The Last Swan (1) EXT. HIGHWAY DINER (DAWN) DR. DAVID ROGOZIN drives up in a Lincoln town car. He’s wearing jeans and an army jacket. He’s unshaven and hung over. He's 48 and not aging badly so much as corroding. He’s still good looking and he knows it. POV pulls back to show ANNABELLE O'LEARY looking out the window at him. She is a spectacular gazelle of a woman with a calm intelligence and a grandiose idea of her own importance. She has no common sense whatsoever and survives only by a series of miracles. One of them is about to start. Rogo goes into the diner. MOS: He orders coffee, sits down and starts talking to Ann. INT. DINER Coffee arrives. ROGO I like dawn, a dirty-gray Jersey dawn. Makes me feel like I survived a war. Ann shakes her head. ANN What are we going to do? ROGO I keep thinking about that, but nothing happens which happens more and more often as I grow older. ANN When I was in undergrad, I had a boy friend who liked to be whipped. He had another girl to do that for him then he would come to me and I would kiss the welts. ROGO Is that why you became a doctor? ANN No, Schmuck, it's what I'm doing with you. Rogo, very hung over, looks at his watch. ROGO Show time. They get up to go. She looks at the way he’s dressed. ANN You going in like that? ROGO I’ll change in the stairwell like Superman. SERIES OF SHOTS: EXT. DINER They leave the diner and use Rogo’s car. EXT. PRISON Driving up to a high medieval looking wall. INT> STAIRWELL Rogo changing into a suit. INT. HOSPITAL WARD (OVERLIT) Ann and Rogo, he’s now wearing an elegant 3-piece suit. He’s even combed his hair. There are A FEW PATIENTS. Most of the beds are empty. Something is a little wrong. Two of the patients are chained to their beds. There’s A NURSE and A GUARD ARMED with a tonfa night stick and both of them look more sorrowful and compassionate than Ann or Rogo. ANN ‘Prognosis guarded’? ROGO It means she's dying. ANN I know what it means. This cant go on. ROGO It wont for long, the other volunteers are dead. ANN I mean I’m getting out. ROGO And do what? ANN This isn’t white-collar crime anymore, concealing side effects is like murder. ROGO No. There was no way to save them. That’s why they’re here. ANN But raising false hopes is the cruelest thing you can do. She turns and strides out. ROGO Wait, I’ll drive you back. Ann doesn't wait. She calls for the guard to let her out. ROGO (continuing) What do you mean ‘murder’? He already had pneumonia when I shot him. Rogo stares into space. Ann leaves. INT. MALL BOOKSTORE It’s called THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN and it sells romances. Ann slams in and looks wildly at the racks of Gothics. MELISSA, a good looking loose-bodied girl of 28, is sitting behind a desk reading COSMO GIRL. MELISSA Aren’t you supposed to be at work? ANN Yes. MELISSA Don’t talk about it, if you don’t want to. ANN I dont want to talk about it. MELISSA Fine. Ann sits down at the desk and Melissa pours coffee for both of them. MELISSA (continuing) You have 19 lovers and you’re in here every day romances. ANN I guess they’re not very romantic. Aren’t you supposed to try to sell this stuff? MELISSA Yeah, but you’re nuts. Like giving a loaded gun to a retarded child. ANN What else is new? MELISSA Nothing. You’ve read everything except the section on Lesbian vampires. Get out of here and break some hearts. Reluctantly, Ann gets up and marches out. EXT. PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY COMPLEX SOMEWHERE IN JERSEY (DAY) Research and manufacturing facilities cover a square mile. Security is paranoid: Watch towers and electrified fences, guards patrolling with Rotweillers. In the distant background an oil refinery belches fire. Ann strides in the door. She has a magnificent stride, like Arnette Jens in THE BALCONY. INT. HALLWAY IN THE RESEARCH BUILDING (ALPHAVILLE) POV pulls back to an OSS on Annabelle then follows her as she strides down another hall and into an office. INT. MIDDLE MGT OFFICE (FAKE COZY) Ann strides in on WAXNER. He's young and good looking in a soft suburban way. He has the air of success and a blank determined smile. You would not buy a used car from this man. WAXNER What now? She slams some photographs on the desk in front of him. DIALOGUE: This is what would actually be said. It doesn’t have to be heard beyond a Gregorian Chant kind of drone as the cart loads of dead test animals are wheeled by the door. POV: panning out the window to see the oil refinery looking like Auschwitz, to the wall to show a framed and autographed photo of Waxner with Nixon: arms around each other and grinning, to the door to show a wagon load of dead Beagles being rolled by from the animal test facility. ANN David’s has been faking the data. She spreads the photos out in front of him. ANN (continuing) T3, upper outer quadrant. Nipple inversion, skin satellite nodules, ferritin and chorionic gonadotropin elevated and still rising. She shoves another photograph at him. ANN (continuing) Two weeks later: Direct invasion of breast parenchyma, ducts ,7d lymphatics. Visible axillary lymphadenopathy. Peau de orange. Sounds like a desert. And it's getting ready to fungate. The sight of all the raw meat makes Waxner hungry. He starts munching on a jelly donut. The red jelly squirts out. Neither of them consider it worth a comment. She shoves a 3rd photograph in front of him. ANN (continuing) Three weeks: It's gone T4. Visceral involvement, through the chest wall into adenocarcinoma, rapid and wide spread hematogeous dissemination, he's claiming remission from week 1. WAXNER Visceral involvement? You have the X-rays? Ann shakes her head. WAXNER (continuing) These were shot too close, it's hard tell the scale on this. What are the numbers? ANN I dont have them. WAXNER A little informal. Anything else? ANN Satellite nodes in her armpit and groin. WAXNER They were there to begin with; they would have grown faster untreated. ANN How can you decide that without even looking at the data. You dont seem that interested. WAXNER All you've shown me so far are judgment calls. David? you really call him David? He may have made a mistake. He may have given the results and overly optimistic interpretation. Occupational hazard. Research is 99% failure. You have to be optimistic, irrationally optimistic or you give up. You got to have faith. ANN You know, after a while, these inspirational clichés all sound the same. WAXNER They all mean good-bye. ANN I'm taking this to Garvey. WAXNER Stop listening to Prozac. He'll fire you. Ann runs out. Waxner picks up the phone. INT ROGO’S CAR (BRIGHT) Rogo is in his car, on the cell phone, nodding and cursing. ROGO Bug Fuck! He hangs up throws back his had and screams: SHIT! then he floors it, going at 90 mph past some cops who cant believe what they’re seeing. They give chase, see the MD plates and give up INT. CORRIDOR (BRIGHT) Strictly Alphaville: sci-fi nightmare. Rogo running along the corridor and looking determined. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE GARVEY’S OFFICE (FUNERAL PARLOR GLOW) Ann is just coming out of Garvey's office. Rogo is outside, looking disheveled and out of breath. ROGO Warner called me. I tried to head you off. ANN (smirking) He's waiting for you. Go on in. He does and closes the door. POV follows him. THOMAS GARVEY is head of the cancer research section: a money machine. He is a dapper little man with a face like you always see in corporate annual reports: Gray hair, lots of laugh lines, half frame glasses and a gray cast-iron smile. Garvey is looking out the window, peeking through the Venetian blinds at the oil refinery belching fire and smoke. A Bach toccata is on the muzak. GARVEY I have one question. Is this a shake down or is she really that crazy? ROGO She's that crazy. GARVEY You hired her. ROGO I didn't know. She sounded idealistic, they all do. They think it's expected of them. She seemed sane so I figured she was bitter and disillusioned. GARVEY She had some photographs. I assume she has others. She can blow whistle on this. ROGO You’re covered. GARVEY It would still be an embarrassment. ROGO Baby, we’re far beyond shame. Garvey struggles to suppress a laugh and almost succeeds. He tries to stay angry and cant, he finds Rogo charming and tries to be angry about that too. ROGO (continuing) You still haven't told me what you want me to do. Rogo gets up to go. GARVEY Get her pregnant, get her married. Get her married and pregnant. When she has more to worry about than herself, things will look different. ROGO Isn't that a bit 19th century? GARVEY When you get 100 miles in from the coast, it is the 19th century. Enough, get out of here. And dont tell me how much I owe you. Anything I owed you, you already spent. We're not friends anymore, we've been going through the motions for years. ROGO I know. INT. ROGO’S LAB Rogo walks in. Ann is there with a Cheshire smile. She thinks he’s just been roasted. ANN I made coffee. ROGO That part sounds all right. The short version is: You're fired. ANN I'll hear that from him. Another cartload of frozen Beagles. Ann has stopped smiling. ROGO Dont. Right now, you're on probation, not because he wants to, but because it’s the only easy thing to do. If you’re that pissed, why didn’t you go public with it? ANN You'd have gone to jail. ROGO I'm glad you figured that out. Any milk for the coffee? ANN Try my breast, I think I'm pregnant. ROGO That was the only thing missing. EXT. PARKING LOT (EVENING) Rogo drives away. Ann stares after him for a long moment then drives off in an ancient MG. EXT. HIGHWAY (EVENING) Ann driving her MG. INT. ANN’S APARTMENT (BRIGHT) Ann trying to read. She gives up and gets dressed. INT. ROGO’S DEN (DIM) Rogo drinking and staring straight ahead into the darkness. EXT. HIGHWAY (NIGHT) Ann jogging down the shoulder of the highway. INT. ROGO’S DEN (DIM) Rogo drinking and staring straight ahead. INT. ANN’S APARTMENT (BRIGHT) She's showering, soaping herself slowly, sensually and getting off on it. INT. ROGO’S BEDROOM (DARK) He's standing naked looking out the window. HIS WIFE is asleep in the bed behind him. He looks at his watch. 5 AM INT. DRUG COMPANY CAFETERIA (FLASHY AND STERILE) Ann is sitting at a table. She has a tray with a sandwich and 4 Bloody Marys on it. A SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy) walks over to her table. SNAG Do you seriously mind if I join you? ANN Why the Hell not? Dont stand there with your mouth open, sit down. He puts down his tray and sits across from her. SNAG Whatever it is, I didn't do it. ANN You're right, you didn't. I'm sorry. SNAG What kind of music do you like? ANN What? Oh. Sure, why not? Ars Antigua. Pre-Bach Baroque. Counter-point in all 8 modes at once. Hard cocaine hop from the 50s. It has the same quality. The intricacy of it. There's some of that in The Magnificat. Does not compute. He tries again. SNAG Are you religious? Meaning: Do you fool around? ANN What? Oh. Non-practicing atheist, you got to have faith. SNAG Like the Torah. Circling a castle endlessly without finding a way in and then, when, when you're about to give up, the Princess shows her face at a window in the tower. ANN Maybe you should have stuck to Torah. SNAG Maybe I should have. ANN You're not in cancer research, are you? SNAG Respiratory diseases. Senior researcher. ANN I'm Annabelle. What's your name? SNAG Duane. Are you from New York? ANN Obviously, I'm from New York, obviously you're not. SNAG Minneapolis. I'm being transferred back there. I thought you ought to know that. ANN Duane, do not say another word or I think that I shall scream. Now, if you can hear me, nod your head. Good. Now, you going to write down my address because I am cooking dinner for you tonight at 8 PM. Do you have a pen or a pencil? Good. POV pulls back to show Rogo and Garvey sitting at a table across the room. GARVEY He's writing something down. He scored. ROGO Couldn't you have done a little better for her than that? GARVEY She's using him for kleenex so, it doesn't matter. ROGO Toilet paper. GARVEY Anyway, she'll love it in Minneapolis. Lots of winter sports. Like Siberia. ROGO Thomas, every time I get laid you go kill crazy. It’s getting a little obvious, don’t you think? He gets up to go. GARVEY I'm not being hard on you, am I? I haven't even mentioned your wife. What is her name? I blocked it out. ROGO Makes two of us. GARVEY David, I dont want to kill you. I dont even want to fire you. So, stop reminding me that you're here. INT. ROGO’S CAR (EVENING) Rogo watches Snag come up to Ann’s door carrying flowers and a box of candy. Rogo checks his watch. It’s 8 pm exactly. THE SAME Rogo checks his watch again. It’s 10. He starts the car and drives off. INT. ANN’S APARTMENT (ARTSY AND CRAFTSY) Ann and Snag have just finished dinner. SNAG That was magnificent. ANN Thank you. I stick to things I know I can do perfectly. I'm not an adventurous cook. SNAG I’m glad. Shall I help you with the dishes? ANN You would. Thank you, that would be very nice. I’ll wash, you dry. SNAG Of course, I like to do my share. I'm good at scrubbing out the bathroom too. Ann closes her eyes and trembles slightly. SNAG (continuing) Are you all right? ANN I'm fine, it just takes a little getting used to. SNAG I don’t understand. ANN Dont worry about it, I'll get on top, you wont have to do a thing. He starts to drop the dishes, but she takes them out of his hands and walks into the kitchen. He follows her in. There is a cat on top of the refrigerator. It is a large muscular black cat and Snag pets him expertly. Ann smiles, she begins to have hope. ANN (continuing) Tell me your fantasies. SNAG Have you ever been to a state fair? She closes her eyes again and he takes the dishes out of her hands. INT. DINER (MORNING) Rogo walks in. He gets the usual challenging stare from the truckers. It lasts a moment then everyone ignores each other. COUNTER MAN Where's your girl friend? ROGO I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess she is. I overslept and missed her. COUNTER MAN Pretty lady. ROGO I'm satisfied if she is. COUNTER MAN You should be. ROGO Why, you want to give some advice? COUNTER MAN Sure, ride it till it crashes. ROGO I like it. COUNTER MAN What do you think of the Knicks' chances in the playoffs? ROGO I've always regretted that I've never learned how to conduct that kind of conversation. COUNTER MAN Have it your own way, you're the one with a license to kill. Rogo throws some money on the counter and runs out. Hey, hey, I'm sorry. EXT. PRISON (DIRTY GRAY MORNING) Rogo enters the prison wearing a black suit and a derby. He looks like an executioner. GUARD Yes. Dr. Rogozin, good morning. Through many locked doors and hostile expressions, he enters the infirmary. No rats, no dirt, no garbage. There is a bizarre formless despair about the place, like a border crossing or a bus station or a public men’s room. The room is immaculate but, it's been repainted too many times with paint thick as cake frosting. Cream and yellow. The bars, like everything else, they look slightly melted. What isn't covered with paint is all enamel and tile, all of it chipped and worn, sad and seedy. The place makes you automatically think of suicide. The ceilings are high, but the rooms are cramped, set in a maze with no clear way out. to compartmentalize trouble when it happens. He enters the infirmary, puts on a white gown and makes a serious effort to scrub up. Short shrill screams in the background, crying, hysterical whining and mumbling. He enters the prison infirmary. The women are in standard hospital beds but, half the enamel is broken off. The sheets are clean but, stiff heavy fabric built for endurance not for comfort. The blankets have holes. None of it quite as worn out as the women themselves . Ann walks up to him. ANN A raise, Wozzeck, a raise. ROGO Opera jokes yet. What time does the next swan leave? ANN The last swan is gone. They walk into the sick room. A woman is strapped to a white hospital bed. Her mouth has been taped shut to keep her from screaming. A white rubber swim cap has been put on her head so the tape wont stick to her hair. She makes squeaking noises continually and rolls her eyes in a slow rhythmic way because it's the only part of her that she can move. Ann sits down beside the struggling woman and croons to her, stroking her forehead and making the cooing noises you make to a small child or an animal. Rogo takes a step back. He's seeing something even worse than we do. ROGO Did you ever see Wild Strawberries? There's a line in there about: The first duty of a physician is to ask forgiveness. To his astonishment, he starts to cry. Suddenly, Ann is crying too. ANN You son of a bitch! He wipes his face with his hand and throws the tears away like they were sweat. ROGO (softly) Get me the charts. He pulls the sheet off the woman on the bed. Her left breast looks like a bowl of rotted purple orchids. There are satellite growths radiating across her body. When they say malignant, they mean malignant. A hand thrusts into the frame holding the metal clipboard holding the chart. He ignores it. ROGO Injectable Valium. 100 cc. ANN We're out. I called you. ROGO I got the number off the beeper. I figured I'd talk to you when I got in. Get some Valium. She thrusts the chart at him. He doesn't take it. She grabs his wrist and puts the chart into his hand. ROGO (continuing) Check the infirmary. ANN I did. It's a prison. They dont have ups or downs. He puts down the chart, and strides out. POV follows him into the next room. He ransacks the cabinets. He finds a thing called MORPHILUDE. There are 4 vials. He fills a hypo and walks back into the sick room. She looks at the box. ANN Are you crazy? The use-by date is 1976. What's that going to do? ROGO
Copyright © 1999 Angel Obregon |