 24th.

Julie is running up against

the ASU deadline.

- You sent yours in, didn't you?

- Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know, erm...

Maybe...

Maybe she's still

not sure, you know.

I don't know.

Maybe she just wants to make sure

it's the best place for her.

I saw you the other night,

the way you were holding her,

the way you look at her

even when she's asleep.

Take care of Julie for me.

I can't lose her, too.

She's all I have left.

Look at that sunshine.

I don't even remember what it feels like.

What did you do to get in here?

Wrong place, wrong time.

That's against the law?

If you're a 17-year-old black dude

with an old-school Dr J'fro, it is.

See you in class, devil boy.

Long live Satan.

Hey, pick up.

I know you're sitting there with

a bottle of wine watching basketball.

I can see you.

Er, OK, fine.

Um...

I miss you and I wanna

see you again already.

I was thinking, you know,

since I'm stuck here,

maybe you could

come up and visit.

I know it wasn't part

of the plan but...

All right, could you check

on the name Martin Angle?

OK, er... one second.

Could you check David Stith?

S - T - I - T - H.

I'm sorry, there's just one more.

Edgar Pinkerton.

You do? OK, could you tell me

the room number that Mr...

No, OK, that's fine.

That's fine.

Is there a bar in the hotel?

Hi.

Er, excuse me?

They won't let me get

a pitcher if I'm alone

so I was wondering if I could say

that I'm drinking with you?

Fiction or non?

Fiction.

Yeah, you can sit down if you want, but

you should have checked at the bar first.

- They don't have anything

on tap here. - Ah.

- Drink?

- Please, thank you.

I'm sorry to be

intruding like this.

Its just, I'm a big fan.

I've read everything you've ever written.

Evidently, Edgar Falling included.

And now that you've read my work, you know

I'm not a fag so I don't wanna f*** you,

and you've probably heard

that I'm an a**hole, so...

I'm not going to read your passionate

semi-autobiographical first novel

and pass it on to my agent.

I work at the juvenile hall

where Leland's being detained.

- How's he holding up?

- He's fine.

Well, no, he's in Special Handling,

so he's isolated now.

Can you get me in to see him?

Oh, I don't have that kinda juice.

I'm just a teacher there.

Visiting day's next

Sunday if you wanna...

You don't think

I'm aware of that?

Did he do it?

I'm not really allowed to talk about

that outside the facility.

Perhaps he told

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