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turning to page one
turning to page one
Eli sits on the couch in his study working on a jigsaw puzzle of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. Three Egyptian men are chopping up yellow powder on the table. Electronic music blasts form the stereo.
There is a knock on the door. Everyone looks up. Silence.
ELI
Yes?
The door opens and Richie looks inside. Eli and the Egyptian men stare at Richie. Eli has yellow powder on his nose. He says awkwardly:
ELI (CONT’D)
Hey, Richie.
Richie walks into the room. Royal and Pagoda follow him. They are dressed in their elevator-operator uniforms. Eli looks confused and uneasy.
RICHIE
We want to take you to get some help.
ELI
(pause)
Is it just you guys?
Richie looks slightly confused.
ELI (CONT’D)
I guess Margot and your mother couldn’t
make it.
Eli looks disappointed. He sees the bandages around Richie’s arms.
ELI (CONT’D)
What happened there?
RICHIE
(hesitates)
Nothing.
Royal looks to the Egyptian men.
ROYAL
Would you excuse us, please?
The Egyptian men hesitate. Pagoda points to the door. The Egyptian men leave the room.
RICHIE
Where’s Sabrina?
ELI
(pause)
They went back to England.
Richie nods. He sits down next to Eli. Royal and Pagoda sit across from them.
RICHIE
Are we still friends?
Eli seems embarrassed and hurt.
ELI
RICHIE
Are we?
ELI
Of course. I can’t believe you would
ask me that.
RICHIE
It doesn’t matter. I heard about you
and Margot.
Silence. Eli gets up and goes over to the window. He looks out at the backyard. Richie goes over and stands next to him. Eli looks deeply depressed.
ELI
I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.
RICHIE
You don’t have to say anything.
CONTINUED: (2)
ELI
I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, you
know?
Richie nods. Eli looks to Royal. Royal nods and says quietly:
ROYAL
Me, too. Me, too.
ELI
But it doesn’t mean what it used to,
does it?
Richie shakes his head. Eli opens the window, reaches out, and picks a dead leaf off a branch of a tree. He looks to Richie.
ELI (CONT’D)
I wish you’d’ve done this for me when I
was a kid.
RICHIE
(pause)
But you didn’t have a drug problem then.
ELI
Yeah, but it still would’ve meant a lot
to me. Anyway, I really appreciate your
coming over here now. I do recognize
that I have a problem, and I want to get
better. Let me just get my things.
Eli goes into the bathroom and locks the door. Pagoda goes over to the window and looks out.
He sees Eli running down the fire escape.
PAGODA
There he goes.
Royal and Richie rush over to the window. They watch Eli drop to the ground, run into the street, and hail a taxi. He has on socks but no shoes.