Scene XX

FREDDY
I'm a little surprised myself, that
this is the game Jesse set up. But
like I told you when I was turning
you out, "friends is friends, but
gambling is gambling," and gambling
comes first. If anybody chooses to
play me, I'm going to try to shoot
his balls off.

HIPPIE JESSE
Okay, people. This match is a
"freeze-out" for all the marbles.
No one can quit without forfeiting.
You gotta keep playing until
somebody wins all the money.

Jesse walks over to Mick and whispers.

HIPPIE JESSE
Oh yeah, there’s a couple more
minor stipulations I forgot to
mention. One, you got to spot
Freddy a ball, eight to seven. I
wanna see how you play under real
pressure. Two, I don’t travel with no broad.
So when we go on the road -- you
and I -- you’ll get to visit
Roxanne only on the High Holidays
and Christmas. Good luck, pal.

The session starts. Freddy breaks the balls "safe" and they
jockey shots back and forth until Freddy accidentally leaves
Mick a long shot.

Mick tries to focus in on the shot but the balls seem to be
moving around. He finally lunges at the shot and misses it
badly.

Jesse eases up to Freddy.

HIPPIE JESSE
(innocently, to Freddy)
Well, how do you like that? How do
you feel, kid?

FREDDY
Real good. I’ll be sharp tonight.

HIPPIE JESSE
Let’s hope so. The two grand we’re
putting up is coming out of your
pocket -- just to make sure this
game is played on the square.

FREDDY
I only play on the square! You
know that.

HIPPIE JESSE
That’s all wonderful, but don’t
worry, I took out some insurance
anyway.

FREDDY
What’d you do?

HIPPIE JESSE
I "jarred" him. I paid the
waitress to put a few drops of
Scopolamine on his hamburger. In a
few minutes every ball will look
like three. Just hope he can stay
on his feet long enough to finish
the set!

FREDDY
You jarred him? -- You put CIA
truth-juice on him?
-- In a match with me in it? You
shit-heel, cocksucker! You know I
ain’t no "jar hustler." I play
hard, but I play on the square.
This is brutal. If any of the
other players find out, I’ll be
marked a rat -- just like you.

HIPPIE JESSE
Yeah, well I always knew you were a
sucker at heart. It’s too late,
just get your ass in there and get
the cheese.

Freddy returns to the table and with his back to Jesse gives
Roxanne the "Tom" sign -- a closed right fist in the middle
of the chest.

Roxanne’s eyes go wide but she acknowledges the "office" with
a slight nod.

ROXANNE
(whispering to Mick)
What happened on that last shot?
Freddy just "officed" me that
something is very wrong. How do
you feel?

MICK
I kinda feel like my eyes are
wandering around in my head. I
feel good but the balls look upside
down.

ROXANNE
Freddy is trying to tip us off.
Somehow Jesse must have jarred you.
You got to try to shake it, ‘cause
the money is up and you have to
either play or forfeit. Let’s get
you to the bathroom.

Roxanne calls a time out with a wave.

BATHROOM

Mick goes in with Roxanne and tries to vomit as much as he
can.

ROXANNE
Drink this. Milk. It’s the only
antidote.

Roxanne force feeds him multiple glasses of milk.

BACK AT THE TABLE

Freddy appears to be stalling and taking an extraordinary
amount of time on his shot. He gets up, he gets back down,
he gets up again...

HIPPIE JESSE
(growling)
C’mon speed it up! You're playing
like you're going to the electric
chair.

Roxanne walks Mick back to his chair.

Rat Poison Ronnie cuts into Roxanne.

RAT POISON RONNIE
Hey, Double-Smart, what is it with
your guy? Is he laying down my
drunk act?

ROXANNE
No, that fuckin’ Jesse jarred him.
If we had some time, maybe he could
could come out of it. I fed him
about two quarts of milk.

Ronnie thinks for a minute.

RAT POISON RONNIE
You guys were alright with me after
you broke me. Maybe I can help.
I’d love to fuck-up that jag-off
Jesse’s scam. Just watch this.

Ronnie staggers over to Mick’s table and fakes a heart
attack. He grabs hold of Jesse and drops to the floor
gasping and moaning, dragging Jesse down with him.

RAT POISON RONNIE
Arrgh! My heart! Help me. This
is it!

MONTAGE OF THE EVENTS FOLLOWING RONNIE’ FAKE HEART ATTACK

-- The game stops.
-- An ambulance is called.
-- Paramedics examine Ronnie and carry him out on a
stretcher.
-- In between writhing, he winks at Roxanne.
-- The game begins again.

ROXANNE
Do you feel any better?

MICK
Still shaky, but I think I can
play.

Roxanne smiles and looks over to Freddy and gives him the
"George" hand signal. Open palm across chest, fingers
extended.

Mick is okay. Freddy eases over to him.

FREDDY
Well, I guess the game is back on.
So as they say in marbles, "shoot
your hardies" -- And from here on
out I wish you luck, Mick -- all
bad.

MONTAGE OF GAME PLAY

-- Flashes of shots
-- Payoffs on the side bets

BACK TO SESSION CLIMAX

A spectator joins a friend in the bleacher seats, squeezes in
and sits down. His friend has his elbows on his knees and
his hands under his chin, watching the game. Both men are
kind of nerdy and middle aged.

SPECTATOR #1
So what’s going on?

SPECTATOR #2
It’s a real big match. You see
that guy over there? That’s
Pasadena Mick.

SPECTATOR #1
Double-Smart Roxanne’s boy friend?

Images of Mick at the table.

SPECTATOR #2 (V.O.)
Yeah, he’s famous for inventing
impossible shots. Needs one right
now. Freddy’s pocket’s loaded with balls
and the cue ball is buried behind a
wall in front of the Beard’s
pocket. Mick’s got no way to play
a safety.

INSERT POOL TABLE LAYOUT

SPECTATOR #2 (V.O.)
The session’s tied. This is the
deciding game for all the cheese.
If Mick doesn't come up with a
miracle shot, this match is gonna
be over.

Roxanne eases over to Mick and takes him by the arm.

ROXANNE
Everything we got is on the line.
Our whole stake. If you don’t want
us stuck in the Valley living with
my parents you’ve got to come up
with something here.

MICK
I’m gonna give it my best shot,
babe. No sense stalling.

BACK TO MICK AT THE TABLE

With his cue ball hemmed in behind a wall of balls in front
of Freddy’s pocket, he gets down on the shot and aims and
aims, and strokes and strokes with agonizing concentration.

Suddenly, he jumps upright, turns his hat around backwards,
gets back down, takes one stroke, and whacks the shot home.

The cue ball is about six inches away from the object ball,
straight-in and pointed down table. He hits the object ball
tremendously hard and banks the ball toward his pocket.
The cue ball goes up in the air and flies over the wall of
balls that were blocking it and lands and stops perfectly
behind those balls.

He makes the bank and gets position to run the game out. We
see the shot in full speed first, then a replay in slow
motion.

All the players in the room stop what they are doing and look
over. There is tumult in the room.

ANOTHER SPECTATOR
What happened! What happened!

SWEATOR #2
He banked it in his pocket, and
jumped over the stack, he’s behind
the balls and ready to run the game
out!

Mick proceeds to quickly run out the remaining balls on a
dejected Freddy, who is looking up at the sky. On the game
and session ball, Mick announces to Roxanne:

MICK
I’m coming home, baby!

Mick fires at a cross-corner bank shot at about a hundred
miles an hour, and it goes in.

Everyone applauds. Roxanne jumps up and kisses Mick.

SWEATOR #2
That, my friend, is One-Pocket!

Jesse, with two hands, throws the money loosely up on the
table, snarls at Freddy, and walks away.

HIPPIE JESSE
(to Freddy, derisively)
You fuckin’ sucker!

Jesse grabs his stuff and walks out while the money is
transferred over to Roxanne. Freddy smiles grimly and shakes
Mick’s hand.

FREDDY
That was a game! You might have to
back me a couple of games the rest
of the week. Jesse made me put up
the two thousand you won.

Freddy signals his pregnant wife over. They all meet and
laugh together...

FREDDY
(to Mick)
You know, even when that shit was
in full force, you didn’t play all
that bad. How’d you do it?

MICK
Well, I was seeing three balls at
once, but I just tried aiming at
the one in the middle!

Laughter from all.

continued...