Wednesday, August 10, 2016

One Last Kill




(in pseudo-screenplay format)

Scene 1:

(Two young hustlers with meth habits, Mike and “T,” are driving back towards town in Mike’s 1997 Chevy Impala. They’re both happy and pleased with themselves because they just broke into the house of an invalid old man who lived alone outside of town. )



MIKE - “Wow, dude. (high five) That was cool. You are the man.”

T- (Laughing) “Yeah, I know. Right? Did you see that guy, man?”

MIKE - “He was about to shit himself.”

T- “I think maybe he did.”

(more laughing.)

MIKE - “It was just like Bobby said. Dude couldn’t even get outta bed, man.”

T- “I know. Sweet. Like candy from a little baby.”

MIKE - “Just like we like them.”

T- “What did you get? I found his drugs, man. All like sitting on that table beside his bed. I don’t know what they are.”

MIKE - “We’ll look ‘em up later. You can get off on some of that shit.”

T- “I’ll eat some and let you know.”

MIKE - “A bunch of old man drugs, man. Probably for his prostrate, man.”

T- “Well, maybe they were for his pecker man.”

MIKE - “You could use that, dude.”

T- “Fuck you, dude.”

MIKE - “Only if you take some.” (Laughing)

MIKE - “I found some cash and some old war medals or something in his top drawer under the socks.”

T- “Socks? Man, what that old fuck need socks for? Didn’t look like he walked around much.”

MIKE - “Well he ain’t gonna walk around much now.”

T- “Yeah.”

MIKE - “Yeah. Whoo!”

T- “The old guy didn’t put up too much of a fight.”

MIKE – “Are you kidding man? He was a pussy, you could tell. He was scared to death. Did you hear him? Asked me to come over, so he could talk to me. He thought he was going to make me feel bad or some shit and I’d let him go.”

T- “Yeah. You hit him pretty hard.”

MIKE - “He pissed me off.”

T- “Yeah. I got that. You really slapped the shit out of him.”

MIKE - “Fucker pinched me.”

T- “He punched you?”

MIKE – “No. He pinched me.”

T- “Pinched? You’re saying pinched?” (laughs more)

MIKE - “Yeah, dude. After I went through the closet and the dresser. Remember he asked me to come over. He wanted to tell me something. I went over there and pulled him up and slapped him around. Asked him where he kept his money.”

T- “Yeah. He said he wanted to tell you some secret or some shit like that. I thought he was going to say he money to buy us off.”

MIKE - “When I grabbed by the pajamas and pulled him, the fucker pinched my arm.”

T- “I didn’t see that. He pinched you. Who pinches? He’s like a grade school teacher.”

MIKE - “Yeah. Right on the upper arm on the side. That’s why I hit him. He pissed me off.”

T- “Well you taught his ass.”

MIKE - “I sure did. Fucker won’t be pinching anybody any more. Once I got started I just didn’t feel like stopping. Ya know what I mean?”

T- “Yeah. So how much ya think we got?”

MIKE – “I don’t know maybe $265 and the watch. The watch isn’t worth much. Maybe a couple bucks.”

T- “Alright. So we can get some party supplies. Some rock.”

MIKE - “That’s where we’re headed.”

(They drove back into town and headed for their friend, Marco’s, house to buy some meth.)

MIKE - “Whoa. I don’t feel that great.”

T- “What’s wrong? Don’t worry. We get to Marco’s house and get some rock, you’ll get better.”

MIKE – “Yeah. That’s for sure dude.”

(A couple minutes later Mike breaks into a sweat. Perspiration is pouring down his face.)

MIKE – “I gotta pull over. I’m dizzy. I think I got the flu or some shit.”

(Mike pulls the car over and puts the right two tires in a little ditch.)

T- “Fuck man. How we gonna get the car outta here, man?” (T looks at him.)

T- “You don’t look too good, man.”

(Mike’s looks down at his hands as they start shaking.)

MIKE – “I must have got some bad drugs or something. I don’t know… What’s going on?”

T- “Are you OK?”

MIKE - “What?” (Mike looks pissed off at T)

T- “What’s wrong, man?”

MIKE – “What? (shaking his head) Oh man. Weak.” (Mike’s arms fall to his lap)

T- “Dude! What’s happening? What’s going on? What do you want me to do?”

(Mike looks at T and opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but just stares at T. Mike’s head is starting to shake forward and back, nodding, like an old man)

T- “Mike! Dude. What should I do?”

(Mike’s head continues to shake and then falls down onto his chest like he’s fallen asleep, but he continues to shake.)

T- “Mike!”

(Mike starts to shake all over uncontrollably.)

T- “Fuck this!” (T gets out of the car and hurries along the side to the front of the car and he looks back in to see Mike having a full-on seizure.)

(T starts backing away from the car and then turns around and trots down the side of the highway. When he gets a couple hundred yards away, he turns around and starts backing up along the side of the road with his thumb out to the passing cars.)

#

Scene 2.

(Daylight and we see a women sitting on a couch in the front room of an apartment, crying. There’s a uniformed officer sitting on the couch next to her with an open note pad.

In the bedroom off the living room, two detectives are standing next to a dead elderly man lying on his back on the bed. The old man’s face is bruised and swollen and there is blood on his face and pillow. Blood has filled the old man’s mouth. A technician is taking multiple pictures of the body and the scene. Another technician from the medical examiner’s office is standing next to the bed as well.

The bedroom is in disarray with the contents of the open drawers thrown about on the floor and bed.)



DETECTIVE 1- “The lady in the other room is a visiting nurse that checks on him once or twice a day. She found him just as he is at 8:15 AM, about an hour ago, and called 911 from the front room.”

DETECTIVE 2- What was wrong with him?

DETECTIVE 1- A whole list, according to her. Heart disease, diabetes, lung problems, bad legs. Could barely walk with assistance. Had no family to take care of him. Was a Ranger in Vietnam, I guess, according to her.

DETECTIVE 2- Some detective you are. (He points to a framed black & white 8 x 10 photograph on the wall of a young fit man with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, wearing fatigues and a boonie hat, with camouflage grease on his face holding an M-16 and surrounded by smiling Vietnamese soldiers in front of a large tent.)

DETECTIVE 1- “I’d have gotten there. You want to weigh in on the cause of death, Angie?”

MEDICAL EXAMINER - “His heart stopped!”

DETECTIVE 2- “Funny lady.”

MEDICAL EXAMINER - “Honestly, we can’t say until we get a better look. Could have been cardiac arrest secondary to the physical trauma, could be cerebro-vascular accident sue to the trauma. It’s a cinch it’s not a natural death.”

DETECTIVE 1- “What’s that in his hand?”

MEDICAL EXAMINER - “I saw that too. If you look close, you’ll see it’s an uncapped syringe.”

DETECTIVE 2- “Syringe?”

MEDICAL EXAMINER - Yeah. “A commercial prefilled insulin syringe. The fast acting kind. Don’t know why it’s in his hand.”

DETECTIVE 1- “Maybe he was getting ready to take some insulin when whoever it was surprised him and beat him to death.”

MEDICAL EXAMINER - “Could be. But the syringe is empty.”

DETECTIVE 2- “Empty?”

DETECTIVE 1- “Sure, he probably squeezed the syringe out onto the bed when he was getting the shit beat of him.”

DETECTIVE 2- “Easy.” (nodding toward the lady front room)

DETECTIVE 1- “Right.”

DETECTIVE 2- “Well it’s a damn shame. (quietly) It’s no way to die, especially for a ranger.”

DETECTIVE 1- “Amen.”



THE END






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