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EXT. LOADING DOCK PARKING LOT - LATER
Josh, Mary, and Julian are standing around in the parking lot
talking, jingling keys.
Behind them, two BAR GUYS, blue collar, five-o'clock shadows
and lots of denim, are coming out of the bar.
JULIAN
...and I just left.
MARY
Just left?
JULIAN
Right. Bye.
MARY
What about your stuff?
JULIAN
I climbed in through the window
afterwards and got it. Whatever. Fuck
him, you know?
MARY
I guess, but wow.
JOSH
Wow. That's --
One of the bar guys from behind have taken notice of Mary.
The other one keeps walking to his car.
BAR GUY
Hey, you need a ride?
Josh looks around to see if the Bar Guy is taking to someone
else. Mary and Julian look right at the Bar Guy.
JULIAN
What's that?
BAR GUY
I wasn't talking to you, was I? You got
something to say to me?
JULIAN
Not in those pants man.
Julian turns back to our conversation. The Bar Guy's friend,
in his car now, leans on the horn.
BAR GUY #2
Come on, dickhead!
The bar guy can't do all this at once, and must retreat to
his friends car. The bar guys leave.
Julian lights a cigarette. Josh stares at the car as it
leaves. He's blown away.
A beat.
MARY
So, it's good to see you!
JULIAN
Likewise.
MARY
(to Josh)
Oh, my car!
Josh turns, as if to check for Mary's car.
JOSH
Yeah... No, I'll take you to your car.
MARY
No, that's so out of your way.
JULIAN
Where's your car?
MARY
At the school. Which way are you going?
Julian turns to see if Mary's car is behind him.
JULIAN
Where's the school? On Veterans? (with
The Ladies Man's accent) yeah, um, thas a
little out of my way, and um...
JOSH
No, it's fine, I can take you. I can take
her.
JULIAN
Super.
MARY
OK --
INT. JOSH'S TRUCK - MOMENTS LATER
Josh is taking Mary to her car.
JOSH
What time do you work tomorrow?
MARY
Don't. Thanksgiving.
JOSH
Right. Sorry. Well, are you gonna... What
are you doing then?
MARY
Hmm.
They arrive at the school.
JOSH
Huh?
MARY
What?
JOSH
Oh, nothing, I was... What are you gonna
do tomorrow?
MARY
I don't know. I'll call you, kay? Bye.
Thanks.
JOSH
Yeah, it's no... I'm gonna be slammed at
the farm anyway, so... OK... Drive safe.
Josh waits for Mary to get into her car.
Mary tries to wave him on. Josh waves back, continues to
wait. She leaves.
Josh watches her go, looks down to see that she has left the
flowers he bought her on the seat.
INT. JOSH'S HOUSE - LATER
Josh is at the kitchen sink. He trims the flowers
individually under running water, fills a vase, arranges the
flowers on the dining room table. He takes the flowers in for
a beat.
In the bathroom, Josh starts the shower.
Outside, it has started to snow.
INT. FRANCHISE COFFEE HOUSE - DAY
It is snowing outside. Mary is sitting at a table, paying her
bills. She is having trouble paying attention. Lots to look
at.
An attractive YOUNG PROFESSIONAL sits down across from her,
goes through the process of setting up his computer, pulling
out his work, etc.
They exchange glances three or four times.
A beat.
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL
So...?
Mary looks up.
Young professional wasn't ready for this. He stalls.
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL (CONT'D)
I'm sorry.
MARY
No. Is... I'm Mary.
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL
Hi. I'm Josh.
MARY
You're kidding.
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL
No, I'm really Josh. Is that...?
MARY
No, it's strange. It's really strange.
I'm sorry... Sorry.
Mary quickly packs up her stuff and leaves. The young
professional looks on, a bit confused. After Mary leaves, his
cell phone rings. He's back into his element.
INT. TAKEOUT FOOD PLACE - MOMENTS LATER
This is a Boston Market. Mary enters and approaches the
counter. The TAKEOUT FOOD EMPLOYEE looks less than thrilled
to be here on Thanksgiving.
MARY
Hi.
TAKEOUT FOOD EMPLOYEE
Hi.
MARY
Sucks to be here today, huh?
Takeout Food Employee smiles.
MARY (CONT'D)
Yeah... So, do you have like,
Thanksgiving?
EXT. JOSHUA'S TREES CHRISTMAS TREE FARM - EVENING
Josh is harvesting the trees for Christmas. There are FARM
HANDS helping him. He is felling trees, loading them on a BIG
FLATBED TRUCK.
The trees are being taken off the flatbed truck and loaded
into a baler, which ties them with twine.
The baled trees are loaded onto more trucks, headed out of
the farm.
Mary pulls into the lot. Josh notices her and comes over.
Mary is pulling the bags of food and a bottle of wine out of
her car.
MARY
Happy Thanksgiving! Surprise!
JOSH
Wow. Hey. What are you... Wow. Did you
cook all this?
MARY
(in a British accent)
Don't be daft.
JOSH
Right, sorry... Well it looks good! You
look better.
Josh and Mary kiss.
INT. POLE BARN - MOMENTS LATER
Josh and Mary are sitting at a bench on the side of the barn.
The barn is full of trees, some with their lights on. Neither
of them is talking, as their mouths are full.
Josh takes a sip of wine, swallows, wipes his mouth and looks
at Mary.
Mary stops chewing and looks at Josh.
MARY
(with a mouth full of food)
What?
JOSH
Do you want to be with me?
Mary swallows.
MARY
I am with you.
JOSH
Right, no, I mean like... Do you want to
BE with me?
MARY
I know what you meant. I am with you.
JOSH
Oh. OK.
Josh can't help smiling. He goes back to eating.
INT. PHARMACY - AFTERNOON
Julian is waiting in the pharmacy's pseudo-lounge for a
prescription to be filled. He is using the blood pressure
checking machine. He notices Josh, across the lobby looking
at humidifiers.
JULIAN
You got a lot of nerve showing up here.
Josh turns, not sure if he's being talked to.
JOSH
Oh, hey man! What are you doing? You
don't have...
Josh nods to the machine that Julian has his arm in.
JULIAN
Yeah, 'fraid so. Just a matter of time
now.
JOSH
(getting the joke) right, right. That's
too bad. So anyway, how you been?
JULIAN
Good, good. Getting lots of rest,
catching up on Dallas. Hey, you don't
know who shot JR, do you?
JOSH
Ah, no, sorry.
PHARMACIST
(loudspeaker)
Prescription for Taylor?
JULIAN
That's cool. What are you doing right
now?
JOSH
Oh, I was looking at getting... But not
really anything. Nothing. You?
PHARMACIST
Taylor, your prescription is ready.
JULIAN
(to Pharmacist)
YES! Thank you!
INT. LOADING DOCK - LATER
Josh and Julian are having drinks, talking. There's almost
nobody there.
JOSH
So, I mean, it's weird I think, or people
think, but not really any stranger than
other people's things.
JULIAN
Yeah, I don't think it's that weird at
all. You only get like a month for
Christmas as it is, that's not nearly
enough. Plus that's your job. How many
people are that passionate about their
jobs?
JOSH
Yeah, yeah. I don't know. It works for
me.
JULIAN
So, do you sell all of the trees come
christmas? Do you have a lot?
JOSH
Well, my grandpa used to run a lot. That
was my first job, pretty much my only
job, helping him. Now what I do, is I
wholesale the trees to people, and then
they run their own lots. Most of the
county ends up with my trees.
JULIAN
Your Grandpa dead now?
JOSH
Yeah, he died about three years ago. He
was actually the first person over sixty
to die on a roller coaster in the US.
JULIAN
No shit? Where?
JOSH
In Ohio, at Screaming Peaks. It wasn't
their fault. There's this ride where you
stand up I guess --
JULIAN
The Whirling Dervish.
JOSH
Right, the Whirling Dervish. I've never
been, so... So anyway, I guess it really
bangs your head around, and you have the
restraints all around you? Is that right?
JULIAN
I've never been on it.
JOSH
Oh, well I guess your head sort of bangs
back and forth, which, for most people is
kind of painful. But, so what happened
was that this banging around knocked
something loose from his carotid artery,
which is right here?
Josh points to his neck. Julian feels the same spot on his
neck.
JULIAN
OK.
JOSH
So, and then when the ride was over, he
was in the middle of a stroke. I guess
the people were waiting for him to move,
and then when he didn't they figured out,
you know, that something was wrong. So, I
guess that never happened before, or
maybe just not to someone his age, but
now I guess there's extra padding, so...
JULIAN
Jesus. That's... Jesus. Was anyone with
him?
JOSH
No, he was alone. He would take a trip
every fall, on the train. He was really
into riding the train, but he always
insisted on going alone. He was pretty
cool. Even at his age, he pretty much
made the rest of the family look pretty
boring.
JULIAN
Damn. So you got the farm?
JOSH
Yep, he left that to me.
JULIAN
What about your parents?
JOSH
They died... They've been dead for a
while.
A beat.
JULIAN
OK. You want another shot? Jack?
JOSH
Ah, sure... Yeah.
JULIAN
Good man. I'll be right back.
Julian gets up, orders shots, and leaves the bar.
Josh watches, looks around.
Julian returns with his guitar case, leaves it at the table,
leaves again, returns with two shots of whiskey.
Julian gives Josh a shot, raises his glass.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
To your Grandpa. What's his name?
JOSH
Marvin.
JULIAN
To Marvin.
Josh nods and they do the shot. Julian gets his guitar out,
tunes it.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
Can you sing?
JOSH
Well, I mean, not like great.
JULIAN
You want to play a song?
JOSH
Yeah, I'm not really --
JULIAN
Yeah you are.
Julian gets up and orders two more shots, brings them to the
table, raises his glass.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
To caring less.
JOSH
Right.
They do the shot.
JULIAN
Right. Come on.
Julian walks on stage, Josh follows, unsure.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
(to the bartender)
Ryan?
RYAN, the bartender, holds his hand up to say "whatever".
Julian starts to play a soft acoustic ballad.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
You know this?
JOSH
I love this song.
JULIAN
I know you do, honey.
Julian sings and plays guitar with Josh helping on the
chorus.
INT. JOSH'S TRUCK - LATER
Josh is dropping Julian off at his car. They're sharing a
beer. It is snowing hard.
JOSH
I mean, and that bothers me, sometimes. I
sometimes think I should be moving more,
or like doing more things, or whatever.
But I honestly do like my life, I don't
feel like I'm really missing anything.
JULIAN
Hey, if that works for you. Some people
need more, some less --
JOSH
Right. It's something about what will
happen, like what's coming. I spend so
much time thinking I'm ambitious, you
know? But then someone will ask me how
things are going, or what have you been
up to, and I basically just have the same
things to tell them. Oh, you know, same
old thing. Just doing my thing. And like,
I don't really know all that many people,
which is a thing that I - but like they
all seem to be moving forward, or even
backwards, but I don't really get that
about myself. But I mean, I'm fine.
I'm not like all that concerned with it,
which is maybe the problem, you know,
like these rising and setting levels of
interest in my life. But then, and this
is a whole other thing, which is I guess
tied to the idea of what's coming, but
it's this feeling that someone is going
to betray me. Which can't be right, or
even if it is, what good am I doing
worrying about it? But... I don't know.
Sorry.
JULIAN
You're a good guy, Josh. You deserve good
things. You might get them, maybe not,
but you should remember that.
JOSH
Right... Thanks man.
JULIAN
No sweat. Let's hang out this week, bring
Mary along.
JOSH
OK, sounds good. Drive safe.
JULIAN
No.
Julian shuts the door, gets into his car, lights a cigarette,
peels out in the snow.
JOSH
Mary.
INT. PHONE BOOTH/MARY'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER - INTERCUT
Josh is calling Mary. Four rings, then she picks up.
MARY
(sleepy)
Hello.
JOSH
(whispering)
Hey. Hi. Are you sleeping?
MARY
Hello?
JOSH
Hey. Can you hear me?
MARY
What are you doing?
JOSH
I'm uh, I went out for drink, or some
drinks, how are you?
MARY
I'm sleeping, I'm tired.
JOSH
Yeah, sorry. Sorry about that. So, what
are you doing?
Call waiting beeps.
MARY
(sighs)
Jesus Christ. Hang on.
Mary tries to click over.
MARY (CONT'D)
(groggy)
Hello?
JOSH
Hey, Hi.
MARY
Hello?
JOSH
Hi, it's me still.
MARY
Jesus Christ. Hold on.
Mary clicks over. Josh waits, looking around. It takes a long
time. Finally, Mary clicks back over.
MARY (CONT'D)
(awake now)
Josh? Hello?
JOSH
Hey, yeah, hi.
MARY
Hi. What's up? What are you doing?
JOSH
Um, nothing. I was gonna see if you, what
are you doing?
MARY
I'm really tired, I'm sleeping. OK I'm
gonna sleep.
JOSH
Oh, alright. Who was on the other line?
MARY
Call me tomorrow.
Mary hangs up.
JOSH
Mary?
EXT. LIQUOR STORE - NIGHT
This is your standard locally owned liquor store. It is still
snowing hard. Julian pulls up outside the store just as the
neon "OPEN" sign goes out. The LIQUOR STORE GUY, mid thirties
and scruffy, is locking the glass front doors, just as Julian
reaches them.
LIQUOR STORE GUY
Closed.
JULIAN
No, come on, man! All I need is
cigarettes.
LIQUOR STORE GUY
No, we're fucking closed. Go Away.
JULIAN
What did you say? Just fucking let me in,
dude, I just need smokes. Don't be a
fucking prick.
LIQUOR STORE GUY
HEY! I said we're fucking closed! Now
fuck off.
Julian pounds the door handles.
JULIAN
Alright.
Julian walks off, out of the frame. The Liquor Store Guy
watches him go, and then steps backwards quickly. Julian
comes back into frame, carrying a heavy waist-high DOORSTOP
ASHTRAY. Julian throws the ashtray at the doors. The doors
shatter and the Liquor Store Guy falls down, cowering on the
floor. Julian walks up to the door.
JULIAN (CONT'D)
Huh! What the fuck?! You want to fucking
tell me where I can go now? Huh?
LIQUOR STORE GUY
(whimpering)
No.
JULIAN
All I wanted was fucking pack of smokes,
dude! Fucking asshole.
Julian gets in his car and peels out.
INT. MALL - DAY
The mall is decorated for Christmas. Christmas Muzak plays in
the background. This is a thrill ride simulator kiosk. A big
red box on hydraulics is violently shifting around. The
operator is reading a magazine, answering the questions of
two MALLRAT GIRLS, mid-teens, plastic.
MALLRAT GIRL #1
How much is it?
OPERATOR
Five Dollars.
MALLRAT GIRL #1
What kind of ride is it?
OPERATOR
It's a roller coaster. It's wooden.
MALLRAT GIRL #2
Is it fun?
OPERATOR
(cardboard)
Yeah, it's awesome.
MALLRAT GIRL #1
Does it go upside down?
All three turn to look at the machine, shaking back and
forth.
OPERATOR
No.
MALLRAT GIRL #2
Does it feel real?
One of the girls notices a male mallrat down the hall. She
goes after him, calling his name.
MALLRAT GIRL #1
Corey! Corey!
The other girl follows quickly. The operator watches them go,
turns back to his magazine. The ride comes to an end, the box
rests. He undoes various latches to let out the riders; a man
in his late fifties and Josh.
OPERATOR
Welcome back folks, how was your trip?
A beat.
OPERATOR (CONT'D)
Please be sure to retrieve your
belongings before exiting the ride. Thank
you for riding the Cobra XT.
JOSH
Thanks.
OPERATOR
Uh huh.
INT. LINGERIE STORE - MOMENTS LATER
This is a Victoria's Secret. An INCREDIBLY HOT WOMAN, early
thirties, is helping Josh pick out bras and underwear for
Mary.
INCREDIBLY HOT WOMAN
...and what this is going to do, with
this piece here, and feel that...
She offers Josh a feel of the bra. He pinches the bra
quickly.
JOSH
Hmm.
INCREDIBLY HOT WOMAN
Isn't that nice? And so that's going to
give a little bit of a lift.
JOSH
Right.
INT. MALL - MOMENTS LATER
Josh is leaving the lingerie store with a bag. He is taken
with all the Christmas decorations and music. He inhales it,
smiles to himself.
EXT. DAYCARE CENTER - AFTERNOON
Josh shows up at the daycare with flowers. There is snow on
the ground. Miss Claire is giving the children back to their
parents. Some of the kids recognize Josh, yell his name, give
him hugs, etc.
JOSH
Hi Miss Claire. How was your
Thanksgiving?
MISS CLAIRE
Well. It was fine Josh, thank you. I am,
I'm pretty... Well... Austin, honey! We
don't shove, sweetie, we love! I've been
better.
JOSH
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Is uh, is
Mary here or...
MISS CLAIRE
No, Mary is certainly not here, thank
heavens.
JOSH
Sorry?
MISS CLAIRE
Well, after this morning, I would not
expect to find Mary here again. These are
children! Children! They ALWAYS learn!
And if you think, well --
JOSH
I'm sorry, I'm not really sure what
you're talking about.
MISS CLAIRE
No?
JOSH
No.
MISS CLAIRE
Well, your Mary, whatever she is to you,
decided to get herself fired this
morning.
JOSH
Fired?
MISS CLAIRE
You bet fired. Absolutely! She shows up
here, obviously drunk, smelling like a,
a, like a tavern and an ashtray, and
these kids watch everything! Do you think
they missed that? They're children for
the love of Mike, do you think they
missed that?
JOSH
No, I, I don't... Drunk? She was drunk?
Are you sure?
MISS CLAIRE
Well, I didn't give her a drunk test or
whatever they do, but I didn't need to!
That girl shows up here, dressed like
Madonna, or, or Britney Spears, with the
makeup and the swaggering! And look at
our flagpole! It was morning recess! We
all saw it! Look at that!
Across the parking lot, Mary's car is moderately wrecked
(undrivable) up against the tilted flagpole. Some janitors
are assessing the situation.
JOSH
Mary did that? Was she, she crashed
there?
MISS CLAIRE
I'll say! I always knew that girl was
dangerous, but this? This! What will I
tell the parents? 'Oh, I'm sure awful
sorry Mr. and Mrs. Kinderman, but Jimmy's
teacher wrapped her honda around our
flagpole this morning in front of your
son and his classmates.
But gee, look at this lovely Paper Marche
Christmas Tree we made during arts and
crafts!' No!
JOSH
Is she alright? Where is she now?
MISS CLAIRE
Well, she's not hurt if that's what you
mean, but alright? Do you call this
alright? I would NOT say alright! I don't
know where she is, and frankly she better
not be here, ever again! Mackenzie!
Kristy! We do not kiss one another! Hey!
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