Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
By
Tom Slattery
History:
Present Draft Copyright 2001
1st draft version Copyright 1994
Novel, End of the Road, Copyright 1989
Novel published 2001, available on web book sites
Tom Slattery
Bay Village, Ohio
tslat20@hotmail.com
"END OF THE ROAD"
FADE IN:
PROFESSOR HOFFMAN
(touch of sarcasm)
Glad you could make it, Professor
Tharp.
PROFESSOR THARP
Sorry, Professor Hoffman. Latin
American situation. Transmission from
Antarctica's been relayed through New
Zealand.
(nods Szasz)
Mongolia treating you okay Professor
Szasz?
PROFESSOR SZASZ
(noncommittally)
Genghis Khan's tomb's half done.
PROFESSOR HOFFMAN
(businesslike)
Well, laser-image teleconferencing's
terribly expensive. University's
threatening the History Department
over it, so let's get on with this.
(to students)
The committee has decided to approve
your joint video thesis, "American
Highway Era With Focus On 1995." Now
if you will all eye-scan sign . . .
ERIC
(interrupting)
Does this mean I can't back out?
LUCY
(hurt)
Eric . . .
PROFESSOR SZASZ
You can. But it may delay your
Master's. As much as a semester.
PROFESSOR THARP
(to Eric)
The committee has accepted your
written thesis, Eric.
PROFESSOR HOFFMAN
This only concerns the video thesis.
ERIC
(resigned)
Okay. I'm in.
PROFESSOR SZASZ
Pamela?
PAMELA
No problem.
PROFESSOR HOFFMAN
Seeing everything is in order, we will
now formally sign the joint video
thesis commitment.
RETURN TO SCENE
PROFESSOR SZASZ
(very pleased to Harold)
Harold, how did you manage a
transmission through the siege of
Trinidad?
HAROLD
I'm out. Discharged yesterday.
Hopped an empty robot food-flight back
to Barbados.
PROFESSOR THARP
(admonishing)
Took a damn big chance!
HAROLD
Yeah. But better than staying cooped
up there!
PROFESSOR HOFFMAN
Stop by my office when you get back to
END OF THE ROAD 5
Ohio, Harold. Well that's it. Hope
to see an excellent video thesis.
HAROLD
Hello, Lucy.
LUCY
Oh, Harold! You shouldn't have taken
that chance . . .
HAROLD
Had to get out of that hell-hole.
LUCY
Where are you now?
HAROLD
Not far. Back in the USA!
LUCY
Harold, call me at home in ten
minutes. We've got to talk. Kent
State University'll blow a fuse if
they find out we're chatting on their
laser-teleconference.
HAROLD
Okay, Luce.
LUCY
What's the matter with this damn
thing, Harold?
Harold JUMPS UP, puts arms around Lucy, pulls her to him.
HAROLD
Levo-train from Miami.
LUCY
God I'm glad you made it. Alive!
HAROLD
Let's get married, Luce.
Lucy looks Harold in the eyes, studies him. Then she puts
her head on his shoulder.
LUCY
There's something I have to tell you,
Harold. I have to think.
LUCY (v.o.)
It's what he wrote his manuscript on.
He let us bring it over to scan into
the computer.
HAROLD (v.o.)
Heavy old contraption.
PAMELA
He didn't like them.
LUCY
Sentimental. His ex-wife bought it
for him at a garage sale.
LUCY
You push on the keys.
ERIC
Nothing happens. Where's the readout?
LUCY
(to computer)
Computer: Drawer!
LUCY
Friend copped it from the Art
Department. Ten dollars a sheet.
HAROLD
(points to ribbon reel)
Homemade ribbon. Cut from presso-
fiber. Took me a day to figure out
how it works.
Lucy turns on the "scanner," which shows a dull blue
light, inserts sheet into the typewriter, rolls it into
typing position.
LUCY
You have to snap the keys down like
this.
HAROLD
You want capitals. Capital letter
crank-or-whatever-you-call-it.
PAMELA
He wrote "End of the Road" that way?
ERIC
Probably got sore hands and fingers.
LUCY
So you guys want to start the
introduction in his college office?
PAMELA
That's what we decided. Follow his
manuscript.
ERIC
What's that?
HAROLD
Him in his office with this
contraption. Scan it in.
PAMELA (v.o.)
So we scrap him buying the old car?
LUCY (v.o.)
We'll get to it. Computer: Generate
office scene, dialogue!
Door opens.
ENGLE
(pleading)
That's it, Professor Sands? Nothing I
can do?
PROFESSOR SANDS
I'm sorry, Mr. Engle. It's the
board's decision.
DRIVER
What was that about?
ENGLE
Been canned. College's downsizing.
DRIVER
Just like that?
ENGLE
Bottom line. Caught a glance at
Sand's list. You're on it.
DRIVER
When?
ENGLE
Next year.
DRIVER
Unless the economy changes.
ENGLE
Don't bank on it.
DRIVER
I was going to shock you with
something.
ENGLE
(throws up hands)
Don't spare me now!
DRIVER
You're a Deadhead . . .
ENGLE
Not really. I like the Grateful Dead
sounds. Been to some concerts.
DRIVER
(pauses for effect)
Jerry Garcia called me.
ENGLE
(astounded)
Called you?
DRIVER
Met him in sixty-four. Just after I
got back from Vietnam.
END OF THE ROAD 11
ENGLE
Army, you said.
DRIVER
Yeah. Drafted. Out about a month.
Literally living in a garage on High
Street in Palo Alto. Working as a
histology tech at Stanford U.
Hospital.
ENGLE
Sixty-four. The Warlocks In Menlo
Park.
DRIVER
Just down the street.
ENGLE
You never told me.
DRIVER
Wasn't anything.
ENGLE
Must have been something.
DRIVER
Young stud. I didn't care for his
music. I went to Menlo Park for the
girls. We were just two same-age guys
who had been in the Army and didn't
like it. Got to talking.
ENGLE
Met your ex-wife there?
DRIVER
No. Somewhere else. But Garcia had
just gotten married. Influenced me.
All I remember is a bacon and eggs
breakfast at Sanford's after being up
all Saturday night. Philosophical
discussion standing under a
streetlight at three A.M. Convinced
me never to cross picket lines.
Turned me against the Vietnam War.
ENGLE
That's all?
DRIVER
He resolved a testy romantic dilemma.
I got married a few months later.
ENGLE
Last saw him then?
DRIVER
About then. And not since in thirty
years.
ENGLE
How'd he find you?
DRIVER
Told me, from an article I wrote in
the Bay Guardian a few years ago.
ENGLE
What did he want?
DRIVER
Me to come out and talk. Sounded
down.
ENGLE
You don't even like his music. You're
a classical freak.
DRIVER
Life's ironies.
ENGLE
You going?
DRIVER
Yeah. Remember that book idea?
END OF THE ROAD 13
ENGLE
About the Interstates?
DRIVER
Roads. Highways. Something like
that. Guy across the street put a
"for sale" sign on his seventy-nine
rust-bucket. Two hundred bucks.
ENGLE
(breaking into laughter)
California of bust in a two hundred
dollar car!
DRIVER
Very essence of the story.
ENGLE
Gooood luck! Wish I could go. I've
got to pound pavement for a job.
(with warning finger)
Better hope your book sells.
ERIC
It's a start.
PAMELA
Looks okay.
LUCY
Tomorrow then?
PAMELA
Yeah.
Pamela touches wrist band and "door" zings open. She and
Eric start toward it. Eric looks back from the door.
ERIC
What time?
LUCY
Eleven sharp.
PAMELA
See you there.
LUCY (v.o.)
(distant, echoing)
Glad Barb's bunch got stuck with
the Mississippi Steamboat Era.
END OF THE ROAD 15
We see memorabilia of The Road, rusted metal traffic
signs, faded PHOTOGRAPHS of an Interstate with traffic, a
two-lane highway, motels, gas stations with gas pumps and
drive-on garage lifts.
HAROLD (v.o.)
(distant, echoing)
Yeah. We lucked out. You said
he seemed a little out of it?
PAMELA (v.o.)
(distant, louder)
Only when we began. But then he
snapped out of it. I don't think he
gets to talk much with anyone.
ANOTHER ANGLE
LUCY (v.o.)
The nurse said he never has any
visitors. Oh, Pam, did you get the
permit?
PAMELA (v.o.)
Got it. We'll have a genuine
twentieth century lightbulb.
Beside the Old Man's chair is an ancient-looking wooden
end table and on it an ancient-looking TABLE LAMP with
visible (turned off) incandescent LIGHT BULB. Indoor
lighting comes from a row of light panels on the ceiling.
ERIC (v.o.)
(critically)
Burning up enough power to light a
whole block.
HAROLD
(puffing with heavy
typewriter)
Adding to greenhouse warming.
PAMELA
Come on, guys. It's okay for an hour.
LUCY
Now remember, he was an English
instructor.
ERIC
(critically)
His manuscript was in the
"unpublished" Copyright files until we
found it?
END OF THE ROAD 17
PAMELA
(shows computer-notebook)
Yeah. Lucky we accessed their data
base.
LUCY
(correctingly)
KSU Press published it.
HAROLD
(critical, ill-intended)
Because it's quaint. Only thing the
geezer ever had published.
ERIC
(sarcastic, mocking)
Be nice, Harold. Or Lucy's not going
to put out.
PAMELA
Eric!
LUCY
We're here. Be good, guys. Please.
He's a hundred ten years old.
OLD MAN
Please come in.
LUCY (v.o)
(softly, respectfully)
We try to be.
LUCY
This is Pamela and Eric. You know
Harold.
HAROLD
Here's your -- uh -- typing-writer
back.
OLD MAN
Put it on the table there, Harold.
OLD MAN
Pleased to meet you all.
(points to Eric's engine
model)
What's that?
ERIC
Internal combustion engine.
PAMELA
Made it for our lab project.
HAROLD
It's composit, not iron. But it
works. You can have it.
END OF THE ROAD 19
The Old Man graciously takes the model engine.
LUCY
Let us know when you're ready.
OLD MAN
Anytime.
PAMELA
Do you know how to turn on the
lamp?
OLD MAN
Normally you press the switch.
PAMELA
Switch?
ERIC
(pointing)
The thing on the stem there.
OLD MAN
But this one's broke. You have to
screw the bulb.
PAMELA
(avoiding innuendo)
Could you just point to the bulb.
OLD MAN
The round glass thing. There.
OLD MAN
(admiringly, nostalgically)
Haven't seen one "on" in years.
HAROLD
Luce, maybe you want to get some
of these?
ERIC
(motioning)
I guess that's the original
manuscript?
OLD MAN
(starts to get up)
Yes. That's it.
LUCY
(motions Old Man down)
No. Don't get up. Can he hold it up
for the camera?
OLD MAN
(sitting back)
Sure. Of course.
LUCY
(glances at viewer)
Looking good.
OLD MAN
Frames were steel, not composit. You
couldn't hide a magnetic code in them.
It was a piece of paper.
LUCY
Driver's licenses, too, we read.
OLD MAN
They were little cards.
(demonstrates size)
About so big. Issued by the States
back then.
ERIC
Registration was a piece of paper,
too? And parking tickets?
OLD MAN
(attempted humor)
Yes. They were pretty rough on trees
in those days.
PAMELA
Is that a real wool sweater?
OLD MAN
(tugs a tuft of sleeve)
Yeah. Sealed away for years. I took
it out just for this. You probably
never saw one. Right?
LUCY
In your manuscript you predicted they
might have to slaughter most of the
world's sheep.
OLD MAN
Methane. We knew about global warming
back then.
HAROLD
But no one did much. Population, too.
Now there's a big problem.
ERIC
(to Harold)
U.N. killed a lot of sheep.
PAMELA
(reproaching)
That was in 2028. Let's stick to The
Road. 1995.
LUCY
Yes. Anyway, the biggest cause of
Global Warming was all those
automobile engines.
HAROLD
Was this the kind of automobile?
OLD MAN
Yes, that was it. A rusty '79 Omni.
LUCY
Can Harold take it back so we can scan
it into our computer? We only have
two-dimensional file photos.
OLD MAN
Be my guest.
LUCY
Okay, the part where he buys the car.
END OF THE ROAD 23
(queries others with looks)
We can always delete it.
(to computer)
Computer: Generate scene 2-A!
DRIVER (o.s.)
Two hundred?
CHRIS (o.s.)
It goes.
DRIVER
(studying car)
Goes, huh. How far?
MEGAN
(pointing to briefcase)
Teaching this summer?
DRIVER
(lifts briefcase)
No. Turned in Spring grades.
CHRIS
So, what are you going to do?
DRIVER
Research a book.
MEGAN
On what?
DRIVER
American highway era.
EXT: BUSY TRAFFIC ON INTERSTATE 90, SEEN FROM CLAGUE ROAD
OVERPASS - HAUNTING SUNSET
DRIVER (v.o.)
Up on the Clague Overpass last week I
had the weirdest sensation. Haunting.
As if I were looking back from the
future.
DRIVER (v.o.)
Our highway system will soon be
history. Another Mississippi
steamboat era.
DRIVER (v.o.)
They're not cost-effective. They're
environmental disasters. And
technology's passing them by.
RETURN TO SCENE
DRIVER
(points to Dodge)
Okay, sold.
MEGAN
For your book?
DRIVER
Yeah. Disposable car. If it breaks
down, I'll take a bus back.
END OF THE ROAD 25
CHRIS
I put an electric fuel pump on it. It
rattles, but should save gas.
MEGAN
My uncle's a notary. I'll sign the
title over tomorrow.
LUCY
Keep it?
ERIC
Why not?
HAROLD
Follows his introduction.
PAMELA
Maybe we should talk to him more when
we start the main text.
LUCY
I set it up. Anyway, here's where he
starts out.
Driver, carries hand bag and large suitcase from his house
to Dodge. Passenger door and hatchback are open.
PAMELA (v.o.)
Aren't those cute old houses quaint?
He tosses bag onto passenger seat, slams door, puts
suitcase in back, slams hatchback.
LUCY (v.o.)
Computer "newed" them up. That
neighborhood's a slum now.
CHRIS
You're off?
DRIVER
On my way. Thanks for putting on new
brakes.
CHRIS
Worried about you. All that way.
MEGAN
Sorry there's no air conditioning.
DRIVER
All the better to feel the future.
CHRIS
You going to see Jerry Garcia?
DRIVER
Told him about my trip. Gave me a
number to call.
MEGAN
When?
DRIVER
When I get there. If I get there!
Around the second week in August.
(sighs, shrugs)
Really just to relive my own memories.
Well, here goes.
MEGAN
(waving)
END OF THE ROAD 27
Take care.
CHRIS
(waving)
Have a good trip.
HAROLD
That's the introduction.
PAMELA
Tomorrow at eleven again?
LUCY
Sharp. He's punctual.
OLD MAN
I don't really remember. That was
over half a century ago.
HAROLD
We were charmed by the thoughts.
PAMELA
(reading from compu-notepad)
Here's how you began: "The universe
might have a single solitary
beginning, and it all may come to a
single solitary end, but other than
that, nothing else does . . ."
OLD MAN
Best I can recall now is that I hoped
to link my adventure to the universe.
LUCY
(taps keys on viewfinder)
I'll punch in your voice pattern from
my audio, and you can hear yourself
read.
LUCY
(pointing to her pad screen)
Computer's got a preliminary test
scenario. But we'd rather wait and
show you our finished thesis.
LUCY (v.o.)
On page two the cleaning lady tells
you about the "Car-henge" monument
near Alliance.
LUCY (v.o.)
But you say you have to get back
because classes start the next week.
LUCY (v.o.)
So she tells you to stop in Gothenburg
and see the Pony Express Station at
least. You remember that part?
OLD MAN
Only after I read the proofs a few
months ago. Seemed almost as if
someone else had written it.
PAMELA
Must have been a strange feeling.
(tapping compu-notepad key)
There. Now you can hear yourself
read your book.
WAITRESS
What'll it be?
DRIVER
Burger. Fries. Lemonade.
WAITRESS
That your car from Ohio?
DRIVER
Yeah. Teacher. Off for the summer.
WAITRESS
Just riding around?
DRIVER
Researching. Maybe a book.
WAITRESS
About?
DRIVER
The road. The future.
WAITRESS
You see the Pony Express Museum yet?
DRIVER
No. How do I get there?
WAITRESS
(pointing)
Just follow the signs. All we got
here that's historical.
DRIVER
(waves around geodesic dome)
You've got this. I was never inside a
geodesic dome before.
WAITRESS
(with pride)
We built it. We just had a party here
yesterday to celebrate our thirteenth
year. My husband's a science fiction
buff. Likes things like this.
DRIVER
(holds up finger, gets up)
I wrote a science fiction novel.
College printed up some for my
classes. I'll give you a copy.
WAITRESS
Well, thank you very much.
(looks at it)
What's it about.
DRIVER
A Neanderthal. A coming ice age. An
assassination plot. He'll like it;
it's a yarn.
WAITRESS
We'll read it.
LUCY
You said you drove by there on your
honeymoon -- before there was an
Interstate.
LUCY (v.o.)
No kids? You never married again?
OLD MAN
No.
LUCY
I guess she's . . .
OLD MAN
Yes. I heard she died.
(hesitates, blinks hint of a
tear)
We were married nine years.
LUCY
A quick question: did you read
Kerouac's On the Road before you
started?
OLD MAN
Yes. Years before. Decades before.
PAMELA
Did you know Jack Kerouac?
OLD MAN
Sad to say, no, Pamela. He was a
little ahead of my time.
ERIC
You would have been about our age when
he died eighty years ago.
OLD MAN
About.
HAROLD
So you lived in his time.
OLD MAN
Sure. Looking at it from now. But On
the Road came out in the 50s . . .
ERIC
Nineteen fifties.
OLD MAN
Yes. (sighs) A century ago. At the
beginning of the American fascination
with The Road. Before the Interstate
system.
PAMELA
What did you have in mind when you
END OF THE ROAD 37
started out?
OLD MAN
On the trip?
PAMELA
On the trip. Or the story.
OLD MAN
I don't really know.
(reflects)
It's just something I felt I had to
do. If there is some great wisdom
running the universe, some things may
be beyond our understanding.
LUCY
(taps viewfinder off)
On that omo thought we'd better shut
down for the day. We'll see you
tomorrow, same time. Okay?
OLD MAN
I'll be right here. I don't get
around much anymore.
PAMELA
Someone get the incandescent lamp.
ERIC
(restraining snicker)
Harold, you want to screw the bulb?
OLD MAN
Unscrew.
HAROLD
Whatever.
Harold steps to the lamp, GRABS THE HOT LIGHT BULB,
SPRINGS BACK IN GREAT PAIN.
HAROLD
Yieeeeh! It's hot!
The Old Man holds up his hand over the lamp, demonstrates.
OLD MAN
Lightly, Harold. With your
fingertips. Like this.
LUCY
I shouldn't have turned off the cam.
OLD MAN
Maybe best that you did. We aren't
here to embarrass Harold.
LUCY
You're right. Well, we'll see you
tomorrow.
INT. CORRIDOR
PAMELA
Noon news in three minutes.
ERIC
If the Latin Americans don't nuke us
before then.
LUCY
END OF THE ROAD 39
Not funny, Eric.
Eric and Pamela ignore it, walk on ahead. Lucy and Harold
lag behind, walk together.
HAROLD
Interesting old duffer.
LUCY
You can see he's trying hard to work
with us.
HAROLD
Yeah. So serious.
LUCY
You talk to your parents yet, Harold?
HAROLD
Didn't have a chance.
LUCY
Nothing the matter is there?
HAROLD
No. Things just weren't right. Maybe
next week.
PAMELA
Still editing?
LUCY
Hello, Pam. You didn't go?
PAMELA
I already saw it. The guys just went
to see if we could do anything with
it.
LUCY
Is it really a piece of Interstate?
PAMELA
I'm not sure. It's pretty
deteriorated, overgrown.
LUCY
But road.
PAMELA
It was a highway. That's sure.
LUCY
How long is it?
PAMELA
Kilo. Maybe less. Whata you got?
LUCY (v.o.)
Interstate System. They planned it
after World War II.
PAMELA
(guffawing)
National defense!
END OF THE ROAD 41
LUCY
Whatever. Funny the way they did
things.
PAMELA
We may look pretty funny ourselves
some day.
(beat)
You and Harold seem . . .
LUCY
(sharply)
Rather not talk about it.
(bites lip)
You know if they'll be back in time?
PAMELA
Should be here in a half hour.
LUCY
(uneasy)
Could go over the manuscript, get
ready.
PAMELA
Okay. I'll copy it into R2D2 for
better sound.
PAMELA (con't)
(to wall screen)
Computer: Copy text, voice. Read from
page 22.
LUCY
Computer: Chapter Two. Merge Road
graphics.
LUCY
Professor Szasz should like this.
LUCY (v.o.)
What I have in mind is to go out and
follow his route as close as we can
after the weather cools. Take our
cams. Shoot it as it is now. Plug it
back into this.
LUCY (v.o.)
Maybe we can find some old motels, gas
stations . . .
RETURN TO SCENE.
LUCY
Places he mentioned.
PAMELA
Yeah, Luce. If we can't, maybe we can
ask around, find more old photos,
videos. Put them in.
LUCY
Juxtapose. Compare and contrast. Add
historical anecdotes.
PAMELA
Great. The guys'll go along with
it. We'll have a good time.
(taps wrist band)
Okay. Let's punch in his voice.
LUCY (v.o.)
I scanned in old photos, postcards,
videos to merge the present terrain.
It's accurate plus or minus five
END OF THE ROAD 43
years.
Two large new (1995) LUXURY CARS, windows rolled up, pass
the Dodge.
RETURN TO SCENE
END OF THE ROAD 45
OLD MAN (v.o.)
. . . supported by reliable climate
patterns, abundant rain. But I grew
up with it all around, oblivious.
LUCY (v.o.)
Nineteen eighties of course.
PAMELA (v.o.)
Quaint, isn't it?
LUCY (v.o.)
Five years after his honeymoon trip in
'65.
PAMELA
That wasn't in his book.
LUCY
No.
(to computer)
Computer, re-create Dodge Omni.
LUCY
Indiana State Police files for those
years were given to Purdue's Police
Sciences Department, later
computerized.
(to computer)
Scene!
LUCY (v.o.)
I searched up his license number,
found a note.
MECHANIC
(pulling wrench off wheel)
Should hold. Threads are a little
stripped, so keep an eye on it.
(wipes brow with sleeve)
Must be about a hundred out.
DRIVER
Maybe the greenhouse effect?
MECHANIC
Science fiction. Ain't no such thing.
DRIVER
(shrugs, points at gizmos)
Pretty fancy equipment.
MECHANIC
Yeah. Pretty near need a Ph. D. in
auto repair these days. Few years
back they'd hire anyone handy with a
wrench.
Driver backs Dodge off lift, backs out into, drives away.
DRIVER
Damn! Now where's the next one?
DRIVER
You have anything like a sandwich?
WEATHERED GUY
(nods toward microwave)
Could heat you up a hot dog.
DRIVER
(pulls bag of potato chips)
Nah. I'll take these. Don't know if
anything'll be open in Mitchell.
WEATHERED GUY
Most likely something. Don't know,
though. Haven't been there for a
while.
DRIVER
Is there a pay phone?
END OF THE ROAD 53
WEATHERED GUY
Nope.
(nods to old black dial phone)
You can use mine if you have a phone
credit card.
DRIVER
(shrugs, waves, starts leaving)
Never had one. Well, just have to see
what's open in Mitchell.
MONTAGE: STOCK:
MOTEL OWNER
All filled up. Everything in town's
full. Rotary convention. Tell you
what. I'll call down to Parkston.
DRIVER
Where's that?
MOTEL OWNER
20 miles south.
DRIVER
20 miles!
MOTEL OWNER
Either that or 65 to Sioux Falls, or
70 to Chamberlain. Want me to call?
DRIVER
Sure. Thanks.
MOTEL OWNER
Got two at the Rainbow Motel. Better
hurry.
DRIVER
(waves, goes to Dodge)
Very obliged.
DRIVER
(wiping rain from forehead)
I brought you some rain.
WOMAN
Thanks. We needed it. You the guy
Herb called about?
DRIVER
I'm sure.
WOMAN
(slides registration card)
Last one.
DRIVER
(filling out card)
He said there were two.
WOMAN
Half hour ago.
Driver gets out, drops postcard into mail box out front.
TOURIST MAN
What'r ya goin' ta do withit, Martha?
TOURIST WOMAN
I donno. Put it in the yard or
somethin'.
EXT. (MONOCHROME)
RETURN TO SCENE
OLD MAN
Not now, Nebuchadnezzar.
PAMELA
Were there any "Tin Lizzies" around
when you were young?
LUCY
(working handheld remote)
You mean World War Two.
OLD MAN
It was always "The War" to me.
PAMELA
Did they chug like you said?
OLD MAN
Oh yes. They chugged. I rode in the
rumble seat of my great uncle's Model
T when I was a kid.
PAMELA
Did people have refrigerators,
electric lights then?
OLD MAN
(ancient eyes twinkling)
Yes. Well, I was about six or seven
when we got our first refrigerator.
HAROLD (v.o.)
Horses! None now. After the methane
crisis.
RETURN TO LIVING ROOM SCENE
LUCY
We've only seen one horse. In the
zoo.
ERIC
(slight awe)
You actually saw the last days of
animal-powered vehicles.
PAMELA
(cutting in)
What were the roads like then? I
mean when there were still horses on
them.
LUCY (v.o.)
You said in your book you saw the
transition from animal muscle power to
machine power.
OLD MAN
The end of it. Hard work done by
living things was giving way to non-
living things doing it. And then came
an even more profound change.
PAMELA
Computers.
OLD MAN
(nods)
Non-living thinking machines.
HAROLD
END OF THE ROAD 61
You experienced both.
OLD MAN
(sighs)
Yes.
ANGLE ON: SIGN GOING BY: "RAPID CITY NEXT THREE RIGHTS" -
DAY, STORM APPROACHING
Driver emerges, dumps bag into Dodge back seat, gets in.
PAMELA
Several times you seemed to be
consciously paralleling the end of the
railroad era. Or was this something
unconscious?
OLD MAN
(after looking blankly,
thinking)
Oh, a little of both. We are not
entirely creatures of the conscious
mind.
(pauses remembering)
I just had a flash of memory.
OLD MAN
It just came back to me. Funny how
the mind works.
LUCY
(holds up a copy of book)
We went to some nearby places in your
book.
PAMELA
'Course everything's changed.
LUCY
I looked up some old maps.
LUCY
The old railroad is now the high-speed
levo-line from Cleveland Center to
Chicago Center.
OLD MAN
(ponders a moment)
Figures. Tracks went from Cleveland
to Chicago.
END OF THE ROAD 67
OLD MAN
How fast do those levo-trains go these
days?
ERIC
300 - 400 kph.
OLD MAN
What's that in miles per hour. I
never switched.
LUCY
(punches computer in remote)
Hundred eighty-six and a half, to two
hundred forty-eight and a half.
OLD MAN
Pretty fast. I rode one once. Seemed
about that.
LUCY
(shuts off camcorder with
remote)
Well, that's it.
(goes to camcorder, zings
tripod legs up)
Some of us will be back on Thursday.
OLD MAN
The others?
PAMELA
Playing the University of Chicago.
Exhibition baseball.
OLD MAN
(brightening)
Baseball! I thought that was gone
thirty years ago.
HAROLD
We revived it.
LUCY
A few years ago an ash tree on my
uncle's farm blew down. We hid some
of the wood from government
inspectors.
ERIC
(proudly)
We made genuine wood baseball bats.
LUCY
We also made our own baseballs. Well,
technically softballs.
HAROLD
Black market inner-city rat-hide
covers.
PAMELA
Lucy is -- uh -- pit-ching.
LUCY
That'll be the day. Well, see you
after the game.
INT. CORRIDOR
Lucy goes out door, then Pamela and Eric. Harold comes out
last. Door shuts automatically.
HAROLD
Luce, I just . . .
LUCY
(stops, glares furious)
You just get out of my life, Harold.
HAROLD
But . . .
LUCY
Get away from me!
HAROLD
(shrugs, frowns, turns)
Okay.
LUCY
Damn you.
PAMELA
Next time throw the disk version.
Twenty times cheaper.
DRIVER
Not many gas stations with garages
anymore.
WOMAN CASHIER
(handing back change)
Gettin' few and far between all right.
The two are seen from behind, cast LONG SHADOWS, same time
of day. Two dogs sniff and frolic.
NURSE
(puzzled)
Next week, wasn't it?
LUCY
I've got some things to straighten
out.
NURSE
He expecting you?
LUCY
No. Not exactly.
NURSE
Well, go on up. I'll tell him you're
on your way.
OLD MAN
(ushering her in)
Hello Lucy. Always good to see you.
LUCY
(tersely, going in)
Thanks.
OLD MAN
(bent, walking to his chair)
Have a chair.
LUCY
(looks reverently at rocker)
Okay?
OLD MAN
Sure.
END OF THE ROAD 75
LUCY
(sitting cautiously)
My great grandma had a real wooden one
like this.
OLD MAN
(carefully sitting)
I thought you were pitching in
Chicago.
LUCY
Oh, that isn't until Thursday.
OLD MAN
Thesis moviemaking okay yesterday?
LUCY
Sure. I just . . . I just . . .
OLD MAN
(interrupting)
Funniest memory just flashed by. A
hamster named Haruchan.
LUCY
(tense, interested)
That's a strange name for a hamster.
OLD MAN
Haru means spring in Japanese. Maybe
you know; my wife was Japanese. Chan
. . .
LUCY
I know. Grandma was Japanese. She
called me Lucy-chan.
OLD MAN
Ah so desuka. So you understand.
(a beat)
That was the summer of sixty-six.
LUCY
Eighty-four years ago.
(thinks)
Grandpa McKnight was born a year
later. Nineteen sixty-seven. In
California.
OLD MAN
(acknowledging)
We lived in California then. A
nineteen fifties apartment. Second
floor.
LUCY
Fresno?
OLD MAN
San Jose.
RETURN TO SCENE
OLD MAN
. . . my wife remarked that we hadn't
seen her for a couple days.
OLD MAN
There was no Haruchan.
LUCY
Did she get out?
OLD MAN
Almost. A few days later we overheard
the people downstairs talking about a
rat between the walls. Discussing
calling an exterminator.
LUCY (v.o.)
Haruchan.
OLD MAN
We could hear her trying to climb up
and then falling -- scurry, scratch,
thump. About nine feet down.
LUCY
Three meters.
OLD MAN
Yes.
LUCY
But you saved her.
OLD MAN
Yup. Ingenious things we do. I
bought some wire mesh, made a hamster
ladder.
OLD MAN
Hormones. More powerful than hunger.
LUCY
(a beat. looks out window.)
Yeah. My problem. Hormones.
OLD MAN
The young man helping you with the
video?
LUCY
That obvious, huh. Yes. Harold.
OLD MAN
Good guess. But you two seem to work
together nicely.
LUCY
We live in the same co-op. We've
known each other for years.
OLD MAN
What's the problem?
LUCY
Remember the AIDS crisis?
OLD MAN
Something like that's going on again?
LUCY
No. Nothing like that. But it still
has its effects.
OLD MAN
AIDS?
LUCY
Yes. People who were given vaccines a
couple generations back still carried
it. They could still pass it on -- to
their children. Who would then be
given vaccines themselves. No one
died of it anymore. But the stigma .
. .
OLD MAN
Shouldn't it be moot? The new anti-
AIDS antibiotic?
LUCY
(looking mystified)
Yeah. Kills it. Not just immunizes.
OLD MAN
But doesn't kill the stigma.
LUCY
(tears begin streaming down)
No. My mother had it. She was born
with it. My grandmother gave it to
her. I took the antibiotic. There's
no virus in me now.
(cries tearfully)
But Harold . . . Afraid of what
his parents will say. Breaks up.
OLD MAN
And you asked him to talk to them?
LUCY
(angrily, sniffling)
Yes. He won't.
OLD MAN
He will. Give him time. He's as much
in love with you as you are with him.
LUCY
(brightening, hopeful)
You think so?
OLD MAN
Sure of it.
LUCY
(relaxing)
In the mean time . . .
END OF THE ROAD 81
OLD MAN
Work on your video thesis. Pitch a
no-hitter in Chicago.
(pause)
What about the North-South situation?
LUCY
Little scary. Specially if Brazil
backs out of the Greenhouse
Commitments. I daydream about living
back in the twentieth century when it
all was simpler.
OLD MAN
We had the Cold War, recessions,
homelessness, unemployment. When I
was a boy, World War Two -- Nazis,
genocide, all those things. Simpler
technology maybe.
LUCY
I guess. I'm a nostalgia freak.
That's why I majored in History.
(glances at wall clock)
Oh oh. Student cafeteria'll close.
LUCY
I've got to run.
OLD MAN
(as Lucy gets up)
Beat Chicago.
LUCY
Thanks. Thanks for . . .
OLD MAN
Enjoyed talking to you. Thanks for
reminding me about my hamster.
NURSE
Lunch in your room?
OLD MAN
Yes.
NURSE
Those boys and girls aren't putting
any strain on you?
OLD MAN
Oh no. I wouldn't let them.
NURSE
Be sure you don't, now. You are a
hundred ten, don't forget.
OLD MAN
Well, I've done pretty well up to now,
wouldn't you say?
NURSE
Okay, you tough old varmint. Just
keep in mind they could wear you out
without realizing it.
OLD MAN
I'm not going to dance The Riguzzi
with any of 'em.
NURSE
The Lezugggi.
OLD MAN
Whatever. Anyway, don't worry so
much.
NURSE
Okay. Suppilliuliumash should be
there to set the table.
OLD MAN
Just came in.
DRIVER
Komban wa.
SUZANNE
What's that mean?
DRIVER
Good evening. You look a little
Japanese.
SUSANNE
(shakes head no)
Yakima. Sort of. My great
grandfather was Norwegian. My
husband's Vietnamese. Boat people.
(nods at Boy)
Norwegian-Yakima-Vietnamese.
DRIVER
(looking at Boy)
Vietnamese. How'd you meet?
SUSANNE
(not happy)
In a bar. He ran off with my sister
six months ago.
DRIVER
So you're traveling somewhere?
SUZANNE
Because I'm here? No, half the motel
is County Human Services. We just
live here.
DRIVER
(glances at soft drink
machine)
Been driving all day. Thirsty. You
like anything?
SUZANNE
Orange'd be nice.
SUZANNE
(Marilyn Monroe-ish)
Sure feels good going down. You
married?
DRIVER
Was once.
SUZANNE
Kids?
DRIVER
No.
SUZANNE
What do you do?
DRIVER
Teacher. Trying to be a writer.
DRIVER
(handing book)
END OF THE ROAD 85
Here. You can have it. I wrote a
novel. School printed up some.
SUZANNE
(looking at it)
What is it?
DRIVER
Science fiction.
SUZANNE
I never met a real author before.
SUZANNE
Hi.
JIM
(studying Driver)
Hi. Just got up.
SUZANNE
This is Jim. A friend. Lives in room
29.
DRIVER
(showing disappointment)
Hi, Jim.
SUZANNE
Let's go in. Sit down. Air
conditioning's broke, but it's better
than standing.
DRIVER
Okay. But I'm going to turn in soon.
Been a long day of driving.
They go in.
SUZANNE
(to Jim, holding book)
He wrote this.
JIM
(to Driver)
Writer, huh. You could write about
the drugs in the schools.
DRIVER
Drugs?
JIM
You ever do 'em?
DRIVER
No.
SUZANNE
Half the kids in our high school did.
High in class every day. Pretty
"high" high school.
DRIVER
(looking at both of them)
Same high school?
JIM
Yeah.
DRIVER
(to Jim)
You did 'em?
JIM
Yeah. I was one.
(a beat)
You want to hear a good story?
DRIVER
Sure.
JIM
Just before school let out we were
down at the beach at Vantage.
END OF THE ROAD 87
DRIVER
Where?
JIM
By Ginkgo State Park. On the
Columbia. Big lake made by Wanapum
Dam.
SUZANNE
Down I-90.
DRIVER
I know. Just came from there.
JIM
Drugs! Man, we had everything. LSD,
cocaine, grass, speed, beer, wine.
Everything.
JIM (v.o.)
(as rowboat slips offshore)
Someone noticed the boat drifting. All
our clothes were in it, including our
car keys.
JIM (v.o.)
Couple kids swam after it in the dark.
JIM (v.o.)
One of them was shouting that she was
drowning. We couldn't see. We were
all pretty stoned anyway.
JIM (v.o.)
The only thing we could do is walk
barefoot across a mile of sagebrush to
a gas station. Oh man that hurts,
even when you're stoned out of your
mind.
JIM (v.o.)
At first the cops didn't believe me.
I finally convinced them.
JIM (v.o.)
The oars were on the beach. They were
just drifting.
JIM (v.o.)
They finally found them. Pretty close
to the dam.
JIM
Cops gave us a written warning.
Didn't ask about drugs or anything.
SUZANNE (v.o.)
The girl was a good friend. She died.
Crashed her car couple months later.
DRIVER
Sorry! Stoned?
SUZANNE
Drunk.
DRIVER
Way it goes.
JIM
You want to hear another?
DRIVER
One's enough for a couple good
nightmares.
(glances at watch)
I think I'll turn in. Been a long
day.
SHARON
Come on in.
MIKE
Have a beer.
DRIVER
Hello, Maureen.
MAUREEN
Hi.
SHARON
(to Maureen)
Trigonometry. Until supper.
MIKE
(to Driver)
How was the Lighthouse Motel?
DRIVER
Going down. Half of it's welfare now.
One of 'em told me an amazing story.
DRIVER
(relating story)
. . . so they were ready to go over
the dam. The girl was killed in a
car accident a couple months later
anyway.
SHARON
We know the high school's gotten
pretty bad. We keep the girls on a
shorter leash now.
DRIVER
Where's the other one?
SHARON
Eileen? College library. Studying.
MIKE
You want to hear another related
story?
DRIVER
Sure.
MIKE
Friend has an orchard. You probably
passed it. He carries a sidearm now.
DRIVER (v.o.)
A gun?
MIKE (v.o.)
A gun.
(sighs)
Seems he nearly inadvertently
interrupted the transfer of some
eighty pounds of pure cocaine from one
group of "farm laborers" to another.
MIKE (v.o.)
Nabbed 'em. Took 'em away. But there
are lots more.
MIKE
I-82 and I-90 seem to have become
major dope corridors from Mexico since
the Coast Guard tightened up on West
Coast ports.
SHARON
So some farmers are carrying guns. I
think they're over-reacting.
DRIVER
But they're out there all alone.
The problem is not so much the sellers
as the buyers. What spawned this huge
appetite?
MIKE
I don't know. Wasn't like this when I
taught high school.
(stands)
END OF THE ROAD 93
Come on. We'll pick some supper.
DRIVER
Thirty years ago I was a drafted
soldier up there. On war games I
would look down here wondering what
all the civilians were thinking. One
day we got our orders for Southeast
Asia.
MIKE
And you never really got out of Asia.
DRIVER
Guess not. Japanese wife. Living
there as a civilian. I still have
nightmares that they won't let me out
of the Army.
MIKE
Heard lots of guys say that.
(waves to garden)
Pick out some vegies.
DRIVER
(begins scouting vegetables)
Hunter gathers. How many people in
this country pick their own suppers?
MIKE
They all do. In the supermarket.
ANGLE ON: SIGN: "US ROUTE 97" AS DODGE TURNS ONTO IT.
DRIVER
Nice and cool in here.
TICKETSELLER
Hundred ten out there.
DRIVER
Built this by yourself?
BRIDGET
(takes package, proudly)
Yeah. Kind of nice, isn't it?
DRIVER
Amazing!
BRIDGET
(partially tears open package)
Album of childhood photographs. Come
on. I'll show you around.
BRIDGET
(proudly, happily)
Have a seat.
DRIVER
(both sitting in chairs)
Satiated the nest-building instinct?
BRIDGET
Completely. Last house I ever build.
You want to hang around here for a
while? I can sure use some help.
DRIVER
A while?
BRIDGET
The summer.
DRIVER
No. Can't. Got to finish this trip.
Write the book.
BRIDGET
(shakes head, sighs)
Always driven by unseen forces to do
uncommon things. Stay tonight?
DRIVER
I could. But then I'd have to skip
the Oregon Coast. Memories. I
planned to stay in an old motel in
Wheeler tonight. Friends in Grass
Valley August 8. Have to be in San
Francisco next day.
BRIDGET
The Jerry Garcia thing?
DRIVER
Yeah.
BRIDGET
Like an appointment?
DRIVER
Way it seemed. And I don't have the
cash to wait around out here until his
secretary can reschedule me or
something. Even if I did, my job's
hanging by a thread. Got to get back
for orientation week.
BRIDGET
But if he wants to see you, you'd
think . . .
DRIVER
Trouble is, I don't know how those
celebrities operate. And I'm afraid
END OF THE ROAD 99
to ask.
BRIDGET
Okay. Quick lunch?
DRIVER
Yeah. That'll be good.
DRIVER
I'll try to get back here next summer.
Fewer complications.
BRIDGET
You gotta do what you gotta do. Have
a good trip. Send me a copy of the
book.
ANGLE ON: DODGE PULLS OUT ONTO "HUSUM" ROAD FROM DIRT ROAD
- MORNING
ANGLE ON: DODGE PULLS OUT ONTO ROUTE 14, WEST, FROM ROUTE
141 - MORNING
PAMELA
Lucy's pitching in Chicago.
ERIC
I think Harold went to Chicago to
watch. He punched in a ticket on the
student computer.
PAMELA
Really to talk with Lucy, though.
OLD MAN
(pleased, shows fingers
crossed)
Well, fingers crossed.
ERIC
(going to lamp)
Oh, we'll win. Chicago's still
learning. We've played four different
teams.
PAMELA
(positions mini-videocam)
Lucy's the best pitcher in the league.
Her uncle taught us the rules. They
still play in Japan.
ERIC
(screws in bulb, which lights)
Ceremonial-like, though.
PAMELA
(as they sit on cushions)
Did you know that Mike and Sharon's
daughter, Maureen, still lives in that
house in Badger Pocket?
OLD MAN
(astonished)
No. I didn't.
PAMELA
She's seventy. Lives alone.
OLD MAN
I lost track of them years ago.
PAMELA
I called her. She vaguely remembers
you. The guy who drove out from Ohio
to visit. You and her father talking
into night in the kitchen.
ERIC
We've been putting together a research
trip to follow the route you took. As
close as we can. Road's mostly gone.
PAMELA
Make videos. Maybe find some historic
things. Like motels where you stayed.
ERIC
After the weather cools down some.
PAMELA
We plan to interview Maureen. I
transed your book, and she read most
of it. Doesn't think the place has
changed much in sixty years.
OLD MAN
Wish I could go with you.
ERIC
We'll show you all the videos. As it
looks now, of course.
END OF THE ROAD 10
OLD MAN 3
And Bridget? Did you . . .
PAMELA
(shakes head sadly)
According to what we found she died in
twenty thirty-two. Did you see her
the next summer?
OLD MAN
No. Never got out there again.
School let a bunch of us go.
Unemployment. Then illness. Then
barely-enough-to-live-on Social
Security. We wrote. But it dwindled.
ERIC
Her house still seems to be there. We
accessed Klickatat County building
records.
PAMELA
We'll get you a video.
OLD MAN
Be grateful.
ERIC
(eagerly, changing subject)
We found a piece of old Interstate.
71 or 76. Half kilometer.
OLD MAN
Some real road?
ERIC (v.o.)
Yeah. Someone already illegally cut
down some trees. We cleared some
growth.
Lucy, Pamela, and Eric carry a beat-up, old-looking
FUTURISTIC WHEEL-LESS CAR up to partially cleared
abandoned road.
PAMELA (v.o.)
Modified an old levo-car.
PAMELA (v.o.)
We took turns "driving" the Interstate
to see how it felt.
ERIC
Of course it wasn't like it really
was. Toxic fumes. Screeching rubber.
Huge dangerous trucks.
OLD MAN
But you had a good time.
PAMELA
Yeah. A really good time. We also
went to the Henry Ford Museum last
week. We told the museum director
about our thesis project, and he got
someone to drive us around the
building in a genuine 1996 gasoline-
powered car.
ERIC
Funny rumbling-grinding sounds. Had
an actual steering wheel, gear-shift.
Like being in an old 20th-century two-
dimensional video.
PAMELA
Seemed a little dangerous, too. Hard
to imagine going . . .
(punches handheld computer,
video monitor)
PAMELA
. . . almost seventy miles per hour in
it.
END OF THE ROAD 10
OLD MAN 5
Some went even faster. People passed
me all the time when I was going 70.
ERIC
You talked about going from Bay
Village to Janesville with a loose
wheel.
(frowns, scratches head)
At that speed?
OLD MAN
Yes. But I didn't know it was loose.
Parts had no failure sensors then.
PAMELA
We examined some of the museum's
liquid-fuel cars. Thousands of parts.
Seems a miracle they didn't have more
accidents.
OLD MAN
You had to drive alert. Ready for
anything. Brakes failed on two of my
old cars. Had to grab the emergency
brake.
ERIC
(enthusiasm for it)
Every day must have been like a levo-
car race.
OLD MAN
I hate to disillusion you, but it
didn't seem that way at all.
PAMELA
Just doing the best you could with
what you had in those days.
OLD MAN
Yes. That's all we can do.
ERIC
Knowing what you know now about how
dangerous it was, would you have gone
out on the road in the summer?
OLD MAN
Certainly! It didn't seem the least
bit dangerous. And as I drove, I felt
in tune with some strange silent music
of the universe. Making a little
record of the Road Era. I had a grand
old time doing it.
PAMELA
Did the future turn out like you
thought?
OLD MAN
Pretty much.
ANGLE ON: DODGE PULLS OFF ON APRON WITH SEA VIEW - DAY
ANGLE ON: DODGE ENTERS TRAFFIC SOUTH ON I-5 AMID FUMES AND
DIN - AFTERNOON.
DRIVER
(loudly singing)
"California here I come; right back
where I started from."
DRIVER
Hello. Judy?
(listens)
Yreka. (pronounce: Why-reeka)
(listens)
No I got started late. I'll try to
make Chico tonight.
(listens)
Yeah. See you in the morning.
(sound of COINS CLUNKING)
Yeah, coins ran out. Gotta hang up.
KRISHNA
Well, you finally made it.
DRIVER
Finally.
JUDY
(studying Dodge)
In that!
DRIVER
So far, so good.
KRISHNA
Let's go inside. It's cooler.
DRIVER
(motions to garden)
How are your earwigs?
KRISHNA
Healthy. We only feed them herbicide-
and-pesticide-free vegetables.
JUDY
Been a good trip?
DRIVER
Wonderful.
JUDY
What are you going to call the book?
KRISHNA
Soliloquy to a Steering Wheel.
DRIVER
End of the Road.
JUDY
Nothing sexy? Like Shack Out On
Highway 101?
DRIVER
Like the movie? I don't know. Maybe
I'll think of something.
KRISHNA
Or maybe you won't.
DRIVER
In which case I have something.
KRISHNA
(standing)
You're a day late. We already planned
a picnic. Old Gold Rush places.
Malakoff devastation.
JUDY
In our car. Not yours!
DRIVER
Okay with me. Let's go.
KRISHNA
Gentrified Gold Rush.
DRIVER
A genuine Gold Rush town.
JUDY
Not changed a whole lot.
KRISHNA
Over a hundred years.
JUDY
One of the great ecological disasters.
KRISHNA (v.o.)
They blasted the hills with giant
water cannon to get the gold.
DRIVER
Sure is ugly now. Must have been
beautiful once.
JUDY
Hundred fifty years ago.
DRIVER
Let's go. Gives me the creeps.
JUDY
(to Driver)
Have a seat. French toast?
DRIVER
Yeah, thanks.
KRISHNA
Almost time for the news.
JUDY
Sleep okay?
END OF THE ROAD 11
DRIVER 9
Yeah. Wonderful here. Sung to sleep
by a billion crickets.
KRISHNA
Still going to see this Garcia chap
tomorrow?
JUDY
(sighs, shakes head at
Krishna)
He cares about as much for the
Grateful Dead as for our earwigs.
(to Krishna)
Right?
KRISHNA
Oh, I don't mind 'em. Remind me of
the '60s. Our wild times. Better
music than all this gangsta rap stuff
now.
DRIVER
Way I feel.
JUDY
You going to tell him that when you
see him?
(glances at TV screen)
Oh look. There he is . . .
KRISHNA
(reaching for remote)
Probably telling the world about you
coming to talk to him . . .
TV NEWSPERSON (v.o.)
. . . leaves everyone in the music
world stunned by his sudden death.
RETURN TO SCENE
DRIVER
Whose . . .
JUDY
Shhhh.
TV NEWSPERSON
Stay tuned. We'll be back in a minute
with more on the unexpected death last
night of Jerry Garcia at the age of
fifty-three . . .
KRISHNA
Well, grateful or not . . .
JUDY
Not funny.
(to Driver)
Changes your plans.
DRIVER
(stunned, recovers)
Uh, no. I don't think I was going to
talk to him long. Maybe an hour.
Exchange Palo Alto memories. He said
he still remembered my ex-wife.
Thought maybe I might ask him about
what I could do instead of teach.
KRISHNA
Well, that's out. Stay here for a few
more days.
DRIVER
Wish I could. Got a few more places I
have to see for the book. Then I
gotta zoom on back.
JUDY
Sorry for you.
DRIVER
(shrugs whistfully)
END OF THE ROAD 12
One more guy I met. Quite a few no 1
longer with us now.
DRIVER
(throws hand out)
Well, that's the breaks. You feel
guilty, always. Wonder if maybe there
was something you might have done.
JUDY
When's school actually start?
DRIVER
Fall orientation's in three weeks.
KRISHNA
Well, send us a copy of the book.
DRIVER
If I write one. I'll try to get
back next year.
NURSE
He's waiting. Just go on up.
LUCY
Thanks.
The Old Man stands bent over by the automatic door as Lucy
and Harold come in.
OLD MAN
Come in. Come in. Have a seat.
OLD MAN
(as they sit)
Well, who won?
LUCY
We did.
OLD MAN
No hitter?
LUCY
Not quite. Shut Out, though.
OLD MAN
Shutout?
HAROLD
Nineteen to nothing.
OLD MAN
(admiringly)
Nineteen to nothing!
LUCY
Only eight innings, too. It started
to rain. We were trying for twenty --
uh -- runs.
OLD MAN
Can't always get what you want. But
you didn't come here to just tell me
about the baseball game.
LUCY
No, uh . . .
OLD MAN
Let me guess. You two decided to get
END OF THE ROAD 12
married. 3
LUCY
(beaming)
Yes!
HAROLD
And we decided to tell you first.
OLD MAN
I'm honored. Congratulations.
HAROLD
I told my parents about AIDS in Lucy's
family. They didn't care.
LUCY
So . . . Well, thanks.
HAROLD
Lucy told me about your talk. About
your hamster, too.
OLD MAN
Sure was nice to tell someone about
that hamster after all these years.
It almost got roasted in the oven
once.
LUCY
The oven?
OLD MAN
Before ultra-microwaves. Even before
microwaves. Old gas oven.
HAROLD
I know. My grandmother still has one.
Can't legally use it though.
OLD MAN
Whiskers were burned off. Feet
burned. My wife put some butter on
them. We confined it to its cage for
a few days, just to make sure it was
all right.
LUCY
Did you ever see your wife again?
OLD MAN
Once. In twenty-oh-nine. She was
coming back from Japan by way of
Europe. Air fare was still cheap
then. We had breakfast at the
airport.
HAROLD
At least you got to see her again.
OLD MAN
Yes.
LUCY
We're all packed, ready to head west.
Follow your route.
END OF THE ROAD 12
HAROLD 5
Weather's cooling. Exams are over.
OLD MAN
When are you going to get married?
LUCY
When we get to San Francisco. Eric's
best man. Pamela's best woman.
HAROLD
We'll bring you videos of everything.
Old places from The Road. Wedding.
Anything else you might want?
OLD MAN
I can't think of anything. It was all
so long ago. If Lucy hadn't accessed
my manuscript from the Copyright
Office, I might have forgotten it.
LUCY
I'm sure glad I found it and KSU Press
published it.
OLD MAN
Yes. I'm grateful to you. Things
turned out well for all of us.
HAROLD
Speaking of grateful, I never dreamed
I'd actually meet someone who knew
Jerry Garcia.
LUCY
His Army bunker-buddy had old Grateful
Dead audio-crystals. Kind of a
latter-day Deadhead.
HAROLD
Most of the time he was stoned on
ipicu. On Trinidad you could get it
easily. Spent the best part of his
enlistment staring out in space,
nodding his head to the beat. Span
missiles dropping in, exploding.
Didn't blink! Would never have
thought then . . .
LUCY
(standing, followed by
Harold)
None of us ever thought. It was a
real trip.
LUCY (con't)
Well, thank you for the interviews.
We'll have an excellent History video
thesis.
HAROLD
(as Old Man struggles up)
As soon as we get these last shots of
your route.
OLD MAN
(all heading toward door)
Well, have a fine trip. And a long
and wonderful married life.
LUCY
(as automatic door opens)
Oh we will.
OLD MAN
Be good.
LUCY
(turning while walking)
Take care.
RETURN TO SCENE
ANGLE ON: DODGE GOES UP PINE STREET PAST TEMPLE HOTEL (469
PINE).
RETURN TO SCENE
RETURN TO SCENE.
DRIVER
(singing)
"Then somewhere near Salinas, I let
her slip away."
QUICK MONTAGE: DODGE CONTINUES SOUTH PAST SALINAS -
DARKNESS. HEADLIGHTS PICK UP SOLEDAD SIGN. HEADLIGHTS
PICK UP PASO ROBLES SIGN. HEADLIGHTS PICK UP ATASCADERO,
ROUTE 41 SIGNS.
DRIVER
(shouting)
How do I get to Morro Bay?
YOUNG MAN 1
Sorry.
END OF THE ROAD 13
All examine Dodge bumper. RUBBER STRIP DANGLES FROM 1
PLASTIC BUMPER.
DRIVER
Forget it. Nothing serious.
(handles torn rubber strip)
Thing's going to flap around. Wish I
had a staple gun.
YOUNG MAN 1
Got one.
YOUNG WOMAN 2
Just finished putting up election
posters.
She reaches into the pickup truck, pulls out VOTE FOR HOLT
poster.
DRIVER
Who's Holt?
YOUNG WOMAN 1
Environmental candidate.
DRIVER
Hope he wins.
YOUNG MAN 1
(pointing to stapled bumper)
Okay?
DRIVER
Yeah. Great. Disposable car. Two
hundred bucks. Now how do I get to
Morro Bay?
YOUNG WOMAN 2
(pointing)
Turn right up there. Just keep going.
YOUNG MAN 2
You got the time?
DRIVER
(glances at watch)
Five to eleven.
TRAFFIC SOUNDS
PETRA
We're starved.
DRIVER
I'm sorry.
WOLFGANG
Time always seems somehow to move
slower for you.
(to Petra)
He was always the last one out of the
mess hall. Last one out for reveille.
DRIVER
Got out of the Army ten days early,
though.
PETRA
Indian food okay?
DRIVER
Sure. Anything's okay.
WOLFGANG
Even C-rations?
DRIVER
Even cold C-rations out of the can.
WOLFGANG
We're not that hungry, are we?
DRIVER
Ceremonial. After thinking about The
Road all summer.
(motions to sidewalk)
DRIVER (v.o.)
The country's divided into little
sections.
END OF THE ROAD 13
COMPUTER MAP CONTINUES 7
PETRA (v.o.)
And animals become imprisoned in them.
RETURN TO SCENE
DRIVER
Big ones. Little ones. Like the
worm, they try to escape. Most get
squashed.
DRIVER
I found Jim Drummond.
WOLFGANG
Pfc. Jim Drummond?
DRIVER
Just before I left, I called all the
Drummonds in the Detroit phone book.
One of them was an uncle. Gave me his
address in Boston.
WOLFGANG
What's he doing?
DRIVER
Executive. Trucking company.
WOLFGANG
Didn't re-up for the benefits.
DRIVER
No. Not a name on the big black wall
after all.
WOLFGANG
We all lucked out. Old Sergeant
Wellman died a few months ago. Saw
his obituary in the paper.
DRIVER
Here? In L.A.?
WOLFGANG
Must have retired here. Never knew it
until he died. Big city.
PETRA
(pointing)
Restaurant's just down the street
here.
WOLFGANG
You starting back tomorrow.
DRIVER
Tijuana tomorrow. Then back.
PETRA
Tijuana?
DRIVER
Never been in Mexico. Never may get
to again. Also want to see some old
mining towns in Nevada.
PETRA
Sorry about Garcia.
WOLFGANG
Maybe he could have made some contacts
END OF THE ROAD 13
for your writing. 9
DRIVER
I'll always wonder.
ANGLE ON: DODGE DRIVES PAST GREAT BARE RED VOLCANIC CONE -
LATER DAY.
NURSE
I don't know how to tell you this.
LUCY
Something happened.
NURSE
The old man died early Sunday
morning.
LUCY
(gasping faintly)
Died?
NURSE
Sorry.
Tears well up, stream down Lucy's face. The Nurse gets
up, goes to her. Lucy slumps down in a WAITING ROOM
CHAIR.
NURSE
I cried too. We got to know each
other rather well.
LUCY
Were you there?
NURSE
No. Died in his sleep. Monitors went
off. Ingrid -- the night nurse -- got
up there as fast as she could. But he
was dead. Living will said no extreme
revival.
LUCY
His family?
NURSE
Only a niece's grandson. In Los
Angeles. They called him. He'll be
here tomorrow. Simply outlived all
his relatives and friends.
LUCY
I guess. Hundred ten.
NURSE
You made him so happy. He really came
back to life these last couple months.
If you want, you can go up to his
room. Everything's still the way it
was.
LUCY
No. Rather just have the memories.
NURSE
You have all those videos. And you
got his book published. He was so
pleased and happy about that.
END OF THE ROAD 14
LUCY 5
(sighs, smiles)
We got more videos. We followed the
route of his book. Lots changed. Too
bad he didn't live . . .
NURSE
Maybe it's best he didn't. Whatever
he may have told you, memories of that
trip were precious to him.
LUCY
I wonder if . . . Could you ask his
niece's grandson if he might consider
donating his manuscript and road
things to the university museum? Lots
of people are getting interested in
those days of The Road.
NURSE
(standing up)
I'll ask him.
LUCY
(standing up)
Thanks.
(a beat)
Is there anything I can do?
NURSE
(begins escorting Lucy to
door)
No. It's all been taken care of.
LUCY
I don't know how to tell the others.
Especially Harold.
NURSE
Just tell them.
LUCY
(starting out)
Strange isn't it. Just after we got
married.
INT. FUTURISTIC STUDENT COMPUTER LAB
LUCY
Computer, run last segment: End of the
Road.
LUCY
End!
FADE OUT
THE END
I really did buy an old car from the couple across the
street for two hundred dollars and drove the route of the
script in the summer of 1988. Some things will have
changed. Filmmakers will have to use their imaginations.
Tom Slattery
Bay Village, Ohio
Christmas Day 2008