Wonder Boys Page #14

JAMES LEER:

I'm not going with them..

GRADY:

James. Listen. Things-things are a little

weird with me right now and I-- well--I have

enough blame to shoulder these days without

having to take the blame if something bad

happened to you. And if you hang around me long

enough, something bad is going to happen, trust

me. That's why I need you to go home.

Understand?

JAMES LEER:

I'm not going, with them.

GRADY:

James, like it or not, they're your parents.

JAMES LEER:

Parents? They're not my parents. They're my

grandparents. My parents are dead.

GRADY stares at-James wearily.

JAMES LEER:

I swear. My father had his own airplane he

used to fly up to Quebec. One Christmas, he and

my mom were flying up to our house in the

Laurentians when the plane went down. It was in

the newspaper.

GRADY doesn't flinch, unpersuaded.

JAMES LEER:

I 'swear. My father was a senior vice

president at Dravo. My mother was a socialite.

Her maiden name was Guggenheim.

GRADY starts to protest, then pauses.

GRADY:

I remember that. Five or six years ago.

JAMES LEER:

Six. Their plane went down right outside

Scranton.

GRADY:

(sardonically)

Near Carvel?

JAMES LEER:

I'm sorry about all that. I just-I don't like

to talk about my family. They treat me like a

freak.

(nodding towards Amanda)

She makes me sleep in. the basement of my own house. It's

mine. My parents left it to me.

GRADY glances toward the parking lot, studies the

contours of Fred Leer's face. Frowns.

GRADY:

James, come on. That man is obviously your

father. You look just like him.

James looks down at the table, takes a deep breath, and

speaks in a voice heavy with implication.

JAMES LEER:

There's a reason for that.

Grady's addled brain grapples with this dark little

riddle, finally deciphers what James is suggesting.

GRADY:

Get out of here.

JAMES LEER:

That's why she hates me. That's why she makes

me sleep in the basement.

GRADY:

In the crawl space, with the rats and the

casks of Amontillado. Come on. Up.

As GRADY lifts him from the booth, James attempts a

plaintive tone, but his heart's not in it.

JAMES LEER:

I swear.

78EXT. COFFEE SHOP - MOMENTS LATER 78

As Fred Leer SLAMS the back door of the Mercedes, GRADY

waves vaguely, peers into the darkness of the back seat.

FRED LEER:

Thank you. Professor Tripp.

GRADY:

Take care of him.

AMANDA LEER:

Oh, don't worry. We'll take care of him. You

can be sure of that.

Fred Leer hits the gas and swings the Mercedes around in

a tight little arc, feathering Grady's pants--from the knee

down--with a pudding of ICE and MUD. GRADY glances down at

his spattered self, then notices, sitting on the front

passenger seat, James' knapsack. GRADY grabs it, turns.

GRADY:

Hey!

GRADY'S POV - REAR WINDOW

as the Mercedes begins to pull away and James turns,

elbows on the back dash, his pale face slack. Spying Grady,

he raises one limp hand, and then-as if it were held by a

string-lets it drop.

GRADY (cont'd)

(softly)

Hey.

79EXT. PARKING LOT - MQTEL/COFFEE SHOP - A. BIT LATER

GRADY sits in-the GREEN GLOW of .the radio dial, smoking

a joint. He glances at the knapsack, sees James'

MANUSCRIPT:

The Love Parade

He reaches in, takes the manuscript and, in the light

that rains from the PARKING LAMP overhead, begins to read.

80EXT. GRADY'S HOUSE - NIGHT (LATER) 80

Grady's HOUSE looks like a three-dollar whore on a block

full of nuns. MUSIC BLARES, LIGHT BLAZES from every window,

and there are so many CARS GRADY is forced to leave the

Galaxie in the middle of the street.

GRADY:

(knowingly)

Crabtree.

81INT. GRADY'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

Times Square before the ball drops. GRADY enters, scans

the room, then shoulders his way to the stairs.

82INT. GRADY'S OFFICE

Hannah Green sits on the sofa, twisting a long strand of

hair around her finger as she reads a THICK MANUSCRIPT.

GRADY:

(entering)

Hey.

HANNAH GREEN:

Grady!

She slaps the page she is reading back onto the stack at

her thigh. GRADY

stares. The manuscript. It's his.

HANNAH GREEN:

(embarrassed)

I know I shouldn't have, but there it was,

just sort of lying out, and I couldn't resist

and-and--I suck.

GRADY:

No, it's okay. I just can't believe I left it

out in the open like that. CRABTREE hasn't been

in here, has he? Poking around?

HANNAH GREEN:

I don't know--maybe- I don't think so.

Grady's mind races with unfortunate possibilities, but

only briefly:
his immediate thoughts are elsewhere.

GRADY:

Listen, Hannah. You don't remember where that

aunt worked, do you? James' aunt.

HANNAH GREEN:

He shot the Chancellor's dog, didn't he? The

blind one.

GRADY:

Actually, He's not the Chancellor' s--What?

HANNAH GREEN:

At first the police thought he just ran away,

but this afternoon Dr. Gaskell found some blood

spots on the carpet -

GRADY:

Jesus.

HANNAH GREEN:

CRABTREE said it sounded like something James

would be messed up in.

GRADY:

Crabtree? He doesn't even know James.

HANNAH GREEN:

Who does?

Just then, Crabtree's VOICE bellows in the hallway

outside.

CRABTREE (O.S.)

Trip?! Where are you'

GRADY looks anxiously toward the door.

GRADY:

The aunt, Hannah. Where did you take James

that day?

HANNAH GREEN:

I told you, Sewickly Heights.

GRADY:

But where? I need the street.

HANNAH GREEN:

I don't know, Grady. I just dropped him on a

corner.

CRABTREE (O.S.)

Trip?!

GRADY:

Sh*t.

As GRADY starts to turn away, Hannah hooks her finger

inside his belt buckle.

HANNAH GREEN:

No! Don't go. I've been waiting ail night for

you.

GRADY looks at Hannah's hand, where it rests. He looks

terrified.

GRADY:

Listen, Hannah, I'm flattered, really, but

right now I--

CRABTREE:

(bursting in)

Tripp, where the hell. . .

CRABTREE stops, takes in the tableau before him.

CRABTREE (cont'd)

Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting a. student-

teacher conference?

GRADY delicately removes Hannah's hand from his buckle,

points at Crabtree.

GRADY:

You stay there.

CRABTREE:

What? Ohhhh. Is that... it?

CRABTREE c*cks his head toward the reams of paper stacked

on Grady's desk.

CRABTREE:

Honestly, Tripp. Do you actually think I would

sneak in here and read your book without asking

you?

GRADY:

Gee, I don't know. Crabs. I don't seem to

remember you actually asking me if you could

invite 200 people over to trash my living room.

CRABTREE:

Sometimes we have to improvise.

GRADY:

(ignoring him)

Think, Hannah. Does James have any friends. I

mean, besides you and. ..me?

CRABTREE:

James? My James? What's happened?

GRADY:

Nothing, he's just been sort of, I don't

know.. .kidnapped.

CRABTREE:

Kidnapped? By who?

GRADY:

His parents.

CRABTREE:

Good God. Let's go rescue him.

GRADY:

Good idea. Crabs. Only one problem. I don't

know where they live.

CRABTREE:

Ah. Wait a minute. The university must know

where he lives.

GRADY:

It's a little late to call Admissions.

CRABTREE:

Is it a little late to call the Chancellor?

GRADY:

Maybe ...I don't know.

HANNAH GREEN:

Two-sixty-two Baxter Drive.

Rate this script:3.0 / 4 votes