The Static Angels

A Screen-play

By

Jason Marion

(Edited by: Chris Nolan)

Synopsis: A modern day character study of the many practices of purity. The performance of which is not only based on experience and position, but desire as well. A second look at the after-life, if you will. That moment of life when it is too late to utilize everything you wanted to know.

Characters:

-Gene: Twenty year old "base-head" who has died.

-Walter: Old, black man, dressed as the common street bum.

-Naked Rachael: The ghost of a young woman who died of violent rape in the mid-twenties.

-Crazy Steve: Middle-aged bum who died in a drunken stupor. An acquaintance of Walter's.

-Young man wandering: Never forgave his mother for throwing away his toys.

-Consumed Businessman: Plays in traffic.

-Young woman, and her suitor: Those silly, superstitious fools.

-Jasper: The Hyper Speech Therapist

-Jennifer: Teen-age prostitute with just one more fix.

-Harry the Heroin Addict: The heroin addict.

Setting:

-It could be today!

Words and Actions:

*Scene 010: Ext. Night: Camera is framed in an up-shot of the night sky. While in the sky, production company credit, and then producers credit, is shown. Camera [s/p/-] to a distant shot of an abandoned, mid-century, four-story building, abandoned and decayed. In the distance, a figure is along one side of the building, throwing up with a violent fervor. After a moment or two, he begins to stagger out of the alley way, and follow the side walk to exit. [s/r] Cut to:

*Scene 020: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/f, fx]: Long distance shot of a bridge, crossing a set of railroad tracks. Bridge is in the lower quarter of the visual, as the rest of the shot holds a view of the railroad tracks continuing on forever to the horizon, and a full half of the view containing the sky in it transference. Gene enters [s/l] in an intoxicated, almost burnt-out state, with only one thought on his mind: which way he is going. He continues on through the full frame, slowly, and poorly, as the credits roll. In the back ground, the dissipation of night into dawn moves at a very fast pace [fx], as clouds race over the bridge, accenting the changing colors of dawn. (Figure is moving across the screne in regular time, as the clouds are in fast-motion.) Cut to:

*Scene 030: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/f, fx]: Long distance shot of under the bridge. A little closer to the rail-road track this time. The scene is divided in half by the bridge, with the rail-road tracks in the lower quarter of the frame, running into the horizon, forever. The sky's fast pace dance of dawn continues [fx] as Gene enters [s/r] and walks up on the rail-road tracks. He stands there for a moment, with his back to the camera (silhouette) as the colors of dawn are bleached away by the rising sun. Once the color of the sun has made the scenery stable, Gene staggers over to the wall, under the bridge, and collapses in a seated position. Fade to black:

*Scene 040: Ext. Day: [c/a: c/u] Mid-framed shot of Gene sitting with his back on the wall. On the wall are many a graffiti. He pulls a cigarette butt from his shirt pocket, and lights it with a pack of matches he has to dig for in his pants pocket. There are only two matches left in the pack, and he fails to light his smoke with the first one. He takes one or two puffs from the cigarette before exhaustion takes him over, and he rests his head on his knees, letting the cigarette burn between his fingers. Cut to:

*Scene 050: Ext. Day: [c/a: c/u]: Extreme close up of the cigarette butt burning between Gene's fingers. The cigarette burns to the edges of his hand, and then straight into the darkness of his fingers with out any reaction. As the excess ashes fall, fade to black.

*Scene 060: Black Frame: Credit: Written by Jason Marion. (DjX) Fade in to:

*Scene 070: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/f]: Camera has a medium shot of Gene in his seated position, on the other side of the tracks. A train enters [s/r], begins to pass [s/l], and takes several minutes to leave. Once it passes, the scene reveals Walter standing to the left of Gene.

Walter:

"C'mon, kid... we got things to do."

Cut to:

*Scene 080: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/f]: Camera is in a tighter version of scene 2, framed only a few feet from Gene, with Walter just to the left of frame, in the background. Gene raises his head from his knees, and turns towards the stranger’s voice.

Gene:

"Wha..."

Walter:

"C'mon... you don't want to be here forever, do ya?"

*Scene 090: Same as scene 5: Gene stands up quickly for a moment, as if he has a sudden surge of energy, and begins to follow for a few steps. The he stops.

Gene: (dazed, innocent, half awake)

"Who... who are you?"

Walter: (walking away, but turning to answer)

"Who are you?"

Gene:

"Uh.. Gene..."

Walter: (gracefully, stopping to face Gene)

"Well, hello. My name is Walter. I call my-self Wally the wanderer. You may call me Walter."

Act: Walter begins to walk away. Gene begins to stagger in the same direction before stopping.

Gene: (stopping to consider his action)

"Why am I going with you?"

Walter: (talking as he exit's [s/l])

"It's your job now"

Gene: (still standing his ground)

"I don't have a job... I ..."

Walter: (re-entering the scene [s/l], and walking up to Gene)

(As he approaches) "He (pointing) doesn't have a job." [Pause] (Once he is at gene) "You (poking) do!"

Act: Gene looks over his shoulder. Cut to:

*Scene 100: Ext. Day: Same as scene 6: Gene, twice in the shot [fx], sees himself still seated next to the wall in the same slumped state, as Walter is walking into the horizon along the rail-road tracks. Cut to:

*Scene 101: Same as scene 5, Walter has left the scene:

Gene: (becoming dizzy)

"I... him...me..."

Act: Gene begins to sway in small circles, and then collapses on the ground.

Cut to:

*Scene 110: Ext. Day: [c/a: st/t/s]: Camera is following Walter as he is walking away. He pauses, and looks back. He turns around with a roll of his eyes, and kneels down beside Gene, keeping his distance at about a foot.

Walter:

"It's easy, kid... your dead! You fucked up that part of your life, and now it is time for what's next."

Gene: (not moving)

"How did I die?"

Walter: (with an obvious amount of aggravation)

"Damnit, kid; you were there! Hell, it wasn't nuthin but whatcha know. Burnt out druggie falls asleep. (Compassionately) Don't think about it. If ya do, you'll get depressed and end up hauntin' somethin'; miserable for an eternity."

Gene: (raising his head, with a puzzled look)

"You mean... I'm a ghost?"

Walter: (adamantly, with a sneer)

"Hmph... not yet."

Act: Gene has risen up to rest on his elbow, as Walter gets up and begins to walk in his original direction. Camera, still in [c/a: t/t/s], begins to follow, leaving Gene out of frame for just a moment. Gene enters shot [s/l], in a slight jog, catching up.

Gene: (slightly out of breath)

"Are you a ghost?"

Walter:

"What, haunting somethin'!?! No! I'm an angel."

Gene:

"You don't look like one."

Act: Upon delivering the line, Gene trips, and falls. Camera continues with Walter, leaving Gene to exit, on the ground. [s/l] Gene stops, and turns around, followed by the camera, walks up to Gene. Camera is now in a [s/f], and begins to [zm>].

Walter:

"Well, kid, neither do you... but you’re an angel, too... (extending his hand to help Gene up) if you wanna be."

Act: Gene takes Walters hand, and is helped up. Camera ends its [zm>] and Walter and Gene walk out of frame [s/r]. Cut to:

*Scene 8000: The true nature of Good and Evil: [c/a:s/f] Ext. Day This will be a collection of "artsy" shots, with Walter and Gene varying in walking from [s/r] to [s/l] through rustic, run-down, side-of-the-rail-road-tracks scenes. I know of many such places in Jacksonville, FL. While walking, Gene is pausing to pick things up as they walk. First, he finds a pen, paper-clips, other things we don't quite see, and a stack of rock-and-roll flyers sitting in a trash can. We see him turn the stack around to reveal a blank page on the back. Walter sings his simple song then begins to explain his own version of right and wrong. Gene is just following along, working with the things he has collected, and listening. This format is to be used for most of the movie’s shots. Point of expression is in making the scenes by the rail-road pretty, natural, and peaceful; while the journey into the city is decayed, and neglected. These themes will come to a point when Walter and Gene are tiny in comparison to the very large city, downtown, but; that is for later.

Walter:

"You see, son, people are people. Fish are fish, ducks are ducks, bears are bears. Tree's, bug's, ocean's, planets; all of them need something, and spend their entire existence trin' to figure out what. Even after death, you’re still figuring it out. How do you change the world? How do you change the hearts and minds of man? Peace on Earth, good will towards man."

(Walter looks over his shoulder and sees that Gene is still walking in a haze.)

"Well, so far, the best I can figure out is that I figured it all wrong when I was alive. For some reason, I felt like I was so full of anger, and jealousy, that I no longer had room for anything, or anyone else. I was a strong man, never needed anything. I had mine. Still, I was never happy. I knew that one day I would have to pay for never filling my heart with love, or Christ, or God, or what ever else the world told me I did not have. Some how I forgot to put down what I was reaching for, so I could see what I got. To fill that empty part of my soul with women who can not love, money that will not be spent, and possessions that only other vain, weak minded men would pay such a price for. May have filled my days, but not much else. That was the value of life to me. I led a long, cruel life. When I died, I just walked away from my home; walked away from my body to the old rail-road bridge. It must have been forgot for nearly twenty years when I first found it as a boy. I don't know how long I stayed there, but I had some mighty powerful thoughts. I knew I could not go back home. At the same time, I did not know how to go on. "

(Walter looks over his shoulder, no change.)

"I did not understand what had happened, and it was not clear what I should do. So I started to logically try and figure out a plan. Set an objective. But, there was nothing to tell me what was right or wrong anymore. I was alone. It's not as liberating as the living like to believe. It is horribly exposing. All of a sudden, I had no way of knowing what to do, what was a mistake, or what was the right thing to do. "

"I must have panicked, because I went out of my head for a while. I could sit there for a mere moment in my mind, and watch an entire summer, fall, winter, and spring blaze across my eyes like a moth's wings fluttering in the stinging heat of the porch light. Years could flash like seconds, and my thoughts grew darker, and colder. One day, I stood up and decided it was time to go. When I started following the old abandoned rail-road tracks, which got real tricky to track after a while, the time began to slow again. The hours and minutes of the day returned. Then, when my eyes drank in the beautiful view of this wonderful world, the ideas began to strike me like lightning bolts, and shots of whiskey. Rather than try to organize them, I just let them hit me. I discovered something about myself. I am larger than the things I understand, and smaller than the one who made them."

(Walter looks over his shoulder, no change.)

"People feel that a mind needs to be filtered. To keep out what you don't want, and fill to with only what is good. Even the most basic scientist could tell you that this belief does not add up. With out a reference point, there is no journey, there is no progress, there is no growth. "

"The mind is not limited in memory space, or processing power. You know, I've heard it told that we only use about 13% of our brains when we are alive. Then again, thoughts have nothing to do with the brain."

Gene:

"Do we get to use any more when we die?

Walter:

(a little surprised)

"Maybe... I don't know. Maybe we get another chance to learn how to use the rest. I don't think there is any limit to what a spirit can absorb. With out exposure to everything, there can be no way to discern between needing and getting, between right and wrong. It is what you disagree with that pushes you to learn more. What you agree with, you hardly notice, until you don't have any more."

"I want to hear your side of the story. I want to know, for myself, more than one way to live a life, to be happy, to do and be what I want to be. I can't do much of that now. I missed that boat. "

Gene:

"Yea... me, too. I gotta make up for that, huh?"

Walter:

"Nope, just see it diff'rent this time. I need to patiently listen to those I disagree with, so that their view point can be learned, stored, then applied to where I agree, disagree, or can not decide yet. Sadly, I have learned not to try and share my viewpoint. I became too impatient with people, because they all desperately need someone who will listen to them, who will hear them and be empathetic. It is, very rarely, a two way street. It is not, usually a gift someone will return. Being an angel has taught me that there is no harm, and un-limited personal benefits, to be sympathetic, really listen, and not try to be heard. Most folks who really need to talk just need a little spiritual contact to talk themselves into something. It is far easier to go ahead and think the best of something, of some situation, or of some one, than it is to think negatively. Oh, that energy will always exist enough on its own. There are so many uncertain ways for things to go wrong that it will trap a mind in the downward spiral of ever repeating, perfect negative plans and feelings. Then, when something really does go wrong... snap!"

Gene:

(Waking up a little more, eye's bright)

"Ghost's?"

Walter:

"Yea, but people, too. To think good about something, there's only one, maybe two paths to go. You got options, sure, but only a few ways to do it right. End result: you get what you want.”

Gene:

"Sounds simple enough. Perfect."

Walter:

"Well, in theory. Most likely, it is a small explanation of a very large and complex concept."

Gene:

"But, how do I get to be an angel? I fucked up... I sinned..."

Walter:

“Shut up... don't get me started on that shit. You wanna dwell on that and you'll be a ghost before you know it!"

Gene:

“What's the difference?”

Walter: (hollering back to him)

"Angels do good things, and keep moving. Ghosts fall into the same pattern of sadness, or whatever it is that stalled their lives. Thy keep doin what most likely killed them... killed you.”

Gene:

“What did they do?”

Walter:

"Nuthin."

Gene:

(racing to catch up, still picking up stuff)

"Then why am I an angel?"

Walter:

“Simple. World got more of you than you got from it."

Gene:

(Stopping)

"What?"

Walter:

also stopping, only for a moment)

"You’re too young to really think or believe in evil. Makes you an angel. Watch yer step, tho! Like I said: what killed ya might never let you die."

Gene:

(Standing still)

"But I'm already dead... are you saying that angels die?"

Camera follows Walter as Gene goes out of frame.

Walter:

"... and ghost's suffer forever, trapped in their torment till they fade away, or wander on.”

Gene:

(catching up, back in frame)

"I'm confused."

Walter: (stopping, and Gene run's into him while staring at the ground)

"Bullshit! You ain't thinkin, so shut up and let's go! Yer throwin' my timin' out. (Grumbling) ...piece of shit little nothin'. (To Gene) Now I gotta hurry to the bridge. With planning; no need to hurry. I'm too old to hurry!"

Scene 14: Ext. Day: Full Sunlight, day light. c/a:frames the rr trax under an overpass. Our actors enter the frame on the trax and climb up the embankment to the bridge.

Walter:

"Let me give you the basics, kid. Now that you’re dead, I can let you in on some of the secrets. First off, life’s much simpler than you thought, or you were taught to think. Rather than everything being super complex, with tons of things to learn, everything you know is really failing, and reacting to one rule. One simple movement..."

Gene:

"That doesn't make any sense."

Walter: (stopping)

"Interrupt in the middle of my thought, and of course you won't understand... get confused. Everything is simple, simple. Every moment in life has two reactions possible, but... (sensing Gene's interruption) wait for it... you can only choose one way to react. No matter how many options ya got, you still only choose one."

Gene:

“I can see that. Like to do good or to do bad, right?”

Walter:

"I like you, kid... but you're an idiot. Guess I have to start from the beginning."

Cut to

Scene 15: Ext. Day: Medium shot of the two on the bridge. There is another man approaching. Walter walks ahead of Gene, as the man begins to notice he is there. Walter begins to talk to the man, extending his hand, as if asking for money. Gene stays away as the man gives Walter: some change. As the man begins to walk away, Walter say's "Wait", and hands him something. The man takes it: cut to:

Scene 16 c/a: Behind Gene’s back. The man keeps looking at what is in his hand and walks right past Gene as if he wasn't there. Gene turns to follow the man’s movements, faces the camera.

Gene:

"He didn't see me."

Walter:

(walking back to Gene)

"Didn't need to. You aren't part of the miracle... yet..."

He turns and walks away. When Walter is almost out of frame, Gene jogs to catch up.

Gene:

"What miracle? I didn't see anything."

Cut to:

Scene 17: Ext. Day. Long shot of the RR Trac and bridge. Walter is walking back down the embankment to the trax. Gene follows.

Walter:

"When I was on the streets a few weeks back, I found a little toy car. A beat up red Ferrari. It told me to pick it up."

Gene:

"The car talked to you?"

Walter: (stopping)

"No. Not like hearin' voices, or somethin', but when I seen it, I felt I would need it."

Gene:

"It told you to come here and give it to that man?"

Walter:

"Ugh... there you go, thinkin' again! I didn't know that man was who it were for. Not any more than I knew that man was who I was meetin'."

Gene:

"Wha..."

Walter:

“Before you get confused again, just listen this time. I, and now you, are single angels in a grand society of angels. We're static-angels."

Gene:

"I gotta sit down."

Walter: (putting his nose against the wind, then nodding his head, sits also)

"I was tellin' you earlier that life has only one rule, two reactions, or more, possible, but only one out-come."

Gene:

"English, please..."

Walter:

"I can't think of a simpler way... well... ok, you always knew that you could get high. Like you had permission, right? It's what you felt you were allowed to do."

Gene:

"Yeah."

Walter:

"You also knew that you didn't have to get high... that was also your choice..."

Gene: (standing up, ready to attack)

"What! No way man, there is no choice... "

Walter:

"Millions of people do it every day, boy."

Gene: (still standing, interrupts)

"Two reactions... choices... decisions... one action, one outcome. Good and bad..."

Walter:

"Well, you got a lotta heart, kid. I guess you do understand. I can almost see the light bulb over your head... but you got it wrong. No good or bad."

Gene: (sheepishly)

"Okay."

Walter: (firmly)

"Got it?"

Gene: (apprehensively)

"Yea..."

Walter: (standing up, face to face, firm)

"Say it!"

Gene:

"No good, no bad... but..."

Walter: (recovering his seat)

"Ohhh! Lord. I wasn't made for patience. With every moment having two, or more, reactions, but only one out come... uh... okay, lemme try this again. Did you like to get stoned?"

Gene:

"I never smoke that stuff... too weak..."

Walter:

"What?"

Gene:

"I never smoked pot... too weak. Never really done anything for...

Walter: (interrupting, firmly)

"Did you like gettin' high?"

Gene:

"Yea... I loved it. More than anything else... it gave me my feelings back."

Walter:

"Gave you permission to feel good, you mean. You could've felt with out them."

Gene: (Defensive)

"No! No, I couldn't I wasn't given a choice... I did what... (trails off)"

(Give it a beat)

Walter: (in a calming tone)

"Alright, okay... it's alright. I'm not gettin on to you about nuthin'. I'm making a point. Now answer me this: getting high, or not getting high; for you, which was good and which was bad?"

Gene: (regretfully)

"It's bad, it killed me."

Walter: (with a hidden smirk)

"You just told me it was good."

Gene:

"It was all good."

Walter: (Screaming while standing)

"RIGHT!!"

Gene: (With a look of puzzlement)

"I think you’re high, now..."

Walter:

"Come again?"

Gene: (beat, with a glimmer of understanding)

"It's how you look at it..."

Walter: (dancing a little jig)

"Perspective, corrective. One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Walter’s jig ends on the last word with him extending his arm out to display a pure silver fifty-cent piece in his hand.

"Take it, boy. I'll trade for your name."

Gene: (with a smile)

"Gene. Gene..."

Walter:

"That'll do, Gene. More than one name is too close to a sentence, and a sentence might just explain something that ain't necessarily true. I'm a Smith, myself, except that I've never done metal-work. Go figure."

Walter:

"Well, where are the questions?"

Gene:

"What questions?"

Walter:

"Yer dead, surely you know you can ask questions?"

Gene:

"...about what?"

Walter:

"Oh, what is it man? Did you never have questions you never knew the answer to?

Gene:

" Yea."

(beat)

Walter:

"Didn't you know that when you die all yer questions would be answered?"

Gene:

"Well, no. Anything?"

Walter:

"Anything you can comprehend, but I wouldn't worry about that. If you can't, you won't know to ask. Just ask me a question that has bothered you yer whole life. I can answer it."

Gene: (bluntly)

"Okay. Why can't people be nice to each other?"

Walter:

"Fuckin' pure soul... you had to ask the sixteen part question, didn't ya?"

Gene:

"Huh?"

Walter:

"Are you prepared for the answer?"

Gene:

"Um... yeah?"

Walter:

"No, are you prepared for the answer."

Gene:

"Whadda you mean?"

Walter:

"Did you really ask the question?"

Gene:

"Yea. The one thing that always hurt me, inside, was that no matter how polite I was, I was always a piece of shit. In any one's eyes, and no one, even when given the chance, seemed able to be nice to each other. Like, if they had a chance, they would go out of their way to fuck with someone, or just be nice long enough to take everything I.. they got."

Walter:

"Are you a piece a shit?"

Gene:

"No."

Walter:

"Ah, then it is an honest question."

Gene:

"Well, of course it is."

Walter:

"Forgive me... canned responses and all that...

Gene:
"What!?!"

Walter:

"You know, when people know the smart thing to say. When they knows the smart thing to ask, even when they don't even understand the question?"

Gene:

"You lost me."

Walter:

"Good. At least I know your question is from the heart... honest."

Gene:

"Okay, I'm really lost in the woods, now Walter."

Walter:

"Remember your question?"

Gene:

"Why can't people be nice to each other?"

Walter:

"'Cause they’re afraid."

Gene:

"That's it? You said..."

Walter:

"I know, sixteen parts. The answer ain't much more. The implications are staggering. It's the kind of simple question that ain't content unless it leads to many other questions."

Gene:

"What are they afraid of?"

Walter:

"See, what did I tell you? You’re an honest soul, you tell me."

Gene:

"What? I don't know. "

Walter:

"C'mon, you tell me."

Gene:

"But, I don't know. I was asking you."

Walter:

"Yes you do... go on. If you don't know, guess."

Gene:

"Are they..."

Walter:

"Yes?"

Gene:

"Afraid of each other?"

Walter:

"Yep. See, it takes a commitment to know another. Because it takes time, right? No. You know everyone you meet the second you see them."

Gene:

"I do not."

Walter:

"Ah... then you were afraid as well."

Gene:
"You mean I am..."

Walter:

"Yes... you were."

Gene:

"I only get to know this because it passed me by, right?"

Walter:
"No. You could have known this when you were alive. The knowledge was there for you to grab."

Gene:

"But I fucked it up, right?"

Walter:

"No. You can not seek that which you do not see."

Gene:

"I understand that. I wasn't looking for that, huh?"

Walter:

"No, you understood that abut yourself and could not see that in others. That is why your loneliness led to escapism within drug use."

Gene:

"I refused to believe in others?"

Walter:

"No... you were working too hard to believe in yourself, and... avoiding those you feared. That is why I say life got more of you than you got from life."

Gene:

"Too trapped."

Walter:

"That's too easy. You were too abandoned."

Gene:

"Could I say something right at any time?"

Walter:

"Yes. Everything is right if you want to be a ghost."

Gene:

"If I want to stay the same."

Walter:

"There's one. You are a quick learner, if not a patient one. You still think you have figured it all out. You still don't think your dead."

Gene:

"I don't feel dead."

Walter:

"You don't hunger for the needle, either, do ya? Your mind was never your failure. Nor yer flesh. It was the battle between that ate you alive."

Gene:

"So, what's a static-angel?"

Walter: (sitting back down)
"Ah, now, well then... static angels are the crap-shoot-miracle-workers. It's all based on how you live. I coined the term myself. I seem pulled to tha wander and I run into what I need, and who I need to help, and those I need help from."

Gene:

"You... I thought it was like a lone wolf thing.”

Walter:

"No, there are times when I need a hand. What I need to do finds me, and what I need to do it. You’re here..."

Gene:

"How can you tell?"

Walter:

"I feel it. I know whatever direction I go, there is someone who needs a split-second of caring, or understanding, or love... maybe even a nickel... or a little toy car. That man on the bridge needed to care about someone, if'n only to give a bum some quarters. Maybe even a fifty-cent piece? But, when I met him, I knew he needed that little car to push him into a decision."

Gene:

"You swayed his two reactions, one out come."

Walter: (smiling)

"That's it exactly. You’re a smart kid."

Gene:

"So how did you know where he was? That man, I mean. How did you find him?"

Walter:

"I didn't. I knew I had to be at that bridge. I could smell it, like you can smell fear on the wind. Indecision is just the same. The bit about the car just came to me, but it was meant for him."

Gene:

"So what was the decision?"

Walter:

"You’re so smart, you tell me."

Gene:

“To do good. (Walter grimaces) Oh, uh, he stopped guessing and decided to do something?"

Walter:

"The right thing. What he wanted to do all along."

Gene: (pause)

"Well, what was it? What is he gonna do?"

Walter:

"Don't know. Haven't a clue, but I know he'll do it."

Gene:

"The look on his face?"

Walter: (standing, and motioning to Gene to go)

"Yep. It's the one rule: all things must move closer. Not forward, like everyone thinks... but closer."

Gene: (reluctant to get up)

"I still don't understand how you knew."

Walter:

"C'mon, Gene. My nose is itchin'. Gotta keep moving. We got something to do, and it's that-a way."

Walter and gene walk, quickly, down the rr trax to another bridge, up to the road, and down a sidewalk until, unexpectedly Walter starts to talk loudly and runs into a young man in a suit, grabbing the lapels of his jacket. Just as he does this, a bus races by as the man begins to scream profanities to the old man. Gene steps in as the Walter's son, and collects his "crazy old man".

Walter: (manically)

"And they said we would praise him. We would stay on bended knee and offer words of praise to him, that he should be remembered, and blessed would the days be, after famine, after lust, after greed... don't let them stray your course... we must praise him....

Gene: (embarrassed)

"I'm sorry, sir. It's my daddy. He don't know no better. Preached my whole life long, and I'm only twenty, in Mississippi before he got sick like this. Please, sir. I've been looking for him all day. Lemme take him home. He needs his medicine..."

The man leaves, and Gene walks Walter down the street until they get to the bridge, when they duck around and down the bridge to the tracks.

Walter: (giddy)

"Good job, kid. Did you see it?"

Gene: (doesn't understand, angry)

"What!?! I'm surprised he saw me. He was ready to tear you apart. Why did you do that?"

Walter:

"He wasn't ready to die."

Gene: (sarcastic, building to a holler)
"Oh. Right! What was gonna kill him? Attitude? Being an asshole!?!"

Walter:

"The bus, boy. The bus. He wasn't paying attention, thinking about something. Would've walked right into it. That's why I had to react fast. If I wasn't rushing, I wouldn't have seen it. That means your apart of it now. (Beat) Meeting you made me hurried, and helped me see this one in the seconds it happened. You were a part of what I was to see. You did good on talking to that guy. He really looked different, didn't he?

Gene: (Still upset)
"I didn't see anything!"

Walter:

"You forgettin' something, Gene? You’re not exactly what you might call my legitimate son..."

Gene:

"Wait, why did that work?"

Walter:

"Guess he wasn't looking neither."

Cut to:

Scene 25: Ext. Day: Back on the tracks: c/a wide, actors to go right to left. Dialog is quiet at first.

Gene:

"Why do you follow the rr trax? Is that something we have to do?"

Walter:

"Nope. It's what I do. Acoupla other, too. It's where I feel I should be, but, more importantly, it’s what I wanna do. They are the first major highways in this country. The first chunk of thought that brought much of this world we know together. A lot happens on em. These days they're romantic. Grown over technology, out-dated, but still heavily used. The main form of transportation in the times of depression, and the veins of adventure for many a poet and wanderer."

Gene:

"There’s something romantic about things falling apart, aging away."

“Like I said, a lot happens on these tracks: a place the lonely go, where killers walk, and victims lie. Both, of murder and machines. The tracks cross the country in simple patterns too. If I tried to follow the freeways, I would end up walking in circles. I'd turn into a fuckin' case worker that way."

Gene:

"Case worker's? Who are they?"

Walter:

"Some angels stay in the city and work on specific lives. You've heard of them... guardian angels, angels of mercy, and the like."

Gene:

"...but, doesn't the bible say that angels are derived from God, himself, created separately...."

Walter:

"Enough of that, young man. You probably know that book better than I. I just listen. You wanna argue my words with the words of another, go right ahead. I'm just givin' ya what I know. It's a far better thing to think the best of any situation than it is to try and guess how many things are out there to get ya, or tell you you’re wrong, or prove that you don't know. That's up to you, Gene. Are you ready to say ‘I know’?"

Gene:

"Sure. You told me to."

Walter:

"Ahh, the unassuming assurance of innocence. Simple programming"

Gene:

"What?"

Walter:

"Nothin'. It's simple, I tell you: the dead stay where they die, or they just wander around... "

Gene: (stopping)

"You’re a ghost. You're nothing but a ghost! And so am I!"

Walter:

"Yes. But, I grow old."

Gene: (jogging to catch up)

"Angels die. You said that earlier."

Walter:

"Yep, that I did. Pick up that stick, wouldja. Gonna need it."

Gene: (stopping to pick it up)

"When... why?"

Walter:

"Dunno. It spoke to me, and by that I mean that I noticed it, and desired to take it with me. Out of everything my eyes can consume, I looked right at it. Means I need it... and you can carry it."

Scene 30: Ext. Day. c/a close up on Gene's face, starring in dismay. Camera moves around his head, panning back, to frame Walter and Gene (backs to the camera) and a beautiful naked woman lying beside the tracks in torn clothing.

Walter: (turning to Gene, then walking past)

"Close yer mouth, Gene. She don't see ya."

Gene: (walking over and kneeling beside the woman)

"She's so pretty. Gives me the chills, goose bumps. Should we call... can we use phones?"

Walter:

"You're as physical as you've ever been, but you can't help her. Cops won't see ya when they arrive, or her neither."

Gene:

"Her eyes are wide open. She might be alive."

Cut to:

Scene 31: Ext. Day: c/a medium close up of Gene kneeling by the girl. Walter enters the scene.

Walter:

"She's a ghost, boy. Don't make me hurry. We gotta go."

Gene:

"Her name's Rachel?"

Walter:

"Felt it, didn't you?"

Gene: (sadly)

"Yeah..."

Walter:

"That's Naked Rachel. Seen her a few times. Raped and murdered. Died where she lays. Anyone sit's there, around her or on her, they feel cold, sad. Evil. She just lays there, as when she died. Never younger, never older. A murdered soul trapped in time. After a while, she'll just fade away.

(as he walks away, barely heard)

Takin' longer than anyone I've seen before, like she won't let go."

Gene: (standing, screaming)

"It wasn't her fault! She should not..."

Walter: (comming back and embracing Gene from behind, hands on shoulders and whispering in his ears)

"What... go to heaven? She's decided to remain here. As far as I can tell... flapper dress... been here since the 20's, at least, son. Cold, shocked, frozen... she's a ghost."

(Walter walks out of frame, as Gene continues to look down at here)

Cut to:

Scene 32: Ext. Day: c/a : wide shot of previous scene. Gene, reluctant to leave, gets up and keeps staring over his shoulder.

Gene:

"It’s just not right!"

Walter: (reluctantly stopping to face Gene)

"Good lord almighty! Right, wrong, good, bad. What is it with you? You felt her. Knew who she was, felt where she was... you know why she decided to stay there. Think of it this way. She's choosing to remain a victim. Controlled by others with no power of her own. The violence of the crime was disgusting, but it was not why she's a ghost."

Gene: (combative)

"The crime had nothing to do with it. Are saying that even her death was not what made her a ghost? That doesn't make sense. What was it then, the ideas she had earlier?

Walter:

"Yes. I know it’s not easy to wrap your spirit around, but yes. Who she was did not get her killed. That was another’s choice. Remaining there is her decision. Remaining the victim, or, rather, that others are responsible for her fate is where she was stuck in life. Her murder cemented her decision."

Gene: (angry)

"How can you know that!?!"

Walter: (pointing)

"Because she is still there! I am not. Ghost's, in general, sadden me. She (pointing) destroys me. So much that I could almost be a ghost myself just on thinking about her. I can not dwell on that, and she doesn't have to either."

Gene: (stopping, very saddened)

"I almost couldn't leave her."

Walter: (compassionately, hand on shoulder)

"I know, boy... I know."

Gene: (in a whisper, with a hidden tear, as they begin to walk away)

"World mustuv' gotten more of her..."

(Both exit scene)

Scene 96: Ext. Day: Walter and Gene are still on the streets. Walter begins to walk ahead of Gene, who slows, for no particular reason, and then turns around and looks behind him. He looks squarely in the eyes of a roundish boy about his age, less than a block behind him, and their eyes meet for just a second. Not may other people are walking by, but, the roundish young man, named Edward, looks right at him for a moment, and then quickly glances over his own shoulder. When he turns around, two or three other kids, walking rapidly towards Edward, duck into a side alley, very unobvious to the movie-watcher. (Subtle, this all happens in a second or two). Then when it is confirmed that neither one really does recognize the other, Gene turns around and walks into the camera. Behind him, Edward begins to go one way, and then decides to go another. Walter walks back into the scene where it has gone from following them to stasis. They continue to walk, and the camera follows them.

Walter:

"So... how does it feel?"

Gene:

"Huh?"

Walter: (puzzled)

"What do mean Huh!?! All this talkin' we've been doin'. Haven't you been paying attention?"

Gene:

"Uh, yes... the decision between right and wrong is based on the individual’s perspective, and the chaos involved in the many interpretations involved in this learning process tends to lead to beliefs clashing between individuals, even though they are, essentially, fighting to possess and express the exact same feeling."

Walter: (even more puzzled)

"I said that?"

Gene:

"Didn't you?"

Walter: (shaking it off)

"Didn’t you just see you own miracle?"

Gene:

"What, back there? That guy? I just thought I knew him. Turns out I was wrong."

Walter:

"You mean you felt you knew him... he saw you, you know..."

Gene:

"Didn't seem like I was feeling anything... did you say he saw... he did, he did see me... that's what..."

Walter:

"Felt so weird?"

Gene:

"Okay, I guess I was feeling something, but I didn't do anything."

Walter:

"Your small, yet unobtrusive question pulled that boy away from what he was doing."

Gene:

"But he wasn't doing anything."

Walter:

"Maybe, maybe not. It's what was about to happen that you broke the pattern of. Your little interruption changed the moments of what is to come. For someone who's dead, that's unbelievable to most. You didn't know it, but you made static. You made white noise. You changed the path of action. What the so-called-intelligencia would call fate."

Gene:

"By thinking I knew that guy?"

Walter:

"You weren't listening to me. Your mind was a thousand miles away. On about something else."

Gene:

"That guy, Edward."

Walter:

"Is that really his name? Right. All of a sudden he's in your mind. Don't know why, didn't ask. You just had to turn and know if you knew him."

Gene:

"But I don't know him.”

Walter:

"Ahh, chicken-fart's is all that is. Information you didn't need anyway."

Gene:

"So why was it a miracle? How can you say that is the specific work of God through me?"

Walter:

"There you go again: the constant search for definition. You can't. Not for sure, anyway. I just know. No proof, no evidence. I just know. Did you notice the guys behind our little Eddie-boy? They looked like they were gonna pound the boy for being a little fruit."

Gene:

"You think he was gay? How could you tell?"

Walter: (frustrated)

"No, no, no. It ain't about proof. It ain't about knowing what will happen, or what you can do. It's about knowing about what you do! Could be bashed for being sweet. Could be gay. I don't think he's gay, if I had to say. Overly friendly, compassionate, sweet. That I can say I saw. To say I know is to try and destroy the static. To define what I can not know. You’ll never know everything in this world. You can know everything you will do. Let those who don't know condemn themselves and judge others. Just don't let them take anyone with them. That’s the important part."

Gene:

“Just like I know everything I've done."

Walter:

"Yes sir, son! Past is the what'cha done. Future is wat'cha do. The only purity, or the only thing that is not affected by the static of the world is you."

Gene:

"The static-angel."

Walter:

"Yep."

Gene:

"Using the static-energy of the world to parlay the static sadness of..."

Walter:

"To help and avoid the victim."

Gene:

"To not know, so I know..."

Walter:

"Turn that damn fool brain of your’s off. You left it far behind you, anyway. A boy as smart as you tailing my ass..."

Gene: (suddenly fragile)

"...but, you invited me..."

Walter: (stopping, turning, facing, smiling)

"Yes. Yes I did. Turn off your thought process. Let yourself know. You didn't use any big words to figure out that you needed to look at that boy, did you?"

Gene:

"No."

Walter:

"Just knew didn't ya?"

Gene:

"But I was knowing something completely unrelated to what... uh, what I may, or may not have avoided... or, uh, not avoided..."

Walter:

"Exactly. When you try to know everything, you are talkin' about God's job. He doesn't mind. I know. Sometimes I can hear him laughing at me."

Gene:

"Laughing... at you?"

Walter:

"Oh, yes. He's finding you to be a riot, I'm sure."

Gene:

"You mean... He's listening?"

Walter:

"Well of course he is. You followed me, didn't you?"

Gene: (fragile again)

"Are you Jesus?"

Walter:

"Boy, don't you blaspheme me! I'm not the son of God! I sinned. I failed that test."

Gene:

"But you said "don't get me started" when..."

Walter:

"Sit down, Gene. I know it's all a little too much. You've been really strong so far, so I figure it's all beginning to hit. Soul's like that; gimme all ya got, but as soon I realize what's going on… your head'll get all dizzy like. Take a breather, my brother. One of the only things I know about Jesus is that he was a man who lived completely with out sin, from womb to heaven, and back again. I can't say that."

Gene: (sadly, sitting)

"Me neither."

Walter:

"Stop feeling damned, boy. The created, us, has always thought to understand everything. The more you know, the more control you have. That is the myth. A very popular one, I might add. God knows this foolish game. Since God knows more than us, more than we will ever be able to understand, he gives us a chance to better understand our own faults, if we want to. The only biological check and balance the universal mind has. However, we have to choose it."

Gene:

"And then do it!"

Walter:

"Yes sir. Nothin' to it, but to do it!"

Gene:

"Like when I followed you..."

Walter:

"Yep. You did that one on pure instinct, you did. You just stood up before you knew what you was doing."

Gene: (standing, energized)

"What's next!?! That's always been my motto."

Walter:

"Would you shut up for a minute and quit interuptin'... listen: you will always feel what is right. You always know when you are doing wrong. I know I said to abandon these terms, but you seem comfortable with them. In time you will see how their definition... okay, never mind... when you are alive, you have the convenience of free will to talk yourself into what you want. It's not like that when you’re dead. Death can be remorse or it can be 20/20 hindsight. You can either use that to do things to change other people’s lives in ways neither you, or them, understand; or, you can use that to over analyze your past and get trapped in what you didn't do in the first place. Now how can that help? You end up not doin' a damn thing but regretting what could have been, and you make no movement towards what is."

Gene:

"... and be a ghost?"

Walter: (after a deep sigh)

"You are an excellent student, Gene."

(beat)

"You’re still a pain in the ass!"

Gene: (reluctantly, sheepishly)

"It kinda made me feel like a real person again."

Walter: (recognizing Gene is holding back because he said "shut-up")

"Go on..."

Gene:

“When I saw him, I thought it was this guy I knew in high school."

Walter:

"It takes a while for the spirit to realize that the mind is gone, dead."

Gene:

"I don't feel dead. My mind is still racing a mile a minute."

Walter:

"That's not your mind, son... it's your soul. It's the silver lining of every cloud. The spirit within you."

Gene:

"Huh?"

Walter:

"Your soul. It's all you are now. You may appear as a physical presence, but you body is dead."

Gene:

"What about my mind?"

Walter: (laughing)

"What!?! Your mind? That five pounds of grey flesh? It's gone buddy-boy; went the way of the dodo with yer body."

Gene:

"Wait, I still think... I still know. Now more than ever before."

Walter: (nonchalantly)

"Exactly."

Gene: (excitedly)

"Hey! We should find that man who was gonna pound Eddie, and change his life!"

Walter:

"Not our job, brother-man. Not what we understand. Leave that to the case-workers. They’re out there, too."

Gene:

"If I believe?"

Walter:

"Regardless. You'll know they’re there if you believe."

Gene:

"So I can believe that he'll be okay, too."

Walter:

"Yes sir. Those dead, who tried to figure out everything, but still felt cheated when they died are out there, too. If those spirits aren't so filled with remorse and rage, and they decide to move on, usually they will become attached to one situation, or one person. However their spirit moves them. They’re not like us... world got more, and we got less. They had things, and don't quiet understand how beautiful life can be. Those moment between acquisition when we can appreciate a clear blue sky, and a mountain breeze, that sort of thing."

Gene:

"But you had things."

Walter: (stopping to smell something odd on the wind)

"Maybe I'm just special that way."

Gene:

"Maybe you figured that out later. So they latched themselves to something that has a visible reward."

Walter:

"Yes. Instead of a feeling of avoiding a momentary tragedy, they work on an ending goal. Change the life, make the man."

Gene:

"No emotional..."

Walter:

"Different desires, different redemptions. The afterlife, this part of it anyway, is only involved in growth. Even the smallest amount of which will keep you from being a ghost. Case workers never grow old as we do. Not as quickly, anyway."

Gene:

"Do case workers ever become static angels?"

Walter: (after a big laugh)

"You have got to meet Steve. (Pause) Crazy Steve. Probably the only true rebel God has ever met."

Gene:

"Was he a case worker?"

Walter:

"Yes sir, damn good one too, as far as I've heard. Gave it up, though. He'd rather wander now. Craziest mother-fucker I have every met. Died drunker than a brutha on payday, after laying fifteen floors of steel! "

Act: In the last shot of Walter’s discussion, when the two are almost to the middle of the screen, Gene runs ahead of Walter a little bit, faces him, and gently pushes him to a stop to show him what he has made. Do not rush it.

Cut to:

[c/a:c/u] A close up of what is in his hand.

Gene: (with an exited little grin, and a giggle)

"Look, I made a little fat man, with a hat... "

Walter: (As camera [f/t/b])

"You’re going to be alright, kid."

Scene 35: Ext. Day: a journey. c/a is set tight on a very old and long rr bridge. It crosses the river, and you can not see the end of the bridge, or the end of the water. Gene and Walter enter the scene and Walter stops. Gene takes a moment to notice.

Gene:

"So what's infinite sadness?"

Walter:

"You would do better to not think so much about what I've said. I can only explain, at great length, how I've come to understand things. You need to get what I mean"

Gene:

"The point."

Walter:

"Right. We have to go back."

Gene:
"In our minds?"

Walter:

"No, the tracks. We have to get up on the road."

Walter leaves the scene while Gene stands still, awe struck by the view of the river and the bridge.

Gene:
"Why don't we just cross here?"

Walter:

"We can't. Too low. Too long. Can you see the other side?"

Gene:
"No, not really."

Walter:

"It’s for the train. We might not make it. Maybe with a schedule."

Gene:
"Well, why don't we just cross, and when the train comes, it can just go through us."

Walter: (tapping his his forehead)

"Have you ever done that?"

Gene:
"No... but we're dead now."

Walter:
"Yeah, and Steve ain't got no head! Lemme tell ya something: Two men were traveling the path when it split into two paths. One, they both knew, went into the forest, where the monkey's would pee on their heads. The other path went through the plains, where the lions could hide and eat you. So, one may said they should go through the plains for surely god would call upon the lions to nap as they passed. The other man said, no. Let's not ask of god for what we can do for ourselves; and get some of the wide, wide elder-berry leaves for our heads."

Gene: (has an "OK, thank you for that..." expression)

"So, how are we gonna cross."

Camera angle changes to a view across Walter and Gene, a 45 degree camera swing, and reveals the rather large, red extension bridge built for the traffic.

Walter:

"We can take that bridge."

Gene: (Dumbstruck by the simplicity)

"Oh. Well. Okay. There you go. Yeah. That should work, too."

cut to:

Scene 36: collection of shots of Walter and Gene crossing the bridge. Then walking across the Altel Stadium. Then down along the river, past the Met Park, under the over-pass, past the docks, the coffee mill, the old jail, the new one, the court house, and onto the landing, under the Main St. Bridge. The camera begins, at the beginning of these shots, to frame the large objects to place Walter and Gene as small objects in the scene. This continues until they get to the coffee plant, where the frame comes in some, but still focus on the size, the ageing process. By the time they get to the landing, the frame is close.

Walter:

"Well, Gene... it's time for a special trip. You got that fifty-cent piece I gave you?"

Gene:

"Yeah. What do I need it for?"

Walter and Gene walk down to the river-cab, a boat that takes them across the river and to a couple of other stops before bringing them back to the same place. On the river, Walter smiles broadly, and loves every moment. Gene is still hurt from having to give away his silver.

Walter:

"This is the only thing I love to do. Out of all the places I've been, I love to come here and ride across the river. In Mississipp' the river’s too wide, and the ride takes too long. This one's perfect."

Gene:
"But, the money. All those people who..."

Walter:

"Ain't no jinx, Gene. I'm ta say that some of that money goes to me. I get to have my boat ride, and I get to have my dog."

Gene:

"Is that why you came here?"

Walter:

"Yep."

Gene: (puzzled)
"...and that’s the only reason you came here?"

Walter:

"Yep."

Cut to:

Scene 42: Ext. Day: Sunset: Gene and Watler are continuing their journey along the rr trax. They are quietly walking together, saying nothing. Just traveling when Gene stops, screaming in pain and trying to move his left foot which appears to be permanently fixed to the ground.

Walter: (shocked)

"What is it!?!"

Gene: (whimpering)

"I've got a knife through my foot!"

Walter freezes, with an alarmed look on his face, and starts to scan the woods and trees for trouble. Gene is kneeling down, trying to work the knife out of his foot.

Walter: (whispering)

"Quit making noise, boy. We could be in trouble."

Gene:

"How..."

Walter:

"Shhh...."

Steve: (maniacal laughter)

“Whatsa matter, old man?"

Walter: (very formally)

"Be away tired, foolish spirit. We are travelers. Angels of God. Leave us be."

Steve: (more laughter)

"Why, you old fart. Angel of God, indeed..."

Out of the woods appears this man, liking 50-ish, with a beard, sneakers (no socks), cut off jean shorts fraying at the edges and an old t-shirt that must have been white at one time. The shirt has the remnants of a silk-screen logo on it.

"I remember the day I met you, on that damn ugly bridge in Montana."

Gene: (distracted from his wound)

"Oh, really?"

Walter:

"Oh, you child. You know it's not right to use a story I shared with you against me... especially when you know it's a lie!"

Steve:

"A lie!?! Why you old thankless heap of... you'd still be there if..."

Walter:

"Now, now; there's no reason to go off half-cocked, Steve. Just calm down. You always had a problem with your temper..."

Gene: (pulling the knife out)

"Aargh!!! Damn!"

(hopping around in pain)

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!"

Both Walter and Steve get next to each other to laugh at the boy dancing about on one foot in extreme pain. During the dance, Steve retrieves his knife, now lying beside the tracks.

Steve:

"Where did you find him?"

Walter:

"By the track near town."

Steve:

"A little too pretty for an accident..."

Walter:

"Young man got burned."

Steve:

"Shit. Bad way to go. Did it take long?"

Walter:

"No, he just up and followed.

Steve:

"Even with the legs?"

Walter:

"Little wobbly. Didn't really grasp the situation for quite a while, really."

Steve:

"Damn young ones. Always able to tell their body's what to do. Not like us, huh, old man?"

Walter:

"Are you forgetting something?"

Steve:

"Can't we just watch him for a while. It's the last time he'll be able to do it by instinct. Besides, it's sure damn funny."

Walter:

"You want me to tell him, or..."

Steve:

"No, let me... you lack that certain sense of style."

Walter: (to himself)

"You mean cruelty."

Steve: (walking up to Gene)

"Does it hurt?"

Gene:

"Yes."

Steve pulls out his knife, and stabs Gene directly in the stomach, and Gene falls to the ground in pain.

Steve:

"How about that? Hurt?"

Gene lies on the ground screaming death cries as he bleeds profusely. While curled in a fetal position, Steve kneels down and whispers in his ear.

Steve:

"You left your body way back there, child."

Steve goes to stand by Walter, while Gene rolls flat on his back, then sits up.

Gene: (quite frankly)

"No pain, huh?"

Steve: (offering Gene a hand up)

"Nope. None. Now, go into the woods and get something for a fire."

Steve:

“Yah!! I just come from ‘frisco. Now there’s a piece o f work. Every twelve bums I meet ain’t an angel. Hardly no one there. They just real bums! Desperate bunch. Ghosts, all of them. Fucking bodies everywhere. You know, Walt… you been there. Those maniacal mother-fuckers, bitchin’ about they lives, now over. Sittin’, walkin’, runnin’. Afraid to leave where they died. Insane. Like nuthin’ else.”

Walter:

“Pride. Nuthin’ but pride keeps them hauntin’. They could all do so much more.”

Steve:

“Especially with how few of us they is out there. It’s like everyone is on their own.”

Walter:

“That’s why I left the city. At least the big ones. Always like that, Steve. You know that. Remember when we were in Houston, tryin’ to do our thing?”

Steve:

“Yea, we really were a team then, huh? We did some good…”

(Walter cringes)

“Oh, afraid I’ll confuse the green-horn, ey?”

Gene: (like a trained seal)

“There is no good or bad, only progress, and static…”

Walter:

“Yep. Ain’t that the truth. See, Gene, the idea’s must come first. The words just express the emotion that is contained…”

Steve: (interrupting)

“Oh, you fucking blow hard. Surprised the boy ain’t totally confused.”

(Gene nods agreement)

“See, Walter walked passed your ghost, and called you out. Yer one of his miracles. Like the time I called out a line-backer whacked on coke. Easy pickin’s, druggies. Body is weak, but the spirit is pent up waiting to explode. Even the quietest alcoholic has a soul that treads on the very fiber of life. The silver thread. The very meaning of ‘life’.”

Walter:

“… and I thought I was confusing him!”

Gene:

“No… I get it. Really, I understand…”

Steve:

“Livin’ is different from breathin’. You’re new to this idea, but it is what you give to others now. You do that, then you get to grow old. Eventualy, you die, but; at least you know what your doin’. What you could have done all along.”

Gene:

“When I was alive.”

Walter:

“But… only by giving that chance to others.”

Gene:

“Discovering it myself is what I failed to do when I was alive.”

Walter:

“YES!!”

Steve:

“But to be fair… you didn’t have a chance, kid. World got more of you than you did of it!”

Walter:

“Humph… that sounds familiar.”

Steve:

“You still here, pecker-head? Where’s that wood? Night commin’ on quick, y’know. Fire keeps the critters away. Don’t you know that? Now, git!”

Scene ??: Gene goes into the woods, and we go with him. Something interesting with animals happens to Gene while he is in the woods. When he comes back, he sees Walter and Steve giggling like school-boys, and passing a pipe between them.

Steve: (noticing Gene)

“Build us a dinner fire, boy. Maybe we’ll tell you some stories.”

Gene begins to build a fire. As he does so, Walter continues his story to Steve.

Walter: (with pipe in hand)

“I take this little girl, and I walk with her over to her mother. Now, I have no idea, mind you, why this little girl has taken my hand, but, you know, I follow. I go. This girl’s momma is sittin’ in her car, smoking that crack stuff, with the glass pipe and all, and just lookin’ all over the place. I mean, her eyes could never have looked so serious before. Her eyes were so wide open. So, I say: this yo’ little girl? You wanna know what she said?

“She actually looks me right in the eye and says, ‘Take her, she’s yours. Just give me the money.’ Can you believe that?

“At that moment I realized that this poor girl was in the company of, not one, but two spirits. Me, and that no-account momma of hers. She was gone sure as I was standing there. Daddy must have been the pizza all over the front hood, but he didn’t have no spirit around there.

“It was the girl who really shocked me. She knew. She could tell. She asked me: are you gonna take my mom to heaven? Well, of course, I couldn’t. She didn’t want to go anywhere. Then endless crack-pipe of a ghost. I told her she would go when she was ready.”

Steve:

“Whadja tell her?”

Walter:

“Well, I wasn’t sure what to do. I just sorta stood there looking for clues of what to do.”

Steve:

“C’mon, old man... anymore pauses and I’ll think you’re making it up.”

Walter: (offended)

“No. No. This is a true story. Believe me, families will probably be telling this one for a while yet. What saved my face was a cop car that was just going by. He stopped to check out the car, and the person in the driver’s seat. Rather, the guy on the hood.”

Steve:

“Get on with it, already.”

Walter:

“Well, the cop only saw the dead momma in the passenger’s seat, not the mad woman still smokin’ that I could see, and the little girl could see. It was when he went to investigate the rear door of the car that he saw me. Me and the little girl. He saw the open door, looked up and saw me and her. He was excited, sure enough, when he saw us. Like we weren’t there just the instant before. I expected this of myself, but not the little girl. He, true enough, locked his eyes on her. She seemed to be all cleaned up, now. Not wearin’ the shorts and t-shirt I seen her in, but a very pretty dress, with shiny black shoes, and those little socks with the lace on ‘em.”

Steve: (deflated)

“She was a ghost.”

Walter:

“No! She was dead, but she wasn’t a ghost!”

Steve:

“Alright, old man! I’m not gonna get in that argument again…”

Walter: (almost in a rage)

“No! You don’t understand. She wasn’t nothin’ I’d seen before. Bright like the sun, only not like she was all lit up or something. I can’t explain it.”

Steve: (Settling a now standing Walter)

“Hey, okay… okay. It’s alright, Wally! I know what you mean. It’s the young ones. They’ve never been like any of us. Just finish your story, and give me that pipe.

(To himself)

Every damn time, get all worked up…”

Walter:

“Anyway, so the cop comes over to us, not saying anything. He was trying to size up the situation. I could tell, but he didn’t have many ends that met. So I asked: Can you make sure she gets home? I didn’t really know what else to say, but it made sense, at the time.”

Steve:

“Wow! That’s really prophetic… wasn’t it?”

Walter:

“It was the only thing I could think of. I gave the little girl to the officer, and his attention went straight to her. How couldn’t it… like I said, she was something I’d never seen before. I continued to follow along, but the cop could not see me anymore. In fact, I know I saw him jump a little, on the inside when he looked over his shoulder, right at me, but so much like I had disappeared. He followed her, innocently, sweetly, holding her hand as she rushed to show him something. She took him straight to her body, about a mile and a half back. It was a twisted mess, like it was tossed or fell out of the car. Then, she hugged the officer, who had knelt down, you know, to look at the small lifeless body. She told him: Mommie told me to say I fell out, but that’s not what really happened; can you take me home, now. With that she kissed him on the cheek. The officer…

(to Steve)

… what did you mean ‘prophetic’?”

Steve:

“Awww, don’t get riled up again… just finish your story.”

Gene:

“Maybe he thought you were the spirit of the pizza.”

Steve:

“What!?!”

Gene:

“You know, the guy mushed up on the hood?”

Walter:

“No, I wanna know… you think you can predict my story like it’s a god-damn movie, or something? You think I’m making this up?”

Steve:

“Don’t start, old man. What’s wrong with you Wally? You been out here too long by yourself, I bet. Ready to lose, aint’cha?”

(Walter has stood up again, ready to take action when:)

Gene:

“What did he do?”

Walter:

“Huh!?!”

Gene:

“The officer, what did he do?”

Walter:

(Still standing, but distracted.)

“He picked her body up, and put it in his car.”

(stated casually, he gets ready to resume his attack on Steve)

Gene:

“Well, then what happened?”

Steve: (baiting, with a giggle after)

“Yeah, old man… lose your train of though again?”

Walter:

“Oh, see, now… that’s it…”

(Walter attempts to attack Steve in someway, but is not very successful, as Steve is able to keep him at bay.)

Steve:

“Now, c’mon, Walter. Damn. Every time. You know you can’t beat me… now just finish the fuckin’ story!”

Walter: (taking his seat)

“Well… now, where was I… oh… I saw an angel.”

Steve:

“What, a real one?”

Walter:

“Yes sir, like a lick of real sunlight, he appeared. Took the little girl.”

Steve:

“Did he say anything to ya?”

Walter:

“They was talking that weird language…”

Steve:

“He said something to you, didn’t he?”

Walter:

“He looked real young, like twenty, maybe. Not younger than you, though, Gene…”

Steve and Gene:

“What’d he say!?!”

Walter: (after a pause)

“Soon will come the day when I will pay you handsomely…”

(Beat)

Steve:

“Ahh, I knew you made it up… light that fire, boy. It’s time to smoke and tell stories.”

Walter: (standing again, but both ignore)
”It’s a true story, damnit!! I didn’t make it up.”

Gene:

“I’m hungry, Wally.”

Walter:

“Shut-up with that, son. I barely let Steve call me that…”

Steve:

“Oh, good Lord, you always get so worked up… You’re hungry? Lemme see your foot again…”

(Gene lights the fire after finding his pack of matches in his pocket. To his surprise there is still one match left.)

Steve:

“Matches. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Here I am ready to make a… matches. Do you see that, Wa… uh, walt?”

Walter:

“Sure do. Makes your job difficult, doesn’t he.”

Steve:

“Well, resourcefulness ain’t knowledge, and we gotta give him some.”

Gene:

“How do you make fire?”

Walter:

“See, he makes up for it by making it easy…”

Steve:

“Memory. The only thing you have here is what you knew when you died. Of course the whole world is at your fingertips, just like in life. You built a fire with the one match you knew you had. The last on in that pack. Pull the pack back out your pocket.”

Gene:

“There’s still one left… but…”

Steve:

“Yes, and there always will be… for you. If you remember that you have one match of fire in your pocket, then you do. As far as I can figure, it’s as simple as that. Hell, knowing fire exists will help you too. That’s how I make fire.”

With that Steve makes the fire die, with no flames. Then he makes it fire up on command.

Steve:

“You left your body behind. With it, you left behind the belief that the only thing you can do is what the body can accomplish. Without that tool, the body, much more is possible based on the belief of what is possible. Not the proof of what has been done.”

Walter:

“Got that funny feeling that it’s going to be a long night.”

Steve:

“Because, Wally… as before, we must smoke, (to Gene) and you must listen.”

Gene:

“What !?!”

Walter:

“Settle in boy, you’re about to get your official initiation.”

Steve:

“But first, as the Indians did before a meeting, we will smoke. We shall slip the bonds of reality, leaving the body behind, and becoming one with our purpose.”

Walter:

“Just listen boy. He will tell what you want to know. All you have to do is be patient with the messenger. Hear the message.”

(Steve takes the first smoke and passes it to Gene)

Walter:

“You first… for Steve, you’ll need it. He’s about to screw himself right into your head.”

Steve:

"Life is all about compensation... for the living. See; the whole idea of compensating something we believe was done wrong only leads to a schedule book full of redemption issues. Actual chosen moments in time where people choose to dwell on a small mistake that their lives have already passed. They practice living in the past. The whole sin nonsense. I have been nothing but an evil-generating machine since my birth. I shall, and can, do no good other than repentance for my past sins, my past errors. Like the idea of doing good just to do so is still not embraced. Not understood. Not practiced... very often. Good can only be used to undo something bad that has been done, and finished. I have no choice. I must become a good man, because, even though it has been said that I was born without sin into this world, somewhere, probably around age five or six, I became an evil force, and if I am to become a positive force then I must atone for my sins and pray for salvation in this, or the next life, or, at the very least, at the end of this life... oh, man. What a bunch of bullshit. You do have to make up for when you wrong someone else, but that can't be the definition of action in a human’s spirit. At any moment, you can leave everything in your past behind you, and rebuild your life as pure as you like. Christianity martyred poor Jesus to say this very thing, and still people insist on saying that who we were constitutes who we are. Oh, man... bullshit!! How did we get suckered into that one?"

Gene:

"We agreed with it."

Walter:

"We bought it."

Steve:

"We are born, we procreate, and then we die. In between, we appease our soul, and strive forward. Only, no one single pattern for this has emerged. Each personality, nationality, culture, and religion is never in any pure state of reality. The ideals we strive for do not exist, yet. Not in our lives. Weren't in mine. That is what we are trying to achieve. The ideals that filter reality into what we know should be the best scenario for any given situation. What we see is not what we think. What we want to think is what we see. Imagine the very simple idea of a man oogling a pretty girl, y'know, on the street. What he sees is himself being clever enough to talk to the girl, maybe get a phone number. A date. Instead, she walks by thinking: what a pervert. Take a picture.

"People are crazy. Let me just assure you of that up front. People are also very different. So diverse as to not suggest a pattern in any way. Then again, these very different worlds, hearts, and minds have all managed to create science, art, music... drugs. Very important part of the puzzle, drugs. Most of life is about growing, and family, and doing what others tell you you’re supposed to be doing, and you can figure that if you do everything right, than you will be happy. I tell you, most of the dead I walk into thought it was a contract, not a way of experiencing life. Not a way of living. They're still wandering around waiting for the pay off. Somewhere on the path the mind gets the two main emotions so screwed together it makes people behave in strange ways. Like believing in something so much that you have to kill someone to possess it, only to learn that murder takes away everything no matter if'n you’re caught or not. When does love and fear become all of this neurosis, and illness, and bigotry, and judgment? Why would a spirit wish to do that? Is there really a division between the heart and the mind? Is the soul separate from the mind? Is the mind a separate entity from the body? Is it Body, Mind, Spirit; or, Body and Spirit like the bible? Is the mind a part of the body, or a part of the soul? Is there a God?

"There's just too many questions and no answers, so people begin to define things. To say, for sure, what something is and know it inside and out, and that information will magically provide the answer. How many times have we gotten that one wrong? How many things have we defined that turned out to be something completely different, and have a completely different purpose?

"That's why you got to listen. Think of the body as it was an egg. The place where a soul is born into this world with a certain amount of information that needs to be learned. You (motioning to Gene) barely got to teach your soul much, and that might be why you’re here... then again, I can't hear what you got to listen to. The only thing I know, for sure, is that you can't tell anyone a thing. Polite listeners are not learners, and that's a fundamental truth about life."

Walter: (Logy)

"Your startin' to stray there, Steve. Why don'tcha just come on back."

Steve:
"Right. There’s love. There’s fear. Those are the emotions. Just the two, and all the rest are bastards... imposters that will trap you into repe... repidi... you keep thinking in the same circles. Anger is the combination of fear and love, with a pinch more fear in it. To passionately love, to be so afraid of something that you don't understand. Sadness is the fear of never loving again. Depression is an intense fear of having never been loved, and loving to know that you will never love again."

Gene:

"So what's a psychotic?"

Steve:

"The love of fear. They end up just fading away. Poor fuckers can't kill when they’re dead, and won't discover how to... how to just love. What they need to keep going. Some just don't get it, and others refuse to see it when it's given to them. Others, like you, look for what’s in a world, and try to keep going, whether they was given anything or not. You, boy, were never so afraid of not being loved that you didn't go out a look for some."

Gene:
"How do you know that? That doesn't feel like me."

Steve:

"Folks didn't like ya, or there was just one. Ma, maybe. Never paid any attention, but you seemed to have learned something, and you went for the joy of narcotics. Must have liked the scene, all those people. A few disasters, but more fun than anything else. You, kid, got joy. And, oh yes, it's a bastard too."

Gene:
"The love of love, with no fear?"

Steve:
"Pretty good, pretty good; but, not quite. Joy is the love of the release of fear. It is damn near "no fear" itself, but that is just plain ignorance. No fear and no love make Johnny a big dummy. That's why the static is so important. To not judge, but to be a mirror. Not for a reflection, but for an inflection. A little something that gets people moving in the right direction. To help them move into a position of loving the world they are in, and fearing what they do not know. Then, they can use the love to understand, and leave the fear behind."

Gene:

"Two choices. One action."

(Walter begins to snore where he sits)

Steve:
"Always happens. He gets fussy, then he gets sleepy. C'mon, let's write something on his forehead. Now, you can't tell him. It's what'cha get when you fall asleep at the circle. You gotta swear!"

Gene:(with a grin)

"Shi-it!"

Steve:

"You ever wonder why the homeless scream and yell at god and then grab some guy on the street by the lapels of his jacket ; screaming utter nonsense in their face? It is because it is a distraction. Many morons don't pay attention in the cities. They get lost in their own thoughts and wander into busses, cars, off bridges... Real stupid stuff. Two feet from the curb, I can get them so pissed off at me that they never want to be me. They have a moment of awareness.

They say: Glad I'm not him. I hope he wanders into traffic..."

Gene:

"How can you care? Why give shit when no one ever notices?"

Steve:

"I'm an angel! It’s what I do... and I have my down time. You got company presidents, you got trash men. The trash men look at you in wonder, and the presidents look at you in disgust. If they see you at all. It doesn't matter. It's not about what I want... well, yeah, it is; but that won't help right now. It's about prolonging life. Every moment a person has in life means he can piece the equation together.. Like gambling. Las Vegas knows the longer they are at the tables, the more of their money they get. That's me: I keep them at the tables so they have more of a chance to figure out how to be their best. To make the thought in their head come true."

Gene:

"You mean a dream. Their dreams? And that's what I do?"

Steve:

"Yeah. See, we are the trash men. There are other angels that are the presidents. That's what they do. One idea that consumes their days. For me, Mr. Trash Man; it's a different situation. Every day. Keeps me on my feet."

Gene:

"Dare I say: 'thankless job?"

Steve:

"Oh... not for god. Not for me."

Gene: (apologetic)

"I... I didn't mean..."

Steve:

"Here's the secret, kiddo... my momma used to always say: let go, let God. You ask of the universe to provide for you a good thing, and keep workin' like your really headed there, and I will promise you: the universe will put everything you need right in front of every other step you take. You just gotta see it. To see..."

Gene:

"I gotta listen."

(Steve writes "PO", and Walter wakes up just as they finish)

Walter:

"Humph, ruh... what... yes. Yes. Did you tell him..."

Steve:

“Lemme tell you about ‘Fran, Walt. Crazy. I was humpin’ every moment since the train came into Cali. First there were the druggies on the freight. I had me a carton of smokes. Found them…”

Walter: (rubbing his eyes)

“Stole ‘em, you mean.”

Steve:

“Aw, shut-up, Wally! Weren’t missed. It was needed. Got three of those kids to go home. All it took was a pathetic story from me and some smokes. Kids went runnin’ for they mommas. One, I had ta’ hit on. Show ‘em what really goes when yer weak, and a sucker. One of the old timers, there were seven of us all together, died on the trip, but I didn’t let him lay there. Came in handy, too. No help out there. Case workers stick to the hills, and the suburbs…”

Gene:

“How did you die?”

Steve:

“Who, me? Or Walt over there?”

Gene:

“Uh, oh… you, I meant… I mean…”

Walter:

“He means you, scarf-boy.”

Steve:
”Oh, noticed that, did you? Well… summer, winter, fall, spring; I always wears it. Got drunk in ’63, and fell asleep waitin’ for a car to hop. Took my head clean off. It stays on good enough, but the separation is pretty obvious. Definitely makes me dead. Bad for business… hee, hee.”

Walter:

“The rest, Steve-O. Tell him the rest.”

Steve:

“Yea, well. I woke up. Just restlessness, I’m sure. Found my head, and put it back. Took me two month’s to find the clothes…”

Walter:

“Steal…”

Steve:

“Shaddup! Wally, it’s my story, damnit. Anyhow, got my clothes and decided to start walkin’. I expected to go to hell at some time, so I guessed I had slid through the cracks, and it was only a matter of time before the demons figured out the mistake. You know, sinner and all that shit. It took me a while, but I realized that I was just walkin’. All I knew is that I must be in hell already ‘cause I just was wanderin. Not doin’ nuthin’. One day, I saw a kid, ‘bout five, wanderin’ the streets. Musta been lost, I thought. What really pissed me off was the man who had found him as I was walking up. Weren’t sure if he was dead like me or not, but he seemed real enough, especially with what he wanted from that little boy. I knew that ugly fuck wasn’t interested in seeing the boy safely home to his momma. He looked like the kind of guy who loved that kid like luggage. Or worse. A grown man seeing a child as a toy, I tell ya, it really pissed me off. I knew I had to do sumptin’, but I was dead… what could I do? I didn’t know, then, the rules of a ghost. (Walter grumps) Thought I was invisible, ya know. Same time, I knew that, as a boy, I used to see ‘em. Ghost’s. So, I thought, if I could get this boy to see me, he might come with me and I could get him to run before this other asshole caught up to him… if I said the right thing. This butt-munch was just playing mind games with the kid, calling to him, and playing nice… so I took off my head and rolled it to the kid. I guessed innocence was enough for the kid to listen to me. So, when my head reached the boy, I said “lets go find mommy”. The boy smiled and shoved my head under his arm like a halfback would a football… you know. Like this. (example) What I didn’t expect was that the man saw it as well. See the boy felt my good intentions. Any other situation, and the man would pick up my head, and the boy would’ve run like hell. Like in the movies. The man had only fear, but that’s mostly cause he expected something like that to happen, but a cop would’ve been more understandable. He knew he was doin’ wrong, and was just waiting to either get away with it, or to at least see how far he could go. Good for me. My body was already behind ‘im, and when he turned around.”

Walter:

“Spare us the details, will you, please?”

Steve: (worked up)

“Hell no! I punched him in the face, and knee’d his balls right up inta his eye-sockets. He ran for his van, and drove away. Imagine, can ya? This headless body chasin’ yer child-molestin ass. The van drove away, but the boy brought me my head. For some reason, I had kept talking and the boy understood. He was relaxed… I could tell he felt safe. That feeling… I can not describe it. I spent the rest of the evening wandering neighborhoods with him. We found his home, his mama. I had my head back in place, but the mama was afraid of me. Still, she had to be thankfull. She fed me, gave me some clothes, a little dough…”

Walter:

“Get to the point!”

Steve:

“Man, Walt. You can’t have anymore… you get too impatient. (beat, to Gene)

She said I was an angel.

I know it sounds cliché. Old bitty’s always sayin’ that to nice people, but; me bein’ dead… it made sense.”

Walter:

”Tell him about the next morning.”

Steve:

“What did I just tell you, Wally… I was pausing for effect. Y’know, let the idea sink in a little. Well, the next day, I had this grey patch of hair in my head, and my goat had turned silver, and my face looked like I had been in the sun for twenty years.”

Gene:
”You grew older?”

Steve:

“Naw, I looked older. Inside, I felt as young as a babe. Had me a bit of a fire in my belly, too. Since that moment, I knew I was an angel, and that my heart would always put me in a place to do the best for someone I don’t know. Alone, I was a fuck-up… but dead… I push others into not being me.”

Gene:

“Is it hard? You know, to know what to do?”

Steve:

“It’s a feeling. Those can always be hard, but most the time, it’s not. It’s like saying an orgasm feels like a tickle. You know it’s bullshit, but it’s the closet…”

Walter:

“Definition?”

Steve:

“Right. It’s the best they got. You know how your stomach feels when you’re in trouble?”

Gene:

“Yea.”

Steve:

“Well, it’s the exact opposite of that. I haven’t had to throw my head at anyone since. Mostly, it’s been bein’ a reminder of what people don’t want to be that shifts they thinking.”

Gene:

“Couldn’t you just change their minds?”

Walter:

“You can never change their mind, son. You can only suggest that things could be worse. By doing that, you force their hand into believing things could be better.”

Steve:

“You’re such a fool, Walt! People want to know things get better. They just can’t handle when life is bad for awhile. They think it’s forever. You gotta remind them it’s easy to be strong. To carry on."

Gene:
”That’s where we come in. They think it’s the worst, forever, and we push them into remembering that hope glimmer’s on the simplest of notions. So then, the past is just gone?"

Steve:

"No. It's a part of you, alright. Don't have to control you though. Second star to the right, straight on till morning.."

Act: Walter giggles

Gene:

"Huh!?!"

Steve:

"Peter Pan, boy. It's what to do to not grow up. Aim for the second star to the right, and keep going till morning comes."

Gene:
"No particular destination, then."

Walter:

"Tell him what you told me earlier, Gene."

Gene:

"What... what thing?"

Walter:

"You know, that theory you got. That thing you kept going on about downtown. The one you never got to use."

Steve:

"Ahh... true words from the past. Tell me, son."

Gene:

"Naw... it's stupid. It's nothing like what you guys are saying."

Steve:

"Say it."

Gene:

"Well, once, I thought I knew the secret to life..."

Steve:

"Didn't we just have a little talk about that one?"

Gene:
"Yeah, I know... I said it was dumb."

Walter:

"It's good, Gene. Steve'll like it. Hell, I like it, and I've heard a lot."

Steve:

"Get to it... say it.!"

Gene:

"Okay: the secret to life is to not think as much as you do, and to do as much as possible."

Both Steve and Walter are silent for a moment.

Steve: (testing him)

"Do you need to know why?"

Gene:

"Not really. I just want to know... I want to look back and say I was right. I did a cool thing. (Pause) Even though I'm dead."

Steve:

“You woke up quite a shit-heap here, Walter. Hey kid, do you know how to make a hormone?"

(Beat, Gene motions ignorance)

""Don't pay her."

(all laugh)

Gene:

“Wally…”

Walter:

“See, you fucker… now you got him saying it!”

Gene:

“Walter? Why did you wake me up?”

Walter:

“Why did you follow?”

Fade out with the jokes beginning again.

Scene ??: Ext. Day (like the rest of the damn film!!) Walter and Gene are still walking the tracks when they happen upon yet another ghost frozen in time. This time, he happens to be in the same position Gene was in when he died. Suddenly, just as they are to pass, the figure stands up and gets right in Walter's face, and begins to speak. During the talk, Walter has a look of resignation, and fails to notice that Gene is starting to go beyond his usual thousand mile stare into almost oblivion.

Jasper:

There was a time when I was a boy when the entire world made sense to me. Explained to me by another, I knew that he could not be wrong, because it was a vision that I could grasp and hold within my mind. Then, as days went by, I knew that the one I had loved so much was a liar, and simple in his own ways that the world must be what he believed, and the reasons he gave as truth were nothing but excuses for why he should be so denied. Total disempowerment is as liberating as insanity, but insanity relies more on the reality of truth than the understanding. Understanding is only a matter of belief and mental compensation. A state of accepting that which you do not agree upon because it makes the very breath in your now gone lungs easier, and the moments in your life less combative, and more peaceful... still empty. Why fight when you can just agree and live by your own guides in silence, except no one hears, and you become the master of a world so perfect that you are no longer here. You no longer hear. Just nod your head and hope no one kicks your ass. Suddenly you are no longer there, and here becomes a place in the heart and not in the world. Not in the mind of man, but in the mind of God, where there are only unlimited amounts of things you can neither understand nor control, and your position here is aided not. Here, only strangers are put before you, permissed to control you, and you may do nothing but obey, because it is all you can believe. It is all you can do to keep going. It becomes the only thought that allows you to act. To do something. Anything. They will never ask, but in their own silent scream they are still demanding that everyone listen, and know that they have the truth. So much more than anyone else, when you know, straight as truth, that they know nothing. Still your voice will not conflict. It will not proclomate that they know nothing, and you know something. No matter how small it may be, compared the vast capacity of everything, you dare not say you know better. Dare not, I, to admit that I know more than you, dear elder. I can not tell you your life has been wasted on perfecting a lie that had diversed upon the world to such an amount as to strip you of your only power. You make me naked. All may believe you for a millennia only to disprove you and disregard your existence as futile. Who are you to know? Who are you to take such strength from such simple knowledge, and think you may dismantle the very establishment that has praised me for so long. Fuck YOUR truth... mine is power, and no matter how many believe it is wrong, they will follow, as fools, and I will build mine with what was theirs, for they would rather follow than know that they could accomplish the same. That is power. That is the world. This is not your world. This is not their world. This is a place where only the mind can place you in the perfection of what is when everything is certainly what is not, but it is... mine. Obey little child. Just behave and I shall reward you here as if nothing else exists, and you shall never need to regret those moments when things were done that did not need to be done, and things stolen are justified in your approach, because they are dumb, and do not deserve to acquire. To have is better to possess through you, for you can deflect the world away from them, and the silence of truth is allowed to speak in you mind come the end of the day. When only the goal was to be achieved, and not the miles traveled there. The rest, what is left, is yours.

Those miles mean nothing in these moments here; for you have yours through theirs... now, what was the reward?

Act: Walter is about to blow Jasper off when he recognizes Gene's condition.

Walter: (annoyed more than upset)

"Damn!! Jasper!! Oh, now... why did you have to do that!?! He didn't have to remember that... necessarily! He might have done better with out it!"

Jasper:

"They're all in cages, Walt... where's your watch? What's your sense of time?"

Walter:

"Well, then... if you’re just gonna stay in your little... whatever, at least you can let us do what we need to. You’re just getting in the way!! Fuck off, Jasper!! Go haunt something else. Leave the boy alone. (To Gene) Wake up, Gene. Blink out of it, son... (no reaction) Shit! Slow your mind, boy... slow me down... slow me down. Damn, nevermind... Catch me! Catch my voice... catch... the... last... word... I... say."

Gene: (jumping up)

"Wha... what?

Walter: (with a big, fake smile)

"Kinda trippy, huh?"

Gene: (pauses for a line before doubling over for a stomach cramp, drug ache)

"Uh?.... OH!... aughhhhh...."

Walter:

"Get a grip... no body, boy!"

Jasper:

"No soul, neither."

Walter:

"I told you to FUCK OFF, Jasper! Leave us be. GO AWAY!!"

Act: jasper wanders off scene.

Gene: (after a pause, a little recovery)

"Walter... I'm... I shouldn't..."

Walter:

"Ahhh... well, don't say you’re sorry... it’s not your fault. It's your memory. A part of the thin line between ghost's and angels. The very same silver lining between the sky and clouds..."

Gene:

"I wasn't supposed to remember?"

Walter:

"It's my fault. I thought you might do better not knowing. No. I thought you'd do better without it... (drifts off, thinking.)

Gene:

"You wanted me to be back where I didn't crave?"

Walter:

"No, when you didn't know. Unlike your body, you don't leave your memory behind. I was hoping it wouldn't come up; but, then Steve... Jasper... bastards..."

Gene:

"So would that be the return of my innocence... or my ignorance?"

(Both chuckle)

Walter:

"Just stupid of me... I would have done better to get you ready. Why would I think it wouldn't come up? Memory is your arsenal, Gene... not the weapon. It's what makes the world you know. That you see. Can you say what happened?"

Gene:

"I didn't think about it. It just happened. It was something he was saying just made so much sense. It didn't just add all up, something like that, but that it was building like a structure of a memory, a simple pattern I was being given that would cause me to do something, only I don’t know what that is yet... I just recognized something in there and then the world all sped up real fast. It was all just right there!"

Walter:

"Indecision. Indetermination. The only enemy we's got to fight. The only thing that can freeze you and me. That's where the ghost in us lives. That’s what the ghost want to do."

Gene:
"The only thing it wants to do?"

Walter:
"The only thing it can do. Stay, and wait for something to decide to act upon. You may need that memory after all. Just don't let it stick you to the hilt... promise."

Gene:

"Promise!"

Scene 91: Ext. Day: This Bridge Can Be Crossed. This is a leap of faith scene. The decision to cross the RR bridge is so obvious to Walter, what with emotional timing and his connection to the higher-consciousness-timing; but it makes Gene afraid. For Walter the moment is now. He knows he will be safe. Gene Is afraid, but trusts for the first time in his life, and they both make it to the other bank. They make the other bank in time to see the train in the distance. Evidence that even a ten-minute debate or wait would close the window of opportunity. There is more than enough space between the bridge to sat that there is time to cross the bridge but not an infinite amount of time to act.

Walter:

"No sir: nothin' to it but to do it."

Walter begins to walk down the tracks, as the long train is passing.

Gene: (stopping)

"I can't go that way, Walter."

Walter: (stopping and returning to where Gene has stopped)

"Excuse me?"

Gene:

"When I look down the rail-road tracks, in the direction you are going... I ... I can't go that way."

Walter: (baiting)

"Why not?"

Gene:

"Because I want to go this way."

Walter:

"Why?"

Gene: (nonchalantly)

"I don't know."

Walter:

"... and?"

Gene: (staring off)

"I have to go."

Walter:

"Do you feel it?"

Gene:

"Do I look any older?"

Walter: (after a pause)

"No. Not really. But, I know... I know you are."

Act: Gene takes the sleeve of his shirt and licks it, then cleans off Walter’s forehead. They both laugh a little.

Gene: (in a thousand mile stare)

"I can never thank..."

Walter:

"Don't start that shit, young man. You got up and followed. You chose this, kid, and now you know."

Gene:

"Yea, I know. Thank you, Walter. You turned a ghost into a spirit. I can..."

Walter:

"... and you will. Look at me."

Gene and Walter stand face to face and Gene notices something.

Gene:

"You’re getting wrinkly, old man."

Walter:

"Don't you forget it, son!"

(Hug)

They part ways.

Scene 98: Ext. Day: Gene's Failure. Gene walks back the way he came and begins to head back down the same street as the beginning, but only gets half way across the bridge before he heads back into the city. Once downtown, he goes to the Bus Station. Camera sees the board listing California, when Gene smells something, very wiffy, and walks into the women's bathroom. He walks into a stall and finds a girl baking her goods.

Gene:

"Hello?"

Jennifer:

"You can't get nuthin'. This mine. Fuck off."

Gene:

"No, I'm not here for that. I just came to..."

Jennifer:

"Well, I ain't doin' nuthin else in here. Don'tcha know you’re in the wrong place? Didn't anyone see you come in here?"

Gene:

"It's Sunday afternoon. We're about the only ones here..."

Jennifer:

"Look, you don't understand... I only got two hours before I got to be back. And that's for the rest of the night. This is all there is for now. Now go away. You can get'cha a little something, just catch the Phoenix bus. Leaves in twenty minutes."

Gene: (flustered)
"But, I'm supposed to tell you..."

Jennifer:

"What are you going to tell me? C'mon, I only got twenty minutes to peak and level, now 'git."

Act: Gene decides to meet her on the bus and finds the one to Phoenix and climbs on board. Before the bus leaves an ambulance pulls into the bus station, and the paramedics race inside. Gene quickly exits the bus in time to see the paramedics race the convulsing Jennifer away. Gene goes back into the bathroom, steps over the vomit to the stall to see Jennifer still sitting there, blanked-out.

Jennifer:

"Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me?"

Act: Gene tries to shake her out of her stare, but she is still there. He tries screaming, ect... but then gives up, and leaves the bus station. He runs to the railroad bridge on the river, now the other side of the previous scene. He is visibly upset, and angry. He keeps saying "What did I do wrong?" He sits down beside the rr bridge, and then, in a flash, two days pass. He stands up quickly, and runs back towards downtown. He goes back into the bus station, and finds the girl is still in the bathroom, but she is no longer talking.

Gene:

"Come with me. You don't have to stay here."

Gene leaves the bus station, and stands out side the main door waiting for her to follow, but she never comes. When he races back into the bathroom, she is gone, and Gene does not understand. Confused, he runs back towards the rr trax where he laid down and died.

Gene:

"I can't stay here. What am I supposed to do? Where do I go? Walter... did I leave too soon? If I sit to think, time flashes by, and I get cold; but, I don't know what to do. (Beat) I'm never good on my own, anyway."

He sits down for a moment, then jumps up. He starts running down the trax when he stops, looks around, and then runs back to where he was and up to the street. He continues to walk through the city streets with a destination in mind.

Scene 100: Ext. Day: Gene is walking down the street when he sees a penny on the road. It is facing "head's down" so he kneels down and flips it over, and then walks over it. He continues to walk away, into the camera, when he hears a voice. When he turns around it is two lovers walking hand in hand, and the woman is looking distressed. They are discussing a money problem, or something. Just woes, not a spat. Neither of the two see him even though he is standing right there.

Jack:

"Oh look, sweetheart. A penny. It's heads up. That's good luck."

Cut to:

Final Scene: Ext. Day. C/a wide shot of track, with Naked Rachael s/l. Gene walks up to her and sits down. We see the sky go by, with sun rise and set, moon rise and set as if it is a month. Very quick, but scene lasts at least one minute. Then he stands, and kneels down beside Rachael. He gets up, and extends an overcoat, and she stands and climbs into the jacket, and they exit s/r.

The End.

-Insert Credits Here-

Epilogue:

*Scene 10003061: Ext. Early Morning: (still dark) The New Recruit/Sequal Option: [c/a: s/f] Camera is framing a young street punk, in the alley way, with his cooking and shooting wares. [c/a: slow zm>] He begins to cook heroin in a spoon, with a Zippo lighter. Camera has the boy at a waist to bald head frame by the time he begins to draw the heroin into the syringe. Camera continues [c/a: slow zm>] framing the boys face. [c/a: s/f]

Act: The boys face reveals the pain of the needle entering the vein, and the surge of the narcotic. His head starts to fade back, looking for support from the brick wall behind him. Just seconds from resting his head on the wall... Cut to:

*Scene 10003062: Ext. Morning: (daylight more evident) Bonk!!: [c/a: c/u, s/f] Camera has moved to a profile shot as close up as the previous shot.

Act: The street punk's head, when it is barely two inches from resting on the wall, is suddenly smacked on the forehead, causing the back of his head to be slammed into the wall. Cut to:

*Scene 10003063: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/t] The camera has the opposite profile view of scene 10003062, only wider.

Act: Street punk is standing up, with an immediate charge of energy, to defend who ever just had the nerve smack him.

Street Punk: (pissed)

[Expletives created]

Cut to:

*Scene 10003064: Ext. Day: [c/a: s/f] Freeze frame: The camera has moved back to the original profile position of scene 10003062, only wider, to frame in all four figures of the final shot. Street punk is standing with his back to the camera, and is also still sitting on the ground, slumped over, with his syringe on the ground nearby [f/x]. The slumped Street Punk's arm has a small trickle of blood, and he is sitting in a growing puddle of urine. In front of the standing Street Punk is Gene (in the distance of the camera). Gene appears noticeably older than before. In the back ground is a blurry Naked Rachel, standing at the entrance of the alley way. Another man stands on the walk. Traffic on the road outside the alley is driving by.

Gene:

"C'mon, son... you've got things to do!"

Cut to: that big red screen that has the movie rating on it.