Dreamsongs. Volume II Read online

  DENISE

  This isn’t happening…Jeff…what am I saying, you’re not Jeff, you can’t be Jeff.

  The Vet rolls toward her.

  CUT TO

  EXT.—FREEWAY—DAY

  Jeff’s car is barreling through freeway traffic, cutting in and out, hurrying home. He comes down an exit ramp, speeds along a residential street.

  INT.—JEFF’S CAR

  Behind the wheel, he looks grim and intent, a little frightened.

  CUT TO

  THE BEDROOM

  The Vet rolls forward as Denise backs away from him.

  VET

  You want to see my dogtags? I’m Jeff McDowell, just as much as he is. You want to test me? Go on, I know all the answers. We met in high school, working on the school paper. Your parents are named Pete and Barbara. The first time we went all the way was on your couch, the night they went out for an anniversary dinner and I came over to watch War of the Worlds on your color TV. You’ve got a birthmark on the inside of your thigh, about an inch—

  DENISE

  (interrupting)

  My God…you are Jeff. What…What…

  VET

  (looks down at missing legs)

  What happened? Is that the question? Vietnam happened, Denny. Vietnam and the draft lottery and a mine.

  DENISE

  You didn’t go to Vietnam. You went to Canada. We went to Canada, together, we got married up there. You taught up there until the amnesty.

  VET

  (bitter laugh)

  I’m still waiting for my amnesty.

  DENISE

  How…how did you get here? Where did you come from? And why? What do you want from us?

  VET

  I just want…

  Before he can finish, they HEAR the sound of squealing brakes from outside.

  CUT TO

  EXT.—MCDOWELL HOUSE—DAY

  Jeff’s Datsun screeches up into the driveway, behind Denise’s Volvo. He opens the door, rushes inside.

  INT.—LIVING ROOM

  as Jeff bursts in through the kitchen door.

  JEFF

  (wild, yells)

  Denise! Where are you? DENISE!

  He looks around the room, snatches up a fireplace poker.

  CUT TO

  BEDROOM

  where Denise hears him yelling.

  DENISE

  (shouts)

  JEFF! Here, I’m up here.

  VET

  Denny, please. I don’t have—

  DENISE

  (louder)

  JEFF!

  We HEAR Jeff’s footsteps pounding up the stairs and a moment later the door bursts open as he enters, brandishing the poker. The Vet wheels his chair around and backs off.

  JEFF

  Stay away from her! Leave her alone—

  Jeff stops dead, as the full realization hits him. He stares.

  JEFF

  (softly)

  You’re…me.

  VET

  (soft, weary)

  Bingo.

  JEFF

  This isn’t happening, this is some kind of—

  VET

  (interrupts)

  Dream? Yeah. But are you dreaming me or am I dreaming you?

  (beat)

  I don’t give a damn either way. I think we’re both real. I think that back around 1971 we came to this fork in the road, and you went one way, and I went the other, and we got to…different places.

  Jeff slowly lowers the fireplace poker. He’s pale, scared.

  JEFF

  Then…those flashbacks I’ve been having…those are…

  VET

  (hard smile)

  Mine, brother. Part of the baggage. I guess they just come with me. And you and me, we’re the same person, right? I could feel it happening…leaking. But I couldn’t stop it. We just got too close.

  DENISE

  Jeff—

  Both of them turn to look at her.

  DENISE

  (continues, with difficulty)

  I mean…Spaceman…in your…road…what happened to…

  VET

  To us, Denny? You and me?

  Denise nods.

  VET

  You died in a motorcycle crash while I was in Nam. The guy you were riding with didn’t believe in helmets.

  Denise looks sick, turns away. The Vet stares off into space, remembering something, and when he continues his voice is dead, hollow, full of pain.

  All the time I was over there, I knew I’d be coming back, I knew I’d find you again and make it right between us…and then your mother wrote me that letter.

  (beat, with great difficulty)

  I was short, man. I was so short. I shoulda known better, but I wasn’t thinking right, wasn’t paying attention. You got to pay attention. I felt it when I stepped on it. It makes this sound, this little click.

  (looks at them)

  That kind of mine…it don’t go off when you step on it, you know. It’s when you take your weight off. The rest of the guys just looked at me. I told them to get the hell away, and they backed off one by one, but they all kept looking at me, staring at the dead man who was standing there shouting at them. Even when they were all out of range, I couldn’t move. But they were watching me, all of them watching me, and finally I couldn’t take it no more. I jumped.

  (bitter laugh)

  We never could jump very far, huh, Jeffy?

  CLOSE ON JEFF

  For a beat, the silence is profound.

  JEFF

  You saved them. You saved their lives.

  BACK TO THE SCENE

  VET

  Yeah. They gave me a medal.

  JEFF

  You saved them.

  (turns away)

  And I didn’t. That’s it, isn’t it? I wasn’t there.

  He flings the poker away violently, and it smashes off a wall. Jeff turns back, angry.

  JEFF

  All right, then. Guilty, I’m guilty. I took…the other road. But whatever…retribution is due, it’s mine. Denise and Megan have nothing to do with it. Whatever you have to do, leave them out of it.

  ANGLE ON DENISE

  as she listens to Jeff with fear, horror.

  DENISE

  No!

  (looks to Vet)

  I went with him to Canada. We decided together. I’m part of him, and everything that happens to him.

  ANGLE ON THE VET

  After a long beat, he smiles gently.

  VET

  I know. That’s why I loved you, Denny.

  (to Jeff)

  You don’t understand, man. You think I’d hurt them?

  (laughs)

  And they say us vets are crazy.

  BACK TO THE SCENE

  JEFF

  Then…why? Why are you here?

  VET

  Good question.

  (grim smile)

  I’m dyin’, man.

  DENISE

  My God…

  VET

  The doctors never tell you, but I feel it coming. And it’s okay…I lost everything important a long time ago…my legs, my girl, my future. Even Jeff. And Spaceman, he didn’t have nothing but some real nasty memories.

  (beat)

  I was in the VA…waiting to get it over with…and I kept thinking about Denny, you know? Wondering how it would of come out if I’d done it different. I guess I just…wondered myself here, huh?

  (laughs)

  I always liked ghosts, but I never thought I’d be one.

  The Vet turns his wheelchair to face Jeff.

  VET

  (continues)

  I just wanted…to see them.

  (beat, smile)

  You did okay, McDowell.

  Jeff shakes his head, obviously eaten up by guilt. He’s sound and whole, but he’s the guy in the chair too, and his face is corroded by self-doubt.

  JEFF

  You did okay. I wasn’t there—

  Unable to face his cr
ippled counterpart, Jeff turns away.

  VET

  (softly)

  I wasn’t there either. Not for Denise. Not for Megan.

  The Vet rolls himself over to a dresser, and picks up a framed photograph of Megan, stares at it.

  VET

  (continues)

  If you can hold your little girl in your arms and think for even a second that you did anything wrong, then you’re the dumbest human being ever walked the face of the earth. Believe me, Jeff. You didn’t miss nothing.

  ANGLE ON JEFF

  As he turns back, reacting to what the Vet has said, to the obvious truth of it. He’s choked up. Denise goes to him, wordlessly. They embrace.

  VET

  I think…maybe it’s time I went.

  Denise turns to him.

  DENISE

  You don’t have to. I mean, you can stay.

  VET

  (sadly)

  No. I can’t. At least now I’ve got a few things to remember, huh?

  Jeff reacts sharply; he’s had a thought.

  JEFF

  The flashbacks—

  (beat)

  You and me, we’re the same person. It has to work both ways.

  (beat, decisively)

  I’ve got memories too. Maybe if we touched, or—

  He steps forward, but the Vet rolls backward, away from him.

  VET

  No! You don’t know what you’re talking about.

  JEFF

  (softly, with compassion)

  I’m talking about the day Denise and I got married. Our honeymoon. The day Megan was born.

  VET

  (bitterly)

  It ain’t one way, Jeff. Think of what you’ll get in return. You’ll remember them dyin’ around you. The hospitals, the years in the chair.

  (beat)

  You’ll remember standing there while they backed away from you, watching you, all of them watching you. You won’t sleep so good, and sometimes you’ll wake up screaming.

  Jeff hesitates, looks to Denise. She nods. He kisses her, steps toward the Vet.

  JEFF

  I’m not afraid of a few nightmares.

  (wry smile)

  I can always hide under the blankets, right?

  He holds out his hand. The Vet stares up at him, then, very slowly, reaches out and takes Jeff’s hand in both of his. Jeff winces sharply, as if in pain. The Vet closes his eyes. Tears begin to run down his cheek.

  CLOSE ON DENISE

  as she watches.

  ANGLE PAST DENISE ON SCENE

  The two Jeff McDowells seem to glow with a strange blue-green light, as ghostly afterimages flicker about each of them. Her Jeff, standing, seems for a moment to be wearing a uniform, and then a long straggly beard. The Vet appears to be dressed in a 60s-style tux, then in civilian clothes; his trouser legs FILL OUT as LEGS shimmer into view, spectral and glowing, but legs nonetheless. He opens his eyes, stares in wonder, then RISES from the chair.

  VET

  I guess maybe we’re both heroes, huh?

  The Vet, now standing, EMBRACES Jeff, the strange light playing all about them. Then the two bodies seem to MELT into each other, to MERGE and become one. The light grows so intense that Denise shies away, covers her eyes.

  When the glow fades, the wheelchair and the Vet are gone, and only the original Jeff McDowell remains. Denise runs to him, and they embrace, holding each other very tight and hard. We HOLD the shot as the NARRATOR’S voice comes up.

  NARRATOR

  We make our choices, and afterwards wonder what that other road was like. Jeff McDowell found out, and paid the toll. A lesson in courage and cartography, from the mapmakers of the Twilight Zone.

  THE END

  DOORWAYS

  FADE IN

  EXT.—FREEWAY—NIGHT—AERIAL

  Traffic is fast and heavy. Suddenly we hear a CRACK, as loud as a clap of thunder, as sharp as a sonic boom.

  SMASH CUT TO

  TIGHT ON CAT

  A girl stands trapped in the center of the freeway, as speeding traffic surges around her. Call her CAT. She’s twenty. Her figure is lean, boyish, wiry-tough. Her hair is short, raggedly shorn. There is something wild about her, something quick and feral and not-quite-tamed. Her pants are leather, old, cracked, badly worn. She wears a loose black uniform shirt several sizes too big for her, unbuttoned, over a tight silver-gray undershirt. Her feet are bare. She looks lost, confused…

  INTERCUT—CAT’S POV

  HEADLIGHTS are coming at her from all directions, it seems, cars are missing her by inches.

  RESUME CAT

  She tries to dart toward the shoulder, misjudges the speed of traffic. A car almost hits her, its horn BLARING. Cat jumps back.

  A second car SWERVES to avoid her. Brakes SQUEAL. More HORNS sound. Cat spins, searching for a way out. She takes a step in the other direction, jumps back as two cars SLAM TOGETHER. Metal CRUNCHES with impact. More HORNS. Off in the distance, we HEAR police SIRENS too.

  CLOSE ON CAT

  She covers her ears against the noise, draws herself in protectively, closes her eyes amidst the chaos…

  Suddenly she is AWASH IN BLINDING LIGHT, and we hear the deep, terrifying sound of a big truck’s AIR HORN. Her eyes snap open.

  REVERSE ANGLE

  A huge SEMI is bearing down on her.

  RESUME CAT

  She freezes, like a deer pinned by the truck’s lights. Then the fear is replaced by defiance. From under her shirt, she pulls a WEAPON; sleek and strange, like no gun we have ever seen. Cat swings it up quickly, aims with both hands, and FIRES. The only sound is a soft PHUT of compressed air as the weapon spits out a needle.

  ANGLE ON THE SEMI

  One moment it is roaring forward at sixty miles an hour, its horn screaming, its headlights blinding. Then it EXPLODES. The cab blows apart, sending chunks of glass and metal flying in all directions. The huge truck careens wildly out of control, veers off to one side, and CRASHES. A second EXPLOSION rocks the truck as its gas tank blows, sending up a towering ball of flame.

  CAT

  is turning to make a break for the shoulder when a spinning piece of debris from the explosion comes flying at her. She ducks, but not fast enough. She catches a glancing blow on the forehead. The impact sends her sprawling.

  PUSH IN TIGHT

  Cat lies on the road, unconscious, bleeding from a cut over one eye. The weapon has slipped from her grasp, and the sleeve of her shirt has ridden up to reveal an ornate bracelet clasped around her right forearm. It’s a strange piece, a Gigeresgue tangle of silvery metal inset with three parallel slashes of dark plastic, that coils around her arm like a nest of snakes.

  OFF that image, we

  FADE OUT

  END OF TEASER

  ACT I

  FADE IN

  EXT.—HOSPITAL—NIGHT

  SIRENS scream through the night as an ambulance races down the freeway, closely followed by two POLICE CRUISERS with lights flashing.

  CUT TO

  INT.—EMERGENCY ROOM—NIGHT

  An eight-year-old BOY sits on an examination table, surrounded by his MOTHER, a young doctor (TOM), and a heavyset nurse (MADGE).

  TOM

  Not like that. Look at that mess. No, you have to keep your hand steady. It’s a delicate operation. Mistakes can be fatal. Here, watch.

  REVERSE ANGLE

  Tom holds up his hand, palm down. He is twenty-seven, dark-haired, rumpled, confident. The nameplate on his greens reads LAKE. He has a quarter between two fingers. He “walks” it across his hand, flips it up in the air, catches it, opens his hand. He pulls it out from behind the boy’s ear.

  TOM

  What did I tell you. Magic is easy. Diagnosis is hard.

  He grins at the young patient, who LAUGHS with delight. The nurse and the mother smile fondly. In b.g., we HEAR the sound of SIRENS. Tom hears it too.

  TOM

  (to boy)

  And for my next trick, I make you disappear.


  (to mother)

  He’ll be fine.

  INT.—HOSPITAL—NIGHT

  Two PARAMEDICS rush a gurney down a corridor to the Emergency Room. A pair of cops (CHAMBERS and SANCHEZ) follow close behind.

  TRACKING WITH THE GURNEY

  Tom falls in beside the gurney.

  TOM

  What do we have?

  PARAMEDIC

  Head injury, facial lacerations, maybe some internal. Her vitals are real strong, but she’s non-responsive.

  A gauze bandage covers Cat’s cut; it’s PINK with blood.

  SANCHEZ

  She was playing tag out on the freeway. Blew the crap out of a semi with some weird gun.

  INT.—EMERGENCY ROOM—CONTINUOUS

  They push through a set of double doors into the ER.

  TOM

  We’ll take it from here. Madge, notify X-Ray I’m sending someone up. Tell them I’ll need a full set of cranials.

  The nurse scrawls a signature for the paramedics. They EXIT as Tom begins his examination of Cat. He feels gently around her neck, searching for breaks. Lifts the gauze pad to examine her head injury. When he pushes up her sleeve to take her pulse, he reveals her strange bracelet. He touches it.

  TIGHT ON CAT

  Her eyes snap open and Cat MOVES. She grabs Tom by the crotch and SQUEEZES. Tom GASPS in shock and pain.

  RESUME

  Cat rolls off as Tom collapses, on her feet with all the speed of her namesake. Chambers jumps her. Cat tries to punch him, but he grabs first one arm, then the other. He holds her by the wrists as she struggles.