THE VERY WORST THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN, PART 3
INT. RAUL’S APARTMENT, HONG KONG, 1997 - LATE AFTERNOON
Raul comes in through the front door, drops his keys and puts the paper bag with mouse down on the coffee table.
RAUL
(coming through the door)
Snake? Hey Snake?! I’m home!
Shuffling.
RAUL
Hello? Mr Snake guy? I’ve got your mouse.
SNAKE
Took long enough. I’m fucking starving.
RAUL
Well, we had a bit of situation. But...
He opens the bag and the box and pulls out the squeaky mouse.
RAUL
...Look at this fat fucker.
SNAKE
Hand him over.
RAUL
He looks delicious doesn’t he?
SNAKE
Imma need a lobster bib.
RAUL
I bet - I mean, he looks delicious. BUT, first, I need some answers.
SNAKE
Ugghhh. Every fucking time.
RAUL
What?
SNAKE
Every fucking time this happens! Some one finally gets me some food, and they think I owe them something. Its called blackmail, Raul. And its immoral.
RAUL
Huh. That’s actually true.
SNAKE
YEAH, I KNOW! Plus, its animal cruelty, which is also not a good look, AND you didn’t even ask me anything! You got a question? Why don’t you just ask? Why go straight to black mail? What are you, the CIA?
Theme Music. Titles:
ANNOUNCER
The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen, Part 3.
The scene continues:
RAUL
Ok, ok. Here, take the mouse. I had to fight for that, you know.
SNAKE
Yeah, that happens.
Gobble gobble.
RAUL
Questions. Why am I able to write letters to a dead woman?
SNAKE
(unintelligible)
TIME MMFG DOESN’T MMMGGGHHHHH....
RAUL
Fine. Finish eating.
Gurgle glug glug. Beat.
SNAKE
(finishing eating)
Time doesn’t work like you think it does.
RAUL
You mean, relativity? Time isn’t a straight line, its curved?
SNAKE
Well yeah, that’s true, too. But that’s like looking at a cherry blossom tree and saying “oh its spreading seeds to propagate the species.” Its kind of missing the point.
RAUL
I don’t follow.
SNAKE
Cherry blossoms are beautiful.
RAUL
So, the fact that they’re beautiful- that matters?
SNAKE
Are you dead? Of course it matters. Time is emotional. And not just like, like rocks in a rushing stream, where the water has to flow and bend and eddy around them... Actually, that’s exactly what its like. I totally nailed it.
RAUL
So, this woman, she’s a rock and time is getting bent all around her?
SNAKE
Exactly. In YOUR stream.
RAUL
Everyone has their own streams?
SNAKE
Yep.
RAUL
Am I a rock in the stream?
SNAKE
No, you’re a fish.
RAUL
Oh for fuck’s sake. This isn’t helping.
SNAKE
You’re a fish, who’s been hiding in the water just behind the rock.
RAUL
And she’s the rock- Sara Cloutier?
SNAKE
Yeah, that’s what I said. Didn’t you go to like grad school? I thought you were smart.
RAUL
Easy, there. I analyze business deals. I don’t do quantum physics, ok, Mr. Snake?
SNAKE
My name isn’t Mr. Snake. Its Mr. Ming.
RAUL
What?
SNAKE
Ming! Mr Ming. That’s my name.
RAUL
Mr. Ming?
SNAKE
Yep. Could you get me some water please? Like, now, please? Sara would give me some water.
INT. RANDOM BAR, PARIS, 1959 - EVENING
Sara is meeting Claire for a drink. Sara is already settled at a table when Claire arrives.
SARA
Claire! Over here.
Two kisses. Claire takes off her coat.
SARA
Red wine?
CLAIRE
Yes, that’s perfect.
SARA
(to a waiter)
Two red wines, please.
CLAIRE
I’m so glad you called! I was worried when you ran out the apartment so fast.
SARA
It was... I don’t know. I was nervous.
CLAIRE
(with a kind laugh)
Yes, I could tell.
SARA
(whispering)
I’d never done anything like that before.
CLAIRE
(whispering)
You were a virgin?!
SARA
Now you’re making fun of me.
CLAIRE
(laughs)
A little bit.
SARA
You know what I mean.
CLAIRE
Yes. I do. And I understand, completely.
SARA
No. I don’t think you do, Claire. I mean, I don’t know much about you, but what I DO know makes me think we’re very different people. Just two days ago I had a whole future- a fiancé, a beautiful new apartment... I’d leave my job and raise the children, walk them to school... I can still see it all. Now that’a all just gone.
CLAIRE
I was sixteen when it happened to me.
SARA
What happened?
CLAIRE
Oh its a story. Where did you grow up? Here in Paris?
SARA
Yes, in the 18th.
CLAIRE
When my parents moved here we were in the 14th. They sent to school with the nuns, you know? On Rue Asselin. Very strict catholic school. And these women, what is wrong with them? My god. But my parents, they’re both catholic, and this is just what they understand. Its what they had, and what they wanted for me. So, yeah, I hated it, but no way out. And this is no place to learn about sex. Ha! Latin? Great. Descartes? Ehh, maybe. Sex? No no no. But when I was thirteen, fourteen, I was mmm horny, you know? God! So horny!! I felt like a criminal. I felt like a slut, like I was there was something so drastically wrong with me... You know what I mean?
SARA
I was a late bloomer, I guess. My head was always in the clouds, but any of those feelings-- I could ignore them, maybe.
CLAIRE
Not me! I was crazy. I’d get off on anything- a hairbrush, an altar candle...!
SARA
Oh my.
CLAIRE
Ha. Yes. So one night my best friend-- she was also a bad girl, not as bad as me, but still-- she stole a bottle of wine from the nuns. It was almost Easter, so everyone was busy and about to go away for the holidays. We waited until everyone was asleep, and then we drank the whole bottle. Oh that feeling- the warmth in my neck and my tits! So of course I had to masturbate, right? No self control. So she and I both start doing it to ourselves- we’re in my bed in the dorm, and the other girls are in there, but they’re all asleep, and we’re trying to be quiet, yes? Very discreet! Ha. And I’m brave from the wine, so I reach over- she’s breathing and her eyes are closed, just so beautiful. I reach over and put my hand under her shirt and touch her breasts. We both came immediately. Then she touched my tits, and I came again. So I’m drunk with all this feeling- its like, the opposite of everything we deal with all day- the rules and the guilt and the ‘god is watching!’ stuff- so I just go for it, I want to taste her. I’d heard about it maybe, I don’t know, but I had to have her in my mouth. So I slid under the covers, and kissed her there. Oh my god she was so wet! She moaned, it was so hot under the covers, her hand squeezing my shoulder so hard I had a mark for weeks! And I knew I wasn’t alone- I wasn’t the only girl who liked this. Which just made me even more turned on, and louder, right? So just as she came, practically screaming, I’m moaning and touching myself and then: the blanket gets ripped off the bed, and there was Sister Marguerite.
SARA
Shit. Not Sister Marguerite.
CLAIRE
Exactly. And Sister Marguerite was a fucking cunt, let me tell you. She beat us with her wooden stick, right in front of all the other girls, we were naked, and in shock, and crying, and she’s saying ‘you’re going to hell! I pray for your souls!’ And shit like that.
SARA
That’s awful.
CLAIRE
No no, but listen. The next day was Easter break, so there I was, home in my room, and I was so scared that they’d tell my parents, or worse, tell my friend’s parents! Ahh- I was terrified, and I just broke down. Once I’d started crying, I couldn’t stop. But I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble- I didn’t even care about that. I was crying because of WHO I WAS. That I’d loved that night. That I even loved being beaten for it. And not because I’m a lesbian, I like women and men too... but I love sex. I love it. That’s exactly who I am. To me, it opens doors to a kind of joy. And I want that. And I will be like that forever.
SARA
So why do we hide it? Why do we ignore this thing, this need, we all have? Why do we call it shameful and push it down, pretend like its not there?
CLAIRE
I have no idea.
Beat.
SARA
None of that story is true, is it?
CLAIRE
(laughs)
No.
SARA
Where are you from, really?
CLAIRE
China.
SARA
When?
CLAIRE
It’s hard to explain.
SARA
And who do you work for?
CLAIRE
Well, technically I work The National Museum of Carpets and Textiles. But it doesn’t feel like work. This is just what I do.
SARA
And what do you do?
CLAIRE
I help people who are tangled up.
SARA
How?
CLAIRE
By helping them dream of being untangled.
SARA
And the letters? From Raul? Are they untangling me?
CLAIRE
Oh I doubt it. Not yet. More like the opposite. But they will.
SARA
Are you sure?
CLAIRE
I promise.
SARA
I want to know him, this Raul.
CLAIRE
He’s lovely. Very low key. I like him a lot. And handsome- whew. Very hot.
SARA
Do you only think about sex?
CLAIRE
Not only!! Not at all! I just like people. And that story I told you--
SARA
The lie?
CLAIRE
Ok I made it up but its not a lie, its a... parable. And that IS who I am. Truly.
SARA
I believe you.
CLAIRE
Good.
SARA
I had a thought, the other day, when I left you.
CLAIRE
Yes?
SARA
The way I felt after we...
CLAIRE
Fucked.
SARA
Ha. Yes, after we fucked. I felt freer. Because maybe if we can truly please ourselves, then what do we need rules for? Or God? Or the government? All those systems, all those machines. If we can be happy by ourselves, what control do they have? Who can tell us what to do?
CLAIRE
(serious)
Shhh. This is the danger. Remember how I wasn’t alone with these feelings?
SARA
Yes.
CLAIRE
Well, I can prove it, if you want.
SARA
How?
CLAIRE
Come with me.
SARA
Where are we going?
CLAIRE
I need to show you how to mail a letter.
INT. RAUL'S APARTMENT, HONG KONG, 1997 - AFTERNOON
Raul and Mr Ming, the snake, continue their conversation.
RAUL
So you know Sara?
SNAKE
Yeah. Of course.
RAUL
Sara Cloutier? The author?
SNAKE
Yep.
RAUL
She wrote that book called “Before I Disappear Again.”
SNAKE
Yeah. Man I love that book. So good.
RAUL
Right? So...
SNAKE
Alive.
RAUL
So much sex and cigarettes.
SNAKE
Ha. Very french.
RAUL
How do you know her?
SNAKE
We exchanged some letters while I was preparing for this mission.
RAUL
Mission? This is a mission.
SNAKE
Yeah.
RAUL
And what’s the purpose of this mission?
SNAKE
Purpose. What a shitty word. Mauh-di (purpose). Object, aim, intent, target, goal. You guys have a fuckton of words for the same thing, you know that?
RAUL
You’re being evasive.
SNAKE
And you’re thinking in a straight line. While talking to a snake! I’m literally the fucking SYMBOL for circularity! We talked about this. No straight lines in this business, buddy. Zero. None at all.
RAUL
So you came here with no intent?
SNAKE
I was given an assignment. I went to work on the project. It seemed like the natural thing to do, wouldn’t you agree?
RAUL
Assignment? To connect people? Is that your job?
SNAKE
No. My job is not connect people.
RAUL
But you’re part of the secret postal service?
SNAKE
Nope, that’s not it either.
RAUL
Oh come the fuck on, Ming! Give me a little something to go on here! I mean it.
SNAKE
You and Sara are connected, its true. But I’m not here to cause that, or encourage it... that is just as it is. Your lives are entwined now. You can almost hear her sometimes, right?
RAUL
Yeah, actually. I can.
SNAKE
Got a pen?
RAUL
Why?
SNAKE
Just get a pen. Jesus.
RAUL
Ok, ok.
SNAKE
Tower 535, on Jaffe Street. The guard’s name is Guo Liang. He smokes Double Happiness brand- bring him a carton of cigarettes and a hundred bucks, and tell him Mr Ming sent you.
RAUL
(writing)
Guo Liang, double happiness...
SNAKE
He’ll tell you where to go. Listen to the drainpipe in the bathroom sink. And be nice, ok. He’s a good guy, but he’s a little nervous, so just, you know, be cool.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE, HONG KONG, 1997 - EVENING
Dusk on a busy street in the Wan Chai neighborhood of Hong Kong. Its evening now, and the heat has finally relented. A damp coolness starts to curl between the buildings like a giant snake going to sleep.
We move from the main street - Lockhart Road - and turn north onto Cannon street. At the next block, the corner with Jaffe Street, a new high rise is going up. Not sure what the thinking was, but its enigmatic name is Tower 535. Its still there, you know. Look it up.
In the far distance, there are the sounds of a street protest- the students are rallying again.
Raul approaches the construction site and talks to the security guard, GUO LIANG.
RAUL
Hi, are you Guo Liang?
GUO LIANG
Yeah.
RAUL
A friend of mine said I should come talk to you-- Mr Ming?
GUO LIANG
Oh, yeah. Ok. I thought you were a cop or something.
RAUL
I look like a cop?
GUO LIANG
Kind of.
RAUL
Huh. Oh- I brought you a little gift. Ming told me you smoke Double Happiness?
GUO LIANG
Yeah.
RAUL
There’s a few bucks in there in too.
GUO LIANG
Ok.
RAUL
So- he didn’t tell me much. Just that I should come here and talk to you.
GUO LIANG
Uh huh.
A chain lock gets unlocked, and fence swings open.
GUO LIANG
Come on.
They walk on the rubble through the construction site for a maybe 20 yards.
GUO LIANG
Use this elevator- this button here. If the power’s off, there’s a circuit box right over there.
RAUL
Ok. It looks a little rickety.
GUO LIANG
Its fine. Construction elevator. 73rd floor, second apartment on the left. 7303.
RAUL
The building isn’t even finished.
GUO LIANG
Its almost done.
RAUL
Ok...
GUO LIANG
Look, you don’t have to go, easy for me if you don’t. But if you’re going, its the 73rd floor, second apartment on the left.
RAUL
I’m going.
GUO LIANG
Its the sink in the bathroom near the entrance.
RAUL
What is?
GUO LIANG
Ming didn’t tell you?
RAUL
Ming is weird.
GUO LIANG
Yeah, look, anyone asks: you don’t know me.
RAUL
Know who?
GUO LIANG
Exactly.
Humorless Guo Liang trudges off. Raul calls the elevator, which is a temporary construction elevator attached to the side of the building.
Tense music comes up as the elevator gate opens, closes, and the elevator starts to rise over the city. The sounds of the street fade away, replaced by wind. Finally the elevator stops, the gate opens, and we hear footsteps in a concrete hallway. There are no windows on one side of the building, so we still hear wind, and plastic flapping, some slight city noise.
RAUL
Hello? Hello?
Beat, footsteps.
RAUL
Ok...
A few more echo-y steps. A door creaks open.
RAUL
Hello?
A pigeon flies out suddenly!
RAUL
Ahhh! Holy shit!
(breathing hard)
Jesus. Fucking bird. Scared the shit out of me.
A few more steps into the apartment.
RAUL
Uh, anyone here?! Hello?
Beat.
RAUL
Nope. Just me and the scary attack pigeons.
RAUL VO
Dear Sara, I heard you today. As if things could get stranger... somehow I heard you. I was told to go to an unfinished apartment in a skyscraper here in Hong Kong. There was plaster dust and paint cans and some dirty drop cloths scattered around the place. Hong Kong’s skyline filled the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. It was a whole other world up there. Different colors. Better air.
(Beat)
The main room has three walls, the whole place is a triangle. Nothing too surprising: a modern shower, nice tile job. A bathtub bigger than my living room. All the expected stuff for a modern luxury apartment building. But that’s when I heard it.
It gets quieter as he shuts the door, and there’s a faint murmur coming through a metal tube...
RAUL VO
It was coming from the drain in the sink. Very faint, very far away- it had been drowned out by the wind. I put my head as far into the sink bowl as I could, forcing my ear against the cold enamel. That’s when I heard you, Sara. You were laughing.
INT. TAXI, PARIS, 1959.
Claire and Sara are in a cab.
SARA
(laughing)
No! No I don’t believe it!
CLAIRE
Yes, of course its true! You know we’re not the only ones, Sara! Come on.
SARA
But is it legal? Is it even allowed?
CLAIRE
I never asked to see their license!
SARA
I’m just shocked. A club for people who...
CLAIRE
Its a place where people can get together. That’s all.
Sara whispers.
SARA
But they do everything?
CLAIRE
If they want to. Or they do nothing, that’s fine, too.
SARA
I’m so nervous.
CLAIRE
Don’t be. You’re with me.
CAB DRIVER
Here you go.
SARA
Here, I have it.
Sara fumbles some money from her purse.
CAB DRIVER
No no, we have it. No money.
SARA
Really?
CLAIRE
He’s on salary. We have a deal.
SARA
So, wait- you know the cab driver?
CLAIRE
Oh yes. I’ve known him a long time- how long has it been?
CAB DRIVER
Feels like forever.
CLAIRE
Ha. Yes it does. Come on let’s go.
SARA
Merci, monsieur!
They exit the cab.
SARA
I’ll buy the first round then.
CLAIRE
Come on!
EXT. PARIS STREET, 1959 - CONTINUOUS
Footsteps down concrete steps. A knock on a wooden door. Something slides open.
A VOICE RESPONDS - this is Kate, but her voice is from behind the door so its hard to tell.
KATE
Yes?
CLAIRE
‘The future enters into us.’
KATE
‘...and transforms itself...’
CLAIRE
‘Long before it happens.’
The little window slides shut, then the door opens. They walk down concrete stairs to a basement door.
SARA
Is that a password?
CLAIRE
What?
SARA
That thing you said- about the future?
CLAIRE
Oh, yes. Its a Rilke quote. “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.”
A steel door opens into a coat room. They move through it.
SARA
What does that mean?
CLAIRE
Who cares? I need a drink to enter into me and transform itself.
The door to the club opens and closes. We follow some footsteps down the block, into a cafe.
INT. CAFE, PARIS 1959 - CONTINUOUS
A moderately busy cafe. Tense music murmurs underneath the scene.
JEAN
Telephone?
BARTENDER
Here.
JEAN
Merci.
The bartender places a telephone on the bar. A number is dialed, and it rings.
HANS
Hello?
JEAN
Director Cloutier? Its Jean.
HANS
Report.
JEAN
Your daughter just entered the club. She was with young woman.
HANS
Please refer to her as the Subject.
JEAN
Sorry. The Subject just entered the club with a young woman.
HANS
Was the woman Asian?
JEAN
Yes.
HANS
Shit. That’s Ai, codename Candle. Goddamn it.
JEAN
Should I follow?
HANS
No, its too late for that. We’ll need to be a bit more...disruptive.
JEAN
Understood.
HANS
You really suck at this, Jean.
JEAN
Yes, Director.
HANS
Come in early tomorrow. I’ll give you details.
JEAN
Understood, Director.
The receiver hangs up.
INT. SECRET SEX CLUB, PARIS 1959 - AT THE SAME TIME
They enter the main bar. Jazz with an eerie atonal bed envelopes us. Imagine the bar where Nick Cave played in Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire. Maybe 20 people in different, hushed little groups, drinking, chatting, and fucking.
SARA
Oh. Oh my.
CLAIRE
Yes, its something, isn’t it.
SARA
They’re... they’re having sex! I had no idea a place like this could exist.
CLAIRE
And yet, here it is. The world is so much bigger than we know.
SARA
(almost too herself)
What else don’t I know?
CLAIRE
Two whiskey’s, please.
BARTENDER
(from a distance)
Oui.
CLAIRE
You see the corridor over there? There are rooms and rooms, its like a maze. And in each room...
SARA
What?
CLAIRE
Well, people are making love. In whatever way they like.
Glasses are put on the bar.
SARA
Show me.
Sara drowns her whiskey.
CLAIRE
Well ok, let’s.
Claire also drinks, the fire in her throat makes her breathe hard, cough a bit, and then laugh. They move from the main bar area into the tunnel. The music gets even more warbly and underwater.
CLAIRE
(whispering)
Stay close to me. We can’t just jump in, you know?
They walk past the first door and stop, peaking in. Sounds of a whip elicit muffled moans and yelps from someone who’s gagged. Claire and Sara WHISPER to each other, peeping into the room.
SARA
Oh. I see what you mean.
(beat)
What are they doing? That doesn’t seem like... like they’re making love.
Yelp. Moan.
CLAIRE
Didn’t your fiancé ever slap your ass?
Whip. Whip whip.
SARA
Him? No!
CLAIRE
What a loser.
Slap, grunt. Moan.
SARA
He wasn’t a terribly passionate person. Maybe I wasn’t either.
Someone comes, loudly.
SARA
Ok. Oh. Fuck that... that turns me on.
CLAIRE
I know, right? Come on.
SARA
I’m not ready for this.
CLAIRE
Do you want to go? We can leave if--
SARA
I--
SARA VO
What I saw was a man, a naked man, his hands tied to a ring above his so he was stretched out as tall as he could be. His body was beautiful, like a Caravaggio. And a woman walked around him in a slow circle. She still had her panties on, and a cute little leather choker. She whispered something in his ear, I couldn’t hear but it sounded angry and sharp. He tried to speak, but a scarf in his mouth soaked up his words. He nodded though, saying yes to some question that was hidden from Claire and me. Then she hit him with a leather whip. I held Claire’s hand, instinctively, partly shocked and partly hungry and just about to giggle because that’s what we do when we’re nervous and we don’t understand. Claire squeezed my hand and breathed in my ear:
CLAIRE
Let me show you this. Then we can go.
During this VO the music gets slowly louder, so when it comes back to the scene, Claire and Sara have to yell above the sound.
SARA VO
Claire pulled my hand and walked me slowly passed the other rooms. Each one like a snow globe- a little vignette of different passions I’d never known before. Here a man is kissing the toes of a woman, his other hand down his pants. And here a man wears a corset and high heels, bent over a velvet couch, getting fucked hard by another man as two women watch, fully dressed, smoking cigarettes. Here is a room where the whole floor is a bed, just a tangle a bodies. I see a man come on a woman’s breasts as another man fucks her, a woman kissing her and rubbing the come on her tits until she also comes. At each door I slow down, and look inside and look at Claire and hold her hand and pull her close. And I think the same thing every time: “I’m scared. I want this. I’m scared that I want this.”
The music is almost brutal, and underneath the sounds of the orgy add a layer of need and ecstasy. They have to yell to be heard:
CLAIRE
You see this?
SARA
What?
CLAIRE
This hole, here.
SARA
Yes.
CLAIRE
Its connected to a tube, up there, see? It’s like the ones in your office. For the letters?
SARA
This is a pneumatic tube?!
CLAIRE
Yes! This is where you can send your letters to Raul.
SARA
Wait. How do you know about Raul?
CLAIRE
Its complicated. But I was sent here to help. You have some letters for him?
SARA
Yes, but you have to tell me what the hell is going on, Claire!
CLAIRE
I was sent here to help you. To help you sleep!
SARA
To sleep?! Is this a dream?
CLAIRE
Almost!!
SARA
Its too loud!
CLAIRE
Put the letters in here! Come on!!
SARA
Ok, ok.
The music is still increasing, now with the sound of steam and industry beneath it. Sara puts letters in a plastic tube and FOOOOOOMMMPPPHHH. The suction sound of it going into the tube.
CLAIRE
That’s one! One more!
SARA
Here!
FOOOOOMPHHHH.
CLAIRE
Ok! He’ll get them now.
SARA
Its too loud I can’t hear you!!
CLAIRE
Come on!
EXT. PARIS STREET, 1959 - MOMENTS LATER
Music and SFX crescendo then fade. We’re back outside on the street, getting into a cab.
SARA
Oh my god! Claire- I can’t even think!
CLAIRE
Its wonderful isn’t it?
The cab door closes and they start to drive away.
INT. CAB IN PARIS, 1959 - CONTINUOUS
CAB DRIVER
Home?
CLAIRE
Yes please.
SARA
Where are we going.
CLAIRE
I need to finish putting you to sleep.
SARA
No! Claire, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and--
CLAIRE
And?
SARA
(almost pleading)
I don’t know how much more I can take. Please, Claire... in the last few days, I broke up with my fiancee...
(Whispers)
I had sex with you!
CLAIRE
Yes you did!
SARA
And some waiter I’d never met before!! And I got a letter from someone in Hong Kong who I’ve never met but seems like...
CLAIRE
Like what?
SARA
Like, I’ve waiting to hear from him since the day I was born! I don’t know. Maybe I’m in love with him? I... I feel like I want to be in love with him but... I have no idea. No idea at all.
CLAIRE
That’s good! That’s a good thing!
SARA
No, its too much.
CLAIRE
You’re strong. Its not too much for you at all. But we need to finish putting you to sleep. Do you trust me?
SARA
Trust you? Claire! I have no idea who you are or what is going on, but trust you- no. I’m sure I don’t trust you. You know things that you’re not telling me.
CLAIRE
Thist takes time, Sara. Like you said this all happening very fast! I can’t do more than what I’m doing. Really.
SARA
(quick and sharp)
How can I believe that?
CLAIRE
Do you know the story of Inkidu and Shamat?
SARA
What? No. What are you talking about.
CAB DRIVER
Here you go.
CLAIRE
Thanks. See you.
CAB DRIVER
Yup.
SARA
Can’t you take me home? Please? I’m so tired.
CAB DRIVER
Sorry. I’m done for the day.
The cab driver turns on the radio and its BBC NEWS from Hong Kong in 1997, but no one notices.
BBC NEWS
Good evening, its March 16 1997, today in Hong Kong protests escalated--
Cab doors close and the sound is cut off abruptly.
EXT. PARIS STREET, 1959 - CONTINUOUS
They stand on the street as the cab pulls away. Water trickles down a drain.
CLAIRE
(whispering)
Come on, come with me.
Claire pulls out her keys, opens the front door.
INT. CLAIRES APARTMENT, PARIS, 1959 - CONTINUOUS
They climb up stairs in a beautiful marble foyer, open the apartment door and go inside as Sara speaks.
SARA VO
Oh Raul, why did I listen to her? What... what happened to me? I was scared of her? Maybe. Not really. I was intrigued by her. And lost, just so incredibly lost. I was in a storm, and she was a lighthouse. Or just a flickering candle- but it was enough.
CLAIRE
Come.
Claire leads Sara to the bedroom.
CLAIRE
(whispers)
We need to finish putting you to sleep.
SARA
I don’t understand.
CLAIRE
I need to make love to you three times. Three. And we made love once, yes?
SARA
Yes.
CLAIRE
You can trust me, Sara. I won’t hurt you.
SARA
I can’t trust you! You get a job where I work, and then pick me up... its all a trick! You knew what you wanted from me before I even met you! But I don’t know who you are, where you’re from, nothing, Claire! Nothing at all! So if trust is something you’re expecting from me, then we can just stop.
CLAIRE
(calmly)
You’re right. You are. But, does it matter if you trust gravity? No, because its there: you trip, you fall. Belief has nothing to do with it. But we have a problem, you see. Time is broken. Its not your fault. But it is, just a little bit broken. Like your heart.
Claire kisses her, softly, as she speaks, interrupting her words with the slightest graze of her lips.
CLAIRE
Everyone knows only time can heal a broken heart, right? But, then, what does it take to heal time?
Clothes are coming off. Sara breathes.
SARA
(whispers, panting)
Please shut up now.
INT. TOWER 456, HONG KONG 1997
Wind and traffic. Then: water in a sink, then the faucet turns off. Now: Breathing, lovemaking comes through the drain pipe.
RAUL VO
I hear you, Sara. I listen to this drain in the sink of a half-finished bathroom and I hear you, there, in Claire’s bedroom- I don’t know how but I do! Claire is kissing you, reaching her arms around your soft waist and pulling you close to her, so as much of your skin is against hers as she manage. Her hands drift down to your ass, squeezing, and up to your neck and cheek, pulling you towards the gravity of her mouth. She pushes you against the dresser, and falls to her knees, pushing up your skirt and running her hand over your panties in just that spot. I know it! I feel it now!! Your eyes close and your head goes back and the world sounds underwater and unimportant and foggy. And then...
He’s ecstatic but maybe crying a little bit, too.
RAUL VO
...She pulls your panties off and kisses your hips, your thighs, that magical spot at the bottom of your stomach, over to the side, the divot near your hip bone. Her fingers slowly run up your legs till she can touch the gentle crease at the center of you. Then she puts you in her mouth until you come. And you: holding her hair, pushing yourself into her mouth, coming. Total ecstasy. Total oblivion. Something like death, but happy, I suppose.
The sounds of Claire and Sara are coming through out through a drain in the sink of an unfinished bathroom in a high rise building in Hong Kong, 1997. And as Sara comes, Raul weeps, possibly with joy.