Wonder Boys Page #8

Vernon Hardapple.

VERNON HARDAPPLE

You driving this car?

GRADY:

Excuse me?

VERNON HARDAPPLE

This 1966 maroon Ford Galaxie 500. You driving

this car?

GRADY:

It's mine.

VERNON HARDAPPLE

Bullshit. It's mine, motherf***er.

GRADY:

You must be mistaken.

VERNON HARDAPPLE

Bullshit.

GRADY shakes his head wearily, opens the door.

GRADY:

Go home to your mother, Vernon.

32INT. GALAXIE

GRADY slides in next to Q, puts the car in gear, and

starts to pull away. As he glances in the rearview, he sees

CRABTREE smiling darkly in the backseat.

GRADY:

All right, what's the matter?

CRABTREE just keeps smiling.

GRADY:

Christ, Crabs, what do you expect me to do?

The kid's practically in a coma.

CRABTREE:

Tripp.

GRADY:

Yes.

CRABTREE:

Hit your brakes.

GRADY flicks his eyes from the rearview mirror just as a

SHADOW looms in his headlights. As he squashes the break

pedal, Q's EYEGLASSES go flying into the windshield.

Q:

(squinting)

Oh my God! What is that?

It's Vernon, waving his arms, his shadow enormous in the

beams of light.

GRADY:

What's this guy's problem?

CRABTREE:

Just go around him.

GRADY taps the accelerator, but each time, Vernon dances

back in front of Grady's grille.

GRADY:

Sh*t.

CRABTREE:

Back up. Go out the other way.

GRADY throws the car in reverse, backs straight up, then

turns up a one-way street. He shoots down the alley behind

the Hi-Hat, turns onto the adjoining street, ..and watches

in amazement as Vernon materializes from behind the high

wooden fence that runs parallel to the Galaxie.

As GRADY pinches the brakes, Vernon grins.

GRADY:

Now what?

Q:

(mischievously)

You could always go over him.

Then, as the three men watch, Vernon rocks back on his

heels and--with a gymnast's precision-pitches himself onto

the Galaxie's big hood. He -lands on his ass, slides

smoothly off, then takes a deep bow and disappears into the

night.

Q:

What just happened?

GRADY peers at the wrinkled asterisk on his hood.

GRADY:

I just had my car jumped on.

33EXT. THAW HAIL - NIGHT (TWENTY MINUTES LATER)

Grady stops the car in the red zone and gets out.

GRADY:

Wait here. I'll be right back.

CRABTREE:

Where would we go?

34INT. LOBBY

The JANITOR, the same shaggy-haired kid GRADY saw rigging

the WordFest banner earlier, is struggling with a balky

FLOOR WAXER as GRADY steps up to the double doors and slaps

his hand against the glass.

JANITOR:

It's open.

GRADY pushes on the door and it opens.

JANITOR (cont'd)

Hey, Professor Tripp.

(off Grady's look)

Traxler. Sam. I took your class freshman year.

Then I dropped out of school.

GRADY:

I hope it wasn't my fault.

TRAXLER:

(taking him seriously)

No. I guess you're here for the backpack.

GRADY:

Oh.. .yeah.

35INT. AUDITORIUM

The knapsack is sitting on one of the metal folding

chairs as Sam and GRADYenter the silent hail.

TRAXLER:

I saw the manuscript inside. So when you

showed up, I figured. . .

GRADY lifts the knapsack, peers inside. There is no title

page to the MANUSCRIPT, Just the words The Love Parade and

then, halfway down, TEXT.

TRAXLER:

Is it good?

GRADY:

(reading)

I don't know. It might be...

36 CUT

37EXT. THAW HALL - NIGHT - A MOMENT LATER

GRADY steps outside, closes the flap of the knapsack and,

hunching his shoulders against the cold... stops.

Crabtree. Q. The car. Gone.

38INT. TRAXLER'S HONDA - NIGHT

Traxler gives GRADY a ride in his Honda, one of the

original Hondas best suited for sidewalk driving. The

backseat bulges with a huge AMPLIFIER and BASS GUITAR.

TRAXLER:

Say, Professor Tripp, is ail that stuff true

about Errol Flynn? How he used to put coke on

his dick. To make himself, you know, like, last

longer?

GRADY:

Christ, Traxler. How the hell should I know?

TRAXLER:

Well, jeez, you're reading his biography,

aren't you?

Sam points and GRADY glances at the knapsack riding on

the seat between him and Sam. A BOOK'-bearing ERROL FLYNN'S

PICTURE--IS tucked into the side pouch.

GRADY:

Oh, right. Yeah, that's true. He used to rub

ail kinds of things on it. Paprika. Ground

lamb.

TRAXLER:

Sick.

39EXT. SASKELL'S HOUSE - NIGHT (MOMENTS LATER)

Sam brings the car to a coughing idle across the street

from the Gaskell's house.

TRAXLER:

Wow, check out that greenhouse. Is that your

wife?

GRADY gazes at Sara, a .vaporous blur in the greenhouse.

GRADY:

No, my wife's out of town.

Just then, the Honda FILLS WITH LIGHT. HEADLIGHTS loom,

then a POLICE CAR sweeps into the Gaskell's driveway.

Walter appears on the front steps.

TRAXLER (cont'd)

Who's that guy?

GRADY:

Her husband.

Traxler looks anxiously at the police car.

TRAXLER:

What exactly are we doing here, Professor

Tripp?

GRADY:

(staring at Sara)

Taking the long way home.

39AEXT. GRADY'S HOUSE - NIGHT - A LITTLE LATER

As Traxler drives away, GRADY mounts the porch with James

Leer's knapsack hanging from one shoulder. He reaches above

the door, feeling for a key, but his fingers come away with

only dust. He stands, dispirited, then an idea strikes. He

takes the doorknob, turns it. It opens.

40INT. .HALLWAY - GRADY'S HOUSE

GRADY enters, closes the door quietly behind him.

41INT. LIVING ROOM

The room is dim but the TV is on, throwing crazy slashes

of light onto the wails and ceiling. As GRADY limps by, he

finds a sleeping Hannah Green, bundled in a blanket, T-

shirt, and little else. On the floor, near her dangling

hand, Woolf's A Common Reader lays open next to a Diet

Coke. GRADY considers the smooth geography of her body, but

his eyes 'are most powerfully drawn to. ..her feet. He

steps forward, lifts the blanket gently, but finds-to his

disappointment--only the red cowboy boots.

He picks up the remote, turns off the TV, and exits.

42INT. GRADY'S OFFICE

James Leer slumbers on a green sofa, draped in an old

sleeping bag. GRADY drops behind his desk, lets James'

knapsack slide to the floor. He lifts his cuff, inspects

his ugly ankle, then glimpses something in the knapsack.

Something yellow. Something soft.

GRADY reaches down and, slowly--like a magician producing

a magical scarf-extracts MARILYN MONROE'S WEDDING JACKET

from James Leer's ratty green knapsack.

GRADY glances at the young man on his sofa, then, looking

very tired, reaches for the desk lamp ...and turns out the

light on the both of them.

43EXT. FRONT PORCH - SATURDAY MORNING (NEXT DAY)

GRADY steps outside in a WOMAN'S CHENILLE BATHROBE and

plucks the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from the second porch

step. He fishes out a charred ROACH, starts to light it,

then notices the Galaxie sitting in the driveway.

44INT. GUEST BEDROOM - MINUTES LATER

As CRABTREE SNORES thunderously, GRADY eases open the

door, spots the CAR KEYS on the dresser, grabs them.

44AINT. LANDING - CONTINUOUS

GRADY eases the door shut, starts to turn, then stops,

his eyes drawn to the door just across the landing from

Crabtree's room.

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