An Original Screenplay
by
Michael "Lawless" Adams
Second Draft & 1.2
Registered by "Insufferable Industries"
In the year of our Lord, 2009
(God help us all!)
NOTE: VISUALS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO FACILITATE UNDERSTANDING OF JUST WHAT IN KINGDOM COME IS GOING ON HERE. . . . . MAY COME IN HANDY FOR THE CLUELESS AND TIME-PRESSED TURNING THIS WHACKED-OUT THING AROUND, AND THEN HOLDING IT UPSIDE DOWN BEFORE USING IT AS A FOOTSTOOL, PAPERWEIGHT, OR IMPROMPTU SOURCE OF "SNOT-RAGS". BE IDEALISTIC-- AND REALISTIC! "THAT'S MY MOTTO. . . . .".
(Stoner's
Interlude #1)
"Bleeding-Heart Graffiti"
BLACK SCREEN
WITH TITLE
FADE
IN
SCENE OPENS
EXT. Lafayette Square, 1993, Late Afternoon
A neighborhood of tall, angular houses left over from the French settlers who founded St. Louis, the refurbished, edgy color scheme is gray, yellow, white, or aqua green. Lots of artists and creative types live around here, the vibrancy of city living that borders on the ghetto like a scummed-over oasis where guarantees aren't crystal clear, "but you're in for an adventure".
MOTHER, YOUNG JESSE, and 12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS get out of the brown Honda Civic, the elder looking around at the early September foliage with stolid uptightness-- taking in his surroundings as if he's about to be led to an execution. This is the trials and tribulations of social anxiety, searching for a sense of "okayness" just to get through this visit.
They walk up the steps to the yellow house and knock on the yellow door.
A man open the door, CHIN LANG. An Asian with a pinched, nasal voice and a sweater who smiles incessantly.
SCENE CHANGES
INT. Lang Home, 1993, Late Afternoon
The house is very well-furnished in a neo-classical French style where a piano sits in one corner along with a violin. There is the wife, CHUN LANG who smiles graciously. Blandishments all around. Talk about "how school is", teased out of THE YOUTHS as they stand there reluctantly, sticking close to MOTHER and scrunching up their faces with self-consciousness. 12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS tries to say something sardonic and clever like a combination between Maculauly Culkin and Bart Simpson, and it seems singularly out of place.
The bullshit continues. . . . . (-- bullshit meaning, the time it takes for everyone "to warm up" and ease into the warm glow of each other which always takes a certain period)
All of a sudden, there is a creaking down the steps.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS turns his head as if "Bigfoot" is coming down to dinner.
(Steps continue)
Then BIN LANG appears, a 14 year-old boy in skater's shorts, a "Fishbone" t-shirt, a designer's ball cap, and tube socks climbing up his bare. pogo-stick-like legs.
BIN LANG
(Nodding to each, like a perfect junior diplomat--
too perfect to be believed
in precise American English)
Hello, Michael. Hello, Jesse. Hello, Jane.
For the lack of movement present, he could be maniacal-- a thousand things could be going through his mind-- but he's certainly not what he seems and is definitely cagier than the impression he immediately lends, standing there like a placid cow with an I.Q. of 86. No, BIN LANG is smart-- real smart. He's socially-skilled, sharp as razor-wire and "plays the pool" like a devil with a Rolodex.
Everyone exchanges blandishments. MOTHER points out "how much he's grown", and BIN LANG takes it in stride. He compliments YOUNG JESSE, and invites 12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS to come upstairs and "hang out with him" like Ferris Bueller humoring "the lumpen".
SCENE CHANGES
INT. Bin Lang's Room, 1993, Late Afternoon
Like a Parisian artist/writer/anarchist/intellectual, BIN LANG stares out the window
of his "impoverished flat" with one leg mounted up on the window sill and drags
off a cigarette, the other hand draped over his knee like an iconic moment in
"the history of cool".
Sketch-art adorns the wall, along with black-light posters. An electric guitar
leans against the dresser. A computer sits on the desk, with a litter of
diskettes. THE YOUNGER asks BIN LANG about the computer, and he pretends like he
doesn't hear him like "the witch doctor" of skateboarders impressing the
suggestible.
SCENE CHANGES SUDDENLY
CUT TO:
INT. Lang home, 1993 Late Afternoon
CHUN LANG leans forward and mentions confidentially to MOTHER that her son is
struggling in school, and may have "learning disabilities". They bought him the
computer with educational programs so he could "catch-up" but nothing seems to
be working. They don't know what to do with him.
SCENE CHANGES
INT. Bin Lang's room, 1993, Early Evening
BIN LANG flips through his CD COLLECTION-- lots of punk, skate, and alternative
rock. He asks THE YOUNGER if this inexperienced lad had heard of any of these,
and the boy can't say that he has. Not wanting to seem like a statue, 12
YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS asks if he had ever heard of "Megadeth". How
hopelessly naive!
BIN LANG
Yeah, sure. I see the videos on MTV all the time.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
I bet you probably heard about Metallica. . . . .
BIN LANG
What about them?
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
You know, that they're a band.
BIN LANG
Doesn't everybody?
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
I wanna see 'em in concert someday.
BIN LANG
A couple of my friends went down to their show last year. It was really kickin'. I used to have "the bootleg", but then traded it.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
Where'd you get "the bootleg"?
BIN LANG
Vintage Vinyl. They got a big "bootleg" section in back where the tape-traders go. It ain't official, but some of the tapes are pretty good. Cigarette?
THE
YOUNGER'S EYES look down, then travel up to the "HEATHERS" MOVIE POSTER
tacked up on the wall.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
Hey, you look kind of like that kid in the poster!
BIN LANG
Christian Slater?
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
(Misunderstanding)
No, the boy!
BIN LANG
(Snickering, mistaking ignorance for cleverness)
That IS Christian Slater.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
Who's the girl?
BIN LANG
That's Winona Ryder.
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
Never heard of her.
BIN LANG
I thought everyone knew who she was.
SCENE CHANGES
CUT TO
Clip of grunge band, "Nirvana" playing song, "Territorial Pissings" on MTV before going out in a whirlwind of guitar feedback and destruction, splintering their instruments in a flurry of negative energy.
INT. Bin Lang's Living Room, 1993, Night
A plush living room stacked
with tapes and a single padded chair. 12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS wants
to check out "The Green Jellö" video while Bin Lang wants to watch cable. The
reasoning goes, since Bin Lang can view cable at any time, it would make so
much more sense to just roll the tape for the exalted guest. It becomes a
snickering point of stubbornness, and they start wrestling like boys. However, 12
YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS is bigger and wider than BIN LANG, though
certainly clumsier, and is getting the better of the 14 year-old who just can't
drop enough teenage composure "to lose". The fighting gets dirtier and dirtier,
the cause more desperate-- each unable to let go. Finally, MOTHER hears the
commotion and runs upstairs, acting like she's ringing a boxing bell in flaky
good humor.
MOTHER
DING, DING, DING, DING! TIME OUT! TIME OUT! It's a draw! You're both equal fighters!
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS
But no we're not, Ma. I'm winning!
(BIN LANG just bears his teeth)
MOTHER picks up the "The Green Jellö" box and beats THE YOUNGER over the head with it, before attempting to pull me off of BIN LANG who squirms away and beats a hasty retreat, scampering down the hallway.
BIN LANG
YOU MOTHERFUCKER!
12 YEAR-OLD MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS sits there panting, staring at the hallway French paneling in mortified emptiness.
MICHAEL "LAWLESS" ADAMS (V.O.)
It would not be the last time our worlds collided-- if even, for a second-- I could see beyond "the bubble" at the absurdity of my life.
Click here for Part IV:
"Crucified by the Bell"
(Back to the "Galaxy Michael" Index)
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© 2009 by Insufferable Industries
michaeladams_s@yahoo.com