SIDETRIPS


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy sees

 

INT. OFFICE OF THE MOVEMENT LIBERATION FRONT,   DAY,
SAN FRANCISCO - THE YEAR BEFORE

 

An INTERVIEWER who could be Pia Lindstrom, yes, perhaps it is Pia Lindstrom. Her cameraman and sound man have pushed aside a desk and table to make room for an interview with JIMMY O’SHEA. The woman who could be Pia Lindstrom looks Jimmy up, he looks her down; she looks him down, he looks her up. They have eyes; they make them.

 

The office has been preserved in a shambles for the TV cameras since it was broken into the night before. 3 x 5 cards confetti the floor. A typewriter lies on its side; it landed on the floor wrongly right side up; Jimmy turned it over for verisimilitude. The metal tongues of file drawers hang out. Spilled files lie on the floor, the desks, the shelves, like broken teeth.

 

Very much off-camera, LYNN SCHACKER, the office manager, who will refile the file cards, repair the files, reconstruct the phone sheet, reassemble the Roladex, and fix the typewriter, hovers in the background.

 

CAMERAMAN

Ok, got the background.

 

He does not mean the background that is LYNN. He means the damage that is news.

 

INTERVIEWER

Thank you, George. On me.

(to JIMMY)

Mr. O’Shea. Why are you wearing a .45 automatic on your waist?

 

Did we forget to say Jimmy’s wearing a .45? Of course he is. Neighbors say they saw two white men in suits breaking a rear window at 1 AM. The two men belonged to the “Secret Army Organization” (SAO), an FBI-funded gang of right-wing goons organized by a Bureau operative named Howard Berry Godfrey. Jimmy does not know this, but he should be grateful: the SAO has given him the moral right to wear a gun on television. The SAO doesn’t know that, but they never break into the office again.

 

JIMMY

Last night our office was raided. We have a right to defend ourselves.

 

INTERVIEWER

Won’t this lead to greater violence?

 

JIMMY

I believe it will lead to greater peace and quiet around here.

 

INTERVIEWER

What proof have you this was not an ordinary burglary?

 

JIMMY

This is not an ordinary office. Crewcut men in business suits are not your ordinary burglars. And there isn’t a lucrative street trade in left-wing mailing lists.

 

INTERVIEWER

Well, these are questions that must be looked into more deeply.

 

She looks more deeply into Jimmy. The camera cuts to a crotch shot of the holster on Jimmy’s belt. LYNN throws down the files she has been picking up from the floor, runs from the office in tears.

 

JIMMY

Excuse me.

(follows LYNN)

 

INT. OUTER ROOM - DAY.

 

LYNN rushes in, followed by JIMMY, who tries to grab her arm.
She pushes him away.

 

JIMMY

What’s the matter?

 

LYNN

You don’t know?

 

She tries not to tremble, trembles.

 

JIMMY

How can I know? You haven’t said anything.

 

LYNN

I have to say something?

 

JIMMY

What? What! I’m giving an interview.

 

LYNN

Guess.

 

JIMMY

You’re not making sense. Talk to me.

 

LYNN

You figure out what happened in there. Then you talk to me.

 

She exits to the street.

 

INT. OFFICE OF THE MOVEMENT LIBERATION FRONT, SAN FRANCISCO - MOMENTS LATER.

 

Jimmy re-enters.

 

JIMMY

I’m sorry.

 

INTERVIEWER

What was that about?

 

JIMMY

I don’t know. She started crying and ran out.

 

He shrugs. So does the interviewer. He cares. He just doesn’t get it.