Falling Skies by Brayden Frascone Draft 4-11-18 [email protected]
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Falling Skies By Brayden Frascone Draft 4-11-18 [email protected] 74 1/2 West Union Street Athens, OH 45701 Cast of Characters CURTIS: Mid-twenties, non-white. A bartender at the Skylight Club. ROBERT: Fifty-one, white. Kevin’s father. CURTIS wipes down the bar of THE SKYLIGHT CLUB. He has just closed for the night. The dance floor and sound system have seen better days, so has the bar. There are advertisements for themed events and autographed photos of drag queens and go-go boys on the walls. It’s very gay. An imposing skylight sits above the dance floor. Curtis calls after someone who has just left. CURTIS I’m going to finish cleaning and then get out of here. See you Friday, boss. Curtis goes about his closing activities. As he finishes, he considers the dance floor. He hesitates and then switches on a slow love song on the sound system, and lays on the floor beneath the skylight, looking directly up. A few moments pass. The door is heard opening again. ROBERT steps through. Curtis quickly sits up. Oh, hey, sorry, I think I just dropped a contact while I was sweeping up. Oh...um...hi. I thought you were someone else. We’re closed for the night. You’ll have to come back later in the week when we reopen. ROBERT Is this the Skylight Club? CURTIS Uh, yeah. That’s what it says on the sign out front. Can I help you with something? ROBERT I’ve come to the right place. CURTIS Right place for what? ROBERT This isn’t an easy place to find. I don’t really get to this side of town much. 2. CURTIS I’m sorry about that. Our address is listed. You can Google it. ROBERT I’m bad with technology. CURTIS Right...So, like I said, it’s 3am. We’re closed. Our hours are listed on the door, if you’d like to come back later... ROBERT It’s different than I expected. Smaller. CURTIS Um, yeah, I guess. We can fit a lot of people in here though. ROBERT The skylight is huge. I’ve never seen anything like it before. CURTIS It’s kind of what we’re known for. I do have to ask you to leave, though. ROBERT I can’t leave. Not yet. I just got here. CURTIS Sir. We’re closed. You need to go. I don’t know how else to politely tell you that. I have another job to get to in the morning, and if I leave now I can maybe get three hours of sleep. ROBERT I need to know what happens here. CURTIS Excuse me? ROBERT What’s it like? When there are people, and music, and dancing. CURTIS I guess you just said it. There’s people. And music. And dancing. ROBERT I need you to paint the picture for me. Please. 3. CURTIS Sir, I really don’t know what you’re going for here. We’re closed. Come back on Friday night. You’ll get to see it in all its glory. ROBERT I might not make it to Friday. CURTIS Right. I feel that way too sometimes. I work three jobs. Just drink some coffee and you’ll be fine. ROBERT I’m not going to make it because I’m dying. CURTIS Right... Beat. Well I’m very sorry to hear that. Truly. But you can’t die here. I’d recommend a hospital, personally. Unlike the Skylight, those are open 24 hours. ROBERT I’m serious. I’ll never get to see it. CURTIS Sir, why are you wasting my time? ROBERT It’s true. Can’t you grant a dying man this one favor? CURTIS Why should I? If you’re really dying shouldn’t we have gotten a call from Make-A-Wish? "Hey this 60-year-old man really wants to turn up one last time before taking the old dirt nap, you in?" ROBERT Make-A-Wish is for children. When you get to be my age, everyone stop caring. CURTIS Great. Well, thank you for that insight. This is the part where I call the police. ROBERT Curtis, don’t. 4. CURTIS How do you know my name. ROBERT Curtis Jackson? CURTIS Yes. ROBERT I’m Kevin’s father. Beat. CURTIS I don’t know anyone by that name. ROBERT Kevin Hartman. You think he never showed me a picture of you? I didn’t know it at the time but you were his...you were his friend. CURTIS Get out. ROBERT I need to speak with you, Curtis. CURTIS I said get out. Now. ROBERT I’m not going anywhere. CURTIS How dare you come here. Of all places. ROBERT I need answers. This was the only place I knew for sure you’d be. CURTIS If half of what I’ve heard about you is true, you don’t deserve answers. ROBERT What I’ve done is immaterial at this point. And you’re the only one who can give me what I need. CURTIS I can’t help you. 5. ROBERT You can, and you will Curtis. CURTIS I don’t owe you a damn thing. ROBERT Not even for a dying man? CURTIS Jesus Christ, you’re still on that? I know you’re not dying. I’m not playing this game. Certainly not with you. ROBERT I am dying. And I need answers before it happens. CURTIS Why should I? ROBERT Because he was my son. And think what you will about me, and the choices I’ve made, but I didn’t see him at all in his last year. It’s useless to think about what I would have done differently. I just need you to tell me what his life was like, before my time runs out. CURTIS Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you? You were a piece of shit in life, and even if you are dying, which I sincerely hope is true, you’ll be a piece of shit then too. ROBERT Brain Cancer, stage 4. They found a tumor a few weeks after he... Look, I’ve wanted to come here for a long time. To see you. CURTIS Well how about that for poetic justice? Does it hurt? I hope it hurts. Because it hurt Kevin the whole time. ROBERT I didn’t know he was going to...Of course, I have regrets about what happened, what father wouldn’t? I need to know, Curtis, I need to know about him. And I need to make it right. CURTIS Make it right? ROBERT If I can. 6. CURTIS That’s you want? His forgiveness? Really? What makes you think you deserve that? ROBERT I don’t. Not yet. That’s why I’m here. I need you to tell me what I can do--to earn it. CURTIS You can start by leaving. And dying miserable and alone. That’ll put you in the ballpark. ROBERT Please, Curtis. CURTIS You’re too late. He can’t forgive you. Because he’s dead. And even if he were here, he wouldn’t have. ROBERT He still can. He can still see me and what I’m doing. I know it. CURTIS Do you believe all of that? That he’s up on some cloud looking down at us? I don’t. He didn’t. ROBERT You don’t? You don’t think he can see you? CURTIS No. ROBERT Then what was that when I walked in? CURTIS I don’t know what you’re talking about. ROBERT Lying on the ground, looking up at the stars. That was his favorite song playing, wasn’t it? CURTIS That’s not your business. ROBERT Fine. It’s not my business. But Kevin is. And I just want some questions answered. CURTIS You have no right to know anything about him. You gave that up when you kicked him out. 7. ROBERT Would some incentive help? CURTIS Excuse me? ROBERT I didn’t want to have to do this, but you haven’t left me another option. Pause. Either you answer my questions or I’m going to buy the Skylight Club. CURTIS ...What? ROBERT It’ll cost every penny of what I’ve saved for my retirement, but what the hell do I need it for now? Answer my questions or so help me I will knock this place to the ground. Beat. CURTIS You are one disturbed bastard, you know that? ROBERT I need answers. Now you see how far I’ll go for them. CURTIS Oh, no. I meant disturbed in that, you actually think I’d believe you. You wouldn’t buy this place. If you are dying, which, honestly, I’m still not convinced of, there’s no way you’d be able to accomplish that with the time you have left. Nice try. ROBERT Appraised value of this lot is $786,000. After taxes, that leaves me at around $800,000 for the purchase. I called your boss yesterday, apparently he’s been looking to get out from under the business for a while, he said that the bar’s seen better days and a remodel would be more trouble than it’s worth. But then you knew that didn’t you? He said an employee had his eye on it for a while, but had no where near enough money for a down payment. I can only assume he meant you? A contractor for the demolition job will take a bit longer to come by, but at that point, if I am dead, the bank will take hold of my assets and I imagine that they’ll be very eager to sell.