Slippage: Previously Uncollected, Precariously Poised Stories Read online

  (turns to her)

  ...but you...

  (in a Cagneylike voice)

  I'm gonna give it to you, the way you give it to me brudder...

  And with one taloned hand extended, he suddenly aims a mean clawed finger at her; a sizzling bolt of bright-red power erupts from his digit and strikes her.

  VOLKERPS

  (viciously)

  Fry, bitch!

  There is a bright FLASH OF UNBEARABLE LIGHT that blots the frame for a moment and then:

  22 - ANOTHER ANGLE - FAVORING PENTAGRAM & NINO

  All that remains of Cassandra Fishbein is a neat pile of smoking pearly gray ash. And one of her sandals. A twist of smoke ascends to the ceiling as we:

  CUT TO:

  23 - SERIES OF INTERCUTS – CLOSEUPS

  thru

  26 - On Nino, Arky and Gus Chaucer as each bugs his eyeballs, gives a shriek of horror and we:

  CUT TO:

  27 - FROM VOLKERPS - HIGH SHOT DOWN ON THE THREE MEN

  As he smiles a ghastly smile, and looks at them meaningfully.

  VOLKERPS

  (charming)

  Next?

  The three scream and as they take the first fast step bolting toward the door of the shoppe we:

  SMASH-CUT TO BLACK

  and

  OUT.

  END ACT ONE

  ACT TWO

  FADE IN:

  28 - EXT. ALLEY - SAME AS SCENE 1 - NIGHT (SHOOT DAY FOR NIGHT)

  As Arky and Gus come running down the alley toward Nino's warehouse. They are running like mad things. Literally, the demons of hell are on their heels! CAMERA HOLDS as they RUN INTO F.G. and WHIP-PANS to FOLLOW THEM as they race past. (Make sure we see that) Nino is not with them. CAMERA COMES IN CLOSER as they reach the door of the warehouse that Arky smashed in Scene 4. It has been hastily repaired with boards nailed across to prevent entrance. Gus hits it with a crackback block, shattering the boards off their nails as we:

  CUT TO:

  29 - INT. WAREHOUSE - FULL SHOT

  On Arky and Gus as they madly pile crates against the door, or what's left of it. They are moving so fast, they're a blur. Now, running across the length of the warehouse comes Hazel, with Bork in her wake. He carries a hammer, as if he'd just gotten through repairing what they've smashed again. Gus and Arky pay no attention to the newcomers.

  BORK

  Hey you guys, I just finished repairin' that door!

  ARKY

  Help! Help us! Don't just stand there...pile...pile!

  HAZEL

  (alarmed)

  What happened? Where's Nino?!

  Gus is now performing herculean feats, lifting great boxes and stacking, stacking, stacking! He's like a dog burying a bone.

  ARKY

  (hysterical)

  I dunno, he's dead, he's gotta be dead! Volkerps came, big...he was big...and right there...he came straight from hell, he still stunk'a rotten eggs...

  30 - WITH HAZEL

  As she grabs Arky. He's a little guy, and she's a strong woman. She manhandles him around and she's furious.

  HAZEL

  You left him!?! You ran?!

  ARKY

  (whimpers)

  I ran...he ran...

  (indicating Gus)

  ...we ran like hell. That thing just fricasee'd the chubby lady. Hit 'er with some kinda laser, made her into ashes like an old cigar! You could hear the fat sizzlin' like a pan'a sausages!

  HAZEL

  Ohmigod, Nino! Neeeeeenol

  Now she's hysterical. This goes on for a second or two, then she pulls herself together very quickly.

  HAZEL (CONTD.)

  (cool, businesslike)

  All right. That means we have to consolidate our interests, get the accounts transferred into the corporate name, begin amortizing the rolling stock, make sure none of the boys try to take over the territory...

  ARKY

  (screams)

  Are you crazy? That thing is gonna fry us and eat us! It's coming!

  Gus is still lifting, stacking, shoving, lifting, stacking! There is suddenly a BANGING ON THE DOOR. Everyone stops. They stare in horror at the pile of crates. Frozen, they wait. The BANGING again. Gus and Bork and Arky hide behind Hazel. She hesitates a moment, then takes a step toward the stack hiding the door and speaks softly:

  HAZEL

  Wh-who's there?

  NINO O.S.

  (muffled)

  Nino. Open up.

  ARKY

  (loud)

  You alone?

  NINO O.S.

  (muffled)

  I said: open the door. Now!

  Bork and Gus rush INTO FRAME, pull stacks of crates away from the door as if they were empty (which they are). The shattered portal is revealed, it opens, and in comes Nino Lancaster.

  31 - ON NINO

  Half his elegant clothing is burned off, still smoking. One bare leg with sock and shoe, burned pants off at the thigh. Half a Savile Row jacket. Soot smudges all over his face, his hair disheveled and now sporting a thick pure-white swath through the pompadour. He comes in, brushing himself off, bits of charred cloth falling away like dandruff. He moves past them as they begin babbling. CAMERA WITH Nino as he strides back toward the office, the others in tow, all speaking at once:

  HAZEL ARKY GUS BORK

  (all speaking simultaneously)

  What happened? How did you get away? Is that thing behind you? Are you hurt? Can you walk? Is your body burned? How did you get here? Where's Volkerps? Are we gonna die? How ya feelin', Mr. Lancaster? Wouldja like a glass of orange juice, boss? Nino, honey, I thought you were dead!

  32 - INT. OFFICE - FULL SHOT

  As Nino enters, trailing the others. He opens a filing cabinet as they troop in behind him, riffles through the Pendaflex hanging files to "S", and takes out a new, freshly ironed shirt. He strips off his jacket and shirt as he speaks:

  NINO

  This will be a bit more difficult than I thought.

  ARKY

  (gibbering)

  I'm doomedl I'm fricasee! If you can't take 'im, what chance've I got?

  NINO

  (snaps)

  I didn't say it was impossible. I said it would be a little more difficult than at first I thought.

  ARKY

  (in wonderment)

  But how did you get away? He was gonna fry our ass-paragus! How'd you get outta there?

  NINO

  (smiles, obtusely)

  I dazzled him with fancy footwork.

  They stare in wonderment. Nino is utterly businesslike now. He has on a clean shirt and he starts giving orders.

  NINO (CONT'D)

  Okay. Let's get to it.

  (beat)

  Gus, Bork: go see Nuñcio over at the docks. Have him talk to our people at the ship-fitting operation. Get me a hundred gallons of lead paint...

  GUS

  (dumb)

  What color, boss?

  NINO

  Doesn't matter.

  GUS

  (persists dumb)

  Well, they got it in battleship gray, y'know; that's the standard color...but we could maybe ask 'im to mix a special batch in some nice pastel...

  NINO

  (snarls)

  Quiet! I don't care what color. Get gray, get anything, but get me a hundred gallons with the highest lead content they can find.

  (beat)

  Then spray the inside of this office. Ceiling, floor, walls, window, all of it. Every inch in here. Don't miss a corner. Then do it all over again. Then do it again. And when you're all done...do it ten times more. Hazel...you'll oversee the job?

  HAZEL

  Yes, of course, Nino. But...

  He holds up a hand to stop her.

  NINO

  While they're getting the paint, book two first class flights on Air France to Switzerland. First flight you can get to Berne.

  (beat)

  My name, and Arky Lochner.

  ARKY

 
(scared)

  Me?!? Why me? Why do I gotta fly to Switzerland?

  NINO

  (flatly)

  Would you rather stay here alone for the rest of the week?

  ARKY

  Will I need my skis?

  CUT TO:

  33 - CONCORDE IN FLIGHT (MEASURE OR STOCK)

  The great plane speeding in one long shot, right to left in frame as we

  DISSOLVE TO:

  34 - INT. BANK VAULT - ARKY AND NINO

  SPECIFY CORNER SET. Dressed to look like numbered account vault in a bank. Painted flats will suffice. Zinc-tiled table angled toward corner. On the table is a safety deposit box, being opened by Nino as Arky looks on in awe. Nino winnows through dozens of stacks of currency, and takes out a small, rectangular box, all set about with intricate arcane carvings.

  ARKY

  This's what we came all the way to Berne to get?

  Nino nods, opening the box by pressing here and there on its surfaces in a measured pattern. He opens it so we cannot see what's in it, looks inside, smiles.

  ARKY

  (disbelieving)

  This's gonna save me?

  NINO

  (smoothly)

  I'm not at the pinnacle of my profession for nothing, Arky.

  (beat)

  Let's go home. Day after tomorrow, your week is up.

  DISSOLVE TO:

  35 - CONCORDE IN FLIGHT (MEASURE OR STOCK)

  The Concorde going in the opposite direction from Scene 33, left to right in frame as we

  DISSOLVE THRU TO:

  36 - INT. WAREHOUSE OFFICE - NIGHT - ESTABLISHING

  Same room as previously, but now painted a chilly lead-silver shade. All the windows have been painted over except for a silver dollar-sized peephole in the window facing into the warehouse proper. Floor and walls and ceiling are all uniformly gray lead. The desk has been cleared. Alone on the desk is the carved box from the Swiss vault. Arky, Nino, Hazel and the two pistoleros stand in the room.

  NINO

  (checks watch)

  We have to wait till midnight. He'll come at midnight.

  (beat)

  Anybody wants to go...do it now.

  Gus and Bork smile, wave, and exit hastily. Arky moves to join them.

  NINO (CONT'D.)

  (hard and flat)

  Not you, Arky.

  He looks at Hazel. She stares back with adoration.

  HAZEL

  Here's lookin' at you, kid.

  He walks to her, takes her ravenously beautiful face in his hands and kisses her quickly. They smile at each other, as Arky sinks into a chair, head in hands, moaning.

  INTERCUT:

  37 - CU DIGITAL CLOCK

  It reads 10:17. Then almost too rapidly to note, it reads 10:43, 11:06, 11:50. The counters have flipped so fast the blood-red digits seem a blur and we:

  CUT BACK TO:

  38 - INT. WAREHOUSE - FULL SHOT

  HIGH SHOT down on Nino Lancaster, standing alone in the center of a cleared aisle. We can see that the area has been emptied to give him a clear run back to the rear of the crate-filled warehouse, right back to the gray-windowed office, where the door stands open, as if waiting. With SHOWDOWN MUSIC (d la an Italian Western high noon scene) that rises, CAMERA COMES DOWN SMOOTHLY to circle Nino like a lone gunslinger waiting for the bad guys. He wears a clean shirt open at the neck, good slacks, and sneakers for running. CAMERA CIRCLES HIM as we

  CUT TO:

  39 - INT. OFFICE - ON ARKY & HAZEL

  as one peers out the door, the other peeps through the one unpainted circle in the window. They watch Nino out there all alone. Suddenly, there is a sizzle of lightning.

  40 - SAME AS 38 — ON NINO

  As the demon cloud begins to form in the air above him. Thunder, lightning, the sound of nails being ripped from wood, the scraping of fingernails on a blackboard. The heralds of Volkerps's coming. Then, the demon takes form in the cloud, meaner than before, with scars on his body that are quite evident, as though he's been in a bad fight.

  VOLKERPS,

  (sees Nino, thunders)

  You again? I thought you'd had enough!

  NINO

  (cool)

  I'll give you one chance. Cancel the contract with Arky, give him about a million dollars to make up for what he lost at the track, go slime back to your pit...and I won't kick the crap out of you.

  Volkerps goes crazy. What insolence! He spits green slime. His horns tremble. His forked tongue lashes his chest. He puffs up like a bellows and heaves a rasping breath that sounds like metal dragged across concrete. He aims a bolt of fire at Nino like the one that fried Cassandra Fishbein.

  Nino adeptly sidesteps, like a torero in the arena, letting the bolt sail past to explode and burn a crate. Then, with a laugh, he turns and runs away from Volkerps, back toward the office. In the b.g. Hazel and Arky are screaming their warnings.

  41 - INT. OFFICE - SHOOT THROUGH OPEN DOOR

  As Nino comes running down the length of that long aisle, the cloud boiling after him, lightning and thunder filling the warehouse, that HEROIC CHASE MUSIC rushing over us. This shot can be in perspective to show us the carved box large in the f.g.

  Nino hits the doorway, rushes through, and we HOLD DOORWAY for a second as the cloud abruptly PUFFS OUT OF EXISTENCE. Volkerps is gone out there.

  Then, in smaller form, to accommodate the confines of the office, the shape of Volkerps solidifies inside the office. Nino is around the desk instantly. There is the SOUND of hurricane winds.

  NINO

  (yells)

  Hazel...now!

  And Hazel, who has been behind the open door, slams it fast and hard.

  NINO

  (yells)

  Arky...the patch!

  And Arky, who has been at the peephole, slaps a gray lead-painted patch with stickum over the hole. Now the CAMERA CIRCLES showing us all four of them inside a small room that is totally, unbrokenly gray with lead coating. Trapped!

  42 – ON NINO

  As he throws open the lid of the carved box from Berne. We can see that the interior of the box and lid are the same gray lead-lined surface as the office. Nino yanks something resting on the velvet lining of the box. He keeps it hidden in his hand.

  43 - FAVORING VOLKERPS

  Who is so large that he almost touches the ceiling. He raises a muscled arm to sweep Nino's head off, and Nino makes a mystical pass with his hands, sweeping and circling and intricate as a karate series, one fist closed over whatever was in the box. Volkerps shrinks a little and is thrown back against a wall as if he's taken a punch. His hideous snout begins to bleed. With childlike amazement he puts a finger to his nose, examines the blood.

  VOLKERPS

  (childlike, amazed)

  I'm bleeding!

  (awed)

  I'm actually losing pus and ichor (pronounced eyecore) and lovely slime!

  He rages, trying to swell to full size again, having been magically reduced; and he puffs his chest as if to fry Nino with a pointed claw, and Nino makes another intricate gesture, still holding the hidden object.

  As he makes the pass, one of Volkerp's horns snaps and breaks off, and where it hits the lead-painted floor it causes sparks.

  Then in rapid succession, another pass and the demon suddenly has a big black eye, the king of all shiners. We see fear on the demon's face, and he turns to run, but he can't get out. He bashes the door again and again, hits the walls, turns and turns, rolling along the walls, Hazel and Arky ducking and dodging, trying to stay out of his way, but all his pummelling cannot break him out. We realize the lead lining has him ensnared. He rages and roars, rushing about the office, knocking over chairs, shattering the desk, throwing filing cabinets.

  44 - 2-SHOT

  VOLKERPS stops and turns to face Nino. Nino now has a look on his cultured face we haven't seen before. He is a wolf with his prey trapped in a cave. His lips are skinned back over his teeth, and his eyes burn.

  NINO<
br />
  (mean, hard)

  You lousy twerp... enough is enough!

  And he begins an incantation, intoning in a VOICE that is Nino's, but more. It is as if he were in the center of the earth, and his voice coming from a volcano. This is a Nino with powers we've never suspected:

  NINO (CONT'D)

  (enchanting)

  Submit, submit, submit. I order you by the power of Asmodeus (pronounced: Ass-moe-dee-us), Belphegor (Bell-feh-gore), Belial (Bay-lee-ahl) and the toad of death to suppress thyself! Submerge, submit, suppress ... get your miserable ugly backside into the box, you twerp, you lousy punk!