…following on
from BILL CLINTON’S LOVE CHILD # 3
73 EXT. DESERT PALMS MOTEL. NIGHT
VENUS, her bags
and satellite dish in hand, creeps from her yellow car to a green sedan, breaks
into it, tries to hotwire start it. A loud whirring sound. No luck!
A light comes
on in the Reception doorway. Two figures appear: REG (dressed in a towel only)
and MADGE (in a short bathrobe).
As they run
towards the green sedan. REG'S towel falls off.
VENUS gets the
car started as REG (naked) and MADGE throw themselves onto the bonnet.
VENUS
Get off you
stupid old farts!
REG and MADGE
crawl up to the windscreen as VENUS drives off.
REG (SHOUTS)
Not on your
nelly!
VENUS sees the
motel swimming pool ahead and drives towards it, increasing speed. REG and
MADGE'S hang on for dear life, their bodies pressed up against the windscreen.
VENUS (SHOUTS)
I warned you!
Close to the
low fence around the swimming pool VENUS hits the brakes. The car skids to a
halt. REG and MADGE become airborne and land in the pool with a big splash.
74 EXT. NOTCH'S HOUSE. PRE-DAWN
JOSIE wakes a
little before dawn to find that she is snuggled close to NOTCH; one arm draped
over his chest. She looks at him affectionately for a long moment before
sliding quietly out of his swag.
75 INT. ‘FERAL TOURS’ VEHICLE/NOTCH’S HOUSE. SUNRISE
JOSIE sits in
the front seat of Notch’s Army Troop Carrier - her travel journal resting on
her lap and a hot cup of tea on the dash board. Pen in hand she ponders what to
add to what she has already written:
Every week I
went to Amaroo’s boutique and every week...
76 AMAROO’S BOUTIQUE. DAY
JOSIE, in yet
another of her eccentrically beautiful outfits, stands at the RECEPTIONIST’S
desk. She shakes her head.
RECEPTIONIST
I’m sorry.
MONTAGE
- JOSIE sits
at her sewing machine creating yet another outlandish colourful outfit.
- JOSIE in her
new outfit in Amaroo’s boutique. The RECEPTIONIST shakes her head.
- JOSIE sits
at her sewing machine working on a new design.
- The
RECEPTIONIST shakes her head etc.
Eventually:
RECEPTIONIST
If you leave
your phone number I’ll make sure to let you know the minute Amaroo is back in
the country.
JOSIE takes
out a pen and begins to write down her phone number.
77 INT/EXT. BRANDON’S HOUSE. DAY
BRANDON is
polishing his motor bike on the patio of his house as JOSIE, just inside the
French doors, finishes sewing yet another wildly colourful and outrageously
designed outfit.
A LITTLE LATER
JOSIE, dressed
in her new outfit, looks at herself in a full length mirror - very happy with
her work. She traipses out onto the patio and presents herself to
BRANDON.
JOSIE
Da da!
BRANDON turns
to her with a smile but seems not to notice her new outfit. His attention on
the true love of his life - his spotlessly clean, gleaming shiny Harley Davison.
BRANDON
Is that a
thing of beauty or what?
JOSIE
More beautiful
than me?
BRANDON
notices JOSIE’S outfit.
BRANDON
Hey. (A BEAT)
Cool.
JOSIE
Yeah!?
BRANDON
Babe, I love
your beautiful clothes, I really do. But you know what?
He takes her
head in his hands, kisses her on the lips.
BRANDON
I love you
even more without them.
JOSIE laughs,
shakes her head. BRANDON grins, starts to undress her. JOSIE stops him, breaks
away.
JOSIE
Wait.
As JOSIE
rushes from the room the phone rings. BRANDON answers it.
BRANDON
Sorry, she’s
tied up at the moment, can I take a message?
BRANDON writes
on a piece of paper alongside the phone. JOSIE reappears wearing a brown suede
cowboy jacket (with tassles) and bearing the logo: THE COWBOYS. Underneath the
logo is written Brandon.
BRANDON bursts
out laughing.
78 INT. PUB. NIGHT
BRANDON and
the other members of THE COWBOYS play rock and roll - all wearing tassled suede
Josie-designed cowboy jackets with their names underneath the COWBOYS logo.
JOSIE loves
the music, dancing up a storm with the rest of the crowd. She is the most
colourful and outrageously dressed woman
on the dance floor. There is a good deal of eye-contact and smiling between
JOSIE and BRANDON.
LATER
JOSIE signals
to BRANDON onstage that she is leaving. He nods, beams a white smile, blows her
a kiss. JOSIE blows a kiss back.
79 EXT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. NIGHT
JOSIE, wearing
a light Indian silk sarong only this hot summer’s night, works at her sewing
machine on the porch. She yawns, looks at her watch. It is 3 am. She decides to
call it a night, gets up and walks through the French doors into:
80 INT. LIVING ROOM. BRANDON’S HOUSE. NIGHT
JOSIE walks up
to a futon, lies down, loosens her sarong, closes her eyes.
MORNING
BRANDON,
wearing his cowboy outfit and carrying a bottle of Maple Syrup, tip toes
through the doors towards the bed, on which JOSIE lies - her naked body covered
by her sarong.
BRANDON puts
down the bottle of Maple Syrup, takes his shirt off to reveal a trim tanned
muscular back. He unbuckles his belt and begins to take off his faded denim
jeans.
JOSIE turns
her head to look up at BRANDON, whose naked body can be seen from behind.
JOSIE, smiling up at BRANDON, slips out from beneath her sarong, turns onto her
back. (Fear not, dear Reader, nothing
x-rated here!)
BRANDON picks
up the bottle of Maple Syrup; unscrews the cap. JOSIE smiles, reaches behind
her, finds what she is looking for and lifts into frame a yellow disposable
cardboard camera.
As BRANDON
begins to pour drips of syrup onto her breasts, JOSIE lifts the camera to take
a photo of BRANDON hovering above her, bottle in hand. FREEZE FRAME.
Through the
lens of her camera we see JOSIE tilt from Brandon' head and shoulders to
shoulders and chest (click!), to chest and stomach (click), then stomach and…
CLOSE ON
JOSIE, smiling as she takes another photo (click!) - closely followed by a loud
scream.
JOSIE
Ahhhh!
JOSIE'S scream
has been elicited by the appearance, on the porch, of a MAN IN BLUE OVERALLS -
seen earlier at Phyllis house.
A LITTLE LATER
JOSIE
struggles into a tattered pale blue t-shirt with PARTY ANIMAL written on the
front as BRANDON pulls his jeans on. In the background MEN IN BLUE OVERALLS can
be seen wheeling Brandon’s motor bike towards the DEBT CONSOLIDATION van parked
in the street.
BRANDON
I guess I must
have forgotten a few payments…
JOSIE
You've got a
memory like a sieve, Brandon Tilbury!
A though has
just occurred to BRANDON that fills him with panic. He looks at the clock on
the wall. It reads 8.45.
BRANDON
Babe, I did
tell you that Amarroo's secretary called about your appointment this
morning…didn't I???
81 EXT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. DAY
JOSIE,
carrying her red suitcase, runs out the door past BRANDON - almost in tears as
the MEN IN BLUE OVERALLS secure his gleaming Harley in the DEBT CONSOLIDATION
van.
BRANDON
You're not
going like that!?
He is
referring to JOSIE'S pale blue t-shirt, sticking to her wet sticky breasts like
a second skin. JOSIE walks fast towards a waiting taxi.
JOSIE
I'll change in
the taxi.
BRANDON
Sorry babe!
82 INT. TAXI. DARWIN STREET. DAY
JOSIE, in the
passenger seat of a taxi, tries to open the clasp on her suitcase. It is
jammed. She takes off one of her shoes and hits the lock of her suitcase: hard.
It won't open.
JOSIE
Shit!
She looks at
her t-shirt. The wet sticky patches over her breasts have gone dark blue. JOSIE
hits the lock of her suitcase with her shoe again. It still wont open. She
looks at her watch.
JOSIE
Shit!
83 EXT/INT. TAXI/ OUTSIDE ARCADE. DAY.
JOSIE, emerges
from the taxi outside the arcade in which Amaroo has his boutique. As the taxi
pulls out she realizes she is wearing only one shoe.
JOSIE (SHOUTS)
Wait!
JOSIE watches
the taxi drive off - her shoe on the dash board.
84 INT. ARCADE. DAY
JOSIE rushes
through the arcade, through some doors, into:
85 INT. LARGE ROOM. DAY
A large room
in which half a dozen young men and women - all immaculately dressed and coifed
- stand by racks of their fashionable clothes waiting their turn to present
their designs to AMAROO - sitting with his ASSISTANT at the other end of the
room.
AMAROO looks
over the top of his glasses at pink-haired JOSIE - bedraggled, out-of-breath,
in grubby cut off jeans, wearing a sticky wet t-shirt with PARTY ANIMAL written
on it and only one shoe.
AMAROO
And you'd be?
JOSIE
Josephine
Higgenbottom.
JOSIE
I'm sorry
I'm…late…I…
AMAROO holds
up his hand to stop her.
AMAROO
Lateness is
the least of your problems, sweetheart. Next. Nerida Walsh.
AMAROO’S
ASSISTANT signals to NERIDA.
Close to
tears, JOSIE walks towards the doors. An immaculately attired NERIDA pushes a rack of clothes before her as
she strides confidently towards AMAROO. Her rack clips the edge of Josie's
suitcase. It bursts open, scattering Josie's designs on the floor - shirts,
skirts, bustiers, multi-coloured jackets embedded with tiny mirrors, coins and
crystals.
JOSIE kneels
to retrieve them; sniffling, miserable. As she repacks her wildly colorful
clothes, two legs appear in frame and then a slender dark manicured hand. As he
picks up the bustier embedded with tiny mirrors, coins and crystals AMAROO'S
changed tone of voice reveals his professional respect for what he is looking
at.
AMAROO
Did you create
these?
86 INT. ARCADE. DAY
JOSIE, a spring
in her step and a huge smile on her face, speaks excitedly into her blue mobile
phone.
JOSIE
Amaroo said
‘yes’, Brandon. He wants me. He loves my work. I can’t believe it. I...oh,
shit...This is the happiest day of my life.
87 EXT. FRONT YARD. BRANDON'S HOUSE. DAY.
JOSIE gets out
of a taxi, surprised to see Brandon’s motor bike parked in the yard. BRANDON,
looking very sheepish, appears on the porch.
JOSIE
How!?....What!?
BRANDON
I borrowed
some of your travelers cheques.
88 INT. BRANDON'S HOUSE. DAY
JOSIE looks at
Travellers cheques - only the stubs of which remain. She is in shock.
BRANDON
And you're
going to get it all back, babe. Promise. As soon as the advance for our album
comes through. Two weeks, max!
JOSIE
But I need
that money to renew my visa. (A BEAT) In the next week! You've stolen ALL my
money.
BRANDON
Borrowed,
babe, borrowed!
JOSIE glares
at him, mouth open; in shock. There is a knock at the front door. BRANDON opens
it to a YOUNG WOMAN - suitcase in one hand, a bottle of maple syrup in the
other - smiling broadly.
YOUNG WOMAN
I'm back.
89 EXT. OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. LATE AFTERNOON
JOSIE, still
in her PARTY ANIMAL t-shirt, carrying her red suitcase and with her black carry
bag hanging around her neck, sits on the back of Brandon's motor-bike.
BRANDON
She's my ex…I
promise…Babe?
JOSIE feels
too miserable to respond as the motor bike speeds through a dry desert
landscape.
A yellow sedan
pull alongside as it prepares to overtake Brandon's motor bike.
The driver,
VENUS, wearing her Sydney Harbour Bridge shaped
sunglasses, holds her slim pink mobile phone to her ear.
90 EXT/INT. VENUS' CAR. LATE AFTERNOON
As BRANDON and
JOSIE disappear from view, VENUS talks on her mobile. The news, on her car
radio is turned down low.
VENUS
Terence. It's
Venus…you’re good for the five grand, right? I can be in Sydney in...
TERENCE'S VOICE
Didn’t catch
that, Venus! Hello…
The line is
breaking up.
VENUS
Hello,
hello…Terence? Shit!
VENUS puts the
phone in the black shoulder bag on the seat beside her; unscrews the cap of a bottle of pills; tips
it upside down. It is empty.
VENUS
Merde!
VENUS turns up
the radio volume.
ANNOUNCER
Pentagon
officials would neither confirm nor deny reports that a computer hacker from
Australia had accessed top secret files…
91 EXT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
A Roadhouse at
a desert crossroads. VENUS pulls up in the yellow sedan at the gas pump as
passengers file onto a passenger bus.
She clamps her
small fold-up satellite receiver to the roof rack, connects it to her laptop
computer, sits in the passenger seat - her laptop computer resting on her lap,
boots up her computer. Various icons appear - one of them the Home Page for THE
PENTAGON.
As the bus
begins to pull out onto the highway and as BRANDON and JOSIE approach on the
motor-bike, VENUS, deep in thought, flips the lid of her computer shut.
From the back
of Brandon's motor bike, as it pulls up close to the Roadhouse, JOSIE watches
forlornly as the bus drives past them.
JOSIE
My bus!
92 INT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS takes a
credit card back from the PROPRIETOR, returns it to the business-card folder
full of credit cards and places it in her black shoulder bag.
93 EXT. ROADHOUSE. LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS walks to
the yellow sedan parked alongside BRANDON - siting astride his motor-bike.
JOSIE, carrying her red suitcase, black carry bag around her neck, stands
close-by.
JOSIE
You knew how
important being mentored by Amaroo is to me!?
BRANDON
And you know
how important my Harley is to me…I mean…
JOSIE puts on
her sunglasses, starts walking towards the road.
BRANDON
Babe! I didn't
mean that…I'm sorry!
JOSIE sticks
her thumb out; hitching.
BRANDON
Who's going to
pick you up out here?
94 INT. VENUS' CAR. OUTBACK ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS, in her
Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses, drives. She looks at JOSIE, also in
sunglasses, in the passenger seat; fastening her seat-belt.
JOSIE
Thanks heaps.
As JOSIE looks
to VENUS with a thank-you smile she is shocked at how similar they are in
looks. So is VENUS.
VENUS
Take them off.
JOSIE takes
her sunglasses off.
VENUS
Jesus H
Christ!
VENUS removes
her own sunglasses. JOSIE exclaims:
JOSIE
Holy frigging
Moley!
There is no
doubt about it, VENUS and JOSIE could be twins and they both recognize this in
an instant.
JOSIE
No way!
JOSIE is
gobsmacked; VENUS, not so much - preoccupied as she is with pill withdrawal
symptoms.
VENUS
Have you got
any pills?
JOSIE
Pills!?
VENUS
Uppers…downers…whatever…
JOSIE
Don't you think…I
mean…we could be sisters.
VENUS (SNIFFS)
What's that
smell?
JOSIE (SHEEPISH)
Maple syrup.
VENUS
Maple syrup!?
VENUS looks at
the two sticky dark patches around JOSIE'S breasts.
VENUS
How the fuck
didja get maple syrup all over ya boobs?
JOSIE
Well, you
see…um…My boyfriend… Brandon…poured it on me and…
VENUS
Asshole!
JOSIE
No, he was
going to lick it off…
VENUS
Lick it off!
VENUS looks
incredulously over the top of her Sydney Harbour Bridge sunglasses.
JOSIE
Haven't you
ever had a man…you know, use his tongue to…you know…?
VENUS
Yech, no way!
Any guy that tried to pull a stunt like that on me would be in deep shit!
JOSIE
Oh!
VENUS
I don't have a
very high opinion of men. Assholes the lot of them!
JOSIE
Oh! I love
men, but…!
VENUS
But?
JOSIE
Oh, I don't
know…(sighs) You know that feeling when you meet a guy and he's charming and
everything and has a lovely smile but you have no intention of, you know,
sleeping with him or anything…and then he looks into your eyes and kisses you
beautifully and before you know it…
JOSIE VENUS
You're in love… He's getting his rocks off…
VENUS
I'd rather
kiss a snake.
JOSIE
Oh! I cant
think of anything worse than kissing a snake! I've got a phobia about snakes.
VENUS nods,
looks at her shaking hands.
VENUS
You sure you
don't have any pills?
JOSIE
Sorry.
VENUS, face
set hard, tries to control her shaking hands; feels her tight neck and shoulder
muscles with one hand.
JOSIE
Would you like
me to give you a massage?
VENUS turns to
JOSIE, smiles, nods.
A LITTLE LATER
The car is
parked at the side of the road. VENUS has turned sideways and sits cross-legged
on the drivers seat. JOSIE kneels behind her, massaging her neck and shoulders.
VENUS
Mmmm that
feels good.
JOSIE
What do you
think it means? Us looking like sisters…maybe twins even?
VENUS
Why does it
have to mean anything?
JOSIE
Everything
means something.
VENUS
No, nothing
means anything.
JOSIE
Oh. You don't
believe in Fate? Destiny?
95 INT. OLIVER'S CAR. OUTBACK ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
OLIVER is
parked in the shade of a tree in an otherwise vast treeless landscape. From the
recording device on the seat beside him he hears muffled voices:
VENUS (VOICE OFF)
No. I don't
believe in anything.
JOSIE (VOICE OFF)
Not even…
96 INT VENUS' CAR.LATE AFTERNOON
JOSIE
continues with her massage of VENUS.
JOSIE
…that God put
us on this wonderful planet for a purpose!?
VENUS
I don't
believe in anything and especially not God.
JOSIE
Oh! But if
there is no God…
VENUS
Law of the jungle,
sweetheart, that's all there is. Survival of the fittest. You want something,
you go after it. You don't let anything or anyone stand in your way. Mmmm,
where did you learn to massage like that?
JOSIE
My mother's a
stress ball.
VENUS (SIGHS)
Meet the
stress queen!
JOSIE’S mobile
phone rings. She takes it out of her black carry bag, looks at the LCD screen:
JOSIE
Speak of the
devil.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
(TELEPHONE)
Daaaarling, I
had a call this morning from the Royal Shakespeare. They want you. Badly...
JOSIE holds
the phone away from her; grimaces.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
(TELEPHONE)
...To play
Ophelia! Ophelia, darling. This is the opportunity of a lifetime...
VENUS can’t
help but smile.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
(TELEPHONE)
...To appear
onstage with the luminaries of the Royal Shakespeare…
VENUS grabs
the phone from JOSIE, speaks in a plummy English accent.
VENUS
Line’s
breaking up, mum. Sorry.
VENUS hangs
up, grins at JOSIE. JOSIE laughs.
97 INT. VENUS' CAR. OUTBACK ROAD. LATE AFTERNOON
VENUS, in
better spirits now, drives fast through the desert.
VENUS
If ya hate
acting that much, why are ya want to go back and be in that Royal Shakespeare
thingo?
JOSIE
My tourist
visa expires at the end of the week and...well, it's very difficult to say 'no'
to my mother.
VENUS
Tell me about
it.
They drive on
in silence for a moment. The sound of a mobile phone ringing. JOSIE extracts
her blue mobile from her black carry bag, looks at the LCD screen, sighs.
JOSIE
My mother!
JOSIE is in
two minds about talking to her mother. VENUS grabs the blue mobile from her,
speaks in an English accent.
VENUS
Mum, has it
ever occurred to you that I might not want to be an actress?
J
OSIE grimaces.
Josephine Senior laughs incredulously.
JOSEPHINE SENIOR
(TELEPHONE)
Not want! Not
want! What on earth...!?
VENUS
That I might
have dreams of my own?
JOSIE grabs
the phone from VENUS.
JOSIE
Mum...sorry...I
didn’t mean that. You’re right...It’s a wonderful opportunity. I’ll be back in
London next week. Love you. Bye.
JOSIE hangs
up. VENUS shakes her head in disgust. JOSIE opens her mouth to speak. VENUS
holds her hand up to stop her, turns the radio up, switches stations a couple
of times before stopping on a news report.
BILL CLINTON’S VOICE
I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss
Lewinsky.
JOSIE
Liar.
VENUS
All men are
liars.
98 INT. NOTCH’S TROOP CARRIER. DAY
JOSIE’S hand
hovers above the last words she has written in her journal:
“All men are
liars,” said Venus with that characteristic scowl of hers.
NOTCH appears
at the window with a tray on which there is a plate piled high with pancakes.
JOSIE is touched.
JOSIE
Oh! You are so
sweet!
NOTCH produces
a bottle of maple syrup.
NOTCH
Try not to
spill it all over your...you know...
JOSIE turns
bright red.
…to be
continued…
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