SYZYGY - 12

INT. RESTAURANT

Kara walks back toward the table. When Tom, still picking at the nachos, sees her coming, he waves to get the attention of the band. Tom points at her, and the band’s TRUMPET PLAYER leans into his mike, his voice gravelly.

TRUMPET PLAYER

This one goes out to a lady who’s

feeling a little lost today. Don’t

we all…

He gives a quick four-count and the band lurches into the seven-note motif of the “Lost In Space” theme. Kara realizes what it is and smiles. She points a finger at Tom: “You did this.” Tom shrugs and starts laughing. On the way back to the table, she gives a thumbs-up to the band, all of whom wave at her.

KARA

We should get going.

TOM

You’re ready?

KARA

Yes. I’ve got an idea, too. What’s

west of here?

TOM

I have no idea. Nothing, probably.

KARA

Come on. We’ll talk in the car.

EXT. RESTAURANT - AFTERNOON/EVENING

From high above the Middle of Nowhere plaza, we watch Tom and Kara walk back to their car, get in, and drive away. After they’ve gone, the shadow of the obelisk starts swinging around, crossing several of the roman numerals on the building’s facade. It now becomes clear that the plaza is a giant sundial, and the shadow slides from afternoon to early evening.

Time slows to its regular pace, and Raven’s car pulls into the lot. She and Eyeball get out, look around, and head for the restaurant.

RAVEN

This must be where they stopped.

Well ask around, gas up, grab

something to eat, and be back on

the road in thirty minutes.

EYEBALL

Must be. It’s the only thing out

here.

INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING

Inside, there are several more patrons than before, and the band is playing with a little more energy. Raven steps up to the bar, and Eyeball lingers nearby to watch the band. Sharon comes over to Raven.

SHARON

What can I get you?

RAVEN

Actually, I’m looking for a couple

that must have been here around

four.

Sharon immediately knows who she’s talking about and looks at Raven suspiciously.

SHARON

What about them?

RAVEN

So they were here? A man and a woman?

SHARON

Yeah. Nice lady. I talked to her

for a while. What’s your interest?

RAVEN

The man she was with was my husband.

SHARON

Ohhh… I see. Well, then you should know

that he’s not going to sleep with her.

RAVEN

You think I care about that?

SHARON

Yes I do. In fact, I think that’s

one of the few things you do care

about.

Sharon is now looking directly into Raven’s eyes, first one, then the other, as if she’s reading words written there.

SHARON

Other than that, I’m seeing nothing.

Raven turns her eyes away.

RAVEN

There’s nothing to see.

SHARON

I think there is. But it’s buried

so deep that not even you can find

it. You’ll need someone else to

bring it out.

RAVEN

Won’t happen. Everything’s… broken.

SHARON

You’ll see. Sometimes things just

line up and fall into place. Isn’t

that right? Your husband has faith

in that. I think you should too.

Raven now turns back to her.

RAVEN

Who are you?

SHARON

Just a bartender. There’s something

following you. I can feel it.

EXT. RESTAURANT - EVENING/NIGHT

Raven almost runs out the front door. Eyeball follows her back to the car, trying to keep up.

EYEBALL

What did she say to you?

RAVEN

They were here… God, my head…

(puts her hands to her temples)

…here.

She throws him the car keys.

RAVEN

Can you drive for a while?

EYEBALL

Sure. Are you all right?

RAVEN

I don’t know. Let’s just go.

They get into Raven’s car and drive off. Once again, time speeds up, and the sundial rotates further, until the sun sets and all the shadows merge into one. There are more cars in the parking lot, and the neon lights come on, outlining the shape of the building. Time resumes its normal speed, and a car rushes in from the horizon, only slowing down as it nears. The car parks sloppily, and Jake jumps out, not at all tired. He walks into the restaurant, wincing a little when he hears the music.

INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT

Frau Diablo is playing onstage for a crowd of about two dozen people, doing their jazzy improvisations on the “Lost In Space” theme. Sharon is quite busy, her hands pouring and taking money all at once. As her hand comes down on a five, Jake’s hand slaps down on top of hers, pinning it. She looks up and meets Jake’s eyes. The connection of their hands immediately causes the music to fade into the background along with the rest of the world as they speak to each other.

JAKE

Good evening.

She is instantly transfixed by his gaze.

SHARON

H-Hello.

JAKE

I was hoping you could help me find

someone.

SHARON

(terrified)

That’s what everyone wants from me

today.

(looks into his eyes)

I know you… you’re not welcome here.

JAKE

I’m not who you think I am. We get

mistaken for each other all the time.

I actually find it a little insulting.

SHARON

You won’t catch them. They’re too far

ahead of you.

JAKE

I always catch up to everyone…

eventually. You can’t escape chaos.

SHARON

Yes, we can. We’re human. We’re the

opposite of chaos. We create order.

JAKE

(laughs)

Oh, that’s so cute! You never learn

until it’s too late that things are

precisely the other way around.

SHARON

I don’t believe you…

JAKE

You don’t have to. You’ll learn sooner

than you think, maybe.

The First Time I Heard... Tom Waits

I first heard Tom Waits in 1983. At that time, the two-year old MTV channel was the beginning and end of my pop music education. If a song came out during the first half of the 80’s and didn’t have a video, I most likely didn’t even realize that it existed. I was kind of thrown into the deep end of a long musical tradition, and had to try to piece it together as I went. I was awash in the images and sounds of new wave artists (the new wave of what I wasn’t sure of), as well as other folks like Stevie Nicks, Peter Gabriel, John Fogerty and Don Henley, who seemed to be approaching middle age and gave me no clues as to why they were famous.

Videos were the primary selling point for music then, and the images that paraded by were designed solely to catch the eye; any incidental meaning was usually accidental. So in the midst of all this color, noise, and flash, one day a sepia-toned main street came into view. A grizzled-looking man in a shabby drum major costume began a stately parade down the street accompanied by a small, somber marching band, his voice unpretty and croaking. It was Tom Waits, already over ten years into his musical career, singing “In the Neighborhood”.

This came so far out of left field, and was so unlike anything I had seen up to that point, that my brother and I made it the butt of jokes for years after seeing it only that one time. It was like a drunken uncle had stumbled onto the stage of a rock concert and taken over the mike for three minutes before being dragged off by security.

Of course, I eventually learned that there was more to music than the ten neatly-packaged singled doled out for me per hour of MTV, and I began to venture onto other avenues and side streets of music on my own. One day in 1993 I somehow remembered that strange time-warp of a video, and decided that I wanted to hear it again. Since my then-fiancée was the manager of a music store, I asked her to special order the cassette for me, and a week or so later I had my first true listen of Tom Waits’ Swordfishtrombones, which some herald as his finest, most ground-breaking work.

My second hearing of “In the Neighborhood”, this time without the visual, gave me a stunningly different experience. I could concentrate on the lyrics, which paints a portrait a run-down corner of town, which the singer clearly cares about, perhaps for its very shabbiness. He delivers a long list of one-off lines that tug at your heart, like “The kids can’t get ice cream ‘cause the market burned down”, “The window is busted and the landlord ain’t home”, and “the jackhammer’s digging up the sidewalks again”. No context is given. It’s more like a list of headlines from the most local newspaper you can imagine.

The rest of the album, while never having two songs that quite copy each other in musicality, continue the general theme of the average American town that used to be glorious, and now is only a shadow of itself. Although the lyrics can be vague, it sounds like the twin specters of “progress” and the aftermath of war are the cause of it all. War especially… songs like “Shore Leave”, “A Soldier’s Things”, “16 Shells from a Thirty-Aught-Six” and the title track (which includes lines like “He came home from the war with a party in his head… and a pair of legs that opened up like butterfly wings”) all come off as the rambling memories of a man who has traveled the world, with the stipulation that he watch as all the foreign places he visits get razed to the ground.

By the time the introspective jazz instrumental “Rainbirds” closed the album, I was hooked. I immediately starting catching up with everything I had missed from the first twenty years of his musical career, backtracking through the jazzbo early years, through the hobo-with-his-own-orchestra middle, and beyond the transformation of Swordfishtrombones into a series of avant-garde theater projects and ever-more bizarre studio albums. I’ve loved hearing his voice grow younger and older at the same time, every gravelly note hinting at a world of experience. Tom has explained as a way of describing his musical style, “I like beautiful music that tells me terrible things.” Count me in.

SYZYGY - 11

INT. RESTAURANT - DAY

Inside is a small restaurant that continues the adobe/stucco style of the building’s exterior. It is empty but well-kept, with a tiny stage in the corner where a five-man jazz combo is playing a funky version of “Tequila”. An easel next to them reads “Appearing tonight: Frau Diablo.” Kara and Tom stops at the greeting area, where a placard on a stand states “Please wait for parrot”.

TOM

What does that mean?

They are both startled by a loud squawk from SIDNEY THE PARROT.

SIDNEY

Good afternoon! How many? squawk!

They stare, dumbfounded, at the parrot, who is perched on a small wooden railing that runs along the wall five feet off the floor. Sidney blinks patiently.

SIDNEY

How many? squawk!

TOM

Uh, two?

SIDNEY

Name?

TOM

Tom.

SIDNEY

Thank you! squawk!

Sidney waddles off sideways along the railing. Kara starts laughing. He disappears around the corner, and Tom and Kara watch as he hops down into the hostess’ podium. A WAITRESS is waiting there for him. She talks to the parrot quietly as Tom and Kara look at each other, amused.

SIDNEY

(in Tom’s voice)

Uh, two?… Tom.

WAITRESS

Thank you, Sidney.

She gives the parrot a small treat, which he crunches up immediately. The waitress grabs two menus and comes around the corner.

WAITRESS

This way, please.

TOM

(to Kara)

Go ahead and sit. I’ll be there

in a second. I have to…

Tom leaves as the waitress leads Kara to a small table. Across the room from the stage is a bar, lined with mirrors. A woman stands there, watching the band jam. She watches Tom head for the restroom, then looks at Kara studiously.

WAITRESS

I’ll put you over here, away from

the band. They’re just doing a sound

check, so they won’t be much longer.

KARA

Sure. That’s fine.

INT. RESTAURANT - MEN’S ROOM

Tom steps up to the sink, watching himself in the mirror. He washes his hands while studying his face, as if looking for something there.

TOM

What are you doing?

INT. JAKE’S CAR - DAY

A speedometer needle buried past 120. Jake keeps smiling as he roars through the countryside, the radio still blaring static. He’ll be entering the desert soon.

INT. RESTAURANT

Tom arrives at the table, where Kara is eating nachos and watching the band.

TOM

(gesturing to the food)

That was pretty fast.

KARA

Well, it’s not like they have much

else to do here.

Tom smiles, sits down, and becomes serious.

TOM

Kara, I know you don’t want to, but

we’ve got to talk about what we’re

going to do next. I mean, I’m not

regretting getting you out of there,

but we—

KARA

Well, we’re going to have lunch,

then get back on the road and keep

driving.

TOM

Right, but we can’t get away from

Raven. The car’s bugged, and she’s

not going to give up. I know her.

This is too important.

KARA

(trying to change the subject)

Look, what’s wrong with just eating,

driving until we get tired, and then

we can find a hotel somewhere and see

what happens next. Doesn’t that sound

romantic? Why do we have to plan

anything?

TOM

Kara, you’re not listening. There’s

nowhere safe for us to go. If we make

it to the coast we’ll be very lucky.

KARA

(starting to lose her composure)

Not only are you turning me down, but

both your wife and my husband want me

dead.

(starts crying)

And I didn’t even do anything!

Tom reaches across the table and places his hand on her arm.

TOM

I’m sorry. I’m not trying to upset

you. You just can’t block it out.

We’ve got to work this out together.

KARA

I wish I could just keep going and

going… Jake was everything I had…

everything I let myself have, anyway.

And now he’s gone.

Tom can see that she’s not going to be of any help at the moment.

TOM

We can at least enjoy our lunch,

okay? When we get back on the road,

then we can figure something out.

KARA

(wiping her eyes)

Yeah. Okay. I’ll be right back. I

just have to pull myself together

a little.

TOM

Sure.

Kara stands and heads for the women’s room. Tom picks up the menu.

TOM

(to himself)

Great, Tom. Super. Really fine job.

INT. WOMEN’S ROOM

Kara stands before the mirror just as Tom did, looking at herself. Her hair is limp, her mascara smudged. She sets about repairing the damage, digging around in her purse for makeup. A flushing sound comes from behind her, and the bartender steps out of one of the stalls. Her name is SHARON.

SHARON

Hiya.

KARA

(not looking)

Hi.

Sharon walks past her, opens the door. Just as she’s about to leave, she stops and turns back.

SHARON

Sorry, but do you want to talk?

KARA

Excuse me?

SHARON

You feel like you need to talk to

someone.

KARA

How could you possibly tell that?

Sharon comes back in, lets the door shut.

SHARON

Sometimes I can feel things. The

only people who come through here

are either on their way to something

big, or away from something big.

Usually I can tell what it is. I

can see a lot of things running

around in your eyes.

KARA

Does it look like I’ve got trouble?

SHARON

In spades. That must be one killer

of a date you’ve got there.

KARA

(quietly)

Hope not.

SHARON

Hm?

KARA

(faking a smile)

So far.

Sharon can tell that Kara doesn’t really want to talk, so she tries another approach, walking over to her as Kara starts fixing her makeup in the mirror.

SHARON

Look, if that guy’s messing with

you, I could go in back and get the

cook. He’s a pretty big guy…

KARA

No, it’s okay.

SHARON

If I’m overstepping, just say so.

But I get a strong feeling that

you wouldn’t be where you are now

if people didn’t butt into your life.

KARA

(warming up a little)

Amen to that.

SHARON

You’re gonna be okay. I know you are.

KARA

I hope so. I just really feel alone

right now.

SHARON

Well, that’s no surprise. If loneliness

has a capitol, you’re there.

(thinks for a moment)

There’s something you want from him,

something he won’t let you have.

KARA

Well, I told him I wanted to spend

the night with him, and he basically

turned me down.

SHARON

First time that’s happened?

Kara stops her makeup application and looks at Sharon now.

KARA

Yes.

SHARON

Well, that’s not always a bad thing.

I noticed you’re both married,

obviously not to each other. Might

not be a good idea.

KARA

But what for? His wife is some kind

of… I don’t even know. It’s just

been so long since someone wanted

more than this…

(gestures to her face and body)

He knows me. He really cares. I don’t

know how to react. No one’s ever…

SHARON

Seen you as something more?

KARA

Yes.

SHARON

Then you should trust him. And your-

self, too.

KARA

You think so?

SHARON

Absolutely. There are many ways

this can all turn out, but you’re

heading the right way.

It feels as though she’s seen what’s going to happen. Kara, for some reason, doesn’t question it.

KARA

I guess that’s what I needed to hear.

Thanks…

SHARON

Sharon.

KARA

Kara. Thanks.

They shake hands.

SHARON

That’s my job. You’ll be receiving

my bill.

Kara laughs a little, goes out into the restaurant. Something has bothered Sharon, though. She looks at her hand as if there’s something in it.

SHARON

But who is your husband? Why can’t

I see him?