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The following is an excerpt from the
screenplay "Pathos Bill" by Mark W.
Gray. Any unauthorized duplication
or distribution is strictly
prohibited.
©1998 Mark W. Gray
WGA Registered
#686823
INT GREYHOUND BUS - LATER
Many of the passengers are asleep. We find Bill and Duke now
chatting like old pals.
DUKE
No that was Rae-Anne. Charlene was K-
Dog's ol' lady but we all had our turn on
her. No, the one that really did it to
me was Linda.
BILL
No shit? I used to have a Linda.
DUKE
Oh yeah? Was she a blonde with big tits
and a tattoo of Yosemite Sam on her ass?
BILL
No, I don't think it's the same girl.
DUKE
Yeah. I guess that wouldn't make much
sense.
BILL
My Linda was a brunette. I guess she
still is; I was totally in love with her.
I thought she was in love with me too,
but... I don't know...
DUKE
What, she fuck your best friend or
somethin'? I seen that happen more than
once.
Duke offers the bottle. Bill drinks.
BILL
No, no, nothing like that. She went to
Club Med with her gal pal and something
happened... She never came back. They
decided to stay on at the resort as "au
pairs", you know, where you work in
exchange for the room and everything. It
was like suddenly our relationship never
existed.
DUKE
Women, I'll tell ya... Just when you
think you got 'em figured out...
BILL
I was really hung up on her...
DUKE
She a pretty good lay?
BILL
Yeah.
(tension breaking laugh)
Yeah, as a matter of fact, she was.
DUKE
Power of the pussy - nothin' new. You
ever read "The Iliad"?
BILL
Some of it, in college. I know pretty
much what happens in it.
DUKE
Helen of Troy, the pussy that launched a
thousand ships. Ain't nothin' changed.
BILL
Wow, I think we must have had a different
translation. You know, I had a dream
about her the other day. She was, like,
incredibly beautiful... Actually, she's
why I'm going to Las Vegas. She wrote me
she lives there now. I kinda want to see
her again, sort everything out.
DUKE
Well, good luck with that.
BILL
So, what happened to your Linda?
DUKE
Oh, it's a classic story. We were
shacked up in a little place in
Bakersfield; had the whole domestic scene
going. She was a checker at the
Mervin's, made pretty good dough. We'd
ride on the weekends and just get messed
up at home during the week. She could
make the best God damn chicken fried
steak... Anyway, we got into heroin and
all that. It was fun, but after a while
I had to kick. But Linda, she loved to
shoot dope. Eventually the shit killed
her.
BILL
Oh my God.
DUKE
Yeah, what're you gonna do...
(takes bottle and toasts
discreetly)
Here's to 'er.
They both drink.
BILL
Man, that's horrible. How do you deal
with something like that.
DUKE
I dunno. You just deal with it. Try and
put it into perspective.
(drinks)
You ever been to Sequoia?
BILL
No. Is that in California?
DUKE
Yeah, you should check it out. They got
these Giant Sequoia trees out there, like
4 thousand years old; just massive.
Bigger around than this bus. They used
to cut 'em down to make cigar boxes or
some shit. The thing is they got these
tiny little roots. Three hundred feet
tall with roots like two feet into the
ground. So even with Teddy Roosevelt
puttin' National Parks around 'em,
they're still liable to fuckin' fall over
just like that.
BILL
No shit?
DUKE
No shit. Anyway, I went up there after
Linda OD-ed; and I'm walkin' around
lookin' at the trees, thinkin' about her.
All the trees got names; General Sherman,
Old Ironsides, shit like that. I find
this one that's just called "The Fallen
Tree" 'cause it fell over in like 1926
before they got a chance to think up what
Civil War mother-fucker to name it after.
Anyway, this tree musta come down like a
ton o' bricks 'cause the thing is just
shattered on this huge granite boulder
stickin' out of the hill.
So I'm standin' there, and I'm thinkin':
This fuckin' tree is three thousand years
old! It just stood on this spot through
the pyramids, birth of Christ, wars,
peace, George Washington, everything.
Man, it was here before the fuckin'
Indians. Then suddenly, whoops, it just
falls over. This ancient tree, witness
to almost all of human history, falls
over and smashes into this fuckin' rock.
And you know what? The rock just laughs.
BILL
Talk about perspective.
DUKE
Yeah, that's why I don't get hung up on
shit anymore.
Duke takes a swig from the bottle and hands it to Bill. He
drinks and they sit in silence for a moment.
BILL
Man, I gotta pee. Excuse me a minute.
Bill gets up and starts for the lavatory.
DUKE
Gotta take a piss, huh? Take one for me!
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©1998 Mark W. Gray
WGA Registered
#686823