[CLIP: SLOW MOTION: JOHNNY WALKING DOWN THE STAIRS AT THE END OF "QUALITY OF LIFE" MOBBED BY REPORTERS - (ANGLE MUST SEEM LIKE NEWS CAMERA FOOTAGE)]
FAN MAN (V.O.): There's no doubt in my mind Johnny Smith is the real thing…
[CLOSE-UP - FAN MAN - AS WE REVEAL WE'RE WATCHING THIS ON A TV MONITOR]
(The nerdy Johnny expert from "Unreasonable Doubt")
FAN MAN (CONT'D): …perhaps even the next link in the chain of human evolution.
TV REPORTER (V.O.): Smith has retreated from public view since his recent abduction… but that hasn't stopped his growing legion of fans from bombarding the Faith Heritage Alliance with requests for his services… and the Maine Tourist Bureau reports that Cleaves Mills is rapidly becoming a vacation destination…
(Our move reveals that we are in…)
[INT. BRUCE'S APARTMENT – CONTINUOUS]
(As shot for "Valley")
TV REPORTER (O.S., CONT'D): …as looky-loos arrive from across New England, hoping for a glimpse of the reclusive soothsayer…
(Moving back to find Bruce on the couch with a very affectionate girl snuggling up against him… in fact, we may recognize Stillson's volunteer girl Katie…)
KATIE: What's he really like?
BRUCE: (shakes his head at all this) I'll tell you what he's not. He's not the next link in the evolutionary chain.
TV REPORTER (O.S.): Our own prognosticator, Dr. Tom is up next with the weather… be careful, Tom, John Smith knows if it's going to rain or shine better than your barometer…
(He watches the TV set with disdain, worried about Johnny…)
BRUCE: He's… just a guy. Just Johnny Smith.
[INT. JOHNNY'S HOUSE - DINING ROOM – DAY]
(Johnny sits alone at the head of his long dining table drinking a cup of coffee, reading something on his laptop… nothing but the ticking grandfather clock to keep him company… Alone like Charles Foster Kane… Like Elvis… The doorbell sounds. Johnny looks up…)
[INT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER]
(Using his flat-screen TV's remote control, Johnny brings up the view from the security camera on his gate. It's Raul (17, Hispanic), the grocery boy, arms full of groceries. Johnny is relieved, even happy to see him.)
JOHNNY: (into intercom) Hey, Raul! Hang on, I'm clicking you in.
(Johnny pushes the button releasing the gate. Moving with him to the kitchen door where he releases the security alarm by pressing a sequence of five numbers… then unhooking a deadbolt or the latest equivalent of serious locks… to let Raul in… And we may notice that Johnny is engaging the delivery man more than you or I might… like he's appreciating the company…)
JOHNNY: How ya doin', Raul.
RAUL: Fine, Mr. S.
(He carries in the bags, lays them on the kitchen counter…)
JOHNNY: So. How're things down at the store?
RAUL: Got this whole new organic fruit and vegetable department, you ought to come down, check it out.
JOHNNY: Can I get you a beer or something?
RAUL: Ah, wish I could, Mr. S… I got other deliveries…
(Johnny's disappointed the kid has to rush off…)
JOHNNY: Keeping you busy, huh?
RAUL: Hey, we got in that Häagen-Dazs butter pecan you like… we should put it in the freezer…
(He starts to take a few items out of the bag in search of the ice cream bag… one of the items is a jar of capers…)
RAUL: Oh yeah and I found your missing capers… they put it in the wrong bag last week… went to another address… old man named Grissom, a shut-in… guy never wants me to leave… like I really have time to play chess with him, you know…?
(He puts the ice cream in the freezer…)
JOHNNY (self-conscious) Yeah… it's a shame when you gotta look forward to the groceries being delivered for a little
company.
RAUL: (oblivious) If I could just get you to sign…
(Johnny signs an electronic pad like all the delivery guys use nowadays…)
RAUL: And if I could ask you to sign once more…
(He pulls a tabloid out of the bag... Johnny cut and pasted appearing to touch Elvis with the headline, “Johnny sees Elvis’ secret past”…)
RAUL: For my personal John Smith collection. It's flying off the racks down at the store.
(As Johnny signs his autograph…)
JOHNNY: Don't let me catch you selling these on EBay.
RAUL: Thanks, Mr. S.
(As Johnny opens the door to let him out, the alarm sounds…)
JOHNNY: Oops, it resets automatically…
(Johnny punches the code in again to turn it off… Raul's exit is a little chaotic and he's actually already gone by the time Johnny says…)
JOHNNY: Good to see you… Raul.
(And Johnny's alone again… he turns to his groceries, sighs just a tad…)
JOHNNY: Dinner for one… defrost a little veal to go with my capers… for a nice piccata… catch up on the third season of X Files…
(And as he picks up the jar of capers… Hear the whistle of a tea kettle…)
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – DAY]
(A hulking yet frail old man who walks with a cane (not unlike Johnny's) is in his kitchen pouring himself some tea… this is Jeffrey Grissom, 79, who has a grim, almost Scandinavian face. Finding Johnny standing there holding the jar of capers in his hand…)
JEFFREY: (talking to himself) Now I'll have my tea. In a moment, I'll think, 'I'm the man who's drinking the tea; I'm the man making this tea, that's here in the cup, disappear."
(The old man speaks the words seriously and slowly, a kind of 'to do is to be' mantra… and as he leaves the kitchen, Johnny following, he does a curious thing… he moves to a mirror in the hall… Johnny and we are not at an angle to see his reflection so we cannot be sure what he sees… but his eyes are sad as he reaches out to touch the mirror and he says…)
JEFFREY: Where have I gone?
(Whereupon the vision ends and we return to…)
[INT. JOHNNY'S KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS]
(As he reacts curiously and puts down the jar of capers…)
JOHNNY: Poor guy… I ought to give him a call… maybe he likes the X Files…
(He starts putting the rest of his groceries away… on a whim, glances into a small kitchen mirror to see his own reflection which is perfectly normal. That's when it begins… Johnny looks down at…)
[HIS HAND -- HIS THUMB IS MISSING]
(That's right… it's missing… gone… Johnny reacts... pushing in to his face as it fills with shock as he looks back to… his hand but this time two fingers are missing. Johnny reacts…)
JOHNNY: Okay, vision, not real... can't be real... fingers can't be disappearing…
(He holds up both hands...and fingers (different ones on each hand) are simply not there… in a panic, he moves to the phone and picks it up, dials 9-1-1 with the last finger he has left... but the phone falls to the floor as he looks to see his entire hand is gone (all the disappearances take place off camera)… and as we cut to a new… Johnny has no arms and this is a terrifying nightmare… the phone is squawking on the floor…)
TELEPHONE VOICE: 911, please state the nature of your emergency.
(Johnny crawls onto the floor like a worm... talks into the receiver…)
JOHNNY: I need help…
TELEPHONE VOICE: What's the problem, sir…?
JOHNNY: I'm… I'm disappearing.
TELEPHONE VOICE: What? What did you say?
JOHNNY: What's happening to me…?
TELEPHONE VOICE; Sir, have you taken any drugs…?
JOHNNY: No. I'm just… I'm just… Help me… please… help me…
(And the terrifying vision ends as Johnny finds himself…)
[NEW ANGLE - JOHNNY STANDING BY THE COUNTER]
(Still holding the jar of capers as he was when his first vision watching Jeffrey began… and he's sweating and pale and horrified… as we…)
END OF TEASER
ACT ONE
[INT. DR. GIBSON'S OFFICE – DAY]
(The next day. Johnny is being examined by Dr. Gibson with the penlight in the eyes…)
JOHNNY: Why does every doctor insist on shining a light in my eyes? I don't see these things with my eyes…
(She finishes…)
DR. GIBSON: Your eyes don't know that. I can always detect pupillary fluctuation after you've had a vision…
JOHNNY: Well, I'm not even sure this was a vision… it was more of… of an hallucination…
(She examines brain wave readouts… and he's quite serious as he says…)
JOHNNY (CONT'D): I'm scared I'm really losing it this time, doc. I mean what if my synaptic paths are deteriorating?
(She looks at him with compassion.)
DR. GIBSON: I don't see any evidence of…
JOHNNY: …they could be burning out from excessive neuron activity…
DR. GIBSON: You've been on the internet again, haven't you…?
JOHNNY: Yes… and I think we should be looking at the very real possibility of a tumor in the right temporal lobe…
DR. GIBSON: (interrupting) How's your sex life…
(Johnny reacts for a beat, gives her a raised eyebrow…)
JOHNNY: Is that a medical question or do you have tickets to the symphony?
DR. GIBSON: (smiles) All your readings are normal… or normal for you anyway. I don't see anything in your noggin that has changed.
JOHNNY: Did you check for lesions in the…
DR. GIBSON: (overlapping) I think that the vision of the old man looking in the mirror triggered some anxiety and this is how it expressed itself. (Off Johnny's reaction) It's not healthy to be isolated, Johnny. Get out of the house, have some fun, be with people. It's hard to disappear when you're around people.
(A beat. He takes it in and has to admit she makes sense.)
JOHNNY: Okay… Got any plans for tonight?
DR. GIBSON: I'm sorry. I do. Try me again though, huh?
(He nods… gets up…)
DR. GIBSON: Come on. You must know someone who'd enjoy your company tonight…
JOHNNY: (thinking) Yeah. Actually, I do.
[EXT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – DAY]
(The number says 1-3-3-0… Johnny moves to the front door and rings the bell… it's a nondescript, tiny house surrounded by woods. The kind of little house you'd drive by a thousand times and never notice. It is freshly painted and well kept up. The front door opens to reveal Jeffrey Grissom, dressed in a sweater, using his cane… looking sternly, even suspiciously out…)
JEFFREY: Yes?
(Looking at Johnny with his cane, they seem almost like a mirror image… and perhaps we might wonder if Johnny isn't looking at a version of his own future self. Jeffrey is gruff throughout.)
JOHNNY: Mr. Grissom, my name's John Smith. I…
JEFFREY: How do you know my name?
JOHNNY: Oh, we share a grocery boy. He accidentally delivered my capers to you last week.
JEFFREY: (a test) What's his name? The grocery boy?
JOHNNY: (reacts to the test) Raul…
JEFFREY: Those were your capers?
JOHNNY: Yes, sir.
JEFFREY: For a veal piccata perhaps?
JOHNNY: (smiles) How'd you guess?
JEFFREY: Do you know what they do to those animals? So you can eat your precious veal?
(Johnny isn't quite sure what to say…)
JEFFREY: Think about that the next time you take a bite of animal flesh.
JOHNNY: Yes, sir, I probably will now.
JEFFREY: I don't have your capers any longer. I returned them.
JOHNNY: I know. Raul brought them back. He told me you don't get a lot of visitors and I thought…
JEFFREY: You play chess?
JOHNNY: A little.
JEFFREY: I can play down to your level if I have to. Come in.
(Johnny enters… Jeffrey looks around - an old habit - to see if anyone is watching outside…)
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – CONTINUOUS]
(The record player plays a recording by a classic female singer of a song entitled "Winter Snow"… the house is small but comfortable…)
JEFFREY: I was afraid you might be the mailman.
JOHNNY: The mailman?
JEFFREY: I don't like the mailman.
JEFFREY (CONT'D): (off Johnny's look) When everyone you ever knew is dead, all you ever get is junk mail.
JOHNNY: I'm sorry.
JEFFREY: Don't go getting morose on me. (Re: the cane) You're young to need one of those.
JOHNNY: Car accident, a few years ago.
JEFFREY: Remarkable how fragile the human skeleton is. How easily joints rupture, bones crack. Can I get you something? I opened a bottle of a dry Rioja…
JOHNNY: Maybe just a diet coke…
(Jeffrey stares at him…)
JOHNNY: The Rioja sounds fine.
(Jeffrey goes to a wall bar, slides a door open to reveal glasses and bottles of wine… to pour…)
JEFFREY: Bodegas Palacios Remondo, 2000… it was a fine year for Rioja… I only drink a glass or two… and the bottle is never the same the next day… one of the disadvantages of living alone… do I open the bottle or do I not open the bottle… knowing that much of it will be wasted…
(He hands it to Johnny and as he does… Ramp to Johnny’s face… as we hear the old man yell from a vision…)
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – NIGHT]
(Johnny is standing there alone… reacts to the continued moans of panic… Johnny follows the sound… into the kitchen where he finds Jeffrey on the floor… did he fall? But no… on closer inspection, we see the horror in Jeffrey's face and notice that one of his arms and one of his legs are missing… On Johnny as he reacts… then resume Jeffrey to find that the rising flood of invisibility has left him only a head without a mouth… only his fear stricken eyes remain… It all happens far more quickly than it happened to Johnny in his kitchen… but it is the same nightmare… the vision ends…)
[RESUME JOHNNY AND JEFFREY]
(As before… Jeffrey has noticed Johnny's vision…)
JEFFREY: Is anything wrong?
JOHNNY: No. Since the accident… I just 'go away' for a few moments now and then…
JEFFREY: I know exactly what you mean.
(Johnny wonders about the mystery of this man and these visions as his eyes catch on an old, old photograph of a charming 1920s farmhouse with a little boy standing with his parents in front of it… There is a very distinctive, leaded glass window in a prominent place on the front of the house…)
JEFFREY: The house I grew up in.
(Johnny puts down his cane and picks up the photo, studies it…)
JEFFREY: I haven't been there since I was six years old. When I retired here in Maine, I wanted to find that house, if it still exists. But now my health's failing and… (Dismissive) …sentimental whim of an old man.
JOHNNY: I could look into it.
(Jeffrey's eyes light up.)
JEFFREY: Oh, I wouldn't want to…
JOHNNY: It's no trouble.
(The door opens suddenly, startling Jeffrey…)
ALMA (O.S.): (her own set of keys in her hand) Hello?
(As Jeffrey turns, he accidentally knocks his wine glass over; fortunately it's almost empty and… Johnny retrieves the glass for him as… Alma (30's, plain), Jeffrey's assisted-care nurse, walks in carrying a bag full of nurse's accoutrements. She has the calm passive-aggressive quality that Nurse Ratchet had in Cookoo's Nest…)
JEFFREY: What are you doing here?
ALMA: Jeffrey, you've got company.
JEFFREY: We were just about to play chess.
ALMA: Good afternoon, Mr.…
JOHNNY: Smith.
ALMA: From the television. I've seen you. I'm Alma, Jeffrey's home care specialist.
JEFFREY: Television?
ALMA: Mr. Smith is famous, Jeffrey.
(Jeffrey looks to Johnny for an explanation.)
JOHNNY: I have sort of a psychic ability… to see things…
(Jeffrey's eyes narrow…)
JEFFREY: I believe I have heard of you. The coma victim. You're the one who touches things. (beat, thoughtful) Like a jar of capers perhaps?
(Johnny smiles at him, this guy may be old but he's remarkably sharp. Jeffrey's mind works as the scene continues…)
ALMA: (re: photo) What have you got there?
JOHNNY: This? A picture of Mr. Grissom's childhood home. I thought I'd…
ALMA: Jeffrey, are you giving away your things again?
JEFFREY: (testy) He said he'd help me find…
(Alma takes the picture and places it back on the mantle…)
ALMA: (to Johnny) Last week he gave his watch to the refrigerator repairman.
JEFFREY: (angry) You've never been able to find the house. Why not let him try?
(She smiles a patronizing Ratchet smile at him… He glares at her.)
ALMA: I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave, Mr. Smith. I think Jeffrey's had enough excitement for one day…
(Johnny feels awkward but he's been invited to leave…)
JEFFREY: (studies him) Another time perhaps.
(Jeffrey hands him his cane… except it isn't Johnny's cane, it's Jeffrey's cane (and in time we may wonder if Jeffrey did not hand him the wrong cane deliberately). As Johnny takes the cane…)
[EXT. PARISIAN BISTRO – NIGHT]
(Johnny/Jeffrey standing in a tiny outdoor French nightclub… a female singer with an accordion sings the same song and we segue to her version without missing a beat… it's early in the morning… only a few patrons remain… this is the last song in her set… Wider the money shot to see Johnny/Jeffrey at this bistro along the Seine… the Eiffel Tower in the background… Johnny/Jeffrey is wearing a trench coat, hands in his pocket. A street maintenance man sweeps up outside the restaurant gaining Johnny's attention… he makes pointed eye contact with Johnny/Jeffrey… something here isn't quite right… The girl sings directly to Johnny/Jeffrey, smiles seductively…)
FRENCH SINGER: "Make all the memories disappear"…
[RESUME JOHNNY]
(As he returns and his eyes wander naturally to the record player… as the song ends…)
RECORD: …winter snow… come a little early this year.
(Jeffrey watches Johnny listening to the song… as it ends…)
JOHNNY: I think you gave me the wrong cane.
JEFFREY: Did I? Sorry.
(Johnny hands him back his cane, retrieves his own.)
ALMA: Say good-bye, Jeffrey.
JEFFREY: (evenly) It's been a pleasure.
JOHNNY: You still owe me a game of chess.
ALMA: Have a lovely day, Mr. Smith.
(She opens the door for him to leave and he exchanges a last look with Jeffrey who studies him evenly but seems under the thumb of this nurse somehow. But for now there's nothing to do but to exit… and as he does…)
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
[INT. HISTORICAL SOCIETY - DAY - CLOSE-UP ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF A HOUSE SIMILAR IN DESIGN TO THE ONE IN JEFFREY'S PHOTO]
JOHNNY (V.O.): Well, it looked a bit like this one... At least, it had that same kind of window…
(Moving back to see Johnny and Bruce standing with a Curator, (female, 35) over a desktop filled with books and photographs of old houses and barns…)
CURATOR: Then it was probably a Winchell.
JOHNNY: A what?
CURATOR: Hieronymous Winchell, 1865 to 1932. He was famous for his leaded glass windows… (Wistfully) A lost art, really… His company built homes in Northern Maine in the early 1900s.
JOHNNY: Can you narrow that down a little?
CURATOR: Give me a minute. I'll give you the names of a couple communities where the houses were most common.
JOHNNY: Thanks.
(The curator moves away.)
JOHNNY: (to Bruce) Maybe he'll recognize the name of one of the towns…
BRUCE: You really think he'll be up to a field trip if he does?
JOHNNY: He wants to see the house he grew up in before he dies… it's important to him… the old guy actually believes he's disappearing, Bruce…
BRUCE: That's why you think you got these strange visions…?
JOHNNY: It's the only explanation I can think of… the isolation -- it must really take a toll on a lot of elderly people…
BRUCE: (pointed) Yeah. And a lot of not-so-elderly people.
(The curator returns with some printed material…)
CURATOR: Here we go. It's not such a long list. Mostly in the Litchfield area.
JOHNNY: Thank-you. This is really helpful.
[EXT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – DAY]
(Bruce and Johnny approach the front door, Johnny with a file in hand. Johnny rings the bell. After a beat, a young woman (June Stade, late 20's, plain) opens the door. She's cordial.)
MRS. STADE: Yes?
(Johnny reacts to the new face…)
JOHNNY: Oh, hi, I was looking for Mr. Grissom.
MRS. STADE: Who?
(Johnny does a take…)
JOHNNY: Jeffrey Grissom.
MRS. STADE: Are you sure you have the right address?
(Johnny can't believe this… glances at Bruce…)
JOHNNY: Of, of course, I have the right address… Jeffrey… 70s, tall, uses a cane, doesn't eat meat…
MRS. STADE: (overlapping, growing concern) I don't know what to say… there's no one named Jeffrey here…
(Johnny gathers himself, incredulous… he looks at the house, the street, checks the number… a long beat while this happens…)
JOHNNY: I was just here yesterday with Jeffrey Grissom…
MRS. STADE: You must be mistaken. I live here with my husband…
JOHNNY: (studies her, evenly) You live here with your husband.
(She looks at Bruce…)
MRS. STADE: I'm sorry but I don't know any… (Jeffrey Grissom)
JOHNNY: She's lying…
(She reacts to the accusation…)
MRS. STADE: I beg your pardon…?
BRUCE: John, maybe we…
JOHNNY: She's lying.
MRS. STADE: I'm going to call the police…
JOHNNY: What the hell have you done with him?
(Johnny reaches out to touch her… she recoils in fear… slams the door; Johnny just gets his hand out of the way in time…)
JOHNNY: (to Bruce) She doesn't want me to touch her…
BRUCE: Uh yeah, I'd say that's accurate…
JOHNNY: Because if I touch her I might see what they… (Did to him)
BRUCE: John, a lot of these houses look alike…
JOHNNY: This is the right house.
(Johnny starts touching the house... a curtain at the window moves... a five year old face peeks out and disappears…)
LITTLE BOY'S VOICE: Mommy, mommy, the man is touching our house…
(Bruce is getting nervous…)
BRUCE: John, I think we better go…
JOHNNY: Let them call the police. Better: I'll call the police.
[INT. SHERIFF'S STATION – DAY]
(Johnny charges in, Bruce trails... Johnny moves straight into Walt's office…)
JOHNNY: Jeffrey Grissom has disappeared.
WALT: Who is Jeffrey Grissom?
JOHNNY: 1-3-3-zero Winding Wood Way in Cleaves Mills. He was there yesterday, but today…
WALT: Let me guess... a woman answers the door and says she doesn't know who you're talking about…
BRUCE: (obvious) She called the police.
WALT: You're damned right she called. A Mrs. Stade who lives at 1-3-3- zero Winding Wood Way. I don't suppose you have any evidence of this guy you think you saw…
JOHNNY: I don't think I saw him… I saw him… I'm not crazy…
WALT: No, you just have visions.
BRUCE: Hey, John, maybe this guy used to live in that house or is going to live there in the future…
JOHNNY: This was not a vision. I don't talk to visions. I don't drink wine with visions. You think… I can't tell the difference between the real world… and a vision…?
(He looks at Walt and Bruce -- a long beat as they eye him - neither answers too quickly…)
JOHNNY: Look, I didn't conjure this guy up out of my imagination, okay… he got my capers, understand?
JOHNNY (CONT'D): And Raul delivered them back to… (Realizing the answer to everything is…) Raul…
[INT. GROCERY STORE – DAY]
(Johnny and Bruce stand by the checkout counters talking to the grocery store's Manager (50's, black male).)
JOHNNY: (reacting) Doesn't work here anymore?
MANAGER: Look, I'd really like to keep this quiet.
JOHNNY: Keep what quiet?
(Grimacing, the manager conspiratorially pulls Walt, Johnny and Bruce to the side.)
MANAGER: (whispering) Raul was deported.
JOHNNY: What!? When…
MANAGER: Look, how was I supposed to know he was an illegal? He had a driver's license. Apparently it was a fake driver's license, but… I run an honest business here…
JOHNNY: (to himself) Deported?!
MANAGER: Oh yeah, INS agents came crashing in. Whole nine yards. Right here in Cleaves Mills. Can you believe that?
(Johnny turns to Bruce…)
JOHNNY: They did this… to cover up… they turned Raul in… the one person who can… wait a minute… wait a minute… (To the manager) You keep records don't you? Of deliveries?
MANAGER: Sure. We have everything on the computer.
(A computer screen is scrolling down a delivery schedule… to 1330 Winding Wood Way…)
MANAGER: There, we delivered to 1-3-3-0 Winding Wood Way last Tuesday.
JOHNNY: And who signed for the delivery.
(As the manager punches in a few buttons…)
JOHNNY: (sure of himself, to Walt) Electronic signature, dated, filed on microchips… they can't be this good…
(The electronic signature comes up: June Stade)
JOHNNY: (reacts) Check every delivery to that address for the last year. Signatures… June Stade… June Stade… Bill Stade… June Stade…
JOHNNY (unbelievable) They're good. They're really good.
JOHNNY (CONT'D): (to the manager) And you don't remember the name, the account… Jeffrey Grissom.
MANAGER: They're just addresses to me.
WALT: John, maybe we should stop by and see Doc Gibson… maybe she can…
JOHNNY: He is not my imaginary friend, Walt. Jeffrey Grissom has disappeared. The nurse… the nurse is involved somehow…
BRUCE: I know all the nurses in home care in this county, what's her name?
JOHNNY: Alma…
BRUCE: Sure. Alma Peterson. Specializes in home care for the elderly. She's a good lady.
JOHNNY: She's involved.
WALT: Okay, where do we find Alma?
[INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - DAY - SHORTLY THEREAFTER]
(Bruce, Walt and Johnny walk down the corridor… ahead, a nurse's station…)
BRUCE: There she is…
(Johnny looks. There's Alma all right, standing with her back to them, chatting with two other nurses. He moves with a purpose to her… Johnny grabs her…)
JOHNNY: What did you do with…?
(But as he spins her around, her eyes wide with shock, we see that, although from the back she looked exactly like the Alma in Jeffrey's house, now that we see her face, we see it's a different woman entirely…)
JOHNNY: It's not her.
ALMA#2: What… Bruce…?
JOHNNY: This is not Alma.
BRUCE: This is Alma.
JOHNNY: This is not the right Alma.
WALT: (to Alma) Are there any other home care people named Alma working in this county?
ALMA#2: I don't know any.
BRUCE: Alma, have you seen my friend John before…
ALMA#2: Sure. Around the hospital, once or twice.
WALT: Yeah. Because he has a problem in his head.
BRUCE: You weren't at a client's yesterday with him…
(She shakes her head, puzzled beyond words… moves quickly away…)
WALT: Sorry we bothered you, ma'am.
(Johnny looks as befuddled as we've ever seen him…)
JOHNNY: (to the guys) Just… just do me one last favor.
[EXT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – DAY]
(The door opens to reveal a man in his early thirties… this is Bill Stade… he reacts as he sees Johnny and Bruce standing behind Walt…)
WALT: Mr. Stade?
MR. STADE: Yes?
WALT: I'm Sheriff Bannerman. Could we come in for a moment?
MR. STADE: Why?
WALT: Mr. Smith insists he was here yesterday…
MR. STADE: He was here this morning… and he tried to grab my wife.
JOHNNY: I didn't try to grab her. I tried to touch her. There's a big difference.
WALT: He won't grab anyone… (To Johnny, pointed) Will you?
JOHNNY: Fine. Only non-animated objects.
WALT: (back to Stade) This'll just take a few minutes.
(Stade reluctantly allows them to enter… clearly backing away from Johnny with suspicion…)
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE – CONTINUOUS]
(It's completely redecorated… nothing is the same as it was yesterday… The husband moves away to join his wife who is holding her child…)
WALT: You mind if I look around?
MRS. STADE: This… this is ridiculous.
(Stade nods, go ahead. Walt moves out of sight toward the bedrooms as Johnny hangs back with Bruce… sotto…)
JOHNNY: Everything's different… they replaced everything… obviously to make it more difficult for me to get visions…
(Bruce looks at him, worried about his friend… Johnny touches things as he goes… but is getting nothing…)
JOHNNY (CONT'D): The picture of the Winchell house… it was on the mantle… the bar was over here… glasses in here, he poured a Rioja, 2000… he said it was a good vintage… and…
(As the memory hits Johnny… he looks to the hardwood floor and we do an incredible FX zoom to the spot where the wine glass fell… and find just the slightest trace of crusty, dried wine residue where the drop fell… Johnny kneels down and slowly reaches out his finger to touch the barely perceptible purple dot… and as he does - as an incredible vision occurs all around him…)
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE - NIGHT – VISION]
(Incredibly fast motion. Jeffrey Grissom is on a gurney being wheeled out… he's alive and awake but grim… Alma leads the way… followed by a crew that removes all the old furniture, does light construction work on the wall unit… then brings in new furnishings… followed by the arrival of the Stades including the kid… and this all takes maybe fifteen seconds…)
[RESUME JOHNNY]
(As he rises… looks at the Stades… who stare at him… even the kid stares at him… Walt returns…)
WALT: I don't see anything unusual in the back.
JOHNNY: No, I'm sure you didn't. I'm sure everything is perfectly… normal. (To the family) Isn't it?
MR. STADE: (worried about Johnny) Sheriff…
BRUCE: Okay, John…
(Walt and Bruce usher him out…)
JOHNNY: You think I'm going to let go of this… you think I'm not going to find Jeffrey Grissom, you're wrong…
KID: Mommy, the mean man is scaring me.
JOHNNY: You ain't seen nothing yet, kid. If you really are a kid...
(And they're out.)
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
[EXT. CLEAVES MILLS - NIGHT - CRUISER DRIVES BY]
[INT. CRUISER – NIGHT]
(Bruce driving Johnny home… mid-conversation…)
BRUCE: The post office, real estate records, utility bills… all of them say the Stades have lived in that house for a year… we've even talked to some of their friends… social security has no record of a Jeffrey Grissom, he hasn't registered to vote, no passport, no credit rating… no one has ever seen the guy besides you and an illegal alien…
JOHNNY: This your way of telling me you're having a hard time with this?
BRUCE: No, man, hey, you say you saw him, that's enough for me. I dance with the girl I came with.
JOHNNY: I told you what I saw.
BRUCE: Why should I care there's no earthly clue this guy ever existed… when John Smith talks I listen…
JOHNNY: You don't believe me.
BRUCE: No, no, I do…
JOHNNY: Because you dance with…
BRUCE: (finally admitting) It's a tough one, man. (‘To swallow', beat) I just want you to be okay.
JOHNNY: I'm okay. I just hope Jeffrey's okay.
(A beat. A thoughtful Johnny hums The Very Thought of You…)
JOHNNY: You know that song?
BRUCE: Tony Bennett, right?
JOHNNY: It's called The Very Thought of You. Jeffrey liked it. He saw a singer in Paris singing it once. It stayed with him for some reason. (Beat, singing) 'It's just the thought of you…' Sure, Bruce remembers it…
JOHNNY & BRUCE: (singing) …the very thought of you… (In harmony) …my… love.
(The car pulls to the curb outside Johnny's house.)
BRUCE: (seriously) I'd like to meet the guy.
JOHNNY: You will.
(Johnny opens the door… starts to get out…)
JOHNNY: Bruce. (Off his look) I won't dance. Don't ask me.
(He's out.)
[INT. SMITH HOUSE – NIGHT]
(Johnny enters the dark house… and he's about turn on the light switch but as he closes the door…)
[ANGLE - A SHADOW IN A SHADOW MOVES - A FLASH]
(Eyes… blackened faces… black ski caps and black clothes… so fast it's barely visible… and in fact, it's a vision…)
[JOHNNY]
(Antennae up, follows the movement… into the dark living room… touching things as he goes…)
[OMITTED]
[JOHNNY]
(He turns the lights on now… the room is completely normal… his eyes narrow… his mind turns to…)
[INT. BASEMENT - ARMAGEDDON ROOM – DARK]
(As Johnny comes downstairs…)
[ANGLE - MORE FLASHES - THE SHADOWY FIGURES]
(Pulling off the tarp from the Stillson bulletin board… as another checks through Johnny's desk downstairs… downloads his computer… the guy at the board is taking pictures of the Stillson clippings with a tiny infrared camera…)
[JOHNNY]
(He turns on the light at the bottom of the stairs… and the room is completely normal… as though it's been untouched…)
[INT. SHERIFF'S OFFICE – NIGHT]
(Sarah and Walt working after hours on Walt's campaign, stuffing envelopes and organizing campaign paraphernalia… to allow him to keep working, Walt has put Johnny on a speaker phone…)
JOHNNY'S SPEAKER VOICE: Someone's been in my house.
WALT: Burglars?
JOHNNY'S SPEAKER VOICE: No. Something weirder.
WALT: 'Weirder' than burglars.
(Johnny on the cell in his basement… still looking around to see what else the intruders might have discovered…)
JOHNNY: They were into everything. Taking pictures.
SARAH: Pictures. More of your obsessed fans?
JOHNNY: These were definitely not fans… they went through the desk, downloaded my computer, they even cleaned up after themselves.
WALT: In other words, no evidence they were ever really there.
JOHNNY: I know that's happening a lot lately…
SARAH: How did they get by your new billion dollar security system?
JOHNNY: That's a darn good question, Sarah.
(Walt shakes his head…)
WALT: Is anything missing?
JOHNNY: I don't know.
WALT: I'll have a crime lab guy give the place the once over in the morning…
SARAH: (worried) I don't think he should stay in the house.
WALT: Sarah's right. Why don't you check into a hotel? Or maybe even the hospital for a once-over.
JOHNNY: I don't need a once over, Walt. I'm not seeing things. I mean I am seeing things. But they're real things.
WALT: I'll let you know what we find in the morning.
(He hangs up, looks at Sarah, shakes his head with concern…)
WALT: I liked it better when he was calling you all the time 'stead of me…
[EXT. JOHNNY'S HOUSE – NIGHT]
(Johnny comes out, gets into the jeep… as he does, brief freeze and ramp to his face and we are in…)
[A JOHNNY VISION – STEADICAM]
(We ramp from Johnny's face to underneath the car, where we find… A tint radio transmitter, complete with blinking LED. But that isn't the end of it -- steadicam ramps back up to Johnny's face… Johnny's head turns… and then NDS follows his line of sight… we sail out of Johnny's yard, riding the transmitter's signal, eventually coming to a "General Sign and Lighting" van a block away… we go inside to see the two black bad guys from Johnny's house. With their ski caps off, we can see one of them is Alma (the first Alma), the other Bill Stade. She has an earphone in her ear…)
[RESUME JOHNNY]
(As he reacts. Coolly, he gets in his car and starts it.)
[EXT. SMITH GATES – NIGHT]
(As the jeep comes out… passes the van…)
[INT. JEEP – NIGHT]
(As Johnny casually checks the van as he goes by… then looks in his rear view mirror… as headlights pull out onto the road behind him… his mind works…)
[INT. VAN – NIGHT]
(Following at a safe distance… no need to keep visual contact, a display on a tracking device tells them what he's doing.)
ALMA: He's stopping. Move closer.
[EXT. VAN – NIGHT]
(As it moves up to find… parked outside a convenience store… Johnny has just gotten out, is going inside…)
[EXT. VAN – CONTINUOUS]
(As it moves past the convenience store and parks within the line of sight this time…)
[INT. VAN – CONTINUOUS]
(Stade looks through binoculars at the store… Alma checks her watch…)
ALMA: My dogs must be getting hungry. I wish he'd just land for the night.
MR. STADE: I don't see him.
ALMA: He's in the store. He likes butter pecan ice cream. He's probably…
MR. STADE: I'm telling you I don't see him in the store…
(Alma reacts, takes the binoculars, rolls down her window to get a better look but the moment she does… Her eyes widen, turn to see Johnny, intense… right in her face…)
JOHNNY: Hey, Alma.
(And ramp to his face as an incredible vision begins…)
[EXT. JEFFREY'S HOME - NIGHT - MATCHING SHOT OF ALMA]
(Fast motion as before: Jeffrey is loaded into the back of an ambulance… as the doors are shut, the ambulance moves directly toward us, headlights filling the screen… giving a natural wipe to a county line sign as the headlights brush across it as they pass: entering Aroostook county. Finding the ambulance pulling up to a new suburban house.)
[EXTREME CLOSE-UP - JOHNNY'S EYES]
(As the van burns rubber as it pulls sharply away and Johnny releases the grip or risk losing an arm… but we stay on his face… as he smiles…)
JOHNNY: (to himself) Too late, Alma. Cause now I know.
[INT. BOWELS OF THE JEEP - THE TRANSMITTER]
(As a hand reaches out with pliers and squeezes it gently out…)
[EXT. CONVENIENCE STORE – CONTINUOUS]
(As Johnny examines the transmitter, glances around and sticks it to the bumper of a high rider Puerto Rican hot rod which takes off a beat later for places unknown…)
[INT. JEEP - RURAL HIGHWAY – NIGHT]
(Johnny behind the wheel… talking on the cell phone…)
JOHNNY: (to phone) That's right. Amelia Earhardt, JFK, O.J. No stone left unturned, Jimmy Hoffa? No problem.
JOHNNY (CONT'D): No, sorry, can't be exclusive with something this big… don't worry there'll be plenty to go around…
[EXT. JEEP - DAWN - DRIVING BY THE SIGN THAT SAYS ENTERING AROOSTOOK COUNTY]
[EXT. SMALL SUBURBAN HOUSE – DAY]
(As seen in Johnny's vision. The jeep pulls into the driveway. Johnny gets out, his anticipation is hard to contain, he moves to the door… and that's when he hears it… the music from inside… "Winter Snow"… he smiles… rings the bell… after a beat, the door opens to reveal Jeffrey in his same favorite sweater… he barely cracks an expression…)
JOHNNY: (smiles) Jeffrey, you are a sight for sore eyes.
JEFFREY: It took you long enough. Not much of a psychic, huh.
(And as he leads Johnny inside…)
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
[INT. JEFFREY'S HOUSE#2 – DAY]
(As they enter… the house is not so different than the last one as though they wanted to create a familiar environment to keep him comfortable. The song continues to play on the stereo…)
JOHNNY: Who are you… why would somebody want to make you… disappear?
JEFFREY: Oh, I disappeared a long time ago… long time ago…
JOHNNY: Are you being kept against your will here? That nurse of yours…
JEFFREY: …is not a nurse.
JOHNNY: She had Raul deported…
JEFFREY: (frowns) I didn't know that.
JOHNNY: She broke into my house. Put a transmitter in my car…
JEFFREY: They were afraid you might be working for the other side. I knew better.
JOHNNY: I didn't even know there were sides…
JEFFREY: There are always sides. The sides change but there are always sides.
(As an offer of explanation, he reaches out his hand for Johnny to take… and Johnny does as they touch…)
[INT. PARIS TRAIN STATION, 1960'S – DAY]
(An immigration clerk (30's, male) stands across a counter from Johnny/Jeffrey.)
CLERK: Passeport, s'il vous plait.
(Johnny/Jeffrey hands the clerk his passport. Close on the passport. It is a United States passport, has Jeffrey Grissom's picture on it and his name underneath the picture. Suddenly, we go into… A montage. Johnny/Jeffrey handing Immigration Clerks his passport, keeping close on the two sets of hands and the passport itself. The clerk's hands should change, as do the visible sleeves of his uniform and the counter top. Johnny/Jeffrey's hands remain the same, although his suit changes.)
CLERK#2'S VOICE (O.S.): Pass, pazhalsta.
(The passport still has Jeffrey Grissom's picture on it, but now it is a Soviet Union passport and the name is a Russian name, Denis Petrovich Alekseyev, written in the Cyrillic alphabet.)
CLERK#3'S VOICE (O.S.): Reisepasse, bitte.
(Now it switches to an East German passport -- the picture is the same, but now the name reads: Ernst Allmenroder.)
CLERK#4'S VOICE (O.S.): Paszport, Prosze.
(Same picture, Polish name: Andrzej Lukawski.)
CLERK#5'S VOICE (O.S.): Pas, prosim.
(Same picture, Czech name: Milan Havel. The vision ends…)
[RESUME JOHNNY AND JEFFREY]
(Johnny's eyes narrow…)
JOHNNY: Jeffrey, do you work for the government…?
JEFFREY: I am not in a position to confirm or deny that.
(Johnny studies him a beat, adding it all up in his mind.)
JOHNNY: What do you do with, with a… spy… when he retires…
JEFFREY: Or more to the point, what do you do with all of his knowledge, accumulated across five decades and six continents?
JOHNNY: You make him disappear.
(Johnny tries to comprehend it all… the record ends and catches in a groove… Jeffrey moves to rescue it…)
JEFFREY: I play the record far too much, I'm afraid. They wanted to get me a CD but I'll die before I have a CD player. Recordings haven't been the same since the demise of vinyl. I have good ears. I'm famous for my ears. Starts playing the record again…
JOHNNY: Who was she? The singer in Paris.
(Jeffrey smiles…)
JEFFREY: You're good. (Beat) Did you know that the government uses psychics? They may have more interest in you than you realize.
JOHNNY: Who was she?
(Jeffrey listens to the song… Johnny sees his cane leaning against the stereo. He picks it up and we turn 180 degrees into a vision… starting this time on the…)
[THE MONEY SHOT - WIDE - EXT. PARIS – NIGHT]
(Johnny/Jeffrey at this bistro along the Seine… the Eiffel Tower in the background… in his trench coat, standing in the tiny outdoor French nightclub… the female singer with an accordion sings the same song and we segue to her version as before… it's early in the morning… only a few patrons remain… this is the last song in her set…)
FRENCH SINGER: It's just the thought of you…
(But this time we have a new angle and we include the elderly version of Jeffrey who stands a few feet behind Johnny/Jeffrey on the cobblestone street talking to Johnny, and remembering as he so often remembers…)
JEFFREY: She was the last woman I ever loved as Jeffrey Grissom… the kind of woman that stays with you a long time… her eyes haunt me in the middle of the night… and her song plays over and over…
(The street maintenance man sweeps up outside the restaurant gaining Johnny/Jeffrey's attention… Johnny/Jeffrey and Jeffrey turn in unison to make eye contact… something here isn't quite right… The girl sings directly to Johnny/Jeffrey, smiles seductively…)
FRENCH SINGER: Make all the memories disappear…
(She finishes the song, the set, looks to Johnny/Jeffrey, blows him a kiss… as she disappears inside the restaurant… the last customers scatter… a beat later, the maintenance man moves quickly inside behind her into the darkness of the pub…)
JEFFREY: She betrayed us. People had died.
(From their vantage point, the darkness of the bistro is interrupted by silent flashes of an muzzle (we don't see the gun itself, just the flashes)… several times… after a beat, Johnny/Jeffrey walks quietly away down the cobblestone street… but old Jeffrey stands there, staring, as he has done all his life…)
JEFFREY: There are always sides.
(The vision ends.)
[RESUME]
(Johnny studies him. Jeffrey's mind lingers in the past for his first line :)
JEFFREY: That's when I became the man nobody ever knew, a man of a thousand identities… who can no longer hang on to even one. (Reconnects with Johnny) Esse est percipi… (Off Johnny's reaction) George Berkeley, eighteenth century philosopher. 'To be is to be perceived.' (He moves to study the photograph) Sometimes, I look in the mirror and I wonder if Jeffrey Grissom still exists at all… or is he gone like the house I grew up in…
JOHNNY: I can't tell you if the house still exists or not… but I know where to look for it…
(Jeffrey's eyes brighten at that… until from off-screen…)
ALMA (O.S.): I'm afraid we won't have time for that now.
(They look to see Alma and the Stades.)
JOHNNY: Leave the kid home, did we?
MRS. STADE: Daycare.
JOHNNY: The little tadpole may need some therapy down the road.
ALMA: (to Johnny) I want to thank-you for sending us to the Puerto Rican Independence Rally. It was very informative.
JEFFREY: What is this about deporting Raul?
ALMA: Come on, Jeffrey, you've been at this long enough; we had to protect you…
JEFFREY: As though you had any interest in protecting me…
ALMA: We've always protected you, Jeffrey.
JEFFREY: You have protected the secrets. While I've been a prisoner…
ALMA: We have to get ready to move again, Jeffrey…
JEFFREY: No. (Controlled) He says he can help me find my house.
MRS. STADE: Mr. Smith will be coming with us.
(It's said evenly. And yet Jeffrey instantly knows that Johnny's life is in jeopardy…)
JEFFREY: That is an overreaction. He knows nothing.
(Johnny's just beginning to catch on…)
JOHNNY: Look, I don't know what you're thinking but I…
MR. STADE: We're just going to follow you home, Mr. Smith, debrief you, ask you to take an oath of silence.
JEFFREY: (looks to Johnny) They're lying.
ALMA: Jeffrey, don't be silly, it's not like the old days.
JEFFREY: Let me talk to the Secretary; he'll listen to me. He has no idea how valuable Smith could be.
ALMA: We've already talked to the Secretary. Say good-bye, Jeffrey.
JEFFREY: (to Johnny) Listen very carefully. You are a threat to national security. By now, I'm sure all of your friends think you have been acting erratically.
(Johnny looks at him incredulously… these things don't happen… do they? He looks to Alma, the Stades all of whom have even expressions…)
MR. STADE: Mr. Smith, no harm will come to you. We really have to insist.
JEFFREY: They will either find you in a car accident in the woods… or not find you at all. You will disappear.
(And the very first vision that Johnny had comes back to fill his mind… Alma gives the Stades a signal to take Johnny by force if necessary… but the doorbell rings… Reactions. Who could this be… Mrs. Stade glances out a window… eyes widen as she turns back…)
MRS. STADE: There are reporters on the front lawn.
JOHNNY: I was about to mention that I invited a few media people over… just wanted to make sure someone else saw Jeffrey this time… (Beat, to Jeffrey) I think you and I were about to go look for a house?
(Off Jeffrey's grin…)
[EXT. HOUSE – DAY]
(A media frenzy greets Johnny outside… and more media cars and vans are arriving… Dana is there… She makes eye contact with Johnny as he escorts Jeffrey to the jeep, Jeffrey leaning heavily on his cane is slow and frail but determined… the reporters yell questions on top of questions… Johnny, what's this all about, do you really know where Jimmy Hoffa is? What about Amelia Earhardt, who is this guy, Johnny? Sir, what's your connection to Johnny Smith… Over the din…)
JOHNNY: Thank you all for coming… could you give us some room please… we just need to get to the car… no, I can't answer any questions yet…
(Dana elbows her way to Johnny…)
DANA: What the hell is going on, John? Amelia Earhart?
JOHNNY: Dana, I'll explain later…
DANA: Who is this man?
JOHNNY: (beat) Just an old friend of the family. Please, just help me get out of here…
(Dana sees the urgency in Johnny's eyes as he helps Jeffrey into the Jeep… but his path is blocked by the press…)
DANA: (loudly, to other reporters) The press conference's been moved, folks. Follow this Jeep!
(The reporters scramble back to their cars… Johnny's eyes express his thanks to Dana… Dana smiles a "you owe me one" to Johnny…)
JEFFREY: If it would help, I can tell you… (Off Johnny's expression) …what happened to Amelia Earhart.
(Off Johnny's reaction as he starts the car…)
[INT. HOUSE - ALMA AND THE STADES LOOKING OUT THE FRONT DOOR]
MR. STADE: We can't just let them leave…
MRS. STADE: What are we supposed to do?
(Alma mulls over the options and finds very few…)
ALMA: Come on… wherever Jeffrey goes, we go.
(And as they begin to exit…)
[EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY - A CARAVAN OF CARS – DAY]
(With the jeep in the lead…)
[INT. JEEP – DAY]
(As Jeffrey looks out at the passing countryside with an appreciation that you or I might never know…)
JEFFREY: Slow down.
JOHNNY: Is something wrong?
JEFFREY: Do you know how long it's been since I took a ride through the country? I don't want it to be a blur.
(Johnny smiles…)
[INT. SEDAN – ALMA]
(Et al doesn't smile… not at all… as she talks on her cell phone…)
ALMA: Yes, sir… I understand. I will take care of it personally.
(She puts the phone away, stares murderously ahead as Mr. Stade drives.)
[EXT. CROSSROADS – DAY]
(The jeep leads the caravan into a left turn following a sign that says "Litchfield, 5mi"…)
[INT. JEEP – CONTINUOUS]
(As Jeffrey reacts to the sign…)
JEFFREY: Litchfield.
JOHNNY: Sound familiar?
(Jeffrey doesn't answer right away and as he struggles to recognize landmarks…)
JEFFREY: It's so different now… I mean, the roads were gravel back then, everything's new…
(Except, perhaps, the following which suddenly catches Jeffrey's eye :)
[HIS POV - A LANDMARK]
(An old church, unchanged over the years, the one anachronism in a neighborhood full of new houses…)
[INT. JEEP - CLOSE ON JEFFREY]
(Push slowly into his face… finally… softly…)
JEFFREY: If there are railroad tracks… in about a mile… there will be a turnoff to the left… take it.
[EXT. ROAD – DAY]
(The jeep continues on… the caravan follows…)
[INT. JEEP - THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD]
(They go over the railroad tracks… an old dirt road to the left…)
JEFFREY: There. Turn there.
(Johnny turns…)
[EXT. DEAD END IN SOME WOODS – DAY]
(As the jeep and cars behind it arrive and are forced to stop…)
[INT. JEEP]
(Jeffrey looks confused…)
JEFFREY: There's another road. There's supposed to be another road.
(He climbs out of the Jeep…)
[EXT. JEEP – CONTINUOUS]
(There is no sign of a road… Jeffrey shakes his head… something's not right about this…)
JOHNNY: I'm sorry, Jeffrey.
(In the distance, a train horn sounds… his ears perk up…)
JEFFREY: I've heard that before. I've heard that sound before. I'm famous for my ears.
(Jeffrey moves into the brush and pushes foliage aside… to reveal an old dirt drive…)
JEFFREY: You see, John, it does exist. We just couldn't perceive it.
(Johnny turns to the reporters who are getting out of their cars, wondering what the hell is going on… Dana is right at the front… Johnny takes her by the arm…)
JOHNNY: Please, just hold them off a little while longer…
DANA: Hold them off? How am I supposed to do that?
JOHNNY: Tell them… tell them I need to get something out of the woods… Something amazing…
DANA: What?
JOHNNY: I'll let you know when I find it.
(Johnny follows Jeffrey into the woods, down the old dirt drive… Dana turns and flags down the other reporters…)
DANA: Folks, if you'll set up your cameras here… Johnny will be making a statement shortly…
[NEW ANGLE]
(As Johnny and Jeffrey come around a rise on the wooded, overgrown road… they see it… that leaded glass window on that old farmhouse, falling apart, in front of them… Jeffrey looks at it, smiles…)
JEFFREY: Wait here for me, John.
(Johnny acknowledges as Jeffrey squeezes his shoulder in appreciation, eyes never leaving the house, and as they touch, push to Johnny as he sees…)
[P.O.V. - JEFFREY'S MOTHER]
(She’s standing on the front porch in 1928 - in period clothes… and we'll say, more for production than any other reason, that it's still dilapidated, but on the long lens that focuses only on the woman, softening all around her, it's kind of hard to tell anyway… his father reads the paper at a table. They are lower class but possess an honest, rural dignity.
JEFFREY'S MOTHER: There you are, Jeffrey.
(As seen in the photo. The boy moves to his family…)
[JOHNNY]
(He studies him as… Jeffrey moves out of view into the old house… a beat later, Johnny turns to see Alma and the Stades moving behind him…)
JOHNNY: Guess you guys just didn't try very hard to find his old house… it really wasn't that hard…
ALMA: (evenly) Jeffrey Grissom was our top operative during the Cold War, Mr. Smith… until today, twenty two countries had incontrovertible proof that he died sixteen years ago in Berlin.
JOHNNY: Sixteen years is a long time to be in prison, any kind of prison, Alma.
ALMA: The name is Rosemary.
JOHNNY: Were you really going to kill me, Rosemary?
(She gives him a look: are you serious?)
ALMA/ROSEMARY: (utterly sincere) Jeffrey has always had a flair for the dramatic.
(They look at each other without blinking for a long, long beat. Finally, Johnny looks back toward the house. Jeffrey has not returned. A beat.)
[INT. THE OLD HOUSE - DAY - A FEW MINUTES LATER]
(As Johnny enters… Alma and the Stades with him…)
JOHNNY: Jeffrey, we should be going…
(There's no response…)
JOHNNY: Jeffrey?
(All they see is… Alma's eyes panic, her look sends the Stades into action… they quickly move all over the house and return, shaking their heads… but in fact, he has… Disappeared. And all that's left is... Alma/Rosemary glares at Johnny, barely able to talk. Tight and controlled (Note: This is a quote from the end of "Three Days of the Condor")…)
ALMA/ROSEMARY: You dumb son of a bitch. You've done more damage than you know.
(She rushes out with the Stades. He moves to it and picks it up… and as he does… push to Johnny as he sees…)
[CLOSE UP CLERK'S HANDS]
CLERK#6 (O.S.): Passeport, s'il vous plait.
(The clerk accepts the passport which is loudly stamped to pass through. As the stamp hits the passport… Angle to see the stamp lifting out of frame to reveal Jeffrey's current photo with a new name, Pablo Arevalo. In the photo, Jeffrey is grinning.)
[RESUME JOHNNY]
(As he holds the cane and smiles… deciding to take it as a souvenir, he walks casually out of the house… as the soundtrack reprises "Winter Snow"…)
END OF ACT FOUR
THE END
