BACKALLEY STRUT - EPISODE 2 By William Brian McCanless, II

William Brian McCanless, II Savannah, Georgia 404.514.7825 William@BitsyWords.com

FADE IN: INT. BACKROOM OF BOSSS BAR - DAY PETTY, 48, a middle-aged black man with a worn out face and MARK, 28, a fresh new-comer with a wispy goatee and round, dumpy physique both sit at a small table. A single light bulb illuminates the tiny backroom. An old monotone stereo plays a static-y jazz song from somewhere in the ether of the Twilight Zone. A clothes hanger protrudes from the top of the radio for reception. Petty is counting cash in a whisper to himself while Mark puts cocaine into small gram bags after weighing them on a portable electronic scale. There is an ashtray between them that is filled to the brim with cigarette butts. Petty suddenly slams his hands down on the table. PETTY Thirty fuckin grand. Thats how much we collected this week. Thirty fuckin grand. Shit. MARK (Preoccupied) Thirty grand, huh? PETTY What, you didnt hear me mother fucker? Thirty grand. I said it two times. MARK Thats pretty fuckin good for one week, man. PETTY Youre goddamn right thats pretty good for one day. Thats almost like a big fuckin bonus. MARK Yeah. Thats what happens when you get these mother fuckers addicted. PETTY What do you mean? MARK You know, these kids bump a line. Then they come down for the first time and they dont ever want to fuckin come down again. So, they (MORE) (CONTINUED)

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MARK (contd) keep wanting more and more, and they spend more money. Before you know it, after just that one line, youve got customers for life. PETTY (Chuckling) Yeah, till they fuckin OD or some shit like that. MARK We should have gotten into the tobacco biz. We would have been some rich bastards by now. You got all those people smoking in the movies, and all your favorite actors, and your rock bands. I mean, your grandma could have died of lung cancer, but youre still gonna smoke because its cool. Petty lights another cigarette with the tip of his previous one. Hes very obviously addicted. PETTY Well, I dont really think its being a slave to some tobacco company or anything like that. Its just enjoyable, you know? I mean, when I smoke a cigarette it makes me contemplate. It makes me think. I mean, sure, you get addicted or whatever, but there aint nothin like relaxin with a menthol between your fingers. You get those epiphanies about life, man. MARK Man, its the same thing as being addicted to coke. The tobacco companies are out there laughing at us because were smoking their shit. Its the same thing were doing. We give the people the coke, they bump a line, and we get the money. PETTY Tobacco is something totally different man! First of all, its legal. Second, you can buy it in any store and you have to be a (MORE) (CONTINUED)

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PETTY (contd) certain mature age. I mean coke, man, you can be any age to buy it. You just gotta know the guy that stands on the corner. I mean, you go up to some guy named Rico, pay him fifty bucks you stole from your Moms purse for a G, you go home and get high. It aint classy like tobacco is. I mean, smoking...its like....like...an art form. Yeah. MARK No way. Those rich mother fuckers were bumpin back in the day with that Studio 54 shit. Everybody was doing it then. People thought it was very classy. PETTY So, you think that just because everybody was doing it, that that makes it classy? Plus, that was a long fuckin time ago Mark. MARK (Getting frustrated) thats what I told you before! Thats why you fuckin smoke cigarettes now! Because actors and famous people do it. PETTY Yeah, sure man, but what Im saying is that its classier. Writers do it. Poets do it. Almost everybody through historys done it. MARK How the fuck do you know about history? You didnt even finish high school. PETTY (Sternly) Fuck you. Joe bursts through the door and closes it behind him. Mark and Petty look up at him in surprise. JOE Orleans is back.

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PETTY ...shit. JOE (Nervous, sweating) We need to talk in private. PETTY No, if you gotta talk, you can talk in front of us both. Why dont you just chill out for a hot second? Sit down. Joe seems to think thats good advice. He sits down on a stool. He tries to calm down. PETTY You want a cigarette? JOE No thanks. I dont smoke. PETTY Why not? JOE I watched my grandmother die of lung cancer. I guess... I just never wanted to risk ending up like that. MARK Good for you. PETTY So whats this about Orleans? I thought he was dead. JOE Nah. Hes not. Hes not. He blew the shit out of some of our guys the other night. Boss man had found out he was still alive, and sent them down to find him. They aint nothin now. MARK Nothing but dead. PETTY Is that supposed to be funny Mark? Cause it aint. Shut the hell up.

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Petty stands up. He shakes his head and puts on his blazer, which was hanging on the back of the chair. It covers over his navy blue suspenders. He adjusts his ratty fedora. All of a sudden he looks like an old man; an old man that should be playing chess on a cobbled cafe corner. PETTY Lets go to the bar. CUT TO: INT. BOSSS BAR - DAY Mark, Petty, and Joe are sitting at the bar like they belong in an Edward Hopper painting. Their drinks are already in front of them. They hang their heads and talk as working men talk in a bar -- monotone. PETTY Spill it. JOE Its what I said. He blew the shit out of our guys. The cocky bastard even left a note for us to read. Bodies all over the place and he takes the time to write a note. FLASHBACK: EXT. ENTRANCE OF THE ABANDONED BARN - NIGHT Orleans is walking past the car that he blew up. Bodies are lying around. He takes a small piece of paper and picks up a rusty nail from the mud. He nails the paper to the barns entrance with the butt of his gun. Orleans continues to walk down the dark dirt road as rain beats down heavily sideways in the wind. We see the note. (V.O.) JOE It was a real simple note. It just read, You found me. CUT TO:

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INT. BOSSS BAR - DAY [PRESENT TIME] JOE He even drew a little smiley face on it just to be cute. PETTY When did it happen? JOE Yesterday PETTY Whats Boss Man want to do about it? JOE Thats why I came down here. Boss Man wants you to take care of it. PETTY How? JOE I dont know how. PETTY (Looking at Mark) Looks like we gotta make a trip downtown dumpy. (Back at Joe) Well see ya. Chill out here till we call. JOE You got it. With that Petty and Mark depart from the bar. Joe motions for the bar maid to bring him another whiskey. She takes his glass. Joe sighs deeply and begins to contemplate something we will never understand. FADE OUT: FADE IN: INT. BOSSS BAR - DAY Joe has folded his arms on the bar and has his head buried in them. Hes drank a little too much and passed out. We hear the door open. Light from the outside slowly creeps across Joes head, until it awakens him. He squints. He sees (CONTINUED)

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something we dont see, but whatever it is, its causing him to sober up pretty damn fast. POV behind Joes head -- we see the one and only Orleans standing in the door way of the bar. CLOSE UP of Orleans. He smiles. FADE OUT: