Scene Vlll

ROXANNE
(picking up the phone)
I gotta call home, let my mom know
I’m okay.

INSERT - ROXANNE ON THE PHONE

INTERCUT CONVERSATION - ROXANNE AND HER MOTHER (MUTE)

Both mother and daughter are yelling hysterically.

FREDDY
(still lecturing Roxanne, who
is trying to listen to her
mother and Freddy at the same
time)
-- Take a stockbroker. Makes big
money, right? But what did he
really have to do to make money? --
Dick! -- a few stinking phone
Calls.

Roxanne nods her head at Freddy while getting blasted by her
mom at full volume.

FREDDY
Know what I have to do to make
money? Go for days without sleep
sometimes, with good old boys with
guns standing around... knowing if
I don’t make the shot I do my
sleeping on a bus station bench.

ROXANNE
(talking into phone)
I’m not leaving till these guys pay
me what they owe me!

FREDDY
(paying no attention to
Roxanne’s argument)
Yeah babe, this road is a hard
road. It’s hard but it’s fair.
It’s all about winning. Keep the
same head playing for two dollars
or two thousand. The importance of
just winning is the same. That’s hustlin’.

Freddy points his finger at Roxanne to imbed the lesson.

FREDDY
(continues to wax
philosophically)
... And don’t ever think we all
wouldn’t rob you blind if we got
half a chance.

Roxanne hangs up the phone violently.

EXT. A NEW SOUTHERN POOL ROOM - NIGHT

Jesse, Roxanne, and Freddy enter pool room.

HIPPIE JESSE
Now this smells like money!

MINUTES LATER

Freddy flips for the first break with his new-found opponent.

SUPER: TWO DAYS LATER

Freddy’s opponent, looking disheveled, is paying him off,
throwing big money on the table.

Roxanne is mesmerized by a shaving kit that is being filled
with money.

EXT. MOTEL - DAY

Dirty and exhausted, Ansel, Freddy, Jesse, and Roxanne head
into the motel.

They walk past the swimming pool where the wives of other
hustlers she had seen in the pool room are sunbathing.
The ladies are painting their toe nails, drinking iced tea
and smoking cigarettes.

Sequential images of them as they snicker and stare at the
tired, unkempt Roxanne.

INT. MOTEL ROOM

The four pool musketeers enter the motel room. Roxanne
immediately lies on the bed, exhausted.

ROXANNE
I’m starving. Let’s go get
Breakfast.

HIPPIE JESSE
Girl, you better get off that bed
and head down to the store --
you're making us breakfast.

Jesse starts to undress and move toward the shower. He
throws a ten dollar bill on the bed and closes the door.

ROXANNE
He’s kidding, right?

ANSEL
No, he ain’t You’d better just do
what he says... or else. Jesse
hasn’t slept in two days... you’re
just lucky Freddy won.

ROXANNE
-- And who stayed up with him?

ANSEL
Go, before he gets out of the
Shower.

Weak, in disarray, and pissed off, Roxanne leaves the hotel
Room.

LATER - IN THE KITCHENETTE

Roxanne does not know how to cook and fumbles in the
kitchenette. She is crying.

Freddy enters and sees what’s going on. While Jesse is on
the bed, Freddy starts making the eggs for her.

Roxanne stops crying. Freddy strokes her hair.

Jesse shakes out of bed and sees that Freddy is helping her.

He goes into the kitchen and slaps her disdainfully, in the
Face.

Freddy glares at Jesse, but does nothing and stays out of it.

ROXANNE
(crying)
Where’s my cut of the money?

HIPPIE JESSE
Oh, your cut of the money?
Jesse, snickering, throws a dollar on the bed.
Roxanne stares at the dollar, wide-eyed and disbelieving,
then she erupts. She lunges at Jesse, and tries to take his
eyes out. He fends her off easily, then he pulls his gun on
her and motions her away -- laughing the whole time.

Freddy and Ansel look on, ashamed to be witnessing this.

EXT. MOTEL ROOM DOORWAY - DAY

Jesse, dressed to the nines, with a suitcase, peeks in.

HIPPIE JESSE
(to Ansel)
... Leaving for a couple of days.
Got to pay some people.

Jesse lights a cigarette.

HIPPIE JESSE
... Few ex-wives. Tell Freddy
we’re even. The broad is yours.
Lose her though, by the next time I
see you.

ANSEL
I hear ya.

HIPPIE JESSE
Oh yeah, you’ll have to take them
in your own car. I got somebody
hauling the Beastmobile down here
for you tomorrow.

Jesse laughs hysterically and exits.

INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Freddy and Roxanne are eating snack foods on the bed.

ROXANNE
Thank God he’s gone!

FREDDY
It’s time you left, too, honey.

ROXANNE
No!

FREDDY
I can’t take care of you. You need
someone to do that for you.

ROXANNE
I’m going to find a way to make my
own money... and I'm not going to
depend on someone like Jesse to do
It.

FREDDY
Are you really committed to being a
Hustler?

Freddy pauses and looks her over. He’s considering the
awesome responsibility of being the one to send her on a
lifetime path.

FREDDY
Maybe I should induct you into our
"Society" and show you some
of the hustler’s secret signs and
Codes.

Roxanne’s face lights up and she becomes immediately
Attentive.

FREDDY
Okay. Lesson One, you got to learn
about "Tom" and "George" "Tom" is
a spoken code, and it always means
something is bad, and "George"
always means something is good.
When you use either of those words
in a sentence it tips off your
fellow hustler if a situation is
either good or bad.

ROXANNE
Okay.

FREDDY
Clear? Tom, bad, George, good.

to be continued...