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turning to page one
turning to page one
A fourteen-year-old Margot stands behind a barn with a family of blond farmers. There are a mother and father and five very young children. Margot’s hair is dyed black, and she wears a black LaCoste dress, black eyeliner, and black nail polish.
FATHER
Now just set one of them hickory trunks
right up on top there, sister Maggie.
Margot sets a log sideways on top of a wood pile. She reaches to adjust the log slightly just as the father swings an axe and chops the log in half.
Everyone looks stunned. The father stares at Margot’s bloody hand. Margot looks to the father as if he is an idiot.
CUT TO:
Margot, Ari and Uzi standing together.
ARI
Did you try to sew it back on?
MARGOT
(shakes her head)
Couldn’t find it.
CUT TO:
Richie and Royal looking at an impressive monument in the middle of the cemetery. An inscription says: “Veteran of Two Wars. Father of Nine Children. Drowned in the Caspian Sea.”
ROYAL
That’s a hell of a damn grave.
Richie nods. Royal says wistfully:
ROYAL (CONT’D)
I wish it were mine.
CUT TO:
Royal and Richie walking together among the gravestones.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
It’s a shame, isn’t it?
RICHIE
What?
ROYAL
You probably had another good two to
three years of competitive play in you.
RICHIE
(shrugs)
Probably.
ROYAL
I had a lot riding on that match, you
know. Financially and personally.
Richie nods. Silence.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Why’d you choke out there that day,
Baumer?
RICHIE
(pause)
I don’t know, Dad.
INSERT:
CONTINUED: (2)
A television set tuned in to network coverage of a tennis match on grass courts. Richie is playing an Indian player dressed all in white. A title identifies him as Sanjay Gandhi.
Gandhi serves. With a bizarre swing, Richie hits his return directly off the court and deep into the stands. He shakes his head and talks to himself. It is briefly revealed that he is wearing no shoes and only one sock.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
That’s seventy-two unforced errors for
Richie Tenenbaum. He’s playing the
worst tennis of his life. What’s he
feeling right now, Tex Hayward?
TEX HAYWARD (V.O.)
I don’t know, Jim. There’s obviously
something wrong with him. He’s taken
off his shoes and one of his socks, and -
- actually, I think he’s crying.
Richie is shown preparing to serve with tears all over his face. He hesitates. He looks into the stands.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Who’s he looking at in the friends’ box,
Tex?
Margot and Raleigh, holding hands, watch from their seats in a courtside box. They look very concerned.
TEX HAYWARD (V.O.)
That’s his sister, Margot, and her new
husband, Raleigh St. Clair. They were
just married yesterday, Jim.
Richie stares at Margot and Raleigh. He looks to Chas, with Rachael, Ari and Uzi. He looks to Etheline. He looks to Royal in a lonely seat up in the nosebleed section. Royal stands up and walks towards the exit.
Richie serves suddenly, underhand, barely tossing the ball into the air. Gandhi nails his return, and Richie attempts to play it by throwing his racket at the ball.
CUT TO:
Royal and Richie standing together.
ROYAL
I kind of disappeared after that, didn’t
I?
CONTINUED: (3)
RICHIE
(shrugs)
Yeah, but I understood. I know you’re
not very good with disappointment.
Royal nods. He kicks a pebble on the ground.
CUT TO:
Royal scraping some dirt off of Rachael’s gravestone with his foot. Chas stands beside him.
ROYAL
You still got that little BB in your
hand, Chassie?
Chas looks to Royal. He holds up his hand and shows Royal a little round bump between two knuckles. Royal taps it with his finger. It moves slightly.
CHAS
Why’d you shoot me?
Silence. Royal says quietly:
ROYAL
It was the object of the game, wasn’t
it?
CHAS
No. We were on the same team.
ROYAL
Were we?
Chas does not respond. Royal sighs.
ROYAL (CONT’D)
Well, you sued me. Twice. And got me
disbarred. But I don’t hold it against
you, do I?