The Very Best of Tad Williams (37 page)

ERIC looks at her, a little surprised; this is an unexpected approach. He struggles to find the wavelength.

ERIC

We...want to help you. God, man, we’re so sorry that this happened to you. To all of us.

TOPHER is rigid as a statue, staring past them.

ERIC
(cont.)

But it isn’t anybody’s fault. It just...happened.

JANICE hesitates, then reaches out and takes TOPHER’s hand. It’s a brave act—we can sense how weird it must feel.

JANICE

I haven’t slept well in months, Topher. You know I’ve tried to help you, come visit you. How can I do that if I’m scared all the time? If I can’t get any sleep?

ERIC

We were all friends, remember? Before that... that bad night. We’re still your friends. We...we miss you.

(after a long moment, he touches TOPHER’s other hand.)

Please, man. Please.

The strange tableau falls silent, two people holding hands with a rigid monstrosity, as we

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—SAME TIME

ADULT BRENT is loading things into his SUV. It looks like he’s getting the family ready for a camping vacation, but not a happy one: he’s very blank and silent, even though his wife TRACY is standing at the front door, talking to him.

TRACY

Brent? What are you doing? Are we going somewhere?

He continues to load the SUV, not answering.

TRACY
(cont.)

Whatever it is you’re doing, we’re not going anywhere until you talk to me. What’s going on? It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore...!

BRENT slows and then stops in the middle of the driveway like a toy winding down. He puts his hands over his face, shoulders shaking.

TRACY

Brent? Brent, you’re scaring me...

INT.—ERIC’S CAR—LATE AFTERNOON

They are driving along a tree-lined road. Both look troubled.

ERIC

...I mean, what was that all about? Are we saying that it’s Topher who’s making us see these things? There are a lot of better explanations, Janice. Janice?

JANICE shakes her head, too tired to talk about it. We close on JANICE’s face, her eyes closed, thinking, hand on head like she’s got a migraine coming on. The sound of The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” comes up slowly, filling the car.

JANICE

I don’t want to hear any music, Eric. Could you turn the tape off?

ERIC

(sounding strange)

It’s not the tape player.

JANICE

(opens eyes)

Then turn off the fucking radio! My head hurts.

ERIC

I didn’t turn it on. It’s not on.

As they both stare at the dark radio dial and the music grows louder, something suddenly appears for an instant in front of the car—a dark shape. JANICE and ERIC both shout in terror and ERIC jams on the brakes, sending the car squealing and sliding. Something THUMPS against the car as they screech to a halt, halfway across the road.

JANICE

We hit somebody! We hit somebody!

ERIC is sitting stunned in his seat, trying to get his breath, when something large and dark lands on the windshield. For a moment there’s a dim glimpse of YOUNG TOPHER’s face, distorted against the glass, then he bursts into roaring FLAMES which surround the car.

TOPHER

(screaming with laughter in the flames)

I see you! I see you!

An instant later the FLAMES vanish. Everything is NORMAL, the car still skewed across the empty road, but no sign of anything else. ERIC turns to JANICE, bloodless, shocked. She’s just as devastated.

JANICE

Oh, my God, Eric, what’s happening to us...?

We pull back slowly from the pair of them, back until we see the car in the middle of the country road, back and back, as we

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.—HOSPITAL—NIGHT

The wind is blowing the trees, hard. Except for a light in the front lobby, the hospital windows are all dark. The wind gets stronger, the tree-shadows flailing along the walls.

INT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—SAME TIME

BRENT is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the television. The sound is off. As we pan around we see that he has a bottle and glass on the rug in front of him. The glass is upside-down. BRENT has arranged five BULLETS in a little circle on the bottom of the glass, and is holding the sixth in his hand, looking at it. A gun is lying on the carpet next to his leg.

INT.—JANICE’S HOUSE—SAME TIME

JANICE and ERIC have finished a meal of take-out food. JANICE is washing the few dishes while ERIC wanders around in the kitchen/dining room. We can hear the wind getting LOUD outside. He picks up a picture of JANICE’S CHILDREN and looks at it.

JANICE

I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think I could have faced spending the night here by myself.

ERIC

I felt the same about the motel. So...tell me about your marriage. Was he a good guy?

JANICE

Terry? I don’t know. He’s an engineer. Not the most talkative guy in the world. I thought I could make it work. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

ERIC

What went wrong?

JANICE

Nothing, really. But nothing went right after a while, either. Another guy I cared more about than he cared about me.

(turns, drying her hands)

But it’s different when a marriage goes off the tracks and you have kids. It’s...there’s still something that worked. I love my children. I miss them so much.

ERIC

I can’t seem to get a handle on it. You married. Children.

JANICE

It’s been a quarter of a century, Pierson. You haven't exactly stayed in touch.

ERIC

All I’ve been doing since I came back here is saying I'm sorry, and it doesn't seem to be working on anyone. But I am sorry, Janice, especially about the way I treated you. Shit, I didn't know what was going on
—
I was numb, crazy. I was a kid! We were all kids. I just wanted it all to go away.

JANICE sits down on the couch. ERIC joins her.

JANICE

I used to call you. You never called back. It was horrible, having to keep leaving messages with those guys in your dorm—I could just hear them thinking, “Oh, no, it’s that pathetic hometown chick that Pierson dropped...”

ERIC

It wasn’t like that...

JANICE

But you know what the worst thing was? Do you remember that stupid song about the telephone? It was playing every time I turned the radio on that fall.

(she sings, a little hoarse)

“Okay, so no one’s answering...so I’ll just wait a little longer, longer...” I couldn’t get away from that fucking song.

JANICE blinks angrily, fighting tears.

ERIC

I never liked Electric Light Orchestra, anyway. Brent really hated ’em. Said they’d gone downhill after Roy Wood left the group.

JANICE

Boys. You can talk about guitar solos, but anything else just paralyzes you, doesn’t it?

ERIC

Look, for years there wasn’t a fucking day that went by when I didn’t think about how things went so wrong—with you and me, that night... everything. Over and over. Thinking about how if I’d only done this thing different or that thing different...

JANICE

(after a pause)

What are we going to do, Eric? I’m frightened.

ERIC shakes his head, then moves closer to her and puts his arm around her. She relaxes into his chest.

ERIC

I have no idea at all. I’m scared shitless myself. But this feels good. It’s the first thing that’s felt that way for a while.

(a beat)

I haven’t really been able to make it work with anyone. Scared I never will. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting paid back for being a shit to you, back then.

JANICE lifts her face to look at him. She has a tear on her cheek. ERIC gently wipes it away with his finger. After a moment, he touches her cheek again, letting his hand stay. She leans forward and they kiss. What starts out careful and tentative begins to turn passionate—JANICE is crying as they kiss, almost climbing onto his lap. Then she pulls away.

JANICE

No. No, it’s not right.

ERIC

If you want...

JANICE

After all these years, I don’t know what I want. But you don’t know me any more, Eric. I’m not the same person, and neither are you. We can’t just fall into bed. We’d be...I don’t know, fucking our past, not each other.

ERIC

Seems like it’s our past that’s fucking us. In more ways than one.

JANICE slowly moves back against his chest.

JANICE

You’re still pretty funny, you know? Too bad it’s true.

(after a moment)

I was so scared.

ERIC

It’s been a weird day all around.

JANICE

No! Back then. That night. I was acting cool because I hated you guys treating me like a wimpy girl, but I didn’t really want to take that stuff...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT.—PIERSON HOUSE, 1976—NIGHT CLOSE ON: BRENT’S PALM

YOUNG BRENT is shaking a little bit of something out of a pill bottle onto the cotton wadding in his hand. As we pull back, we see that everyone is sitting in a circle on the living room floor, except TOPHER who is lying on the couch with his feet up.

YOUNG BRENT

Four-way windowpane. Decks are cleared. Ready to beam up, Mr. Spock.

KIMMY

(nervously)

I thought acid came in, like, a sugar cube.

YOUNG BRENT

That was in the old days. This is the latest and greatest. Come on, you don’t know who your friends really are until you trip with them— right, Erky?

YOUNG ERIC (singing)

“Oh I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener/ that is what I’d truly like to be-ee-ee/ ’cause if I was an Oscar Mayer wiener...”

YOUNG BRENT

Five hits. Kimmy, put a record on so we don’t have to listen to fucking Pierson.

YOUNG ERIC

(finishing)

“Everyone would be in love with me!”

YOUNG JANICE

You wish.

KIMMY

What should I put on?

YOUNG BRENT

I don’t know. You got anything decent, Pierson? You got Yes?
Fragile
would be pretty bitchin’.

KIMMY

Here’s a Yes album, I think. It’s hard to read the writing.

As she’s putting it on, TOPHER swings his legs down from the couch back and sits looking over the others as the acoustic intro of “And You and I” begins. JANICE and KIMMY are both clearly nervous.

YOUNG JANICE

They’re so tiny! How long is this going to last?

YOUNG BRENT

A while. I wish I could have got Stringer to get me this stuff earlier—it’s amazing to go, like, to the park. The grass looks alive.

YOUNG ERIC

The grass is alive.

YOUNG BRENT

You know what I mean.

(to Kimmy)

But wait ’til you see the stars. They look just... far out.

YOUNG ERIC

They are far out.

Everyone laughs, even BRENT.

YOUNG BRENT

(in a bad Brooklyn accent)

Quit bustin’ my balls, Pierson.

(holds out the acid; normal voice:)

Okay, boys and girls. Come and get it!

TOPHER

Slow down, Zenger. I wanna show you guys something.

YOUNG BRENT

Fuck, Holland, this shit doesn’t even come on for an hour. Let’s just take it and then you can show us.

TOPHER

(enjoying his mystery)

No, you’re definitely gonna wanta see this first.

There’s a pause: TOPHER’s clearly waiting to be asked.

YOUNG ERIC

Okay, what is it?

TOPHER extends his hand, in a fist, palmside down, then turns it over and uncurls his fingers to reveal five shiny BLACK PILLS.

YOUNG BRENT

What the fuck are those?

TOPHER

The. Fucking. Best. High. Ever.

YOUNG BRENT

Looks like speed, man. Black beauties.

TOPHER

Oh, no, my little Bent Zengerdenger. This is shit you’ve never seen. Ain’t nobody ever seen this. This...is Black Sunshine.